Only in North Dakota: UND grads-brothers Ian and Conor Roche on performing the last and first surgeries in the former and new Altru Health System hospitals in Grand Forks

With an eye toward his brother on the other side of the coffee table in front of him, Dr. Ian Roche reflected on the massive material transfer he and all of his Altru Health System colleagues had made not a week before from Altru’s seventies era hospital in Grand Forks to the system’s new facility 100 yards north.

“Bittersweet for sure,” admitted Ian. “But much more sweet.”

Smiling at his brother’s candor, Dr. Conor Roche agreed.

“I walked into one of the new operating rooms and saw windows on both sides – seeing all that natural light,” Conor gushed. “I was just like: ‘I could operate in this room all day.’”

Last and first

On January 19, the siblings, both graduates of the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) M.D. program, had the distinct honor of participating in the last and first surgeries at the former and new Altru hospitals, respectively.

The day that Altru’s team was scheduled to transfer patients, equipment, and staff from one facility to the other, Conor, a general surgeon who graduated from SMHS in 2019, helped acclimate Altru’s surgical team to their new environs by managing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy – or gallbladder removal – for a patient who presented suffering from urgent gallbladder disease.

It was the first surgery performed in the new hospital.

Just hours earlier that same day, Ian, an anesthesiologist who earned his M.D. degree in 2016, helped another Altru physician – SMHS alum Dr. Ryder Bekkedahl – perform a Caesarean section in the former Altru Hospital at the same time as his colleagues from other parts of the hospital were then moving into the new space.

“It was really fun, because I was on call,” said Ian. “I was the last anesthesiologist on-call at the legacy hospital and helped Conor on a surgery the day before. He didn’t do the very last surgery there, but I worked on the final case at the legacy hospital early in the morning of January 19. And then that was it.”

Acknowledging the mixed emotions that such a move evokes, Ian emphasized how much better the new space is already proving to be for his team of anesthesiologists.

“Knowing that we had a great facility, but knowing too that we’re going to this building where our level of care is going to be stepped up is huge,” he said. “So much time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears went into designing and building this facility, and we had so much community support.”

According to both physicians, the last and first surgeries went well.

“I got the call that there was a patient who came in and needed urgent surgery,” Conor recalled of the gallbladder surgery. “I was talking to the team and said, ‘Well, let’s do this urgent case in the new space.’ And the first surgery went without a hitch.”

Recruitment and retention

Above and beyond providing area patients with more and better healthcare, the Roche brothers added that the new facility is already helping the health system with recruitment and retention of not only physicians but providers and staff of all types.

Referencing Altru’s several new or soon-to-arrive general surgeons, otolaryngologists (Ear, Nose, and Throat physicians or ENTs), and other specialists, Ian explained how “the allure, the attractiveness of a new hospital and being able to help establish a new level of care” at a new facility is already impacting the system’s operations and staffing in positive ways.

“The new building highlights Altru’s commitment to the community and embodies the mission, vision, and values of the organization,” he said. “It has all the modern technology that any large academic facility offers to their patients. It’s very attractive for people.”

Only in North Dakota

All of this is particularly true for North Dakotans who came from across the state to train at UND.

“I’d interviewed a number of other places, but knowing that the surgery and anesthesia groups at Altru were very high-functioning and well-respected within the health system kept me interested in signing here,” said Ian, whose father works with UND faculty and staff on personal finance. “I was excited to be coming back close to home and providing care to the patients and the community that supported me through my education. UND’s School of Medicine & Health Sciences is obviously a public, community-based school, and I wanted to give back to the community.”

This notion of giving back not only to the community that educated you but one that includes most of your family and friends was echoed by Ian’s colleague Dr. Jonathan Haug, an anesthesiologist by training who serves as Medical Director of Surgical & Procedural Services at Altru.

“I grew up around the corner from Ian’s and Conor’s mother in Grafton,” laughed Haug, who graduated from the SMHS M.D. program in 2001. “My parents were friends with Conor’s and Ian’s grandparents. I actually had play dates with their aunt when I was a kid. To take it a step further, this aunt is now a professor at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where I was in residency, and her next-door neighbor is a residency classmate of mine. You just can’t make this stuff up.”

Smiling at his colleague’s anecdote, Conor agreed, adding that these are the connections that make North Dakota such a compelling place to train and practice medicine.

“This new hospital really emphasizes that Altru is a beacon of healthcare in the area, and that we’re open for business,” he said. “We’re here to help you, we’re state-of-the-art, and now, as community-based surgeons, we’re here to help North Dakota, and play a supportive role for the critical access hospitals that might need us.”