“Laura, Laura,” Dr. Erik Kanten chuckled as he read a text message from his longtime colleague at RiverView Health, Laura Nordlum, LPN. Nordlum reached out to say how honored she was to be part of his last obstetrics (OB) delivery that morning. The birth of that baby boy on July 28 wrapped up the OB portion of his career, dating back about 40 years.
Caden Lee Thoreson, the fourth child of Laura and Connor Thoreson from the Crookston/Climax communities, will forever be the last baby recorded in the well-worn, handwritten journal tracking all of the births occurring at RiverView Health under Dr. Kanten’s care.
“Dr. Kanten delivered all of our kids,” Laura Thoreson shared. “He’s amazing. When we found out I was pregnant and that he was retiring, I knew the timing would be perfect because he would still be here at RiverView to see us through. I’ve always felt safe and well cared for by him.”
It was a bittersweet day for Dr. Kanten, who specializes in Family Medicine with OB services. “I’ll miss it,” he admitted, reflecting on the OB aspect of his job, which has been his favorite. “It’s an honor to be there when new life comes into the world.”
From Lambs to Kids
A farm kid from Milan, MN, his interest in bringing new life into the world started with the family’s sheep, cattle, and pigs. He recalled countless nights of getting up to check on animals and assisting in births. He considered becoming a veterinarian. However, after a six-month rotation with the local vet, he decided he wanted patients who could talk to him.
Dr. Kanten’s early OB deliveries were as a medical student with the University of Minnesota’s Rural Physician Associate Program (RPAP). Through the program, students live and train in non-metropolitan communities under the supervision of preceptors who mentor the students in professional and personal aspects of being a physician. RPAP brought him to Arlington, MN, where his preceptor believed in “see one, do one, teach one,” allowing the young medical student the opportunity to deliver most of the babies that year.
Deliveries continued as he completed his Family Practice residency with the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. It was also during this time that he met his future wife, Judie, an East Grand Forks native and pediatric nurse. The couple married in 1986.
A Long Career in Crookston Begins
Employment with Altru Health System brought the Kantens to Crookston in 1988, where Dr. Kanten also had hospital privileges at RiverView Health. His first OB delivery in Crookston, a girl, took place in October of that year. In 2006, he became a RiverView Health provider.
Caden Thoreson was the 1,459th baby delivered by Dr. Kanten at RiverView. Counting the babies delivered during his time with RPAP, residency, and those born to his patients who ultimately underwent cesarean sections performed by other providers, but with his assistance, it is safe to say he has delivered thousands of children throughout his career.
Sets of twins are not an uncommon find among the penned records Dr. Kanten’s nurses have kept in the journal of deliveries since 1988. Dates and names written on the lined sheets record the lives Dr. Kanten has touched. The stories that go with those entries are endless.
As you scroll through the pages, you find names of entire families – moms, dads, and their children – Dr. Kanten delivered over the decades. In one instance, he delivered babies for a mother and her daughter, whom he had also delivered, within a short timeframe from each other.
There was the time he received an emergency call while he was mowing his yard regarding a woman who thought she was going to give birth at home in Mentor. He jumped into his vehicle, still in his shorts and t-shirt, to rush toward the woman’s house. Driving about 80 miles per hour, he had to pass a boat on the highway – the sheriff’s boat. Lights began to flash behind him just as he saw the Minnesota State Patrol car sitting in the median ahead, waiting to drive him the remainder of the way to the emergency at an even faster speed. “It was the one time I was happy to see the highway patrol,” he laughed.
Dr. Kanten was able to stabilize the woman, and she traveled by ambulance to RiverView, where she had the baby. There are many more stories of close calls or unexpected events, including a set of twins, one born at home and the other in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, in a storm.
“There are a fair number of babies born during storms,” he said, smiling.
Stories of Dr. Kanten making the trek from the family home outside of Crookston in a storm on a snowmobile or a machine with tracks are many. However, no matter the weather, he never missed a delivery.
He did almost miss the birth of his second daughter, though. It took his first daughter “forever” to be born, he reported, so when Judie was induced and told him to go ahead and travel to Fertile to see his patients, he wasn’t concerned he’d miss much.
“At 11:30 am, I got a call from Henrietta Hill, the charge nurse in OB back then. She said, ‘Get up here NOW!’ Then click. When you work with nurses for a long time, you get to know them. I can tell you, when Henrietta said ‘get here now,’ I did. And, I made it.”
Thinking about another longtime colleague, Dr. Rolf Hanson, Dr. Kanten recalled a couple of very busy, sleep-deprived months when Dr. Hanson was on a mission trip. As the lone OB provider, Dr. Kanten delivered every baby at RiverView morning, noon, and night – especially night.
“A fair number of babies like to make their entrance in the middle of the night,” he chuckled. “Not every baby, but a fair amount.”
Blessed with an Understanding Family
Speaking of nighttime deliveries, when the four Kanten girls – all born at RiverView – were little, they sometimes went to work with their dad. Judie continued to work in pediatrics at Altru in Grand Forks after the couple moved to Crookston. If she was working the night shift and an OB patient came in at RiverView, it made for some interesting nights, Dr. Kanten reported.
“We had little overnight bags always ready for the girls and sleeping bags,” he recalled. “I’d say, ‘Grab your bags, kids. Let’s go. The girls loved it. It was a little adventure for them. The nurses spoiled them, bringing them cookies and other treats. Then they would sleep on the call room floor. The baby would get delivered, and everyone would get settled, and we’d all go home,” said Kanten. “My family was very understanding. It was never an issue. They (deliveries) even got me out of going to a few things I maybe didn’t want to attend. My wife’s maybe happy this was the last baby, though.”
There for the Happy Times, Heartbreak
For Dr. Kanten, some of the most memorable moments are the sad ones. “There were a couple that you knew ahead of the delivery that the baby wouldn’t survive, and there wasn’t anything you could do,” he shared. “After delivery, mom and dad got to hold the baby for a while. Those are the ones that stick with you the most because it’s just a moving event to be there with the family. There are highs and lows with people. Mostly highs, thankfully.”
Patients talk about Dr. Kanten riding in the ambulance with them to larger hospitals when they needed more care than RiverView offered, or sitting with them in the ER on his day off when they miscarried. For years, he’s stood on the sidelines and in the stands at countless sporting events, providing medical assistance to players injured during competition, many of them he helped bring into the world. He’s continued to care for many of his patients as they’ve aged out of well-child visits and into adulthood. He’s been there in times of health and times of sickness.
Continuing Clinic Care
Retirement from his OB services doesn’t mean an end to continued care by Dr. Kanten, though. On Sept. 15, he will return to RiverView in a part-time capacity, seeing patients two days a week in Crookston. He will continue to offer a limited number of annual wellness visits for adults and pediatric patients, Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) physicals, and will assist with same-day acute appointments.
Until then, Dr. Kanten will spend part of August leading a group on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon. He estimates he’s been to the Grand Canyon, one of his favorite spots, on either hiking or rafting trips about 20 times. He enjoys leading big groups – sometimes as many as 40 people – on trips to national parks. The groups often include entire families, including children; some of them, more than likely, he’s brought into the world!
THAT’S A WRAP… Caden Thoreson was delivered by Dr. Kanten on July 28. His arrival closes the OB chapter of Dr. Kanten’s career.
A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE… Laura Nordlum, LPN, and Dr. Erik Kanten go through some of the names in the journal kept since 1988 of the babies he’s delivered at RiverView.