National Nurse Anesthetist Week being observed January 19-25


Celebrating National Nurse Anesthetist Week ... January 19-25 is National Nurse Anesthetist Week. Pictured are the two Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists at Veterans Memorial Hospital including William “Skip” Loebig, in photo above, and Mark Bishop, in photo below. These two full-time CRNAs cover all the hospital patients’ anesthesia needs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with each of them remaining on-call for one month at a time. Submitted photos.

January 19-25 is National Nurse Anesthetists Week.  Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon has two nurse anesthetists who work full-time at the hospital, including William “Skip” Loebig, CRNA, and Mark Bishop, CRNA.

Whenever anesthesia is delivered by a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), the patient is in the care of a health care professional who is in charge of providing a thorough and safe anesthetic from pre-operation through post-operation. For more than a century, CRNA’s have been staying with patients throughout their procedures, monitoring their vital signs and adjusting their anesthetics to ensure the safest, most comfortable anesthesia experience possible.

Skip Loebig and Mark Bishop oversee all of the procedures performed in the Veterans Memorial Hospital surgery suite. They carefully review the medical history of each patient and decide the best type of anesthesia medications to safely keep patients pain-free during their surgery, while constantly monitoring every biological function of the body.

Not all of their work takes place in the surgery suite.  They are both also ‘on-call’ 24 hours a day, one month at a time, for any emergencies they are needed to assist with and any C-section births that may occur.

Loebig explains, “In 2007 I made the move to Waukon and began offering anesthesia services, developing a strong connection with the community and maintaining a commitment to providing outstanding patient care. It has been 17 years and my commitment is still strong.”

Bishop later joined this practice in 2017 and states, “After providing active duty anesthesia for approximately a decade, I felt  my calling was to provide my services to a critical access hospital. I enjoy the patient population tremendously and it feels fantastic taking care of neighbors and all the local families.”

CRNAs must be registered nurses before continuing their education to become a CRNA. Typically, nurses need experience as a nurse in an intensive care unit before attending an accredited nurse anesthesia program. It typically takes from seven to 10 years for this degree to be fully achieved.

For more information about the certified registered nurse anesthetist career, visit www.aana.com or call the anesthetists at Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon at 563-568-3411.