Adam: Tell me a little bit about yourself Karen: Well I m married, going on 30 years, this coming year. I have two adult kids, that I totally adore, and one beautiful grandson. Who is 8 months old, actually today. I ve been a nurse for 20 years, worked most of that at the Hardin clinic. A: okay K: And I can t actually remember when I came here. A: To Hardin? K: To BVHC, I think it was October 2016, I m not sure, but I love it here. A: Do you? Tell me why? K: Because it s a great place to work, you have family atmosphere, people are generally concerned about your health and well-being here, um and like at my last sickness, everyday someone was coming up to me and either praying for me or asking how I was doing, if I needed anything, whatever they could do to help me through this, which is helpful. A: These are your fellow employees? K: Yeah, so it was great, Dr. Upchurch was amazing through all of it. He s just an excellent doctor and I am blessed to be able to work with him. A: And that s who you work with primarily? K: Yes, Dr. Jim Upchurch A: What does he do? K: He does procedures in our office, he does ultrasound and other procedures. He sees a few patients for general medicine, but reluctantly he would prefer not to, because he is semi-retired, and kind of wants to do his own thing, which he loves to do the surgical part of his job. A: What motivates you Karen? K: God A: What gets you out of bed every morning? K: Um A: God is enough, if that s the extent of your answer. K: God is enough. but you know what, truthfully, it s also me. Me getting out of bed, me being a productive person in this society, my wellbeing, if I laid down and did nothing I would be the most
depressed person in the world, but I have passion for my nursing career, and that s what gets me out of bed. A: It s amazing how the best cure for selfishness, is service. Is to be others focused and helping others, that s a hard lesson to learn in life. K: It is, but you know our patients are amazing here. A: Yes K: I had amazing patients throughout my career, and have developed a lot of good friendships throughout but, it s amazing here. A: Where did you go to school? K: I graduated from Custer High School in 1987 and I went and did my own thing, had my kids, and then when Larissa was 5 I decided to go to Nursing school. I went to MSU billings and completed their nursing program in Licensed Practical Nursing. Unfortunately, I never went back to get my RN, but at this point I m not going to pursue that, because I love exactly what I m doing right now. I don t want to spend the extra money to go back to school, and you know my brain is getting a little older, so it might be a little bit harder. So, no I would rather just do what I am doing. A: Star trek or Star Wars? K: Neither A: Cats or Griz K: Griz A: How long have you lived in Hardin? K: Umm since 1987 A: 30 years, wow, what brought you here? K: Actually my husband, we were dating at the time and I said to my parents the day I graduate high school I was going to leave home, I had a job already as a CNA at the Hospital here in Hardin. And I thought it was the best thing to do, was to move into Hardin and do that. A: ok, favorite thing about living in Hardin? K:. A: it s okay to say Adam Renshaw What do you like about the community, what do you like about the area geographically, what do you like about the what s something you love about this place? What has kept you here for 30 years? Beside career?
K: Truthfully family is what kept me here. My career also, but I really want to retire in Huntley. A: Huntley? K: Huntley A: Montana? K: Yes A: Interesting, tell me why. K: in the whole wide world that s where I want to retire because, it s close to Billings, but it s out of Billings. A: So, Costco trips are made that much easier. K: True, well Sam s Club got to go to Sam s Club. A: okay, Sam s club, and the wealth of night life of course in billings. K: Ah no you know I am getting older Adam, and you know my brother is in a nursing home in billings. A: Huge K: And I want to be near him A: Yup, what s your favorite Sport? K: My favorite sport is, Denver Broncos! A: Moving on, song you can t get out of your head when you hear it? K: I don t know what it s called, but it s the one that says I m gunna make you clap. I can t remember the name of it but it comes on all the time and I m driving in my car and I can t not clap when it comes on. A: For the record if Karen gets into a wreck in the next the couple weeks we will know why. K: I also love Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. That s our song, Rick and I. A: Favorite quote? K: The serenity Prayer A: Awesome. Do you have any pets? K: Yes, I have two very spoiled Golden retrievers, and two very spoiled Siamese cats. A: Awesome! Animal lover for sure.
K: Definitely, my passion is pigs. A: Yeah? K: Live and not, of course. I got over 200 little ceramic pigs, in my house. A: Holy Cow, Um K: my husband says that he s going to get that many guns. For every pig that I get he s going to get a new gun. I think not. A: For the record, the Krugers are Hoarders as well. Okay here s one, if you could choose anyone as your mentor, who would it be? Dead, they could be people who were historical figures, um anyone alive today. K: Help me out A: K K: Um first medical nurse in the army, long long time ago, Florence Nightingale. A: Okay is that who it was? K: Yes A: Okay, so it s definitely someone who has been a trailblazer in the profession that you are in. That s great to hear. If you could learn to do anything what would it be? K: (No hesitation) Skydive. A: Really? K: Yeah. A: Why? K: That s on my bucket list, I don t know why, I just want to do it, just to say I did it. A: Okay let me ask you, have you ever been up in an airplane? K: Yes A: A small airplane where they opened the door? K: No A: Okay, okay, so a lot of people think they want to skydive, then they get up there and it s like what am I gunna do
K: They might have to push me out, but I will go. A: You d do it. K: Yeah. A: What s the hardest thing you ever done? K: Lose my mother, that was the hardest season in my life. It was December 17 th, a week before Christmas, she was in the hospital, I didn t even know she was in the hospital, she passed away before I got there. So Christmas is not my favorite season, or holiday, but with my grandson being born this year, Christmas was wonderful last year, so I m hoping that that changes for me. A: What do you do to stay healthy? K: Laugh! A: Nice! K: Cause as you can see it s not exercising. A: Hey now come on, there s other things like exactly what you just said. K: Yup, I laugh a lot. A: What is something that you ve learned in the last week? Don t think cosmic, think like, pick a lock with a toothpick. Something simple. K: Actually, what I ve learned is, what s the quote this too shall pass. Because the hard things will pass, Eventually. And the sunshine is just around the corner. A: if you could pick a superpower what would it be? K: To be invisible. A: Why? K: Cause I want to see what other people are like A: When nobody else is around K: Yeah, exactly! A: Okay what is a recent show that you watched? K: Grey s Anatomy is my all-time favorite. A: is it a good Dr. show?
K: Yeah! A: Does it accurately portray the medical profession? K: Nah A: Okay, thank you for saying that, my wife, she can t, she s a nurse, she can t watch medical shows K: It s fun to pick them out, Rick on the other hand is a cop, he watches all cop shows. And he constantly comments, well that s not right. A: Nice, good, well that s it.