Hometown Nurse Honored with Two Healthcare Awards
M.K. French
Farmer Staff Writer
Like many young people growing up in a small community, Tessa Dwyer Strand once had a very specific plan for her future: to go somewhere other than Watford City. “When you’re a kid, you’re like, ‘I’m going somewhere else; I’m never coming home.’” Strand laughed, recalling her younger self. “That was 100 percent me. I [thought I] was never coming back to Watford City.”
Fast forward to today, and not only is the Watford City native back in her hometown, but she is also leading the charge in local cancer care. Strand, 30, now serves as the oncology director at McKenzie Health, where her exceptional patient care and leadership have caught the attention of the wider healthcare community.
Over a few short weeks, Strand was honored with two major accolades: the prestigious DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses and the Outstanding Emerging Rural Health Leader Award from the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine & Health Sciences. The Emerging Leader award, presented during the 2026 Dakota Conference on Rural and Public Health, explicitly “recognizes relative newcomers to the rural health field who have already made a tremendous, defining impact on their communities.”
Strand’s trajectory into oncology nursing began during a difficult chapter in her childhood.
When she was in the eighth grade, her father was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Watching him go through treatments left an indelible mark on her. “I will never forget him telling me how much his nurses made his experience tolerable, helping [him] while going through this terrible experience,” Strand shared. “When he said that, that was kind of a big push for me to become a nurse.” Her father has now been in remission for over a decade, but that early experience fueled her desire to enter healthcare. Strand spent the first several years of her career working in pediatric oncology before transitioning to adult oncology. She was working as a travel nurse when she returned to McKenzie County, initially planning to stay just long enough to help train local staff on administering chemotherapy. Instead, she stayed, eventually stepping into the director’s chair to build a top-tier oncology program. “It definitely was not part of my plan,” Strand admitted, “and I didn’t get too far, but it’s definitely home, that’s for sure.”
The DAISY Award is an international recognition program designed to honor the super-human care and compassion nurses provide every day. For Strand, that compassion often takes the form of quick wit, a light-hearted joke, and a commitment to making her patients feel seen as individuals rather than just a diagnosis.”The one thing I’ve always wanted with my patients is I never want them to feel alone,” Strand said. “In oncology, you’re seeing them so frequently and you’re going through some of the worst times in their life with them.
They…become your family.” Strand, a self-described “big jokester,” uses humor to cut through the clinical and sometimes frightening environment of cancer treatment. “If I can just make people laugh and feel any type of joy in their darkest moment, that’s what I like to be for them.”
While stepping into a major administrative role at age 30 comes with plenty of pressure, Strand attributes her success entirely to her support systems, both at home and at the clinic. She credits her parents for instilling a relentless work ethic and pushing her past childhood self-doubt. I give all [my success] to my parents because I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”Strand, who recently married in December 2024, also leans heavily on her husband and her close-knit team at McKenzie Health to navigate the overwhelming days. “My job is worth it because of my staff. I will say that until I’m blue in the face,” Strand said. “My staff makes this job so, so fun. When you’re able to joke with each other and tease each other and laugh, especially in our environment...I got to give all the credit to my team because they go above and beyond.”
With two awards under her belt and a promising career ahead of her, Strand isn’t slowing down. She is currently spearheading several clinic projects aimed at expanding rural care beyond treatment and into robust cancer prevention and early screening measures.”I would just love to see our clinic grow and just offer as many services as we can to the rural area,” Strand said. “Just be a place where people say that ‘this was the best care I could have asked for. This was the best care my family member could have received.’” As she continues to expand services at McKenzie Health, Strand remains focused on the human side of medicine. For this hometown nurse, the true reward is found in the comfort she brings to Watford City patients when they need it most.