March 15, 2021

My Why: Dr. Dennis Peterson

Central, Clinical Partners

I come from a rural farm background in Southwest Minnesota. My mentor was our family doctor who practiced in our community for probably 40 years. He delivered 3,000 babies, was an active surgeon as well as a family doc. So my experience was largely tailored after what I saw him do and how he lived as a physician in our community.

A Realization

I have come to realize in caring for patients that what people ultimately want is a sense of peace and sometimes they need help getting there. Because oftentimes there’s baggage that is emotional, and many, many times it’s physical. But it’s the process of learning that regardless of what that baggage is, my job as a physician is to say, “Listen, you can live life in peace, comfort and in hope.”

I have come to realize in caring for patients that what people ultimately want is a sense of peace and sometimes they need help getting there.

And that’s different for everybody, but it’s not until you listen and ask those questions that you get there. It doesn’t happen when they walk in with a sore throat. It comes when you develop a relationship. And from those relationships come stories that are beautiful, scary, redemptive, haunting – but healing as well. And that’s what we need to focus on.