Patti Jo Hagerott

“DCB was a crucial starting point for me,” said alumna and Nurse Practitioner Patti Jo Hagerott. Originally from Kramer, her family moved closer to Bottineau when she was young and she thrived playing point guard in the 1990s. Growing up, she also watched her father receive care for a back injury.

“We would see the doctor quite a bit and I always knew I wanted to be in healthcare,” she said. She attributes the affordability and basketball program for her decision to attend DCB, and  credits the approachability of instructors and small class sizes to part of her success. Hagerott finished her nursing training in Bismarck, and for the next 18 years, she worked on the front line in the emergency room and life flight services.

“Being in all the critical access hospitals, you realize how particularly important nursing is,” she said. “A bulk of the care comes from your nursing staff and it’s so important to have quality nurses.”

The life of a nurse working life flight is physically demanding and Hagerott knew she had to make a choice; continue flying and eventually go back to a standard nursing role at a facility or advance her education and do more.

She chose more.

That choice meant her 2020 was full of change and led to her position as a Nurse Practitioner in Minot, just in time for the onslaught of a worldwide pandemic.

“My favorite word for last year is ‘okay,’” she said. “I was finishing up my masters degree program. I dealt with a lot of delays because everything was shut down, but I was able to do testing and officially pass in April. I was very fortunate that I had a job waiting for me.”

Cailee Sanchez

Cailee Sanchez’s job anniversary is actually the catalyst for her career in nursing. The Michigan native was working at a title company and always knew she wanted to be doing public service.

“My 10-year anniversary was approaching, and my manager said, ‘Once you get to 10 years, you are going to be a lifer,’” she recalled. That very same day she went home and started researching a new career path.  She found nursing studies in her home state that were very competitive and expensive. Then, after family members moved to Grafton, she started looking for places in North Dakota to relocate to with her family.

“Our kids were eight and five at the time. We had some criteria and I had done some research on medium and larger towns. I was looking for any way I could go to school and there were not a lot of online options back then,” she said. “Then I found DCB. The fact that they had a nursing program, small classes and a good school district for our kids sealed the deal.”

Sanchez became an LPN in 2017 and earned her associates degree from DCB in 2018, followed by graduating from the University of Mary and becoming a RN. As an older student, DCB gave her the opportunity to learn a new career field with quality instruction and hands-on opportunities. She volunteered for many opportunities during her clinicals, just to get more experience. 

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she says of attending school and becoming a nurse, “but I feel like I was able to hit the ground running. I felt prepared to do the job.”

Like Hagerott, Sanchez’s 2020 was full of challenges.

“For the first six months, the guidelines were changing daily,” she explained. “People could forget that you were going through this as a nurse, but also as a person. I haven’t seen some of my family for the past year.”

One of the most difficult changes to work through was the change to visitation. “It was hard trying to explain to families that they couldn’t be here,” she said. “Being on the line saying, ‘I’m sorry you can’t be there and hold your loved ones hand,’ was really hard.”

Both Sanchez and Hagerott say the quality of their education at DCB was essential to their success, and the success of so many other healthcare workers in critical areas.

Both women also agree, improving the classroom experience by upgrading facilities is an important step to supporting nursing education and the future of healthcare in the state.  

“Upgrading areas like Old Main is really necessary and needed. We trained with a large group and some of the room sizes were tiny,” Sanchez said. “We didn’t always have the space to do what we needed to do.”

Hagerott said continuing to provide a high-quality education, and having the facilities to support the program, will help attract and retain a critical section of workforce.

“If you can provide the education to people that are from here, and those who want to be here, they will stay and support the communities they love,” Hagerott said. “Having a better facility to provide education would definitely be a benefit. Improving the classroom atmosphere, helps students focus on the content, not being worried about the facilities.”

The importance of supporting efforts to provide quality nursing education can’t be overstated, especially after a year like 2020. And for an alumna like Sanchez, the DCB’s nursing program will always be thought of as a life-changing experience.

“I feel like, for the first time in my life, I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” Sanchez said. “This is my calling. It’s been hard, but never once have I questioned whether or not I should be here for it. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”