Skip to main content

#MeetSDStateNursing⁠—Brian Brandser 98'/01'

Brian Brandser

I graduated from SDSU in Brookings in May of 2001. Since November of 2015, I have worked in the Intensive Care Unit in Shiprock, New Mexico. Our facility is part of the Indian Health Service in the Department of Health and Human Services. My wife, Michelle, is 100% Navajo and she also graduated from SDSU (1998, masters in counseling). Our area has been hit hard by this pandemic, as the Navajo Nation is now ranked #1 per capita as the biggest area hit by COVID-19. We have been consistently caring for COVID positive patients since mid March 2020. We are currently in our "surge," as we have been intubating and flying out multiple patients nearly every day for the past two months. Since late March, the entire Navajo Nation has had a daily curfew and weekend 57-hour "lock-downs." I have cared for multiple COVID-19 positive patients since mid March. Fortunately, our facility has been very proactive with this virus and we currently have emergency staff and emergency beds set up at the high school behind our facility in town.