Nurse Practitioner Dwayne Dobschuetz provides a lifeline for seniors stuck inside during the pandemic.
Written by: Olivia Covey
Edited by: Olivia Covey and Yasmin Mendiola
Dwayne Dobschuetz has been riding in downtown Chicago for almost five years, oftentimes on a purple bike, visiting the homes of seniors who can’t go to the hospital due to being homebound. He is not new to home healthcare, but COVID-19 has added a new importance to his home visits.
“[Geriatric nurses] have to conduct the follow up after patients go home, but, sometimes I couldn’t find the people on the telephone,” Dobschuetz says. “If someone that I couldn't get a hold of was on the way to work, I would ride my bike up to their building or to their home and find out what's going on.“
While in nursing school, Dobschuetz was one of three men in his class. After he graduated, he didn’t immediately enter the nursing field. He worked with college students as a part of the Campus Crusade for Christ organization, where he met his wife, Barbara Dobschetz.
Barbara remembers Dwayne’s bright energy from when they first met, and she says that first impression of Dwayne still rings true today.
“His default character is passion, enthusiasm, and a regular effort to look at life as half full and then some.” Barbara says.
Through a medical equipment sales job, Dobschuetz was able to connect with Northwestern Medical. When he lost the sales job, a supervisor at the hospital offered him a nursing job.
His journey with home healthcare began when he was part of the Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations initiative at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. GEDI is an initiative funded by a medicare grant to make emergency medicine more accessible for seniors. Dobschuetz believes that this initiative has really changed geriatrics.
“From the moment that we started, everyone called us ‘Jedi nurses.’ It was such a cool thing because it really changed even the way people looked at some of the seniors that came through,” Dobschuetz says. “People would say, ‘I have this old guy in bed five.’ But pretty soon they were saying, ‘Dwayne, can you go see this GEDI patient in bed five?’ It doesn't sound like a big deal, but it's like all of a sudden it kind of changed that perception from being an old person to a special person.”
Dobschuetz has touched the hearts of hundreds of seniors and their families. He keeps mementos from each of his patients, whether that is a photo he has taken himself or something given to him by the family. He can recall many stories from patients, but one patient, Stanley, sticks out to him.
“Every time I would see [Stanley] I would say, ‘Stanley, it's good to see you,’ and his response was, ‘It's good to be seen.’” Dobschuetz says. “Now, when people say that to me, I immediately respond ‘I'm so glad you can see me.’ It is a privilege to be seen, and I think of him regularly.”
Dobschuetz has become a point of contact to the outside world for many of the patients he visits. With restrictions and precautions, people aren’t visiting their parents and grandparents.
“Many of the patients that I've gone to see at their homes have had very, very few visitors. Even their families have stayed away,” Dobschuetz says. “I don't think there's anything sadder than a person who can't go to a doctor, so there I am holding my iPhone so they can do a face to face meeting with their doctor.”
The patients are not the only ones who value Dobschuetz’s above and beyond care. Dr. Anna Liggett, who met Dobschuetz through the Northwestern Geriatric Fellowship program, believes that the medical field can use more people with the same heart and dedication.
“A caring, knowledgeable provider like Dwayne that comes to patients' homes to care for them is invaluable and so needed,” Dr. Liggett says, “The world needs a lot more people like Dwayne doing what he does.”
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