Providing health care at a community hospital is often a tough, demanding job that comes with high expectations and high pressure. It requires people who are well trained, highly confident and deeply motivated and who work well in a team-oriented environment.  There is another place that could be described similarly – a military unit. 

So it’s no surprise that people who find reward and success in the hospital setting also flourish in the military. And it’s also why Iowa hospitals wholeheartedly support their employees who have made that commitment to serve. 

One of those employees is Carrie Riley, a nurse at Winneshiek Medical Center in Decorah.  Like many medical professionals who have joined the military, Riley wanted to support those on the front lines who put their bodies and lives harm’s way every day.  “When I joined, the war had been going for a while. This just seemed like a way I could use my own skills to take care of them (injured soldiers),” she recently explained to the local newspaper, the Decorah Public Opinion. 

But unlike most others, Riley is twice as old as the soldiers she treats.  At age 45, those soldiers are like her own children, who are in their early and mid-20s.  “I think this is a remarkable feat for a woman in her early 40s to opt to join the military, let alone serve in a war zone,” said Riley’s husband, Bruce, who is also a military veteran. 

Riley’s war-zone deployment began in early August when her unit, the 109^th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron of the Minnesota Air National Guard, went overseas with the mission of stabilizing and caring for wounded soldiers who are being flown out of Afghanistan and Iraq to military hospitals in Europe.  The transports, which use Air Force cargo planes that have been converted into massive high-tech air ambulances, typically take nine hours each way. 

“It’s a fluid environment. You’re moving constantly. We have a place to stay, but you carry enough stuff with you to last a couple of weeks,” she explained. 

Riley said she is thrilled to be part of the military effort and is inspired by those she cares for.  “They have these awful injuries, yet they have the best attitudes. It’s amazing really, but it’s also why it’s so great to take care of them,” she said. “I just want to contribute to helping the troops. No matter how you feel about the war, people are over there still getting hurt and injured.” 

The experience is also made positive by the support she gets from her employer, Winneshiek Medical Center.  “The staff has been awesome. I’ve been doing this for three years and they’ve been really supportive. I’ve been gone three or four weeks at a time and my coworkers have covered for me.” 

“Carrie is an inspiration of service to her colleagues and peers at Winneshiek Medical Center as well as to myself,” said Dan Wener, the hospital’s CEO.  “She is using her expertise and compassion to benefit our soldiers, while placing herself in harm’s way.  Carrie’s love of country is evident in her actions, I am proud someone of such character is part of Winneshiek Medical Center.”