From Teaching to Healing

By Renee Wahlen Tillema

While a teacher can change many lives through the education they share with their students, doctors also have the power to change lives through the knowledge they have gained as students. One woman who started out as a teacher, has now returned back to Columbus as a doctor. She is still in service to the community, just in a new way.

Dr. Elizabeth Tumpach was born and raised in Sun Prairie. She had always been interested in the field of science, and when the time came to choose an area of focus for college, Dr. Tumpach said it was a difficult decision between teaching and the medical field. Teaching won out, and after graduation Dr. Tumpach returned to the area and taught biology at Columbus High School.

"It was really fun working with the kids," she said, "and trying to get them a little bit excited about science."

Teaching was very rewarding for Dr. Tumpach, especially during her last year when she taught anatomy and physiology. This ended up being a good refresher for her journey back to school to become a doctor.

"While teaching I did volunteer EMS in Sun Prairie," she said. "That sort of got me back into the lines of the medical field. I really liked that and decided to go back for the medical degree."

It was her time as an Emergency Medical Technician when Dr. Tumpach discovered how rewarding to was to help people in need, and to have that personal contact with patients.

"In working with the EMS I've always liked doing a little bit of the trauma and a little bit of working with the medical patient," she said. "Seeing that variety and always having that challenge that you don't know what they will be coming in with. I think that was one of the big impetuses for me, getting some hands-on experience with patients in the EMS."

It was a big step and a leap of faith for Dr. Tumpach to leave a comfortable and satisfying job as a teacher to go back to the rigors of academic life. Once she was accepted to medical school, Dr. Tumpach said she knew that this was the path she was going to pursue.

"It was something I think I had always felt a little bit called to as well," she said. "Getting involved with the EMS also reinforced that."

The next four years were spent at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Then the three years of her medical residency began at the Medical College of Wisconsin Emergency Residency Program at Froedtert Hospital. The residency is when doctors work in the specific area in which they have chosen to specialize.

"I went into med school thinking that I would probably focus on emergency medicine just because I really liked doing the EMS," Dr. Tumpach said. "But, I tried to keep an open mind and try some different areas, but ended up really liking the emergency medicine. It's just a good fit for me. I'm not one to stand in one place for hours like surgery. I'm an active person, so I like the pace and I like the variety, and you help people that are in that acute point. Just the challenge of having such a wide range of illnesses to care for – it's always interesting."

During her residency, Dr. Tumpach was a flight physician for Flight for Life Milwaukee. This training was part of the emergency residency program and was a very rewarding and exciting opportunity.

"We are the ones making all the decisions with the patient treatment," she explained. "It's actually really great experience and I love flying. Most of the times you are dealing with very sick patients. During our residency it's one of the first opportunities when we are out there on our own making the decisions."

The Flight for Life team handles not just the "scene calls" which are accidents where the helicopter is called right to the scene, but they are also available to transport patients between hospitals, getting them to Intensive Care Units or Cardiac Units.

"It's very different than being in the actual ER," Dr. Tumpach said. "You have confined space and there are things that you just cannot do in the helicopter – the noise and that type of thing. But it's pretty amazing the amount of equipment that you have in there. It's like a little ICU room right there in the helicopter."

Dr. Tumpach finished her residency this June and in July she started with Madison Emergency Physicians, S.C. the new physician group that staffs the Emergency Room at Columbus Community Hospital. The group also staffs the Dodgeville Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital in Madison. Dr. Tumpach splits her time between Columbus and Madison.

"I'm a Midwest girl, so I knew I wanted to stay around here," she said. "So far it's been a really nice experience."

While there are no "normal" days in the Emergency Room, Dr. Tumpach said that the days are usually quite busy with a mix of medical patients facing issues such as pneumonia and heart problems, and urgent care patients with more common sprains and sore throats.

"That's the challenging part of the ER, there really isn't a typical day," she said. "You could end up seeing any variety of things. I've had some pretty sick patients already, you definitely see all types of pathology, I guess."

Since her return to Columbus, Dr. Tumpach said she has seen some familiar faces. There have even been a few who ended up being patients in the ER. She described these reintroductions as "a little interesting," but explained that most people knew she was leaving her teaching position to begin medical school.

"It's been a nice response," Dr. Tumpach said. "Everybody has been excited to welcome me back, which has been really nice. It's neat to see the people I knew from teaching and hearing about students and what they are doing now. Having some of that connection is nice and I think that only happens in smaller communities."

As a woman physician, Dr. Tumpach said she thinks women bring a sense of compassion or empathy to the workplace. They are able to be with their patients and show an understanding that extends beyond just bringing back the test results. She feels this quality helps her connect with the patients.

"I think part of the healing is more than just the medicine, it's being able to sit and talk with the patients," she said. "Trying to understand what they are going through, their anxiety – just being able to have that compassion and understanding mentality is important."

In emergency medicine, doctors many times are dealing with patients and their families under a crisis condition. It can be very stressful for everyone and the doctor can serve as the calming force in a tense and difficult situation.

"You don't necessarily have a relationship with the patient like a primary physician would," Dr. Tumpach said. "It can be a very stressful time for them and trying to keep that calm, reassuring, a little of that motherly type of mannerisms to the bedside makes a big difference."

As a very active person, Dr. Tumpach's personality is reflected by her choice of free time activities. She enjoys running and swimming and was introduced to triathlons while in medical school. Camping is also another favorite activity, along with baking. She said that the better she feels physically, the better she can serve her patients and do a good job while working.

"The ER can definitely be stressful, but if you are in an area that you really enjoy, it's not as stressful as most people think," she explained. "I think most of us in emergency medicine would agree that yes, it does get crazy at times, but it doesn't necessarily stress you out as much. You definitely need an outlet because you do see some pretty sick patients, and having something outside of medicine helps to keep a good balance."

Dr. Tumpach said it certainly was difficult finding that free time for her hobbies and activities while in medical school, but now that her residency is complete, it has become a little easier. She is looking forward settling into her job at Columbus Community Hospital, getting reintroduced to the community and spending time with family members.

"It's great being here in Columbus so far," she said. "It's just been neat being in the community, it fun to see the nurses that know a lot of the patients – they are great nurses to work with. Even the very different experience coming from Milwaukee where a lotof my patients didn't have a regular doctor that they could see and so being here in the community where a lot of the patients have a primary doctor who know them well – having the continuity of being able to really take care of the patients has been really nice."