May 5, 2021
Joy Plamann, RN, St. Cloud Hospital President, Central Operations SVP
“Growing up, we lived on a block with lots of kids. Mostly boys. In fact, my two sisters and I were the only three girls. So we played things like baseball in the street and inevitably there was a daily injury. I was the one taking care of the skinned knees, head bumps and bruises, and I decided when things were ok and when we needed to go tell our parents. But I had an issue. From the time I was little—up through college—when I saw blood I fainted. So I would take care of the skinned knee, then I would fall over and faint.
When it came time to make a decision about college, I knew I wanted to be a nurse, but my mom said, ‘Oh, Joy, there’s a lot of blood in nursing, and I don’t know that you’re ever going to get over that.’ So I followed her advice and decided to be a special education teacher. Half way through my freshman year, I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do. So I transferred and went to nursing school. I fainted twice in nursing school, but then I got through my rotations and never fainted again!
Nursing has always been in me. I can’t turn it off. I always wanted to be a nurse and I have never regretted that decision.”