Manchester Magazine manchester magazine fall 2019 for joomag | Page 18

MU | F e a t u r e s
“It was a dream come true,” says Lori of
sharing the experience with Karly, a biology-
chemistry major.
A family practice physician at Walnut Street
Family Healthcare in North Manchester, Lori
went on the medical practicum as a student
three decades ago. This year, she became the
26th Manchester graduate to participate as
a health care provider. Mother and daughter
Dr. Kathy Driver ’71 Long and Dr. Rachel
Long ’06 were repeat volunteers this year.
For most of the practicum, Karly and
Lori worked separately, but spent one day
together at Karly’s request. “While I knew
what my mom did, I never actually got to
see her practice,” says Karly, who took notes
for prescriptions, recorded diagnoses and
conferred with her mom about what they
were seeing in patients. “That was pretty cool
– to see her in her element.”
Living conditions on the practicum were
outside their element. Off the grid, they
had no cell phone service, and generators
provided electricity for only two hours a day.
Garbage bags provided makeshift stalls for
privacy when they showered. “It makes you
realize how most of the world lives,” says
Karly. “We are the minority. It just puts a lot
of the world into perspective.”
Though the 40 or so from MU slept on
concrete floors in two schoolrooms, they
may have been too exhausted at the end
of each 11-hour workday to care. “They
kept us working because there was such an
opportunity to help the people there,” says
Karly. “There were hard times that you just
had to get through and things that were
uncomfortable – things that really grow your
character.”
Like Lori, Izzy, director of The Health and
Counseling Center at Saint Mary’s College
in Notre Dame, Ind., wanted to give her
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daughter space on the practicum. “I didn’t
want to crowd Gwen, and I only wanted to
go if she wanted me to, so I waited for her to
ask,” says Izzy. “And I think Jeff (Osborne)
asked both Gwen and Karly if they really
wanted their moms to go.”
The Fourmans did work side by side on
the last day of the practicum and Izzy was
“amazed” at how well her daughter did.
“Several of the other providers told me what
a great job she did while she was in their
clinic, too.”
Working together “was very cool,” adds Izzy.
“Whether or not she decides to go in to
the medical field, it’s always great to create
memories with your children.”
Izzy understands those memories. As a
Manchester sophomore, she went on the
practicum to Nicaragua with her physician
dad, Dr. Keim Houser ’61. At the time,
she was a peace studies major, but helping
deliver two babies got her hooked on health
care and she switched to biology-chemistry.
In 1997, she graduated from the accelerated
nursing program at Saint Mary’s and in 1999
graduated from Vanderbilt University as a
women’s health nurse practitioner.
Lori graduated in 1996 from Michigan State
University College of Osteopathic Medicine
and, like Izzy, has deep and wide family
connections to Manchester. The daughter
of longtime Psychology Professor Gary
Zimmerman ’64 and Jean Warstler ’64
Zimmerman, Lori remembers the good
advice she received from the professional
health care providers – most of them alumni
– on her first practicum. Those conversations,
she said, “are where you learn life skills about
what it’s like to be in medical school and how
do you raise a family with such a stressful
job. Those were as important to me as
encouragement.”
This past January, Lori returned the favor
by sharing her perspectives with current
students. “The kids were just amazing to
work with,” says Lori. “The students were
very professional, respectful, engaging and
enthusiastic. It’s exciting to see the next
generation of health care providers, whatever
they go into.”
In turn, the health care providers taught Karly
“how alumni love to give back” and how
strong the culture of service is at Manchester.
When you see alumni going back on the
practicum – some of them repeatedly – it
sends a powerful message, adds Karly.
Izzy, who counts “a bazillion” relatives who
went to Manchester, says she loves that Gwen
chose her alma mater. However, she also
wants her daughter to be her own person and
make the career choices that are right for her.
After the practicum, “I think she realizes she
has options,” says Izzy. “As a global health
major she’s talked about working for the
World Health Organization or trying to fix
messed-up medical systems. ... She is only 19.
She doesn’t have to know what she wants to
do with the rest of her life yet.”
For Karly, the path points clearly to a life
much like her mother’s in family practice
medicine. Lori, who also serves on the
President’s Leadership Council at MU and
is vice president of the Alumni Board of
Directors, has modeled an ethic of service
and demonstrated to Karly how to raise a
family and still have a rewarding medical
career.
“I’ve been able to put my job and my family
first,” adds Lori. “I hope that’s something I’ve
shown my daughters.”
By Melinda Lantz ’81