PA Finds a Home for Horses in Her Move to Oklahoma
Posted on Friday, December 19th, 2025
NEW PA IN EMERGENCY ROOM BRINGS A PASSION FOR MEDICINE AND HORSES
DeDeAnders, DMS, PA-C
DeDe Anders was 17 years old in 1991 and wondering what to do with her life when she first set foot in Oklahoma.
Or, rather boot. The native of Wyoming arrived here as a solider at Ft. Sill in Lawton. Based on aptitude test scores, the U.S. Army made her a medic. She worked three years in a troop medical clinic, and grew to like the field.
When her time in the Army was up, Anders' direction in life was set - pursue medical studies and zero in on a specialty.
She never forgot Oklahoma – especially the warm weather and the strong tradition in horses and rodeos. She has been a barrel racer from youth.
In 2025, Anders and medicine, and horses, and Oklahoma would meet again. She joined Mercy Health Love County Emergency Room as a Physician Assistant on September 1, the day the new emergency room opened. She moved from Wyoming with two barrel-racing horses.
"My world is small," she said, “medicine and horses."
Her medical education from 1994 to the present has been phenomenal.
It topped out in 2023 with a doctorate of medical science (DMS), the highest academic degree a physician assistant can obtain. Her specialty within the degree was emergency medicine. The granting institution was Lincoln Memorial University.
Already, her expertise is being recognized. The national board for PA’s has engaged Anders to write questions for the PA-C, the profession’s national exam. Passing the exam permits a PA to practice in any state and it demonstrates a dedication to excellence in the profession.
Teaching is also in the offing at the newest PA program in the state at Oklahoma City University.
Previously, she earned a PA degree (a master’s degree) from the University of North Dakota in 2008, a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Wyoming in 2005, and an Associate’s degree in nursing from Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming in 1996.
During her long career, Anders has worked specialties from family practice to neurosurgery and has developed a special interest in drugs of treatment for mental health.
She lives on 20 acres in Elmore City, where she enjoys competitive barrel racing nearly every weekend.
“It is totally consuming,” she said of her hobby. “I gain a total break from the intensity of the emergency room.” Back home in Wyoming she has a sister two brothers, including Warren Anders, who has been a professional rodeo athlete in roping.
She showed pictures of herself breaking ice for the horses last winter, during a snow storm. “They are living their best life in Oklahoma,” she said.