To kick off 2025, we’re profiling Ken Vander Molen. Ken is a former officer in the Army Nurse Corps, where he did two combat tours to Afghanistan working in Civil Affairs. He earned two bronze stars and a combat action badge. We saw that same courage here at Tribal Health when Ken helped launch our CCRT <Critical Care Response Team> program during the pandemic. As our Ops Director Stephanie Lima said, “Ken played a vital role at Tribal Health when COVID was at its highest on reservations, traveling around to different facilities to train staff in care protocols for extremely ill patients. His impact was extraordinary.”
Hi Ken, thanks for talking to us. Where are you from originally?
I’m originally from northwest Iowa – Orange City.
How did you get into nursing? Is it in your family? Did someone specific inspire you?
No, I’m not from a nursing family. But my daughter did follow in my footsteps – she’s a nurse practitioner.
So how did you get started in your career?
Well, I started out as a fireman and Air Force Guardsman. One of my fellow firemen was a paramedic back in the 1980s, in the Fight program in Sioux City. I was always kind of in awe of that – of anyone that flew. Eventually I went to paramedic school and worked as a paid volunteer in Orange City. I’d help secure the scene and I told myself that’s what I want to do.
What did you do next?
I set a goal for myself to go back to nursing school. I was in my early 40s. I worked at St. Luke’s in Sioux City and worked 3 years in ICU and then went into flight nursing and did that for 13 years.
Wow! How did you connect with Tribal Health?
I had a friend I used to fly with who worked for Tribal EM. I joined Tribal EM in 2019.
Because I live in Rapid City, I had to decide between Pine Ridge and Rosebud. I wound up being in Rosebud – and I love working there.
You were part of our CCRT (Critical Care Response Team) program, right?
Yes, during COVID. The teams included a physician, two CCRN nurses and a respiratory therapist. I loved being a part of these teams. They were all solid individuals, and we worked well together.
We’d go to different reservations for two to three weeks. The reservations we traveled to were in COVID “hot spot” areas. Hospitals that would ordinarily accept transfers from our facilities were overwhelmed and on diversion. Transfers might be delayed for several days. As one might expect, these were some sick patients that needed to be at an advanced care hospital in an ICU.
So our CCRT teams would jump in and educate, advise and assist Medsurg and ER nurses how to hang onto those patients until they could get them transferred out. Many were on ventilators for extended periods of time or required additional hemodynamic support. We would do our best to identify and narrow knowledge/skill gaps. Most of the nurses were task saturated and I believe we made a difference in helping them with some of the sicker patients.
I know this was an issue throughout the country, but these nurses were part of our IHS family. That made it personal. These nurses were doing some incredible things with the resources they had.
Do you miss traveling to different facilities or do you prefer to work out of one facility?
I enjoy meeting new people and going to different reservations, but I love Rosebud. I love the team, the patients.
Had you worked on Indigenous lands before Tribal Health?
As a flight nurse I went onto the reservations for 11 years before Tribal Health. Over 80% of the patients we flew were from Pine Ridge, Rosebud, or Eagle Butte reservations.
What is your favorite part of working on reservations?
Working with the other people on my shift – and I love making a difference with patients. I mostly work night shifts. When you work at night, patients don’t come in just to exchange hellos, they come in because they’re critically ill or injured or having a bad night. Sometimes they’re just coming in to be safe.
What advice do you give nurses new to caring for Native patients?
They need to be ready to get by with what they’ve got. Resources and staffing aren’t always ideal. You learn to get by.
Nurses need to know they’re not working by themselves. They might feel overwhelmed but we’re there to help each other. Heroes run in packs. You might have a bad night; you don’t remember the easy shifts, you remember the bad ones. You’ll see those same coworkers in a different light after that. “I’m going to work with this person and I know we’ve got this.”
Any plans for the future?
I think staying here PRN – it works in my schedule.
I love seeing my coworkers and the drive over there. You go across the grasslands, and the reservation is beautiful. In the spring, you see these horse herds running and cows with their new calves and you see the different seasons. When I used to fly in and out of Rosebud, the length of the Badlands runs from Rosebud to Rapid City and if you looked down, the view never got boring. It’s just gorgeous.
Sounds like it! Thank you, Ken!
