WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED

By Craig Manning

From hospital leaders to podiatrists to orthodontists, many professionals whose names have been synonymous with local healthcare for decades are about ready to hang up their white coats for good.

At the same time, a burgeoning class of millennial healthcare professionals is beginning to take root here. This month, the TCBN toasts that next generation by shining a light on five young people who could lead Traverse City healthcare into its next chapter.

Brendan Franklin may only be 31 years old, but he’s already been a part of the team at Munson Medical Center (MMC) for nearly eight years. He’s also a key leader of the MMC team – and, as such, a key leader in northern Michigan’s healthcare ecosystem.

It will be 10 years this year since Franklin graduated from Northern Michigan University with his bachelor of science in nursing. In the decade since, he’s risen in the nursing field and at MMC in particular.

After a stint with the Beaumont Health system in southeast Michigan, Franklin came to Traverse City in 2015 to take a job as an emergency department nurse at MMC. Concurrently, he earned his master of science in nursing in 2017 through Chamberlain University.

Since then, he’s quickly climbed the ladder at Munson – first to assistant manager of nursing services for both the emergency room and the clinical observation unit in 2018, then to manager of nursing services for the whole MMC emergency department in February 2020.

Today, Franklin effectively sits second in command for nursing at MMC.

“It’s a big title,” he admitted when chatting with TCBN about his current role.

Franklin reports to the chief nursing officer of the hospital, and then above her is MMC President Matt Wille.

“I’m just two spots removed from the top of the MMC leadership team,” he said.

Franklin got a crash course in leadership when he took over emergency room management right before a global pandemic struck. With more than 200 direct reports, it was already a big job. COVID made the position even more daunting –and more bizarre.

“It was a roller coaster,” Franklin said of the job.

As the team tackled the pandemic, creating processes and trying to figure out how to care for the community, they were also dealing with huge volume changes, he said.

“There was a period of time where patients were very scared to come to the ER, so we had very low volumes, and then there was a time that volumes were very high due to COVID and everything else,” Franklin said.

The unknowns meant that there was constant planning with emergency management and trying to figure out alternate sites to care for patients “if we ever were to get flooded with patients like we saw on TV with New York,” he said.

While Franklin says he expects the emergency department leadership role “will go down as the toughest job I ever have in my career,” his new role – which he’s held since last July – entails a no-less-lengthy list of responsibilities.

A slew of different MMC departments report directly to him, from nursing supervisors, to central transport, to patient care management, to the regional EMS control authority. His throughput title means he’s in charge of making the continuum of care at MMC as seamless and efficient as possible. And his nursing operations job means he plays a role in helping Munson navigate an ongoing nursing shortage.

While all the hats Franklin is asked to wear could get heavy, he says he’s able to stay grounded because of his age.

“I think one of the benefits I have as a young leader is that I’m not too far removed from the bedside,” he said. “I was just there, in that job, so I can relate to the team and the challenges they’re facing day in and day out.”

Hannah Olson never thought she’d be a healthcare professional at all, let alone a healthcare leader. Her Hope College bachelor’s degree is in communications. But after returning to her native northern Michigan and spending some time working in local schools as a substitute teacher, camp counselor, and volleyball coach, she realized another passion: helping kids.

That revelation led Olson to pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology through Western Michigan University, which she earned by way of the Northwestern Michigan College University Center in Traverse City.

After finishing that degree in 2018, Olson spent a few years working as a school counselor – first at a middle school in Royal Oak, then at Kingsley High School, and eventually at The Pathfinder School in Leelanau County.

Last year, Olson started her own practice, called Birch and Bay Counseling, which focuses specifically on providing mental health services to kids and teens. Those types of services, she said, are in short supply in northern Michigan – particularly in the wake of the pandemic, which exacerbated youth mental health issues across all age ranges.

“In the schools, it was always hard to find counselors to refer kids to, because everyone was just so busy,” Olson said of her decision to go out on her own and start a business. “But since starting my practice, it’s been nice to be able to hear from parents who are just so relieved to find someone who is actually taking clients.”

Not only does northern Michigan lack the mental healthcare infrastructure to respond to the current youth mental health crisis, there is also a dearth of younger counselors working in the local area. That particular side of the shortage worries Olson, particularly as some of the area’s mental health professionals inch closer to retirement age.

“I do know a few folks from the area that are around my age that are interested in starting (youth mental health) practices,” Olson said. “Right now, though, most of them are working in the schools or in other capacities.”

Olson does think the demographics are starting to shift – if not necessarily in her profession, then at least more generally.

“When I moved home 5-6 years, it was hard to find people my age to hang out with,” she explained. “It’s cool to see people have the ability to come back up here, do the things they love, and find places where they can support the community. The fact that there are more jobs available for people my age – and that we’re successful in these jobs – that’s cool to see, and will hopefully draw more people here.”

To help that process along, Olson hopes to become more visible in the community. While starting Birch and Bay allowed her to respond to a gap in mental health services locally, it also took her out of an environment where she was able to interact with dozens of kids on a regular basis. Her core long-term goal is to find a way to build a bridge between her old job and her new one.

“I would love to be more involved in the community, and maybe do some programming with the schools that would help provide access (to mental healthcare) to more kids,” she said. “Because I do miss that school environment and being able to reach a larger number of kids.”

From a young age, Dr. Daniel Spencer knew he wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.

That “grandfather” was Dr. John Spencer, a longtime family physician whose name is likely familiar to many families in northern Michigan. John Spencer was one of the earliest graduates from Munson Hospital’s family practice residency program and eventually opened his own practice in town.

As a physician, the elder Spencer oversaw the area’s first oral polio immunization effort and made a name for himself as a doctor who would never turn away patients who couldn’t afford to pay. As a community service man, Spencer was also a longtime executive director of the Oleson Foundation, a 17-year member of the Grand Traverse County Parks and Recreation Commission, and an appointee to the Great Lakes Fisheries Advisory Commission among other titles.

For Daniel, growing up surrounded by the legacy of his grandpa convinced him of two things at an early age: First, that healthcare would be his career path, and second, that he wanted to live in a community he cared about deeply, where he could have an impact in both professional and service capacities. The only big question, Spencer said, was what medical specialty he actually wanted to study.

“I had no clue about podiatry until high school,” Spencer noted. It was through Jeff Stych, a classmate and a teammate on the Traverse City Central High School hockey team, that Spencer met Dr. William Stych, owner and doctor of podiatric medicine (DPM) at TC’s Ankle & Foot Associates.

A job-shadowing session and some chats with Dr. Stych convinced Spencer that podiatry might be a good fit for him. The specialty offered opportunities for work in the operating room and in clinic, and seemed to provide ideal work-life balance. Most importantly, Spencer saw a chance to work in a specialty where he could have a palpable impact on his patients’ lives – and, by extension, on his community.

“Everything comes down to mobility with podiatry, and the mobility aspect is so tangible for patients,” Spencer explained. “So, when I came to that conclusion – that everything you do as a podiatrist helps people work, live, and play – and to enjoy their life to the best of their abilities – that sealed the deal.”

An impressive post-high-school resume – an undergrad degree from University of Michigan; a DPM from Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California; chief resident status at his podiatric residency at HCA Houston Healthcare West – kept Spencer busy and away from Traverse City for many years. When he finally concluded his residency in 2021, Spencer set his compass north, just like he’d always intended.

What’s happened since, Spencer said, has been a parade of full-circle life moments. He and his fiancé moved into the same house where he grew up, right across the street from the high school he graduated from in 2009.

He joined the practice at Ankle & Foot Associates, alongside his former mentor Dr. William Stych (and with his former hockey teammate Jeff, who also went into the family business). And he got to join the healthcare community where his grandpa made such a mark.

“I’ve seen a few patients who knew my grandpa,” Spencer said. “They’ll tell me things like, ‘Oh, your grandpa delivered three of my four kids.’ And that is just so gratifying.”

Now, as Spencer looks to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps as a healthcare and community leader, he’s taking solace in the fact that his one reservation about moving back to northern Michigan – that there wouldn’t be many people his age – largely proved to be a false alarm.

“Traverse City really doesn’t feel like it’s just a population of snowbirds anymore,” he said. “To be a young person living in this community and to see other young people whenever we’re hanging out around town, that makes it feel like more of a place that’s going to be lasting for us.”

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It was luck and good timing that brought Maddy Stumpos and Tom Brown to Traverse City. The wife-and-husband duo moved to northern Michigan last summer, but unlike some of the other healthcare professionals on this list, they were not boomerangs making their way back.

Stumpos and Brown are Midwest natives: She grew up in Lansing; he grew up in northern Indiana. They both attended dental school at University of Michigan, where they met one another. Before making Traverse City their home, the two were looking far and wide for the place where they wanted to put down roots.

Stumpos completed her orthodontic residency at Oregon Health & Sciences University, which naturally took the pair to the Pacific Northwest. Later, after Stumpos finished her schooling, they moved to Colorado. But the pull of Michigan is strong, and soon, the couple were researching practices to buy in the Mitten State.

That’s where the luck and good timing came into play. Initially, Stumpos and Brown figured their best chances for finding a for-sale orthodontic practice in Michigan would be to shop in a bigger city like Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. Then, an opportunity in Traverse City landed on their radar.

“There was just this kind-of-vague post on the American Association of Orthodontics job posting site,” Stumpos said. “It said something like ‘Practice for sale in beautiful northern Michigan.’ It didn’t even say where.”

“Beautiful northern Michigan” sounded appealing enough to Stumpos and Brown to make contact with the owner of the mystery listing. That owner turned out to be Dr. Sara Bergsma, a longtime Traverse City orthodontist who was in the early stages of seeking a buyer for her practice, which she’d founded in 1992. With a Michigan visit already planned, Stumpos and Brown called a few last-minute audibles to add a Traverse City stop to their itinerary.

Long story short, Bergsma and Stum- pos hit it off, and Stumpos and Brown bought Bergsma’s practice last July and rechristened it Traverse City Orthodontics. The purchase makes Stumpos only the second female orthodontist in Traverse City history; Bergsma was the first.

Eight months later, Stumpos and Brown are putting down roots in northern Michigan in more ways than one. Brown is in the process of closing on his own business in Traverse City (he’s buying the general dentistry practice of Dr. Stan Smyka, located on Eighth Street) and is gearing up to start practicing full time.

Additionally, the pair are searching for their first house in northern Michigan and are expecting their first child later this spring. This place, they said, has quickly come to feel like home.

Of course, there are hurdles to coming into a brand-new place and trying to start two businesses there – especially businesses that revolve around trust, familiarity, and long-term doctor-patient relationships.

“It’s challenging because people don’t know who I am,” Stumpos said. “And so that’s the biggest thing (for the business) is just getting my name out there and meeting people. It’ll just take time to build that community.”

The good news, Brown said, is how welcoming the local dental community has been. Through Bergsma, Stumpos and Brown were both immediately introduced to the Resort District Dental Society (RDDS), a local affiliate of both the Michigan Dental Association and the American Dental Association to which every local dentist and orthodontist belongs.

“Since I came in without a job lined up, meeting the RDDS membership was super helpful,” Brown said. “Anytime someone heard of an opportunity, they would let me know. I felt like I had 20 people trying to find me a job. As a result, finding a practice to buy happened easier than I expected it to.”

Another factor that probably helped Brown? The fact that many of the area’s dentists and orthodontists are nearing the same point in their careers that Bergsma and Smyka were, where they’re about ready to retire and hand off their practices to the next generation.

That shift, Brown and Stumpos both said, will open the door for them to make names for themselves and build their reputations as leaders in the local dental community.

“This field, it tends to go in 30-year waves,” Brown said of dental and orthodontic practices. “You start or buy a practice and then it’s typically another 30 years before that practice transitions to another person.”

With a lot of the baby boomer generation entering their 60s, says Brown, the next five years could yield a lot of changeover.

“You’ll see a lot of practices changing names and changing owners,” he said. “And then people like us, who are in a stage of their career where they’re ready to take on ownership, they’ll be looking for those opportunities.”

Per Stumpos, that shift is already playing out – and is giving her an opportunity to get her foot in the door.

“It’s been fun, because there are a lot of new dentists up here right now,” she said. “And so, they are willing to give me a try (when referring their patients to an orthodontist), which is nice.”