37 years and just getting started.
Nancy Blank replaces retiring David Holm as Alomere Cardiopulmonary Services' Manager.
Spotlight: Nancy Blank, Manager of Cardiopulmonary Services
When David Holm retired from Alomere Health earlier this year, he left behind a department he had shaped for decades—and a successor who had been quietly preparing for this moment for years. Nancy Blank, an Alomere respiratory therapist since 1988, stepped into the role as the new Manager of Cardiopulmonary Services in early 2026.
For Nancy, it wasn’t a leap into the unknown. It was the next chapter of a career she’s spent building from the ground up.
A career that fit.
Nancy grew up in Fergus Falls and started college at NDSU in pharmacy—until a friend mentioned a different program. She looked into respiratory care, liked what she saw, and made the switch. After graduating and spending two years at the VA in St. Cloud, she came to Alexandria in 1988. She hasn’t left.
That variety has kept her engaged through nearly four decades of changes—new technology, new services, and a health system that has grown considerably from the small-town hospital she joined. “As it’s grown, I guess I’ve grown with it,” she says. “It’s all been good—learning new things and taking on new responsibilities.”
What is Cardiopulmonary Services?
Cardiopulmonary is one of those departments most people don’t think about until they need it. Nancy’s team provides respiratory therapy for patients dealing with breathing difficulties, heart surgery recovery, chronic lung disease, and critical care. They manage patients on ventilators, perform EKGs and EEGs, conduct pulmonary function testing, and run the hospital’s sleep lab.
“Until COVID, people really didn’t know what a respiratory therapist was,” Nancy says. “COVID shined a light on us. Suddenly everybody needed ventilators and we were there at the center of it all.”
Growing the next generation.
Respiratory therapists are in short supply across the country, and rural communities feel that shortage acutely. Alomere is investing in a long-term solution through the Grow Our Own program, which pays for a candidate’s respiratory therapy education in exchange for a commitment to work at Alomere after graduation. The program is open to both current Alomere employees and external candidates.
In addition, Nancy has been speaking to CAPS program students at Alexandria Area High School, hoping to spark interest in a field that doesn’t always get attention when students are choosing a path.
For anyone curious, she says the best first step is simple: come shadow for a day. “Shadowing is the best way to see what we really do,” she says.
Click to learn more about the Grow Our Own program or explore our open positions. High school students interested in shadowing the Cardiopulmonary Services team should email Human Resources at hremail@alomerehealth.com.
