Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote that “all life is an experiment.” It took a few experiments for Bellin and Gundersen Health System registered nurses Erick Baumgart and Scott Thorson to find themselves in the careers they enjoy today. Each of them began their careers in fields very different from nursing and healthcare.
Baumgart has been a nurse at Gundersen since March 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning. Before that, he worked in law enforcement as a police officer and correctional officer. Over time, his interests began to change, and the way he desired to help others shifted.
“When I was younger, I was excited to be driving really fast with the police lights on, going to an emergency and intervening,” he said. “But as time went on, I got more interested in what was going on with people and their stories. I stood around looking at my peers thinking I’m a little different than everyone else here and my interests aren’t necessarily aligning with what we’re doing.”
For Thorson, it was the moments he experienced working in other fields that made him realize his true passion.
His path to nursing began in 2006 in high school when he became a certified nursing assistant at an assisted living facility in Houston, Minn.
“I grew up in a small town, and there are few jobs for high schoolers,” Thorson said. “So, it was either work as a CNA or at the gas station.”
In the years between, he worked in positions in and out of the healthcare field and received a Bachelor of Science from Minnesota State University, with an emphasis on recreation resource management and leisure planning and management, and a minor in biology.
He spent a summer as an interpretive guide at Niagara Cave in Harmony, Minn. He then worked as a park ranger for the Army Corps of Engineers at Blackhawk Park near De Soto, Wis. All the while, he remained a CNA at the assisted living facility and eventually became the facility’s activity director in 2014.
Each position included times of helping others and fueled a renewed interest in healthcare. During his time as a park ranger, someone slipped near a boat ramp and had a serious cut on their head. Using his first aid skills, Thorson dressed the person’s wound.
“It was like second nature to me. I didn’t hesitate,” he said. “That experience really is one of the major turning points that brought me back to healthcare and got me into nursing.”
Oddly enough, he says one of his favorite things to do as a nurse these days is wound care.
In 2020, he graduated from Western Technical College in La Crosse with a degree in nursing and began working at Gundersen in 2022.
For Baumgart and Thorson, changing course in their careers came from a desire to help people. But, Baumgart says, anyone wishing to help others should understand their own version of “why” they desire to do so.
“The most important thing is to find your why,” Baumgart said. “If you say, ‘I want to help people,’ every profession has an opportunity to help people. What is it specifically?”
Understanding their version of why is what kept them going through the hurdles of the pandemic. Baumgart said nurses are frequently asked why they’re still working after the many difficult moments of COVID. He said it’s the connections he allows himself to make with his patients and their families.
“I think nursing is one of those careers where you can make connections,” Baumgart said. “There are a lot of careers like law enforcement where it's harder to invest yourself in the people that you serve on a personal level. I think it’s something that separates nurses, and I think it’s something that we should start looking at more and being more intentional about.”
If you believe the answer to your “why” could lead you to nursing, Bellin and Gundersen Health System offer a variety of opportunities to explore the career and advance your career, including tuition reimbursement options, nursing internship programs and a nursing residency program. You can learn more by going to gundersenhealth.org, clicking on the careers page and choosing the nursing option.