Alumni spotlight: Dan Ebenhoeh

^{July 20, 2018}

Remember Dan Ebenhoeh, class of 2013? Dan’s journey has been a memorable one.

When Dan interviewed for PA school eight years ago, he had aspirations of working in Oncology.  He was motivated by a life-changing experience.

During his undergraduate years, majoring in Spanish with a minor in French, he was dreaming of being a Spanish professor. Then, days before he was leaving to study in Spain, he began having symptoms of what would eventually be diagnosed as brain cancer. During his year of treatment and recovery, he discovered a new passion and decided that he might be suited for a career in medicine, specifically working with cancer patients. Upon his return to his studies, he began taking prerequisite courses for the PA program and switched his minor to biology.

However, while going through the program, he began to embrace the call for the PA profession to be more primary care focused. He discovered that he could make a significant difference in people’s lives by working in primary care. After graduation, he accepted a job at Bronson Family Medicine in Kalamazoo. After three years, he heard about an opening at a unique primary care clinic in Hartford, Michigan and eventually accepted a position with them.

Holy Family Healthcare (Santa Familia de Salud) is a Catholic ministry founded by Dr. Don Bouchard. In the summer of 2012, Dr. Bouchard, a pediatrician, and his wife Teresa visited many of the migrant farm worker camps in Southwest Michigan providing basic medical services. Eventually, they rented space from local churches and purchased a mobile medical van. Fast forward several years, and Holy Family Healthcare is housed in a small clinic in Hartford serving the whole community, including migrant farmworkers.

They run on the Catholic health care model which emphasizes the treatment of the whole person – mind, body and spirit. With that in mind, they now run the biggest food pantry in Van Buren County, provide outreach services to migrant farm worker camps, and partner with migrant farm worker summer educational programs. They coordinate and provide services from clothing distribution and emergency help to distribution of Gatorade to field workers on hot days. They recently received a grant to operate a “bookmobile” for their patient population.

Dan has discovered that working at Santa Familia de Salud has allowed him to bring together many facets of his life. He is able to utilize his linguistic gifts and in fact, speaks Spanish for the majority of his patient encounters. He is satisfying his desire to serve the underserved and provide holistic health care.

He is also able to blend his family life with his career more effectively.  He and his wife, Lisa were married in 2011. They now have 3 lovely children: Noah - age 4, Bryn – age 3, and Roman – age 1.

Go to holyfamilyhealthcare.org for more information about Santa Familia de Salud.