Rettkowski retires from nursing

DAVENPORT – After 45 years as a nurse, with most of those years spent at Lincoln Hospital, David Rettkowski is letting go of his scrubs and getting up at 4 a.m. for his shift.

"It's been a good run," Rettkowski said.

He was raised in Wilbur and graduated from high school in 1973. He attended Spokane Community College with the intention of studying business administration but quickly decided that was not for him and went on to receive his associates degree in nursing.

After he started in nursing, he was not so sure he wanted to be a nurse and he moved to Reno, Nevada where he dealt Craps and Blackjack at a casino.

"After five years I decided I did not want to do this kind of work forever," he said.

After his experience in Reno, Rettkowski went on to work as a nurse at St Luke's Hospital in Spokane, before it became a rehabilitation facility. A

At that time St Luke's bought out the Valley Hospital and at a "let's get acquainted picnic" he met his future wife Lori.

The Rettkowskis made the move to Lincoln County in June 1992 with Dave taking a nursing position at the Lincoln Hospital. They moved into the farmhouse his Grandfather Rettkowski built, from a 1924 Sears and Roebuck' catalog kit, on the family farm near Wilbur.

He has seen many changes in nursing over the years. When he started in his career in nursing, medical charts were handwritten and now everything has moved to computers. Surgergies and procedures required a three or four day stay in the hospital and now many surgeries are outpatient procedures.

The biggest changes in his line of work came because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was hard, dealing with the unknown and when dealing with a COVID patient, there is so much protective equipment," he said.

Rettkowski has always worn a Hawaiian shirt in lieu of a scrub shirt and during the pandemic he had to return to wearing scrubs which were laundered at the hospital.

During his many years at Lincoln Hospital everyone knew him because of his flowery clothing choice. People who didn't know his name referred to him as the guy in the Hawaiian shirt. He started wearing them about twenty years ago, because of his affinity for the tropics and flowers.

"It used to be pushing the envelope to wear a Hawaiian button up shirt instead of scrubs, but the hospital didn't ever say anything," he said.

Although he is retiring, he continues to do other work. He works on a half time basis for Strate Funeral Home in Davenport and Grand Coulee. Rettkowski has known owner Mike Strite for many years and enjoys the work.

"There are less critical decisions than in nursing," he said.

Work in a mortuary is nothing new to Dave, as he worked at the Funeral Home in Wilbur during high school. The owner Bill Robertson even encouraged him to go to mortuary school.

"At 18 years old, that was not what I was thinking about," Rettkowski said.

Dave is a new member of the Lincoln County Health Board. The new position was added this summer and Public Health Administrator Ed Dzedzy encouraged him to apply. He will have his first big meeting for this new position at the end of the month at statewide conference in Spokane.

Dave says the most rewarding part of being a nurse was making a difference in people's lives. He especially liked doing end of life care.

"You see people when it is difficult and be there to help the families and patients," he said.

He said he enjoyed his career and will miss the people he worked with. He has worked with some of them for over twenty years.

"We are like family and refer to each other as work husband or work wife," he said.

He plans to stay in touch with his coworkers.

In his extra time, he and his wife plan to play. With that in mind they bought a travel trailer last year. The Rettkowskis have a close-knit family and they often travel together.

Their son John is married to Kate Sliger Rettkowski and they have two daughters.

Daughter Beth is married to Isaac Lantot with two sons.