When we moved to Cherokee in 2004, we had 3 one year olds, a 2 year old, 2 six year olds and a 7 year old. When you look at the above pictures of our kids taken then and now, you can really see what I've been doing for all these years. I feel so blessed that I got to stay home and pour love and time into our kids and their friends. Our house was always full of a lot of kids, and I hung a sign in my kitchen that said, "enter as friends, leave as family", and that is what it felt like. Like all those kids that came into our home were family. I cherish those memories, and I love my kids and their friends. I look back at our busy life, and it wasn't perfect, but we have a lot of very happy memories together. I am grateful for how hard Chris worked for our family so that I could stay home and really give our kids my time. I see how necessary that was with our big family and his busy job. I cherish the time I had at home with them. As we try to focus our life back on what is most important, our faith and our family, we look forward to serving our community and taking care of the people in it....together. " 'FAMILY' isn't defined only by last names or by blood: it's defined by COMMITMENT and by LOVE. It means showing up when they need it most. It means having each other's backs. It means choosing to love each other even on those days when you struggle to like each other. It means never giving up on each other. " Here at Sioux Valley Family Health, you will find family. You will feel so cared about by every member of our clinic. We not only want to help you feel better and help you take good care of yourself, we want to bring you happy memories and feelings of being cared for.
Thank you to our children, who have loved us through this transition. Though I'm still working on the change from working at home to working outside the home again, I am devoted to our kids and raising our youngest girls with as much ambition and love as I did when I got to stay home.
I'm Lisa, and I'm Dr. VandeLune's wife. I graduated from Iowa Methodist School of Nursing in Des Moines in 1997 as an RN. I worked on a telemetry (cardiac) floor and cross trained to the ICU during Chris' first 3 years of medical school. I went to PACU and endoscopy for a year for better hours while he was doing rotations in medical school. I did a year of nursing home work when we lived in Britt for him to complete his rotations while he was traveling so much to be closer to my family. During his residency I did home care in Wichita KS. When CRMC took on public health, I joined their team and enjoyed my time with Home Choice/Hospice right here in Cherokee. As a second job, I worked for a nursing agency and floated to all the different hospitals in Des Moines and worked on a lot of different specialty floors. This was such a great experience for me as a nurse. I met a lot of great people along the way and enjoyed all the many areas I got to work in as Chris went through med school and residency. I am enjoying working as a nurse again and working with Chris.
Dr. VandeLune and I are excited for our clinic to open and want to personally tell you WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY!