Roland Brummer, RN
Roland Brummer grew up in Randall, MN. As a grade schooler, he decided he wanted to become a Catholic priest someday. He attended Crosier Seminary High School and Junior College in Onamia MN, followed by three years at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Master of Arts Degree in Philosophy. Less than a year after graduating from college and leaving the seminary, he developed a severe case of ulcerative colitis at the age of 23. He became anemic and septic and was hospitalized for more than 2 months, during which time he felt like he was close to dying. This lengthy hospitalization was the start of an inner calling to be a nurse and to give to others what he had received as a patient. He graduated from Rochester Community College in Rochester, MN in 1985 with an Associate Degree in Nursing. His first job in nursing was on an adolescent-locked inpatient Mental Health Unit. Four years later, he started working on the Medical and Oncology Unit at St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud, MN. Because of his history as a patient and his experience with his father’s death from lung cancer, he immediately felt an attraction and a passion for caring for dying patients, as well as caring for cancer patients. He continued working on the Medical Oncology Unit until his retirement in 2017. During his work at St. Cloud Hospital, he was also a member of their Ethics Committee for many years. Since his retirement, he has continued to present on Caring For Dying Patients to nursing students at St. Cloud State University and to newly graduated registered nurses at St. Cloud Hospital. He has also been involved in “No One Dies Alone”, a program at St. Cloud Hospital where volunteers sit with dying patients who do not have family or friends to be with them as they are dying.