Dr. Paul Jensen named 2025 'Citizen of the Year'

CRESCO - Small town doctor with a really BIG heart!

That may be the best way to describe Dr. Paul Jensen, who has been named the Cresco Times Plain Dealer “Citizen of the Year.”

As a doctor, Jensen has helped numerous patients over the years, has delivered 324 babies, and has played a big part of many families throughout his career––all taking place at Regional Health Services of Howard County.  He has also showed his humility and caring  grace in being a part of the RHS Hospice program, being the physician involved for over 15 years.  

It’s that genuine spirit of promoting small town life, working in a community clinic and just having a great attitude with his patients (and life in general) that most everyone just “loves” Dr. Jensen!

“Small communities are the best place to live and nothing is better than being pro-Cresco and pro-Howard County,” said Dr. Jensen, who has been a family physician at Regional Health Services of Howard County for 25 years and will be retiring at the end of 2025. “Once retired, I’m going to miss the people (patients), and especially all the staff at our RHS facility, including our support/maintenence staff, the other doctors/professionals, and our current board and administration.  It’s all about how to make this place successful and how to keep it here in our county.”

Enjoyed Working With His Nurses

Of all those that work at RHSHC, the two individuals he’s going to miss most are his nurses, Beth Slifka, who was with him for over two decades, and currently, Paula Reicks.  

“Beth is now retired enjoying her grandkids and was one of the reasons I came here back in June of 2000,” said Jensen. “She was just so awesome and I told the administration that Beth had to be my nurse when I signed on.” 

He also stated that Reicks has been equally “fantastic” to work with and added that he could not ask for a better replacement. 

 

How It All Started

Dr. Jensen actually grew up in Wisconsin growing up moving around the state as his father, Ken, was a Lutheran minister.  

The family eventually settled for a few years in Muskego, Wisc. where he graduated high school. “I then went to Dana College in Nebraska, and earned my Doctorate of Medicine at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.”

It was in college at Dana that he met his wife, Jayne, who specialized in music and had a love for the arts, especially with acting.  They have since been married for 36 years. 

“Upon getting my Doctorate degree I did my residency at Mason City and then came to Cresco,” said Jensen. “Ironically, it was Ken Becker, of the Times Plain Dealer, who showed us the Cresco Theatre and Opera House and welcomed us to be a part of the community theater group.  That was a big deal for us, and his enthusiasm in showing off the theater and the love of Cresco also helped. But there were a lot of reasons why we picked this town and have stayed.”

The couple have been deeply involved with Cresco Community Theater, and have played a part, directed, or been part of the music in every production over the 25 years, still remaining active.

“We have a real interest in theater and what it offers,” said Jensen. “We’ve worked with so many great people over the years, including Ken Becker, Joe Wacha and others.  Some are no longer with us, but really kept things going and did such a great job in the performing arts.”

 

Delivered Many Babies

His specialty as a Doctor was in delivery, with hundreds of babies taking their first breath under his care.  

“I eventually stopped that part of my practice, but it’s truly one of the most amazing things to be a part of.  You then get to know the families and actually see the baby grow, graduate high school and college. It’s so cool being a part of that.”

His final baby delivered took place on August 25, 2022 when he welcomed Huck James, the son of Cody and Amanda Stockdale.  Jensen still remains on for any assistance needed for delivery.  

He stated that his “most interesting” delivery was with Easton Reis, who was born May 24, 2011 at 2:12 p.m.  Parents Jason and Jennifer Reis were coming from the Lime Springs area and didn’t quite make it before Easton was nearly born in the VW car. 

“They had called, so we rushed over to the ambulance garage and had the ambulance moved out of the way to allow them to drive right in,” said Doc Jensen.

In the TPD article, it noted that Jason and Jennifer arrived at RHSHC and Dr. Jensen, a team of nurses and several EMTs were outside the ambulance garage, waving the couple in like a NASCAR pit crew!  They drove right into the garage where the crew shut the door and proceeded with the delivery, which had already took place. 

“It was nerve-racking and nothing like this had ever happened and we had to plan it all  while it was taking place,” said Jensen. “The nurses were equally nervous on what to do, but we kept our cool and all went well.  It’s great to have wonderful nurses and staff around helping. Also, Jennifer Reis was such a wonderful lady, and they make such a great family.”

 

Key To His Success

As a family physician, Dr. Jensen noted that his skills and knowledge may be important, but the key to his success is two things.

“First and foremost are Beth Slifka and Paula Reicks, my nurses.  Both have been so wonderful to work with and play such an important part at the clinic. Second, it’s the support of the administration and hospital board. You can’t grow and keep pace with technology without their leadership and backing.”

Jensen has two scrap books of many of the babies he’s delivered over the years that Slifka created for him.

“Those are my pride and joy,” said Dr. Jensen of the scrap books. “It’s just a load of fun looking through them.”

Hospital & Clinic

New facilities with both the hospital and clinic have now been completed, allowing for a better work environment and much needed space for patients, physical therapy and growth. They also have a pharmacy on site and have improved every aspect of the operation. 

“The neatest thing on why this place currently works so well is the edition to physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy,” added Jensen. “It was about the size of a broom closet before and all needed to take place. The new areas are now in place and have already helped a lot of people.”

Jensen was also part of the “creative team” ahead of designing the hospital.  The group had gone to the Featherlite building at the fairgrounds and made paper models of what needed to take place in making the new facilities flow, plus what would be best for staff and patients. 

“Allowing the staff to be involved with the design is why this place works so well,” said Jensen. “It goes back to our leadership and the fact that we all had a voice.”

Jensen noted that the use of computers in the operation was “without a doubt” the biggest change he’s seen over the years.

“Currently, it’s so integrated in everything we do. How it’s changed in the 25 years has been tremendous as we can now view a computer image of an x-ray instantly, or view a patients past.”

He also added that when he first started there was no CT Scan or MRI Scanner on-site, but now have both, plus how the imaging has improved over the years. 

 

Hospice Care

One organization Dr. Jensen was proud to be a part of was being the physician for Howard County Hospice, where he helped with those individuals breathing their last breath.  For over 15 years he was part of Hospice and helped individuals be “comfortable” (as much as he could) in their last moments on earth. 

Jensen also was part of the Cresco Lions Club, continues with Cresco Community Theater, was active in the Cresco Wildlife Club and was part of Pheasants Forever.  

“It’s was an important part for me do do stuff after work, especially help where needed,” said Jensen. 

As for hobbies, Jensen is known for Motorcross Racing and has a collection of numerous cycles he’s either built or fixed over the years.  He is still racing, even though in his late 50s, and has placed 4th in a  national championship race in his age bracket. 

His collection has the original 1966 Kawasaki motorcycle his grandfather used to own and still restores bikes and has built bikes from scratch.  

He and his wife also love to go find good BBQ while taking road trips throughout the states.  Another hobby has been welding, where he has a shop at home and does some odds and ends work for himself and others.  “I’m looking to continue doing general small repairs and doing a few fabricating project upon retirement.

As for finishing up his career, Dr. Jensen stated he’ll likely continue “filling in” or helping at RHS when needed, but otherwise is just going to enjoy his retirement and time spent with Jayne.

“I am humbled in winning this award and being in the class of the prior winners,” said Jensen. “Also, there is really no way I could have succeeded without the support of my wife, Jayne, who has had to put up with some ridiculous  hours. Just looking forward to spending more time with her and doing projects I’ve been wanting to do over the years.”

The Howard County Business & Tourism Banquet will be held Tuesday, April 22 where Dr. Jensen will receive his Citizen of the Year honor. It will start at 5:30 and be held at the Heritage Event Center.