By Mary Wade Burnside
FAIRMONT — Growing up in small-town Wisconsin, Dr. Nancy McKinley had an eye toward becoming an orthopedist for a simple reason.
“If somebody went to the doctor and got a cast, you knew they had been someplace for health care,” McKinley said from her office at Fairmont General Hospital.
Of course, by the time she attended medical school — after majoring in math at the University of Wisconsin — she had some more specific reasons for choosing orthopedics as her specialty.
For one, McKinley grew up playing sports. “I participated in basketball, volleyball, golf, softball — you name it,” she said. “If I wasn’t playing it, I was on the sidelines watching it.”
In college, she started out on the crew team but ended up in the marching band, which also was a way to keep an eye on sports.
“They were probably more athletic than half of the sports, and that gave me access to watch the sports and participate in that fashion.”
McKinley attended medical school at the University of Minnesota with her mind set on her field.
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