Leaving her mark

Deb Magnuson Joins Donors To Newborn Intensive Care Unit

Those experiences led Magnuson to be one of the first donors in the Essentia Health Fargo Foundation’s $1 million fundraising campaign to support babies, families and staff in a new newborn intensive care unit (NICU) that will open in September. Magnuson pledged $10,000 for a room set aside for nurses and their nursing manager.

“It was a convergence of so many of my passions, especially babies and the nurses who care for them,” explains Magnuson, who also serves on the foundation board. “Since I lost my husband, I realized you need to leave a mark on the places that are important to you.”

At a foundation meeting that discussed naming rights within the NICU, Magnuson says she surprised herself and fellow board members. She saw the room for nurses’ professional development on the floor plan and spontaneously decided she wanted to name the room in honor of her family. “There were tears in the meeting room,” recalls Susan Omdalen, the foundation’s development director. “It was a wonderful way for Deb to participate and get people excited about the project.”

Three of Deb Magnuson’s four grandchildren spent time in a hospital’s newborn intensive care unit, so she knows how important care in the first days of life can be.

“They don’t just save babies’ lives. They give them a healthy life and quality of life,” says the Fargo grandmother and retired registered nurse.

Magnuson says her family was fortunate that all three grandchildren were “full-term babies who just needed a little help” and spent only days in intensive care. She saw the full range of care offered to babies and their families when she worked in managed care at Dakota Hospital, which is now Essentia Health – Fargo.

“I tracked each baby in the hospital’s newborn intensive care unit to monitor their level of care,” Magnuson recalls. “I visited daily, so I got to know the babies, the families and the staff, especially the nurses who watch over some really sick babies.”

Magnuson is among more than 400 donors who have given a total of $1 million to the NICU now being built on the hospital’s fourth floor. The unit will have 14 private rooms for babies and their families.

“I am completely amazed with the thoughtfulness and generosity of these donors,” says Jamie Astrup, the NICU’s nurse manager. “It is truly wonderful to live and work in a community that supports our tiniest patients.”

Donations are helping create a family-centered space. For example, each baby will have a camera that mothers can link to 24/7 from their cell phones. The money also will buy additional equipment including incubator beds, a special medical shuttle to bring babies from the delivery room to the NICU and equipment to monitor babies’ hearts and breathing. “These donations allow our nursing team to take the care that they provide to the next level,” Astrup explains.

Magnuson joined the foundation’s board in 2016 after serving three terms on the Dakota Medical Foundation Board. “Deb knows our history and where we’ve come from,” says Omdalen, who recruited Magnuson. “She’s a very welcoming person and very connected to our staff and our providers.”

Magnuson says she serves on the Essentia Health Fargo Foundation Board and has served on the Minnesota State University-Moorhead (MSUM) Alumni Foundation because they have broad reach and impact on her community.

“Serving on a board is an amazing way to support and continue your own personal passions,” she says. “There are so few ways that as an individual you can make an impact on the world. And as I’ve grown older, I can still have an impact and still help in areas that are significant to me.”

Magnuson worked for 35 years as a hospital nurse, nurse consultant and senior living facility manager while she and her late husband, Earl, raised two sons. Josh followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a certified registered nurse anesthetist while Tim followed his father into construction and works in heavy construction. “My husband and I joked that we replaced ourselves,” Magnuson says.

“I always encourage young people to go into health care and nursing because I had a grand experience,” Magnuson says. “I explain how expansive nursing can be and how one education brought me so many opportunities.”

Magnuson also encourages people to give their time, talent and money to the organizations and issues that are important to them. “Figure out what you care about in life and follow that path,” she says. “For me, it’s my career as a nurse, my family and my faith. By focusing on them, my life makes a lot more sense.”