Dunstan celebrates 50 years of nursing

Celebrating her 50th year as a nurse, Marylin Dunstan, a nurse practitioner at the Jewell County Rural Health Clinic, has been practicing as a nurse practitioner for 21 years.

Dunstan received her nursing license from Trinity Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing in Kansas City. She received her nurse practitioner license from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. Dunstan said she wanted to be a nurse ever since she was a little girl. She became a nurse practitioner because she wanted to be able to do more. "I'm still a nurse at heart," she said. "That's the thing about being a nurse practitioner. You are always a nurse, but you have more responsibility."

Dunstan is currently working one day a week at the clinic. On that day, she works at the clinic and then is on call for the emergency room. She also works one weekend a month.

Dunstan is married and has six grown children. She also has 14 grandchildren. In her freetime, Dunstan enjoys painting, reading, gardening and camping. She is currently enjoying re-modeling her bathroom. Dunstan is a PMA which means she is a full time minister from the Parish Minister's Associate at the Lutheran church.

When asked if she could retire tomorrow, where she would retire to, Dunstan replied, "Home. Home is my castle," Dunstan said.

"I've already retired once," Dunstan said in response to the question 'how much longer are you planning to practice?' She said she will continue to practice until Alzheimers gets her. If a patient has a condition that she doesn't know much about, Dunstan researches the condition in medical journals, books, and the internet.

Dunstan would like the community to know she cares. "The community has known me for 40 years," Dunstan said. "So they pretty much know me."

Advice she has for aspiring doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants is the going gets tough sometimes, but don't run. "I think so many times these days, especially with the pandemic, I've seen a lot of people give up and burn out too fast," Dunstan said. Her advice for patients is to follow your instincts, but also know the provider may not know it all. She also advises to be patient.