Va central iowa nurse in music video | va central iowa health care | veterans affairs

Katie Lunning never thought she would be a in music video. Much less a video about her own journey. Nevertheless, Katie is the subject of a video just released by the VA and a group called

Freedom Sings USA. The two organizations partnered to create songs about 10 VA employees nationally who have particularly powerful stories about their jobs serving Veterans. Katie is a nurse

manage at VA Central Iowa and also a nurse in the Minnesota Air National Guard. As it happens, two of the 10 are from VA Central Iowa. Patrick Ragland, Nurse Manager of the Emergency

Department is the other. Of those 10 awardees, one was selected to have their song turned into a music video. The song “Battlefield to the Bedside” was a writing collaboration between Katie

and Nashville songwriters and was sung by Grammy winning artist Linda Davis. The song recounts Katie’s work in Afghanistan immediately after the suicide bombing that killed American service

men and women in Kabul in 2021. For her actions, Katie was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the second woman to be so honored.  That is where the music video comes in. Katie and her

team worked with VA videographers to tape and then edit the video. Using recreated video, still photos and military images, the video tells her story though music. The taping took place over

two days at VA Central Iowa’s Des Moines campus this summer. “It has been an incredible experience,” said Katie when the video was rolled out this week. “The video really highlights the

great work of the team, which is where the credit should go.” Katie never thought she would be in a music video. She is. And the world can now share her story.