Whole-Person Healing
Dr. Falkenburg is a family medicine physician, providing care from prenatal and obstetrical to pediatrics, internal medicine, and hospital and ER medicine. She has been with Monument Health Custer Clinic since 2000 and a clinical professor for the Sanford School of Medicine since 2003. She completed her family medicine residency at Monument Hospital in Rapid City.
Growing up on a ranch outside Edgemont, South Dakota, gave Dr. Falkenburg a whole-person perspective that serves her to this day. Being from a large family, she always had a strong sense of community embedded in her.
The family unit is key to caring for and understanding families. “What I enjoy about other people is understanding the nuances of who they are in relation to their families and community, what drives their inner self and being,” she explained. “Wellness comes from a deeper part of yourself connected to other people which I also know and treat as well. My colleagues and I look at health care through a lens of being well, instead of just when a person is sick. It’s very important to take into consideration all the person, which is mind, body and soul.”
Monument Custer’s health care providers take a multidisciplinary approach to care. Because people are complex, they need to be taken care of in a complex way.
“I believe I am much more a healer than a doctor,” she said. “The relationships I build with patients will help make them healthier over their lifetime. These relationships are why I do what I do. Interconnectedness with the community and building relationships over time is a big factor to taking care of our patients well. We understand when a patient has marginalized resources, even if they don’t say it. We have resources to help, whether it’s gas money, means to better nutrition or ways to help pay for medications.”
For example, her multidisciplinary approach may incorporate acupuncture, chiropractic care or community resources like Meals on Wheels, a senior center or ministerial association into a patient care plan. “The best clinics know about local organizations to tap into,” she said.
It’s a philosophy she came into later in her career. “Given that many health conditions are driven by childhood traumas, complexities of life or unhealthy behaviors resulting in physical health, I eventually realized that I needed to bring this philosophy of care to my patients. I have a 20-year history with many of them.”
One tangible illustration of that holistic view of health is the Custer Healing and Wellness Garden, in view from the Custer clinic and all rooms at Monument Health Custer Hospital. The concept for the garden was conceived and developed by Dr. Falkenburg and her colleague Dr. Lisa Brown; the duo raised money for the garden to come to fruition. Its colorful flora, children’s playhouse, waterfall, benches and seats, raised veggie beds, and a prayer and intention house can be a place of rest, peace and respite for all.
The Healing Garden is enjoyed by Monument patients and employees as well, who tend to the garden. “We developed the Healing Garden, in part, because it helps patients to trigger parasympathetic nervous systems, which calms themselves,” Dr. Falkenburg said.
As Monument Health Custer Clinic serves a wide swath of western South Dakota and beyond, spanning from Chadron, Nebraska, into eastern Wyoming and up to western North Dakota, it must be able to address care for all kinds of physical and mental needs, something they are well-versed in.
“We consider comprehensive care rather than make referrals; we do very thorough workups and as much care as we can here, so patients aren’t overwhelmed by the health care system,” Dr. Falkenburg explained. “We don’t hand patients off to others for care unless it’s necessary.”
Should that specialty care become necessary, patients are referred to the Rapid City region, where most physicians at Monument Custer have established relationships, many through SSOM residencies, allowing them to reach out in a formal or informal way.
“I am so deeply proud of the state I live in,” Dr. Falkenburg said. “I love South Dakota and the tri-state area. There is a deep connectedness through all who live and work here. When you grow up here, for years to come you will reap the benefits of relationships you formed in high school, college and medical school. These people come back to your life in different ways, whether it’s a referral, someone who can help with funding or grants, or a board member of an organization that can help patients.”
Dr. Falkenburg is hopeful that the philosophy of care Custer Monument embodies will sustain for decades to come. This is why, she says, teaching young physicians is so important. For her, interacting with medical students allows her to see things with their newness and vitality, fresh eyes, fresh perspectives and hope.
“As mentors, we should take seriously how we pass along the richness of ourselves to our students,” she said. “The students we’ve mentored here have gone on to be surgeons, ophthalmologists, pain experts, expert hand surgeons. I hope what they take away from their experience here is how to always see the human in that person and carry that through their practice.”
