Dr. Michael Sampson
Sawtooth Mountain Clinic’s new physician, Dr. Michael Sampson, took a little extra time getting here from Stowe, Vermont before he started his new job at the beginning of October. He took a detour down to Florida to play hockey with a group of fellow alumni from St. Olaf College. He described his group as a bunch of “fat, old, bald guys,” but he is anything but fat, old, and bald. He does love hockey, however.
Sampson has loved hockey for a very long time. He played hockey at Duluth East and at St. Olaf. He coached kids’ teams all the way through medical school in the Twin Cities. He coached kids on a pond in Vermont, shoveling snow himself so they could play. He was instrumental in starting up a high school team with some of the kids from the pond. He has a son and a daughter in college now, both of whom are goalies in club hockey leagues.
Why would someone want to move all the way from Stowe, Vermont to practice medicine in Cook County? Sampson grew up in Duluth and came back with his dog Lilly to be nearer his parents. “I wanted to come here,” he said. “Lake Superior feels like home.”
After graduating from St. Olaf, Sampson spent a year at Oxford University – studying Shakespeare and Greek mythology. He went on to the University of Minnesota med school and completed a residency at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. He practiced for 15 years in Ortonville, Minnesota on the South Dakota border before heading to Vermont, where he practiced for the last 18 years.
Sampson has focused his career on rural medicine, and he looks forward to continuing that in Cook County. “I want to do this,” he said. He enjoys the whole spectrum of rural medicine, from working with pregnant women to dealing with death and dying. He said he loves taking care of kids and elderly people. He is interested in moving more into sports medicine and geriatrics while he is here but will deal with all medical issues as a family practice physician.
When asked what kinds of trends he sees in the field of medicine, he said people are more educated about what medicine has to offer than they used to be and often know what they want. “Many people want a more collaborative relationship with their physician,” he said.
How does Sampson feel about working with the alternative therapies that have become increasingly available? “I think there are a lot of ways up the mountain. I think there are a lot of alternative therapies that help people,” he said. It’s important to evaluate whether what you’re doing is helping or not, he said.
The latitude of Grand Marais is 47 degrees 25 minutes 2 seconds north, considerably north of the latitude of Stowe, Vermont, which is 44 degrees 27 minutes 55 seconds north – a difference of about 220 miles. Sampson is not afraid of the winter darkness, however – he said he likes it. The seasons in Vermont and northern Minnesota are similar, he said, although Vermont’s mountains, which reach as high as 4,300 feet, might get more snow. He thinks our winters might be a little colder and Vermont summers might be a little warmer, with Vermont getting a few more over-80-degree days. Vermont has a lot of small towns, but they are closer together than the ones in Cook County, Sampson said. Thepopulation in Vermont has more cultural diversity, and its white history goes further back into history. Cemeteries there have tombstones with dates from the 1600s, he said.
Sampson has arrived just in time to enjoy some of his other favorite sports, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. In the summer, he might be seen out biking. His newest interest: “I’m getting into birding.”
No doubt he will find plenty of things to keep him busy in Cook County.
Leave a Reply