Alleghany Memorial Hospital anesthetist Dan C. Smith pauses for a photo in an operating room. Smith is the hospital's only staff anesthetist.

New anesthetist at AMH has roots in Vietnam-era military

"I enjoy all my practice," said Dan C. Smith, certified registered nurse anesthetist at Alleghany Memorial Hospital. "I really enjoy working with the patients and their families and trying to help them through this time when they have this anxiety, helping them through the time when they're having their surgeries.

"I enjoy the personal patient contact, especially in a small hospital like this."

Smith came to AMH in 1998 from University Hospital in Augusta, Ga. He left for about six months this year but came back Aug. 1.

"This is my 29th year as a CRNA; it's hard to believe," he said. He came by his vocation — and in fact, the field of health care in general — in a rather serendipitous manner.

It was assigned to him when he served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era.

A native of Minnesota, Smith attended college for a couple of years in Colorado, working on a business degree. He wasn't clear on what he would do with it, however. "That's probably why I left and went into the military. It wasn't enough; I wanted something else," he said. "I was young and adventurous; I didn't care."

He joined the Air Force in 1966. "I was hoping to go into the aircraft area. It was during the Vietnam era, and we needed medics," Smith recalled "You put down your preference, but you didn't (necessarily) get what you wanted....

"The Air Force decided it for me. That's what they stuck me in. When I got in it, I liked it. That was the impetus for me to finish nursing school. I met anesthetists when I was in the military."

He explained that anesthetists include anesthesiologists, who are medical doctors who give anesthesia, as well as advanced practice nurses like himself who administer anesthesia.

The first anesthetics were given by nurses during the Civil War era, he said. There were not any anesthesiologists until the early 1930s.

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