Adrienne Laverdure
Caring for Individuals, Families and the
Community
For 11 years, family practitioner, Dr. Adrienne Laverdure,
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, has been caring
for individuals, families, and the community at the Peter
Christensen Health Center (PCHC) in Lac du Flambeau,
Wisconsin. The health center is located on the Lac du
Flambeau Indian Reservation, home of the Lac du Flambeau
Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
“Every day I feel like I’m helping somebody,” says
Laverdure. “You can actually see outcomes. People think of
you as someone they can trust, not only with physical
health concerns but also with mental health issues, such as
depression and anxiety. You’re the first one they come to
see when they need something.”
“Every day is different, Laverdure continues. “That’s why I
like family practice.” Laverdure’s patients range from
pregnant women and newborn babies to Elders. She might
first examine a man with diabetes and then talk with him
and his wife about modifying the family’s diet. Next she
might examine a baby and talk with the mother about the
baby’s care. Since the practice includes urgent care,
Laverdure might next have to care for a patient who doesn’t
have a scheduled appointment but needs to be seen
immediately because he is suffering with severe chest pain.
“I never know who is going to walk in the door,” she says.
Like most family practitioners, Laverdure works with a team
of providers. In her case, her colleagues include a second
family practitioner, a nurse practitioner, a physician
assistant, and a third family practitioner who joins the
team two days a week and helps with phone calls from
patients and their families when the clinic is closed.
Speaking of the PCHC team, Laverdure says, “We’re close and
take care of each other. We spend time together outside the
clinic. We’re family-oriented. We work it out so we can see
our kids perform in a play or we can be home with a sick
child.”
Despite the many demands of a busy practice, Laverdure
asserts, “My work doesn’t seem like a job. On my day off, I
miss it.”
Before coming to the clinic each day, Laverdure stops at
the hospital in Woodruff (about 12 miles away from her
clinic). Here she examines newborn babies that she has
recently delivered as well as their mothers. She also
visits and cares for any of her patients who are in the
hospital, including patients in the intensive care unit.
Then she goes to the clinic.
Laverdure particularly enjoys taking care of families and
multiple generations. “For problems, such as diabetes, we
work hard to get the family involved. We make appointments
with our families, and we have developed family-oriented
services, such cooking classes. We also test for diabetes
and high cholesterol in children, and we keep an eye on our
patients’ body mass index.”
Laverdure and her colleagues make special efforts to care
for Elders. “We do home visits. We send out community
health workers, who, among other things, help our Elders
maintain their daily schedule of medicine. The Lac du
Flambeau Tribe also has several support programs for its
Elders, including our food program.”
One of Laverdure’s proudest accomplishments to date is the
creation of a new, larger clinic that will be open soon. A
home for Elders will be next to the clinic so that
Laverdure and her colleagues will be able to visit the
Elders on a regular basis.
Like many family doctors, Laverdure and her colleagues care
for patients in the context of their community. She is
proud that PCHC is community-based and that they do
outreach not only for Elders but also for the rest of the
community. This includes health fairs as well as programs
that take place at worksites.
Laverdure thinks it’s important to work closely with the
tribal council on health initiatives. She says that the
tribe, which has assumed responsibility for the
administration and operation of health services and
programs, supports PCHC health providers and their efforts
to work towards preventing, reducing, and eliminating
serious health issues, such as diabetes. Laverdure and her
colleagues also collaborate with the tribal council and the
tribal departments in programs that help individuals
prevent illness and maintain good health.
Laverdure enjoys mentoring and supervising physician
assistant students, nursing students and medical students
who come to the clinic for supervised clinical experiences.
She is providing valuable experiences for the much needed
workforce of tomorrow.
Facing
Challenges
“I always knew
that I wanted to be a doctor, even when I was small,” says
Laverdure. However, I never thought I could go to medical
school.” Laverdure says she feels lucky that she got into
the University of North Dakota (UND) and into their
Indians into Medicine (INMED)
program. “But
living on a reservation all my life, I was shy and
scared. I wanted to go home. I called my mother and
asked her to come get me. Thank God she didn’t.”
While Laverdure was at UND, family physician, Dr Lois
Steele, Fort Peck Assiniboine, was the director of INMED.
Laverdure describes Steele as a strong advocate for Native
students and Native health care. “Once you got into INMED,
it was hard to get out,” Laverdure says with a laugh. “Our
counselors, like Deb Wilson, my main counselor, really
supported us. They kept us on the right tasks.” Laverdure
and the other Native students “hung out in groups” and
supported each other.
Laverdure was accepted into the medical school at UND with
an IHS scholarship. In her sophomore year, though, she
faced major challenges. Like many American Indian students
she had difficulty taking standardized tests, including an
important national board examination. During this same
period she was delighted when she gave birth to her son,
Ken, but the pressure of being both a medical student and a
mother was enormous.
Happily, thanks to the significant support from INMED and
her family, Laverdure was able to move forward. After
taking an intense program in test taking, she passed the
national examination. Meanwhile her family stepped in and
helped with the care of Ken. “At one time my sisters and I
lived in the same low-income building complex in the same
hallway. Also, when I moved on to the campus, it helped to
have my younger brother living with me for a while.”
During her third and fourth year of medical school, when
Laverdure and her classmates spent blocks of time learning
and working in the various specialties, such as internal
medicine, pediatrics, and surgery, she found that she loved
everything. Delivering babies was one of her most enjoyable
activities so she considered going in to obstetrics and
gynecology until she realized that, from her perspective,
specializing would prevent her from working with a tribal
community as a whole. As she looks back, she knows that
choosing family medicine was the right decision for her.
Finding the Right Place to Practice
Laverdure feels
that her residency at the family medicine residency program
in Fargo, North Dakota helped equip her for her current
work. “We dealt with poorer populations. We took care of
refugees from all over the world. We had migrant farmers
from Mexico. We could work at the local Native American
clinic. We had good instructors and four hospitals. We were
exposed to things that most residents never see.”
In the last year of her residency program, Laverdure gave
birth to her daughter, Veronica, After her residency
Laverdure had been planning to return to Turtle Mountain
with her children and practice there. However she learned
about Lac du Flambeau where there was more need for a
physician than in her own community. What ended up cinching
the deal? “In the first phase of the search process,” she
says, “I was interviewed by a group of Elders who helped me
realize that Lac du Flambeau was the right place for me to
practice. I immediately liked the community and the people.
I’m glad I decided to practice in Lac du Flambeau and call
it my home.”
Another
Doctor in the Family
Laverdure was
the first member of her family to become a health
professional. She’s not alone though because her son,
Kenneth Lee Bernard, is currently in his third year at
Harvard Medical School. “Due to my passion and love for
working with American Indian people, Ken has also chosen to
work for the Indian Health Service. He has also committed
himself to getting an MBA degree at Harvard to support his
work in administering tribal health services.”
Laverdure continues, “I knew what I wanted to do when I was
young. My son wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. When he
started talking about medicine, I said, ‘Really, are you
sure?’ He suffered a lot when I was going through my
training. We laugh now, but back then we ate a lot of Ramen
noodles and hamburger.”
Laverdure is proud of her son and her daughter, Veronica,
who plans to be a pastry chef. “We need a pastry chef
because lots of things in our family revolve around
eating,” says Laverdure with a smile.
Dr. Laverdure with her children (Ken
and Veronica) when Ken received his bachelor's
degree
Laverdure is also proud of her nephew, Kyle, who she
regards as a son. He lived with Laverdure and family while
he was in sixth and seventh grade and is now a graduate
student in clinical psychology and plans to specialize in
helping Native youth.
Gratitude
to Her Family
“Our passion
for life and learning comes from my family,” says
Laverdure. “With the help of my grandmother, my mother
raised seven children and served as a judge on the
reservation for many years. My sisters, two with doctorates
and one with a paralegal degree, encouraged me to pursue my
goals and to keep family as a priority. My three brothers
(one is an architect, one a Tribal judge, and one a parole
officer) have supported me as an American Indian woman in a
tough field. Without family, commitment, and goals, it
would have been difficult to succeed. As a family we hold
these core values dearly. We support Ken and the other
children in the same way. Their success will impact many
generations of American Indian people.”
Update 2010
Dr.
Laverdure reports that five members of her next generation
plan to be health professionals.
"My son, Ken, will graduate from Harvard Medical School
May, 2011. He has not yet decided what kind of residency he
wants to do.
“My nephew, Kyle Hill, is in the
doctoral program in clinical psychology at the
University of North Dakota. This summer Annabell Hill,
his wife, will start nursing school at the
University of North Dakota.
“My niece, Dara McDougall, also plans to go into medicine.
She was accepted into the undergraduate programs at
Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth. She will visit the campuses
later this month as part of deciding which school to
attend.
“My daughter, Veronica, has decided to go into family
practice, instead of becoming a pastry chef.
“I am president elect of the medical staff at Howard Young
Medical Center. With health reform now a reality, I hope
that I can again focus on reform in Indian Health,
including improving preventive care. The health care
provided by tribes is not of equal quality. We are trying
to develop a consulting-type service among different tribal
health care facilities, so all tribes can provide
high-quality care. We need to communicate and share
knowledge.”
The
article above was originally published in the Spring 2009
issue of
Winds of Change. The cover
artist is Joe Maktima, Laguna Pueblo/Hopi. This piece
entitled "Chanting Wind" and the rest of his work is rooted
in the culture of his pueblo ancestry. For more information
visit the artist's website: joemaktima.com or email him
at: jmaktima@infomagic.net.