Deb Meierhofer, 1980 Tech High School graduate, has a unique view of healthcare right now working at the St. Cloud Hospital as an exercise physiologist. She is screened daily for COVID-19 symptoms when she reports to work and is still getting used to the new normal of working in healthcare.
Upon arriving at work she gets a temperature screen, a sticker to wear to say she’s been screened and a mask to wear for the day. She describes the hospital as an eerie place without the normal bustle of patients and visitors. Normally, she’ll walk out of her department, and without fail, have to give someone directions. Now, the hallways are bare.
As an exercise physiologist, she doesn’t see herself as “working the front line” like nurses and doctors right now even though her work is vital to immunocompromised patients. She just feels she is doing her job and her part.
An exercise physiologist is someone who measures a patient’s fitness to improve their health or maintain good health. Their patients are often those with heart disease or other conditions, like diabetes or lung diseases.
“I actually feel guilty,” explains Meierhofer, “when I take walks during my lunch breaks in my scrubs and people walk by and say, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being a healthcare worker.'”
Meierhofer knew early on she wanted to be in healthcare. The road to becoming an exercise physiologist was not a direct one.
“Back in my day if you wanted to be a nurse,” she explains, “you were changing diapers and other things. Now they have personal care assistants and nurse assistants.”
Before Meierhofer went back to finish her Master’s degree to become a physiologist, she graduated from St. Cloud State University in medical technology. It’s where she met her husband, Joe Meierhofer, Apollo alumnus and original director of the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
As a medical technologist, she tested blood, body fluids and tissue samples. She worked in a small privately-owned clinic for a number of years. At the time, she had three children and switched gears to owning a daycare instead. She was a licensed childcare owner for six years before she finished her Master’s degree in exercise physiology. Meierhofer took a job with the St. Cloud Hospital. She’s worked her way up to advanced cardiac life support and training which means she supervises patients on treadmills to monitor for things like heart disease.
Now after 24 years, Meierhofer loves her job and helping her patients. It’s particularly important during this pandemic when her patients are more at risk. She ensures they get back to maximum health status and maintains it, especially in this new “normal.”
A short story about Joe and Deb Meierhofer. The pair met in college. Joe was an Apollo High School graduate, three-sport athlete and Deb was a Tech graduate who was in to the performing arts like band. Complete opposites. Joe asked Deb out on a date. Hesitantly, she accepted. As the day and time grew closer and the more she thought about the date, she thought she’d better not date somebody who was an athlete or an Apollo grad. She called Joe’s house to cancel the date. Much to her dismay Joe’s brother told her he’d already left the house to pick her up. Cell phones weren’t around at that time.
Joe picked her up to go swimming and then picked up another friend. The three went swimming at the Kelly Inn. Apparently, there was a spark because they’ve been together since.
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