Just over 15 years ago — well into Bev Grotsun’s nursing career — she had the opportunity to work at the newly developed cancer center at Albert Lea Regional Medical Group’s West Clinic.

As someone who always enjoyed specialty areas of nursing, Grotsun jumped at the opportunity. “It’s always been my niche,” she said of specialty areas. “It was a new challenge for me.”

Now, as a nurse at the Albert Lea Cancer Center, which opened on March 1, 1999, Grotsun said her job is to be supportive to parents during a trying time in their lives — as well as a cheerleader.

After a patient is diagnosed with cancer and has met with an oncologist about treatment, Grotsun or one of the other oncology nurses — Kellie Thompson, Deb Wirth and Bonnie Maher — sit down with the patient and outline what he or she can expect during that treatment.

“We’re with our patients every step of the way,” Grotsun said. “We try to help a patient maintain a quality of life during this time of treatment.”

Quality of life often depends on how a patient feels after chemotherapy. There have been many advances in anti-nausea drugs that can be administered before, during and after chemo. “Treatment is more targeted with fewer toxicities. There’s more focus on immune therapy.

“It’s about not only saving lives, but living lives to the fullest,” Grotsun said.

We give all the hope and encouragement we can to patients. We try to keep them comfortable with pain management and give them a quality of life so they can spend valuable time with friends and loved ones,” the nurse said.

Her current field is exciting, she said, because with cancer research, “we’re seeing more cures and ways to manage the disease. It wasn’t that way when I got into it.”

Even with that, cancer sometimes recurs. “Patients that come back with a recurrence are happy to see a familiar face. They know we’re here to help them.

“It’s hard, but they know we’ll walk the walk with them.”

And it’s all about the patients. “My patients teach me so much. They and their families remain thankful and appreciative,” Grotsun said.

Yet, it’s Grotsun who seems to be the grateful one. “It’s such a privilege to work in this area of nursing. I love my co-workers and I love my job,” she said.

Being able to continue to grow in knowledge and keep up with the changes in cancer treatment is also very fulfilling, she added. Grotsun is a oncology certified nurse, a designation which required additional training and more than 1,000 hours of clinical experience.

“I believe the future of cancer nursing will focus on prevention, improving the quality of life and symptom management for patients,” Grotsun said.

Nursing has always been Grotsun’s ambition. The oldest of eight children, she helped care for her siblings on the family farm near Mankato.

Her parents had friends in Albert Lea, who made Grotsun aware of the Naeve School of Nursing. There, she got a lot of clinical experience, practicing in the afternoons what she learned in classes in the morning.

She has many fond memories of her training and is an active member of the Naeve Alumni and Nurses Club. She remembers living in the homes for student nurses on Grace Street, the curfews and the housemothers.

She graduated in 1959 and had a job waiting for her then. “We didn’t have to apply,” she said of going to work at Naeve Hospital.

In her first years of nursing, she worked on the medical floor in the pediatric unit. Eventually, she went the surgical and second floor. Then, in the late 1960s, she worked in the coronary care unit. When the new hospital was built in 1975, she went to work in the newly built coronary surgical unit.

“We were the first community hospital in southern Minnesota to start a coronary unit,” Grotsun said.

The biggest changes she’s seen are in the lengths of patients’ stays in the hospital. Stays are much shorter now, she said, and when patients had heart attacks, they were put on strict bedrest with a gradual increase in activity. Hip fractures meant time in traction and a six- to eight-week hospital stay.

Things were not as disposable as they are now, and glass syringes were saved after use, sterilized, wrapped in cloth and used again.

Computers have become a big part of medicine, too. Doctors’ orders come to the oncology nurses via computer.

While the business of nursing has changed a lot in Grotsun’s 50-year career, her love of caring for people has not.

“I have truly enjoyed all my years of nursing and continue to enjoy it,” Grotsun said. “It’s been a good place for me.”