Small town a perfect fit for family of doctors
Jon Ahrendsen (right); one of his daughters, Andrea McLoughlin (second from left); and Andrea’s husband, Michael McLoughlin (left), all practice medicine in Clarion, Iowa. Andrea’s sister, Elizabeth Dupic (second from right), practices family medicine at Buena Vista Regional Medical Center in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Jon Ahrendsen was assisting his daughter, Andrea McLoughlin, on a cesarean section when he realized something: He had been the doctor when the mother was born.
“We came out after the birth and I saw the new grandmother, who I knew when she became a new mother,” Ahrendsen says. “To have delivered the patient who Andrea was performing a C-section on was pretty special.”
The two family medicine doctors at Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics in Clarion, Iowa, aren’t the only doctors in the family. Andrea’s husband, Michael McLoughlin, is a general internist with them in Clarion, and her sister, Elizabeth Dupic, is a family medicine doctor in Storm Lake, Iowa.
All are alumni of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
Elizabeth Dupic’s goal was always to practice family medicine in a small town—like her father, Jon Ahrendsen, and sister, Andrea McLoughlin, before her. After she graduated from the University of Iowa, she found a perfect fit in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Ahrendsen says he started considering medicine as a career while in high school in Manning, Iowa.
“I took a sort of interest profile test that noted I liked people and science, and medicine was one of the things that combined those two areas,” Ahrendsen says.
With two sisters who had already attended Iowa, Ahrendsen says he hardly thought of going anywhere else. He received his undergraduate degree in 1978 and medical degree in 1982.
Deciding on family medicine was another easy decision.
“I didn’t find any one part of medicine that enthralled me so much that I wanted to give up other parts of medicine,” Ahrendsen says. “I like seeing kids and delivering babies. I like covering the emergency room, doing a little bit of office surgery. I could do a little bit of everything.”
As he was finishing his residency at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa, one of his medical school classmates had accepted a job in Clarion. They needed another physician, and Ahrendsen decided it would be a good fit.
“There’s a sense of camaraderie that you have in a small town that you don’t get in the city. When you ask your neighbors for help, your neighbors will come and help you—even when you’re not asking for help,” Ahrendsen says. “When I moved to town, I went down to the hardware store to buy something for the house, and I left my credit card there. Within an hour, the guy who owned the hardware store knew I was the new doctor in town and talked to somebody who knew where my house was. And he drove to my house and brought me my credit card. That is not going to happen in a big city.”
Clarion, which has a population of less than 3,000, continues to be a good fit not just for Ahrendsen, but for his daughter and son-in-law and their family as well.
“There’s a sense of camaraderie that you have in a small town that you don’t get in the city. When you ask your neighbors for help, your neighbors will come and help you—even when you’re not asking for help.”
In deciding which career she might enjoy, Andrea McLoughlin says she wanted a job that would be in demand and allow her to live anywhere she wanted.
“And I grew up with a good example on that front,” Andrea McLoughlin says.
She went to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, as a pre-med student. While she applied to a few medical schools, Iowa was always her top choice.
Michael and Andrea McLoughlin, seen here with their kids (left to right) Lillian, Celia, and Eli, love raising their family in Clarion, Iowa, where they are close to other relatives. “We can see Andrea’s parents’ house from our house, and my parents are only 45 minutes away,” says Michael. “It would be a challenge to do what we do without help. I’m glad to be close to both of our parents, and our kids are super glad to be close to our parents.” (Photo courtesy of the McLoughlin family.)
Michael McLoughlin went to high school in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and got his undergraduate degree in psychology from Central College in Pella, Iowa. He was halfway through his first year of graduate school for exercise psychology at the University of Wisconsin when he decided he wanted to go to medical school.
“I appreciated all the intellectual aspects of what I did in grad school, but I liked all the people aspects of being a coach, and I thought I could do both of those in medicine,” Michael McLoughlin says.
He did his medical school prerequisites while finishing his master’s degree and applied to multiple schools. Ultimately, he chose Iowa—partially because he says it’s home.
Andrea and Michael say one of the best parts about medical school at Iowa, where they graduated in 2013, was the people.
“Being with a bunch of really thoughtful and talented classmates was special,” Michael McLoughlin says. “Even though we’re all pretty spread out now, we still feel really close to a lot of our friends from medical school.”
After finishing residencies in Des Moines—Andrea at Broadlawns Medical Center and Michael at Iowa Methodist Medical Center—the couple moved to Tacoma, Washington, for a year while Andrea completed a rural medicine and obstetrics fellowship with surgical OB training, which certified her to perform cesarean sections.
They considered moving to multiple places but decided on Clarion.
“There are a lot of places where we could practice, but we thought, ‘What kind of community can we best serve and most needs our skills?’” Andrea McLoughlin says.
“And a big part of it was that we knew we wanted to start a family soon,” Michael McLoughlin says. “We can see Andrea’s parents’ house from our house, and my parents are only 45 minutes away. It would be a challenge to do what we do without help. I’m glad to be close to both of our parents, and our kids are super glad to be close to our parents.”
“The university does such a great job of keeping all the busy work off your back, letting you focus on the things that really are important, and giving you opportunities to see how medicine really works when it’s done well.”
Andrea and Michael McLoughlin met as first-year medical students at the University of Iowa in a scene fit for a Hollywood film.
After being introduced at a social gathering the night before their first day of orientation, Andrea noticed Michael as she was biking to campus the next day. She waved hello, and Michael, who was also on his bicycle, turned to wave back. Unfortunately, as he did so, he missed the ramp to the sidewalk, hit the curb, popped a tire, and flew over the handlebars.
Fortunately, he was OK. Andrea, Michael, and their roommates walked together the rest of the way.
“We didn’t start dating until a year later, but it was certainly a memorable meeting,” Andrea McLoughlin says.
They also enjoy practicing medicine with Ahrendsen.
“Growing up, my dad was the smartest person I knew, hands down,” Andrea McLoughlin says. “I appreciate the adult relationship we have now, and I continue to admire him. We also appreciate that he is open to seeking advice and accepting help from us newbies.”
The three family members are all proud to practice medicine, and to do it in a rural area.
“Years later, I still think medicine is a good career,” Ahrendsen says. “People are always going to have illness, disease, and accidents, and need physicians to help. And I think it’s very gratifying when you can help another person.”
Michael McLoughlin says as a general internist, he especially is a bit of a rarity in a rural health care setting.
“I have a lot of patients for whom travel has become difficult and getting to any sort of specialist is a huge undertaking,” he says. “I often end up being their specialist in a lot of different areas. If I wasn’t here, they may not get that care.”
He admits that it can be difficult at times.
“You don’t have the support that you have in a place like the university, where you can walk around a corner and run into an expert who can help with a question regarding a patient that you’ve been stewing over all day,” he says. “It takes a special person to want to practice in a rural area. But it’s important, and there are a lot of people in places like this who matter and deserve to get good health care.”
The Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine is a highly ranked medical school where students learn to become accomplished clinicians and top-flight researchers and educators. Students come to Iowa to study medicine in a program that uses case-based learning as the basis of their education.
Andrea McLoughlin says she encourages medical students to consider practicing in rural areas, but she also knows it’s not for everyone. No matter what, she encourages medical students to keep an open mind about what and where they practice.
“Just because you had an experience with a cancer doctor who you thought was awesome and that’s what got you to go into medicine doesn’t mean that you need to be an oncologist,” she says. “There are lots of medicine practices.”
As for Michael McLoughlin, he encourages medical students to take advantage of the many opportunities that the Carver College of Medicine offers. He and Andrea say they especially appreciated the chance to see and practice medicine around the world. They both spent time in Tanzania and Ecuador, and Michael also went to Sweden.
“The university does such a great job of keeping all the busy work off your back, letting you focus on the things that really are important, and giving you opportunities to see how medicine really works when it’s done well,” Michael McLoughlin says. “You also can be exposed to it on a global scale, which is valuable. It’s just a special place that gives you a huge opportunity to improve yourself and see the big picture of the world.”
