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BEMIDJI 鈥� Death is not the enemy.

That is a credo that helped Ken Smith navigate a 21-year career as a hospice nurse in the Bemidji area. Now retired, Smith has written a book about that career.

鈥淲e Walked Through the Valley, Reflections on a Career as a Hospice Nurse鈥� is available for purchase at Sunrise Foods, Bemidji Woolen Mills and the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center gift shop, and online at Amazon.

鈥淢ost other disciplines in the medical world are all focused on life-saving, life-improving, life-altering,鈥� said Smith, 68. 鈥淭hat is the goal 鈥� to save, preserve, improve, enhance life. When a person gets to the point where there is no more ability to sustain life, then hospice can be elected.鈥�

He said he focused on three things: Comfort, safety and dignity at the end of life.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not focusing on the death as such, but making the remaining life as comfortable, safe and dignified as is possible. Death is coming, and we're not fighting that, but we're trying to improve the life that remains and have that be as meaningful as possible.鈥�

Contributed

The 117-page paperback book also deals with the most frequently asked question of hospice: How much time do we have left?

鈥淚 can't think of any family or patient that I interacted with that did not ask that question,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲e literally had people pass away during our intake process, and others live all the way up to two years. It took me a lot of my career to figure out how to talk to people about that. We can see the signs, we can see the changes and 鈥� the best we could do is look at a trajectory.鈥�

Smith did not become a nurse until he was 40 years old. He grew up in rural Laporte and went to Central Lakes College in Brainerd to study landscape architecture. He worked in that field as a landscape designer and foreman, then took a job at Bemidji Town and Country Club as assistant groundskeeper.

Smith鈥檚 mechanical background served him well in those years, but he longed for something new. He was inspired by his neighbor, the late Gloria Murphy, who was a hospice nurse.

鈥淥ne day I just said to my wife, 鈥楳aybe I should be a nurse,鈥欌�� Smith recalled.

So one day after working on machines in the shop at the golf course, he went to check out the nursing program at Northwest Technical College.

鈥淚t was in January, and I was still wearing my working clothes,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 kind lady looked me up and down and asked, 鈥楥an I help you?鈥欌��

Smith was informed there were no openings in the certified nursing assistant program. But when he went to the registration desk, he learned that two people had just dropped out.

鈥淚 started two weeks later,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 went from wearing working man clothes and being outdoors to working with people indoors. I put on a scrub and said, 鈥楬ere we are, in a different world.鈥欌��

Smith went through the three steps to become a registered nurse. 鈥淭here was a lot of good fortune, blessings, miracles, and some unexpected financial help,鈥� he said. 鈥淐lasswork was far more difficult than I imagined. But I was able to make it.鈥�

The Bemidji Public Library will host a discussion of Smith's book at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 28, at the library, 509 America Ave.