TRUE DAKOTAN PHOTO/DUKE

After a medical career that has spanned over 40 years, Kathy Dean, Wessington Springs, has announced her retirement. She practiced in Wessington Springs for the past 30 years, one of the first midwives to be licensed in South Dakota.

Kathryn Richardson Dean graduated from the University of Washington in 1966 with a BSN in nursing. She worked initially at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and served a tour of duty in the Navy Nurse Corps in Boston.

Following the Navy she worked at a nursing home in Boston and then returned to Seattle where she worked at the University of Washington Hospital. There she became Assistant Head Nurse in the Labor and Delivery Unit, where she met Dr Tom Dean who was doing his Family Medicine residency at the University of Washington.

In 1975 she enrolled in the Frontier Nursing School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Hyden, Ky. and graduated in 1978. After obtaining her midwifery certification she moved to Wessington Springs, SD and began midwifery practice with Tri-County Health Care, Inc.

At the time Kathy started in 1978, she was one of the first midwives to be licensed to practice in South Dakota. Beside caring for the residents of the local service area, she served many women who drove from distant larger communities to receive the very personalized prenatal care and birth experience Kathy offered. During her years in practice she assisted in approximately 700 births and helped many, many women with maternal and women’s health issues. Kathy retired in October of 2008 after 30 years of practice in Wessington Springs.

“I have been a nurse for 42 years and have had the honor of spending 30 of those years working with the families of this area,” she said. “It has been a great joy to be able to share special moments with these families and to watch as the babies grew, went through school and had families of their own. I will be forever thankful to community for granting me this privilege.”

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