Yang finds fit at medical center
Megan Alexander — Staff WriterArticle Photos
Editor's Note: First in a series of stories on surgical care at Fairmont Medical Center.
FAIRMONT - Dr. Lee Yang is young - though not as young as she looks; energetic - watch out when she's running through the halls; and she's overflowing with stories about her past and ideas for the future.
"Seeing that recorder reminds me ..." she said. And before the interview had begun, she was launching into a vision she had to minimize the time doctors spend on documentation and improve accuracy by recording patient visits on video.
Her enthusiasm continued as she skirted from one topic to the next - a notorious habit of hers. Her hands, small and fragile-looking - and known in the surgical department for their precise stitches - never rested in her lap as she spoke of her background, opinions and interests.
At times Yang, 43, looks more like a teen-ager than an M.D. with 14 years experience as a general surgeon. She is one of four surgeons at the medical center, where she works on a part-time basis - two weeks on and then two weeks off.
When Yang is on duty, she follows the same schedule as the other surgeons, Dr. LeRoy Hodges, Dr. Hyun Kim and Dr. Philip Vuocolo. Three days out of the week they perform procedures ranging from colonoscopies to gallbladder surgery. The other two work days they're in the clinic seeing patients.
"We believe we should be there for the patients," Yang said.
The surgeons also rotate being on-call.
"We have a surgeon on call every day," said Jason Howland, communications director. "They divide that up amongst the four of them. ... But in general, they are on-call a week at a time."
The unpredictable nature of being on-call - not knowing what or when emergencies will crop up - can be stressful, but Yang appreciates that aspect of her job.
"I think we all need stress," she said. "If we are not challenged, if we are not stressed, we may lose our imagination."
However, without enough time to rest, a surgeon can burn out, which Yang knows from experience. She grew up in New York City and completed her training at a major metropolitan county hospital. She would frequently be called to treat the victims and perpetrators of crimes, particularly wounded gang members.
"When I was done in '94, I was burned out and looking for change," she said. ".... I wanted to get as far from New York City as possible, and Minnesota seemed pretty far."
She was pleasantly surprised when she got here.
"People were so much more connected than I thought they would be," she said, admitting she had assumed medical staff would be isolated from the outside world. She worked at facilities in Blue Earth, St. Peter, Marshall and Virginia, Minn., before coming to Fairmont Medical Center, first on a temporary basis to help relieve Dr. Kim's workload - at that time, he was the only surgeon - and then becoming a permanent member of the surgical department.
While Yang is a general surgeon, she has a special interest in laparoscopic and breast surgeries. Her interest in women's health care comes from being a woman herself and relating to the struggles her female patients face.
"I know a lot of women prefer to see a woman physician," she said, careful not to put down men in the medical field. "... I think all of my male colleagues have more than enough sympathy - and empathy too - but there's definitely no comparison when it's something your doctor has experienced."
One example? Mammograms, a painful screening tool definitely invented by a male, Yang tells her female patients. She tries to keep a sense of humor, joking that no such tool would ever be used to check for testicular cancer.
But in all seriousness, Yang is looking forward to alternative ways to screen for breast cancer. MRIs are not the answer, she said, and ultrasounds are so sensitive they can lead to unnecessary surgeries, but she's optimistic something better will come along.
"I think that change is on the way," she said, describing a lecture she heard on a CT mammogram Harvard was developing with General Electric, which she hasn't seen on the market yet.
