Anesthetists partnership will provide services to Floyd County Medical Center

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

A partnership of two nurse anesthetists will begin providing anesthesia service at the Floyd County Medical Center beginning next month.

The county hospital announced an agreement Tuesday with the newly formed Upper Iowa Anesthesia Services, a partnership of Robin Howe CRNA, of Floyd, and April Cook CRNA, of Nashua.

Rod Nordeng, medical center administrator, said, “We have a need for anesthesia services and it came about with Robin and April coming to us to explore opportunities. It’s important for the Medical Center to have two nurse anesthetists, versus one.”

Previously the county hospital had used one nurse anesthetist, who brought in outside certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) when needed to fill in, Nordeng said. The agreement with the new partnership will allow them to cover for each other.

“It’s important from a clinical perspective for our patients in the OR, it’s very helpful for the surgeons, and it’s also very helpful for the staff for familiarity and familiarity to the organization,” Nordeng said.

“What’s really special about this partnership is they live very close to the Medical Center already. Robin lives in Floyd and April lives in Nashua, and they’ve both lived in those respective communities for a number of years, so rather than having a number of individuals travel great distances into our county they are already here,” Nordeng said.

Howe said they will work a two-week-on, two-week-off rotation of regular surgical hours and 24/7 on-call for emergencies and obstetrics.

“So we come in for epidurals or emergency C-sections for the OB population. We come into the ER if there are any emergency intubations that are needed or backup with any kind of things like that, as well as whatever scheduled surgeries there are during the day,” Howe said.

Nordeng said the agreement is effective Dec. 7, and is for multiple years, which is important to the medical center for stability and reliability.

“April had worked here in the past, and Robin has also provided coverage here in the past,” Nordeng said. “So they’re both very familiar with our staff, the OR (operating room) and our general surgeon, Dr. (Angela) VanGilder.”

Howe said she and Cook had not known each other before Nordeng put them in touch.

Cook said, “When we just started talking on the phone it was interesting how much alike we found each other to be in our ideas of what we wanted to do and our work ethic. Even without meeting it was ‘I want to work with that girl.’”

Howe received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center. She worked as a nurse in intensive care before going to anesthesia school at Baylor College of Medicine and graduating in 2005. Both the University of Texas Health Science Center and Baylor College of Medicine are part of the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

Howe said she is licensed in many states and has vast experience working in locum tenens positions, temporarily filling in for anesthetists on vacation or when hospitals are short-staffed.

“I’m very happy to be settled here into our new home,” Howe said.

Cook was a critical care nurse for 25 years in Indianapolis then went to anesthesia school at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia in Nashville, Tennessee, graduating in 2008. She worked at the Floyd County Medical Center for six years before she also started traveling.

“I’m very excited to now be able to stay at home,” Cook said.

Nordeng said, “Dr. VanGilder is trained as a trauma surgeon, so for us this ability to handle trauma in the ER is important. That’s very important to us. And with our OB practice, too, that’s where the on-call comes on. Both April and Robin live within our call radius so they’re able to respond appropriately.”