A return to rural

May 21, Dr. Dean Moews was sheltering in place at MercyOne in Des Moines because severe storms were hitting the city.

A part-time provider in the emergency room in Greenfield since 2008, Moews had become somewhat familiar with the community here. He was saddened when he learned Greenfield was struck by a tornado.

“About the time we were sheltering in a spot in the hospital, I heard Greenfield was hit and called and asked if they needed me. So, I drove here and I helped set up the triage that first night,” Moews said.

The months after that EF-4 tornado that struck Greenfield have reaffirmed for Moews what a strong, resilient small town Greenfield is. That’s just one reason he’s excited to be spending even more time here in a new role at Adair County Health System.

Moews' transition to his new position was in the discussion phases when the tornado happened.

Moews directed the residency program at MercyOne in Des Moines for almost a decade and was teaching faculty in the family medicine program for years before that.

“Things that I can bring to Greenfield that are unique are that I have a long history of teaching family medicine that includes clinic-based and hospital-based care, obstetrics, trauma, geriatrics and surgical procedures. I’ve taught it all and have done that for a long time,” Moews said. “I still teach at Mercy for their advanced trauma course, probably every three months.”

Though a passion of his is to teach, Moews said he has loved the transition back to caring for patients on a more regular basis.

Moews will be a full-time emergency room hospitalist physician and will also be a provider urgent care.

“I feel like now that this is my primary role, I can dedicate even more time, effort, energy, thoughts and potentially administrative skills — whatever it takes — to help our health system do even more than we have done in the past, or potentially tweak a few things to do them even better," Moews said. “As a doctor who would see patients here on the weekends occasionally before, that wasn’t my role. Now that I’m full-time, I can continue building on the strong foundation Adair County already has.”

That strong foundation was put to the test after the tornado. A celebration heralding the Nov. 11 reopening of the facility was scheduled for this week and was expected to be an important moment in the history of Adair County Health System.

“We all wanted to be back the very next day, but to be frank, to come back as quickly as it was is quite impressive. To see the resiliency of this community, with people rebuilding their houses or businesses, doing everything to recover from that tornado, I grew up in a small town and like rural health,” Moews said. “I don’t switch jobs very often, so this is something my wife and I thought about for quite a bit. Watching how everybody interacts reaffirms that this is what I want to do.”