Sara and Chad Vandrovec grew up about a mile and a half from each other and attended the same schools all the way through high school, but they weren't really more than acquaintances until much later.
When Sara was finishing up her medical degree from the University of North Dakota, she found Chad's name on a list of other students doing their residencies around the country and called him up. He was one year into his residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
She recalls, "I was toying with going into anesthesiology. I was confused about what to do, but Chad put a positive twist on it, and I ended up in the same program."
Chad adds, "We were acquaintances until Sara moved to Milwaukee. Then we became best friends."
"Three months later we started dating, and within a year we were engaged," Sara says. That was in 2005.
A few years later, Chad was working at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin while Sara finished up her residency in anesthesiology and a fellowship in pain medicine. By that time, they married and had a baby, Matthew, who was born in February 2008.
Coming Full Circle
For Chad, coming home had always been in the back of his mind. Sara, however, wanted to be in a big city. She began to change her mind with the birth of Matthew. Chad laughs and says, "Very shortly after Matthew was born, Sara had an epiphany that Fargo is a great place to raise a family." So they began the process of finding jobs back home.
MeritCare offered positions to both Chad and Sara, and they were happy to come home and start their new practices. Unfortunately, they chose one of the many terrible days last winter to arrive. Chad says, "We moved here in the middle of December, two days before a major snow storm came through."
Aside from the harsh winter and wet spring, both Sara and Chad are really happy to be back and are enjoying their family and work lives.
The Busy Lives of These Two Doctors
Chad, who works primarily in the OR, enjoys the people he works with. He says, "I enjoy working with a nice group of staff members. They have good personalities, and are hard workers. The patients are great, too."
Sara's work life is spent in the pain clinic where she is employed not quite full time. That was one of the perks in coming to MeritCare. "Prior to starting, I requested to work a little less than full time, and MeritCare was receptive. That makes life a little nicer for our family," says Sara.
Both doctors are enjoying being back home and having careers at MeritCare. The quality of care, the number of specialists, and the amount of compassion that goes into treating patients has been an excellent discovery for them both.
They have also been pleasantly surprised at the growth they have noticed in Fargo and say it has changed for the better since they last resided here. They are finding great new restaurants, and with two sets of grandparents in town, they can even go to them once in a while.
For these two busy, young doctors, returning to Fargo and working at MeritCare has proven to be the perfect prescription.