MONROE - When most people hear the sound of an ambulance roar by, they don't feel a sense of comfort. But for Monroe's Bill Holland, it brings a sense of peace and accomplishment, knowing that he was part of what brought the program to Monroe and the surrounding towns.
Today, Holland finds joy in life on a daily basis - whether it's tending to his prairie, spending time with family and friends or being a part of a service organization where he does his best to give back, he said he couldn't ask for more happiness.
He was born at Madison General Hospital but grew up in Gratiot. Although his family lived in town, Holland considers himself a farm kid - starting as a farm hand in eighth grade, making $25 his first month, working seven days a week.
"I'm a farmer at heart," Holland said. He graduated from Gratiot Union Free High School in 1962, where he said he was more interested in football than learning.
"Looking back, I was in school because I had to be," Holland said. "I wasn't interested in most of it."
He didn't have a plan after graduation and wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but his mother insisted he do something. He thought hard about the barber in town - how he was a nice guy, how busy he kept and how he was always chatting with his clients. Plus, at $1 a haircut, Holland thought that might be a good option for him.
His mother and stepfather took him to Des Moines, Iowa, to barber school, where they learned he couldn't start for another six months. On the way home, they stopped in Dubuque at a recruiter station, and the first office to the left was the Navy.
By the time he left, Holland said, he was signed up.
He said joining the Navy was new to him, and after being tested, they decided he would make a good storekeeper and would send him to school. Just before he left, however, he came down with pneumonia and instead went to the hospital where he was put on bedrest.
It was there he noticed a hospital corpsman taking care of patients. He had lost his opportunity for storekeeper school, but his experience watching the hospital corpsmen sparked an interest. He asked to go to hospital corps school and attended 16 weeks of training at Great Lakes.
He chose to move with the Fleet Marine Force. The Marines took their hospital corpsmen from the Navy and he attended field medical service school, similar to an EMT, for four weeks. His job was to care for Marines while in the field. His only tools were bandages and morphine.
He served with the Marine Corps Third Recon Battalion in Okinawa. He would learn later the field troop corpsman had the highest fatality rate, as they were getting the injured Marines off of the battlefield unarmed and under fire.
"Fate is a funny thing," Holland said. "Unbeknownst to me, the Lord gave me at least 50 extra years. But you've got to go get your brother."
He got out of the service in August of 1965, happy he didn't have to go to Vietnam.
"I realized how lucky I was to miss out on that," Holland said. "When you realize how blessed you are to be where you're at it changes you."
Holland said the change came by making his life more about service. Once he was out of the Navy, becoming a nurse was the obvious choice, he said. But he had a hard time getting into a nursing school as a man in 1965. Eventually, he found a school in Chicago, Alexian Brothers Hospital School of Nursing, that was all male, and his background allowed him to get in.
He did exceptionally well there. The more he learned, the more he loved nursing, he said.
"You're laying your hands on people and people don't realize what a gift that is," Holland said.
But he never liked Chicago's big city feel and his plan was to always come back to Monroe. Eventually, he landed a job at Monroe Hospital as the head of the intensive care unit. He did that for a few years, but eventually wanted out of management and back into nursing. Soon, he became the coronary care coordinator, and was caring for heart patients.
Although a man in nursing at the time may have seemed odd to some, Holland said in reality he felt that he was often looked to for strength.
"Early on I saw situations where just my being there helped," he said. "Sometimes it was just holding a hand. Doing good for humanity is a good feeling."
A few years later Holland went for another career change when a friend talked him into joining respiratory care. He was in the position for about seven years before heading back to the ICU for several years. He spent his last 20 years in the recovery room and day surgery - different from his other positions, but one he truly enjoyed.
"That was so much different than working with critical patients," he said. "it's just such a joy to be able to talk to people. It's much better for your mind."
In 2011, Holland retired, spending more than four decades at Monroe Clinic.
The decision was a tough one.
"The hardest decision was leaving the patients and the friends," he said. "I miss them terribly. When you work in ICU, it's really critical - you develop a relationship with the family as well as the patient. And I was great at involving the family to help me when they were able. Families were so grateful for those situations - it made them feel better. Sometimes, it was their last days with them."
Holland said he's happy that death is part of life in today's medical community, and he felt that lesson come full force to him.
"I learned early on there's things worse than death," Holland said. "I was honest with all the families. It takes a compassionate person."
While working at the hospital, Holland said he was always busy, taking on side jobs at nursing homes, pulling double shifts. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Shirley, who also worked full time and they raised two children.
Holland also got involved in community service. In 1972 he attended a Southwestern Wisconsin Health Planning Council meeting to discuss health care issues. He said the meeting changed his life that year and from there a plan was in place to form a group to bring Emergency Medical Service to Green County. Eventually, a group was organized and Holland was one of a handful of people who served on the board to develop the program. He also then served to help assist other villages to get their own EMS and ambulances, chairing the council for several years as well as mentoring and training people.
"To this day, each time an ambulance goes by, it gives me a warm feeling," he said.
Green County was the only EMS team in Wisconsin then carrying registered nurses, thanks to the connections of Holland. Eventually, the system changed to carry paramedics and the RNs were phased out. Holland said he is proud at how advanced the system has become.
Holland also learned of a meeting for housing and homeless families in Green County and decided to attend. He said it was another meeting that made his life feel changed. It was the beginning of a group called Family Promise, an organization in which churches work together to help house families. He leads his church with the program and has been involved for five years.
Holland is also involved in politics, working with the United to Amend group for a year.
Holland spends a lot of time volunteering for a website called Find A Grave, and works diligently to take photographs of cemetery stones so that people can easily look up their family's graves no matter where they live. Holland feels a sense of giving back when he receives messages from family members that are so meaningful and special to him.
He is also a member of the Green County Genealogical Society and works every second Tuesday of the month at the resource center, as well as giving presentations on Find A Grave to try and get others involved.
Today, Holland spends his time working on his prairie and old cars that he enjoys. From late March to mid-October you can find him tending to his prairie, something he said brings him an immense joy.
But he's especially fond of his friendships and fellowship that he shares with his community involvement. He also enjoys spending time with his two children and three grandchildren.
Caring for people for so much of his life has taken its toll on him, but special patients and memories have also stayed with him through the years. One patient, a woman who was always smiling despite her diagnosis, is one memory that stays with him. Her words are ones he shares often and lives by:
"From the day you're born until you're in the hearse, there ain't nothin' that bad that couldn't be worse."
Today, Holland finds joy in life on a daily basis - whether it's tending to his prairie, spending time with family and friends or being a part of a service organization where he does his best to give back, he said he couldn't ask for more happiness.
He was born at Madison General Hospital but grew up in Gratiot. Although his family lived in town, Holland considers himself a farm kid - starting as a farm hand in eighth grade, making $25 his first month, working seven days a week.
"I'm a farmer at heart," Holland said. He graduated from Gratiot Union Free High School in 1962, where he said he was more interested in football than learning.
"Looking back, I was in school because I had to be," Holland said. "I wasn't interested in most of it."
He didn't have a plan after graduation and wasn't sure what he wanted to do, but his mother insisted he do something. He thought hard about the barber in town - how he was a nice guy, how busy he kept and how he was always chatting with his clients. Plus, at $1 a haircut, Holland thought that might be a good option for him.
His mother and stepfather took him to Des Moines, Iowa, to barber school, where they learned he couldn't start for another six months. On the way home, they stopped in Dubuque at a recruiter station, and the first office to the left was the Navy.
By the time he left, Holland said, he was signed up.
He said joining the Navy was new to him, and after being tested, they decided he would make a good storekeeper and would send him to school. Just before he left, however, he came down with pneumonia and instead went to the hospital where he was put on bedrest.
It was there he noticed a hospital corpsman taking care of patients. He had lost his opportunity for storekeeper school, but his experience watching the hospital corpsmen sparked an interest. He asked to go to hospital corps school and attended 16 weeks of training at Great Lakes.
He chose to move with the Fleet Marine Force. The Marines took their hospital corpsmen from the Navy and he attended field medical service school, similar to an EMT, for four weeks. His job was to care for Marines while in the field. His only tools were bandages and morphine.
He served with the Marine Corps Third Recon Battalion in Okinawa. He would learn later the field troop corpsman had the highest fatality rate, as they were getting the injured Marines off of the battlefield unarmed and under fire.
"Fate is a funny thing," Holland said. "Unbeknownst to me, the Lord gave me at least 50 extra years. But you've got to go get your brother."
He got out of the service in August of 1965, happy he didn't have to go to Vietnam.
"I realized how lucky I was to miss out on that," Holland said. "When you realize how blessed you are to be where you're at it changes you."
Holland said the change came by making his life more about service. Once he was out of the Navy, becoming a nurse was the obvious choice, he said. But he had a hard time getting into a nursing school as a man in 1965. Eventually, he found a school in Chicago, Alexian Brothers Hospital School of Nursing, that was all male, and his background allowed him to get in.
He did exceptionally well there. The more he learned, the more he loved nursing, he said.
"You're laying your hands on people and people don't realize what a gift that is," Holland said.
But he never liked Chicago's big city feel and his plan was to always come back to Monroe. Eventually, he landed a job at Monroe Hospital as the head of the intensive care unit. He did that for a few years, but eventually wanted out of management and back into nursing. Soon, he became the coronary care coordinator, and was caring for heart patients.
Although a man in nursing at the time may have seemed odd to some, Holland said in reality he felt that he was often looked to for strength.
"Early on I saw situations where just my being there helped," he said. "Sometimes it was just holding a hand. Doing good for humanity is a good feeling."
A few years later Holland went for another career change when a friend talked him into joining respiratory care. He was in the position for about seven years before heading back to the ICU for several years. He spent his last 20 years in the recovery room and day surgery - different from his other positions, but one he truly enjoyed.
"That was so much different than working with critical patients," he said. "it's just such a joy to be able to talk to people. It's much better for your mind."
In 2011, Holland retired, spending more than four decades at Monroe Clinic.
The decision was a tough one.
"The hardest decision was leaving the patients and the friends," he said. "I miss them terribly. When you work in ICU, it's really critical - you develop a relationship with the family as well as the patient. And I was great at involving the family to help me when they were able. Families were so grateful for those situations - it made them feel better. Sometimes, it was their last days with them."
Holland said he's happy that death is part of life in today's medical community, and he felt that lesson come full force to him.
"I learned early on there's things worse than death," Holland said. "I was honest with all the families. It takes a compassionate person."
While working at the hospital, Holland said he was always busy, taking on side jobs at nursing homes, pulling double shifts. He was married to his childhood sweetheart, Shirley, who also worked full time and they raised two children.
Holland also got involved in community service. In 1972 he attended a Southwestern Wisconsin Health Planning Council meeting to discuss health care issues. He said the meeting changed his life that year and from there a plan was in place to form a group to bring Emergency Medical Service to Green County. Eventually, a group was organized and Holland was one of a handful of people who served on the board to develop the program. He also then served to help assist other villages to get their own EMS and ambulances, chairing the council for several years as well as mentoring and training people.
"To this day, each time an ambulance goes by, it gives me a warm feeling," he said.
Green County was the only EMS team in Wisconsin then carrying registered nurses, thanks to the connections of Holland. Eventually, the system changed to carry paramedics and the RNs were phased out. Holland said he is proud at how advanced the system has become.
Holland also learned of a meeting for housing and homeless families in Green County and decided to attend. He said it was another meeting that made his life feel changed. It was the beginning of a group called Family Promise, an organization in which churches work together to help house families. He leads his church with the program and has been involved for five years.
Holland is also involved in politics, working with the United to Amend group for a year.
Holland spends a lot of time volunteering for a website called Find A Grave, and works diligently to take photographs of cemetery stones so that people can easily look up their family's graves no matter where they live. Holland feels a sense of giving back when he receives messages from family members that are so meaningful and special to him.
He is also a member of the Green County Genealogical Society and works every second Tuesday of the month at the resource center, as well as giving presentations on Find A Grave to try and get others involved.
Today, Holland spends his time working on his prairie and old cars that he enjoys. From late March to mid-October you can find him tending to his prairie, something he said brings him an immense joy.
But he's especially fond of his friendships and fellowship that he shares with his community involvement. He also enjoys spending time with his two children and three grandchildren.
Caring for people for so much of his life has taken its toll on him, but special patients and memories have also stayed with him through the years. One patient, a woman who was always smiling despite her diagnosis, is one memory that stays with him. Her words are ones he shares often and lives by:
"From the day you're born until you're in the hearse, there ain't nothin' that bad that couldn't be worse."