Cynde Larsen | 1982 Nursing Assistant graduate
We continue to celebrate Nurses Week along with highlighting our Southwest Tech graduates who are also Southwest Tech employees. Today’s spotlight is Cynde Larsen, 1982 Nursing Assistant graduate who now serves as Executive Dean of Health Occupations.
• I attended Southwest Tech because my high school friend convinced me to take the nursing assistant course with her in 1982. Attending Southwest Tech entirely drove the trajectory of my career. I had no thought of becoming an RN or working in a healthcare profession before taking that class.
I completed the Nursing Assistant course in the summer of 1982 and worked as a C.N.A., alongside my grandmother Camilla, at the Boscobel Nursing home for 4 years during my senior year in high school and during weekends and summers during my first three years of College. After becoming an RN in 1987, I practiced at Prairie du Chien Memorial Hospital (now Crossing Rivers) before becoming a Director of Nursing at Bloomfield Manor for 15 years. I joined the faculty at Southwest Tech in 2004 and began my current role in July of 2018.
I think every student should participate in professional advocacy activities and should learn how the work done by their state and federal representatives influences their profession and their industry. Effective representation of rural professionals and communities is important to the health and prosperity of rural people. Our students and graduates interact regularly with our representatives in our communities and it is important that students and graduates are comfortable and confident in communicating with their representatives.
I am proud of all of the graduates of Southwest Tech including our daughter Liz, who is an RN and alumnus of Southwest Tech’s A.D.N. program and my husband, Greg, who is a graduate of Southwest Tech’s Cancer Information Management program. I love visiting any of our regional healthcare organizations and seeing Southwest Tech alumni who are volunteering, providing front-line care, managing departments, and leading organizations. They make me Southwest-Tech-Proud!
Outside of work I am passionate about promoting the health and flourishing of people who live in rural areas.