Behind the Stethoscope: The Heart of ERx

 In 2025, we would like to highlight the medical directors of our ERx team. Their commitment to rural health care is the driving force behind our organization.

Sara Ragsdale, DO
Medical School Year: 1998, University of Kansas Health Sciences
Joined ERx: 2013
Current Positions:
Director of Providence St.Joesph Hospital in Chewelah, WA
Director of Columbia Health in Dayton, WA
Co-director of Providence Mt Carmel Hospital in Colville, WA

What inspired you to pursue a career in medicine? “I am guessing it was because my mom was sick. She died when I was young. When I was eight, I decided I wanted to be an OB/GYN. My dad still has the picture when I drew “What I wanted to do when you grew up.” There is a stick figure person standing next to a table with a lady that has a giant pregnant belly, so I even knew what an OB/GYN was.”

Why did you choose to work in rural Emergency Medicine? “I chose my family medicine residency based on location and stayed in Kansas City. They’re totally prepared to do family medicine in the city, which is working in the clinic. This was my least favorite part of family medicine. Looking back, I wish I would’ve done a different residency but at the time I wanted to be close to my family and so with a new baby.

When you do ER in a big hospital as the family medicine resident, they assume you don’t want or need to do a lot of ER procedures. The orthopedic residents do all the reductions, the anesthesia residents do all the intubations and the cardiology residents do all the cardioversions. I had the opportunity to moonlight in a rural hospital. It was amazing. I was able to do all the fun stuff because I was the only one there. I really liked that, and I’ve worked in rural medicine ever since.

After residency, I did family medicine with OB for 15 years; delivered babies and worked in the ER, hospita,l and the clinic. After some time, it was a lot and I got kind of burnt out. The one thing I wasn’t burned out on was working in the ER.”

How has rural emergency medicine changed over the years? Since COVID, people are sicker. We have always seen some really sick people in the rural emergency room, but the number of these high-acuity patients is much higher than it was when I started. We see multiple people in a day that are critically ill. We’ve always had a lot of trauma in the rural ERs but now we have a lot of medically complicated people, as well.

What are some of your proudest accomplishments or enjoyable moments? “In Kansas, I had a lot of medical students do their rotations with me in the clinic and the ER. I received a student recognition award, where medical students voted my rotation as one of their favorite rotations. I love teaching. I have had students that have never considered rural medicine before. After seeing what we do, they enjoy their time so much that they will at least consider rural medicine.”