Family inspiration for life in healtcare

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, March 10, 2008

Heather Reeve was 13 years old when her father, Donald, died of a heart attack at age 68. The youngest of seven children, Reeve says her father’s death was difficult throughout middle and high school and later prompted an interest in medicine.

“I knew I wanted to be in health care,” said Reeve, who was also inspired by her mother, Zella.

“My mom is a retired nurse and she worked for probably over 40 years. She worked until she was 68.”

Now a physician assistant at ELEAH Medical Center in Elbow Lake, Reeve began her career at Concordia College in Moorhead, where she studied pre-medicine.

After graduating in 1996, she returned to her hometown of Bird Island to work at Glesener’s Inc., a long-term care facility for people with brain injuries. That experience, Reeve said, provided insight into a range of potential careers, from occupational therapy to physical therapy to psychology.

“You kind of got a look at the realm of health care,” she said.

After about two years at Bird Island, Reeve began a two-year physician assistant program at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. She completed her master’s in 2000, and has worked at ELEAH Medical Center for seven years.

“I love the work and I love the patients,” she said. “You get to meet a lot of interesting people and you know your patients well.”

Those patients range in age from 2 weeks to 104 years, Reeve said, and span the communities of Elbow Lake, Barrett, Evansville, Ashby and Hoffman. A physician’s assistant, she explained, improves access to health care by providing some of the same services as doctors. Reeve performs physicals, child check-ups and developmental screenings, spending three half-days each week at the ELEAH clinic in Evansville. She also visits area nursing homes and covers shifts in the Elbow Lake emergency room.

As if that isn’t enough, Reeve is also a wife and mother. She married her husband, Eli, just before beginning her Augsburg program. Reeve and Eli, who works at the Elbow Lake Co-op Grain Co., are the parents of Brady, 4, and Stephanie, 17 months.

Work is not without its stresses, Reeve said, but at the end of the day, it’s worth it. The staff at ELEAH Medical Center are like a family and patients are often long-time friends. Medical technology is much more advanced than at the time of her dad’s death, Reeve said, and her father is never far from her thoughts.

“That still kind of comes back when you see patients,” she said.

A patient’s death, Reeve said, is especially hard in such a close-knit community.

“I still have a hard time with that,” she said, “but if it ever gets easier, then it’s time to do something else.”