Midland, by no measure, would be considered a “big” city; however, it is still the beating heart of central Michigan. Home to the Dow Chemical Company’s headquarters, this small town of 42,000 punches above its weight class, with world-class gardens, a minor-league baseball team and a vibrant downtown full of funky shops and restaurants.
But one doesn’t need to venture too far to find a very different landscape.
“If you go two miles that way, it's farms. So, we're in the city, but we're not very far removed from a very rural community,” said Jaime Rutledge, a student in the Nurse Anesthesiology Program. “As we're we're getting patients from further and further away, like they need to be able to come here and have access to all the services that they would have in a bigger health system that you would see like in the Detroit area.
Rutledge, who has lived in the Midland area on and off since she was in sixth grade, hopes to put her Nurse Anesthesiology degree to work in her hometown once she graduates with her DNP in 2026. The Midland area, while not a federally designated medically underserved area, is in a health professional shortage area. It is something Rutledge acknowledges, and she looks at Midland as being the health “hub” of the area.
“Midland's kind of a neat place because it is a very small town,” said Rutledge, who lives there with her husband and two children.” I think we only have, what, like 40,000 people here? But we also have the presence of Dow Chemical — they're really involved in the community. There are always events going on. There are always things to do.”
Midland is also home to a diverse variety of careers, despite its size.
For more than 11 years, Rutledge worked as a microbiologist, but the more she got out of the lab and attending trade shows or speaking publicly, the more she knew she wanted a career where she could interact with people more.
“There was still a big part of me that really wanted to do something in health care,” she said. “So, I kind of made a huge choice.”
From there, Rutledge pursued her accelerated BSN degree at a local school, transitioned into the hospital world and, after some conversation with friends, determined she wanted to further her education and become a nurse anesthetist.
Enter, MSU.
“I had the opportunity to interview there first and when I got there, the whole atmosphere was just so welcoming,” said Rutledge, adding the program’s May start time worked better with her life than a fall start.
“There were people to talk to you before you went to your interview to ease your nerves a little bit and make it less of a less of a stressful experience. And then we got to meet the faculty during our interview process, and they were all so awesome.”
Rutledge liked the faculty’s focus on finding students with the right personality to ensure their success in the full-time program.
The program can be demanding: Rutledge currently spends three days a week in a clinical rotation at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, and she travels to East Lansing one day a week for classes.
While Rutledge has appreciated the program’s front loading of classroom time in preparation for this role, she noted it can still take some time going from being a nurse everyone went to with their questions, to being a student and learning all over again.
“It's just a whole different universe being back to brand new, starting over and learning again,” she said.
One thing that is constant? Her love for Midland.
“I love being involved in my community. I love knowing everybody. I'm originally from Saint Louis, Michigan, so I'm used to being in smaller communities.
“And for me, Midland's like a big city. But, you know, we are still small and we're a rural community.”
