Page 15 - KMAland Healthcare Heroes

KMAland 2021 A Salute to KMAland Healthcare Heroes 15
HONORING THE ALUMNI

OF SHENANDOAH COMMUNITY SCHOOLS

By Jamie Burdorf “Being at UNMC as the pan- ing heart failure, providing the lat-
demic started helped us all appreci- est advances in that specific area of
he world has experienced ate and understand the severity of medicine.
– is actually still experienc- the situation that was unfolding,” While Lundgren helps at the
Ting – a pandemic the likes Lundgren said. “I think one of the Shenandoah hospital, less than a
of which has not seen in over 100 biggest things for me during the mile up the road, the Shenandoah
years. COVID-19 hit in early 2020, pandemic was that our patients had Community Schools have dealt
and by that March, forced educa- to get through a lot of rough days with changes of their own during
tional, commercial and even church with less than usual support. Our the pandemic.
I shutdowns. Since then, everything patients that get a heart transplant, For school nurses Linda Laughlin
in life seems to have been turned or a left ventricular assist device, are and Kristy O’Rourke, there have
upside down.
frequently in the hospital for weeks. been several additions to their daily
From the stress on our healthcare And for them not being able to have duties, including contact tracing;
system, to mask wearing, to event the support of family or friends dur- mask education and encouragement;
cancellations, to online learning and ing their recovery was very difficult more involvement with
much more, life is radically different – for the patients as well as the pro- attendance/ab-
that it was just more than a year ago. viders.” sence tracking
All of us have come to know that While Lundgren always had an in- and watching
COVID-19 is a respiratory disease terest in science, that increased dur- for trends; de-
caused by SARS-CoV-2, a new coro- ing his time in high school when he veloping mit-
navirus that is spread person-to-per- took anatomy, chemistry and phys- igation strat-
son mainly through close contact. ics. He then realized he wanted to egies and
It took highly-educated and ex- do something in science long-term. the district
perienced scientists, physicians and It wasn’t until after a few semesters response plan;
other healthcare providers to fig- at the University of Iowa that he re- increased com-
ure that out and teach us how to alized he wanted to be a physician. munication
cope with the virus. And that has “I fell in love with cardiology dur- with
prompted new understanding and ing my first year of medical school
appreciation of the importance of while learning about the
the sciences in the curricula of our physiology of the cardio-
schools – from K-12 thru higher ed. vascular system,” Lund-
We’ve been talking about that re- gren said. “As I started
cently with alumni and other sup- residency, I began do-
porters of our Shenandoah Com- ing some research on
munity Schools who are involved heart failure, and that
in healthcare, many of whom have finalized what I want-
had front-line positions in the battle ed my career to be. I Dr. Scott Lundgren
against COVID-19. We asked them love the long-term
about their high school academic relationships that I
experiences and how their interest get to develop with
in healthcare grew. my patients.”
One Shenandoah High alumnus Not only does
in particular, Dr. Scott Lundgren, Lundgren practice
has dealt with the pandemic from cardiology in Omaha,
its start. Lundgren, who graduated but he now also comes
from SHS in 2004, is a cardiologist to Shenandoah Medi-
at the University of Nebraska Medi- cal Center to clinics on
cal Center (UNMC) in Omaha. recognizing and treat-