Deborah Howell (Host): Welcome to Stoughton Health Talk. I'm Deborah Howell, and I invite you to listen as we get to know one of our physicians. Joining me is Dr. Aaron Schwaab, a Board Certified General Surgeon at Stoughton Hospital General Surgery Clinic. Dr. Schwaab, such a pleasure to have you with us today.

Aaron Schwaab, MD: Thank you, Deborah. It's nice to be here again.

Host: First of all, how long have you been with Stoughton Hospital General Surgery Clinic?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: So I started at Stoughton in July of 2016, so I guess it's just been a little more than seven years now.

Host: Wow, okay. And what are some of the things you appreciate about working at Stoughton?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: Stoughton Hospital was founded about 120 years ago, and it's a small community hospital, and I think that the people in the community take a lot of pride in having a community hospital like this. A lot of the people who work at Stoughton, live in Stoughton or live in the surrounding areas.

And some of them even have had multiple generations work here. So when I started here, it was a noticeable difference from other hospitals and healthcare systems that I've worked in. There was just kind of a family feel. Everyone walks around with a smile and is friendly. And, sometimes in some of the bigger places in healthcare, people are just so busy and overwhelmed, they don't have time to be nice and friendly. And it's really noticeable when you come here and walk through the halls. And so I think that's what I noticed first of all, when I came to Stoughton and one of the things that's persisted that I like the most.

Host: Yeah, I can actually even hear it in your voice how happy you are to work there. That's lovely. What's the overall philosophy for patient care?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: I can tell you what my personal philosophy is, Deborah. And that is, I, I feel like I want to treat patients like I want to be treated when I go to get health care or like I would want a family member to be treated. So I think what that means is we try to be on time.

So we don't want you waiting forever to see the doctor. So we try and run our clinic on time. We try to be friendly. We try to, being a surgeon, we, I want you to know what I'm going to do, but also why I'm going to do it. And so I spend a lot of time kind of explaining the rationale for things. I think if I'm ordering tests for you that you should get a timely phone call when that test result comes back, from me so I can explain it to you. So we get back to people. It's just kind of simple things that I think we try and offer a more personalized service to patients than maybe some places where they're just busier and unable to spend that kind of time to do that. So I really pride myself and my practice and my staff, we all try and provide that extra service to people.

Host: Yeah, patients are going through so much and then when they have to try to chase down the information, it becomes tough. So what drew you to this particular lane in your medical career?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: So I've been in practice now, since let's see, 2002. So, my first 15 years I spent at a Community Hospital down in Illinois, but it was a bigger community. It was kind of the suburbs of Chicago, bigger, busier hospitals that were trauma centers, and we covered multiple hospitals.

So it was a very high intensity, busy practice. I, after being there for 15 years, I really just kind of wanted to get back to a little bit slower paced practice, a little bit more kind of bread and butter general surgery, less, high stress emergency stuff. But I wanted to, I really liked the idea of being a small community doctor.

So, quick story, when I was looking to change jobs, I was actually talking to a recruiter and I wanted to kind of get up to Wisconsin because I'm from Wisconsin. And I asked the recruiter, my wife really would love to live in the Madison area. So I'm looking for a small community hospital in the Madison area.

And he kind of laughed at me and he said, you know, there are no small community hospitals in Madison. I said, well, if something opens up, let me know. And about two years later, he called me and said, guess what? There's a job at Stoughton hospital. It's 20 minutes from Madison. It's a small community hospital. So it was really kind of the perfect fit. So I was really lucky to find it and end up here.

Host: That is fantastic. We have a lake home in Wisconsin and I swear it is God's country up there. What do you feel is unique or special about the specialty clinics at Stoughton?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: I think we touched on that a little bit. I think that number one, I have to say that my staff is just outstanding. It's a small staff. I've got a nurse, Desiree, and a CNA, Morgan, and again, we just try to have that philosophy of providing really personalized care to people. Being available so people can call us literally 24 hours a day and get a hold of us after hours and things like that.

We have, I think, more availability than some of the bigger places so we can see people, you know, within a couple days to a week of calling for a appointment and we can get you in the operating room if needed, you know, within a week or so of seeing you. So I think it's just that we just try and be accessible, available and provide top notch care.

Host: And I know this might be a tough question, but what's the most rewarding part of your job?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: The most rewarding part really for me is, you know, I love the clinic day where I have a bunch of post op patients coming in. So a bunch of people who have had surgery and they come in and they're just happy and doing well, you know. So I think that's kind of my favorite day at the office is just seeing a bunch of people that we were able to fix a problem, make them feel better, make their lives better and they're very grateful and it's just very rewarding to see that.

Host: I love it. And is there anything else you'd want to add to our conversation today?

Aaron Schwaab, MD: Again, keep in mind that if you are someone who's out there and is interested to learn more about us, you can go to our website at stoughtonhealth.com and learn more about myself and the services we provide and also a lot of other excellent services that Stoughton Hospital and Stoughton Health provide.

Host: Well, thank you for that. And this has been just wonderful, Dr. Schwaab, thank you so much for joining us today.

Aaron Schwaab, MD: Thank you very much, Deborah.

Host: And as the doctor said, if you would like more information, head on over to our website at stoughtonhealth.com. And that concludes this episode of Stoughton Health Talk. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other Stoughton Hospital podcasts. I'm Deborah Howell. Have a terrific day.