Sharing Talents for the Good: Chuck Frisch's Journey of Using His Nurse Anesthesia Background to Impact Others

"I was brought up to use your talents as much as you can," says Mount Marty alumnus Chuck Frisch. This week is Philanthropy Week, and Frisch has used his skills to help others since graduating from the university's nurse anesthesia program in 1985. "Helping others like this is something I always wanted to do, and I think it was part of my Catholic education that taught me that you need to share your talents with the people who are not as fortunate as you are."

After forty years of practice, Frisch retired three weeks ago from nurse anesthesia, but his journey didn't start in the nursing field. Frisch originally went to school in Colorado to work in a lab but decided he needed more interaction, so he dove into nursing. He graduated with his associate degree in nursing and worked in Denver for three years as a nurse before attending Mount Marty College's Bachelor of Science in Anesthesia program. Frisch said the program prepared him for the working world, and he felt comfortable doing what needed to be done on a work shift. "When I went to my first job, my chief, in essence, said, 'Your skills are as good as somebody we've had for a year. You must have gone to a great school to learn all these skills.'" One of his professors, Sister Mary Arthur Schramm, H'50, N'55, NA'56, '65, HD, significantly impacted him. Schramm was the first nurse anesthetist and woman to be accepted into and complete her Ph.D. at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, where she helped design the curriculum for the Mount Marty program. She served as the head of nurse anesthesia and division chair of health sciences in the Mount Marty program and gave Frisch two pieces of advice: "Always strive to excel and strive to do research to put new things into practice." And Frisch has certainly done that.

After graduating from Mount Marty, Frisch moved to Illinois to the Anesthesia and Pain Management, SC, where he started his career as a staff-certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) and left as the assistant chief CRNA after 15 years. He began every shift by asking for the prayers of St. René, the patron saint of anesthetists, and was excited to impact his patients for the good each day. Frisch's favorite part about his job was "how I can affect people's lives to the positive. They're [his patients] coming in under very stressful situations. They don't know what's going on, so I was hoping I could alleviate their anxiety, get them through the surgery, and remove their pain post-op." He moved to Alliance, Nebraska, in 2000 and was the director of anesthesia at Box Butte General Hospital, where he also developed and ran an acute and chronic pain management clinic. "That was really satisfying because I could see people walking in severe pain and walking out totally comfortable." In Alliance, he also helped with the nurse anesthesia clinicals, even working with our Mount Marty students as their rural clinical experience. In 1989, he received his master's in health administration, and in 2014, he got his doctorate in nursing practice. He retired from his full-time job in 2022 and started to locum, travel as a CRNA as needed to hospitals, for the last two years up until his retirement three weeks ago. 

But his time of service wasn't done yet. Frisch is passionate about mission trips and helping those less fortunate with his gifts and talents. In 1990, he attended his first mission trip to Romania. Starting in 2010, he went to Honduras eight times, Guatemala, and, last March, Cambodia. On all of these trips, he used his anesthesia talents to help surgeons overseas learn new techniques, with his latest trip to Cambodia being an opportunity through Health Volunteers Overseas — which he has been a member of for 25 years — to teach acute and chronic pain management; This is something he has been very passionate about since his time running the pain clinic in Alliance. "It's just a way to pass my skills on to a future generation. … We are so blessed and fortunate to have the education and position that we have now that we need to share it and use  our knowledge to help other people." His trip to Guatemala was exceedingly memorable as one of his four children was adopted from Guatemala. "We were 10 kilometers from his door where he was born. So it's just a way to give back to the people and country for letting us have him in our life."

Frisch has four grown children, and his retirement plans include spending more time with them and his grandkids, traveling with his wife, and performing acts of service in his community.

His advice to those in nursing or nurse anesthesia school is "to always learn and push yourself." Frisch continued, "Remember [your education] is just the journey to start your journey. Once you get hired and out in the real world, the success and reward — not just monetarily but eternally — are worth it." 

###

About Mount Marty University

Founded in 1936 by the Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery, Mount Marty University is South Dakota's only Catholic, Benedictine institution of higher education. Located along the bluffs of the Missouri River in Yankton, with additional locations in Watertown and Sioux Falls, Mount Marty offers undergraduate and graduate degrees focusing on student and alumni success in high-demand fields such as health sciences, education, criminal justice, business, accounting, recreation management, and more. A community of learners in the Benedictine tradition, Mount Marty emphasizes academic excellence and develops well-rounded students with intellectual competence, professional and personal skills and moral, spiritual and social values. To learn more, visit mountmarty.edu.