Joey Wahler (Host): She's an orthopedic nurse practitioner. So, we're getting to know Leigh Barts. This is Woodlawn Health Doc Talk. Thanks for joining us. I'm Joey Wahler. Hi there, Leigh. Welcome.

Leigh Barts , FNP: Hi. Thanks.

Host: Yeah, thank you. Good to meet you, and have you share your story with those joining us. Speaking of which, first, where are you originally from and how long have you been a nurse practitioner?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I am originally from Rochester, Indiana. I've lived here since 2000. Long story short, a helicopter brought us to Rochester and we kind of stayed here ever since. Outside of college, I've been here since the year 2000. I've been a nurse since 2014. And I just graduated as a nurse practitioner in July of 2025.

Host: Gotcha. And so when you tell people from outside the area, "I'm from Rochester," do you have to add Indiana since there is, of course, Rochester, New York?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Every time. Every time. And Rochester, Indiana is a little small in comparison to Rochester, New York, Rochester, Minnesota, any of the others that, you know, anyone has heard of. Our population, I think, of the county is around 10,000—but I could be a little off there—compared to those bigger cities.

Host: That's right. There's a Rochester, Minnesota as well. And when did you first know that medicine would be your career path? When and and how come? Was there something that pushed you toward that?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah. So, my dad was a helicopter mechanic on the local helicopter here in Rochester, the Samaritan Program. And when I was a kid, I frequently went with him to work and they had flight nurses and paramedics, and I always felt that to be really interesting and they helped people. And so, probably when I was five or six, I could have said, "I'm going to work as a nurse. I want to be a flight nurse. I want to work with people. I want to help people." Along the road between school and all of that, the idea changed to athletic trainer at one point. It was occupational therapy at another point. But then, nursing ultimately won that. And I'm thrilled to be a nurse practitioner. Of course, now, working in orthopedics, coming back from potentially athletic training and then occupational therapy. This is kind of a nice little marriage of all of those things.

Host: Gotcha. And I find the helicopter thing interesting. How young were you when you first regularly started going up with your dad in a cop?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I was not going in the helicopter. He was a mechanic. So, I would go with him to work, just like at the hangar and on the base and have conversations with the nurses and the medics and the pilots there. So as a little kid, you know, his toolbox was kind of funny because he had a Barbie in there for me every time I'd come to visit. So, there was something interesting for me to do while I was there. So, these flight nurses would play with me with my one Barbie from his toolbox. I mean, there's photos of me, I think as young as probably three years old, sitting on some of these people's laps, which is kind of fun.

Host: Yeah. Barbie works in any setting at that age.

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yes, yes.

Host: I know having a three-year-old myself, and I just asked about the helicopter because I can remember as a kid myself going up at a young age and it was not for me. I was pretty nauseous and wanted to come down ASAP.

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah. Flying in them is not my jam. Obviously, flight nurse is not on my resume for a reason. That's kind of where that whole notion started that I wanted to help people. And all growing up through school, I would've said I was going to be a nurse.

Host: That's great. And so, let me ask you more about orthopedics, specifically being your choice? Because you mentioned you thought of maybe athletic training. What was it about trying to basically heal people's injuries that made you want to go in that direction?

Leigh Barts , FNP: So, I feel like the coolest thing about orthopedics is that we can take someone that's coming in with a really specific concern. If it's pain, if it's mobility, if it's like a functional status thing, most of the time we can take people that are having an ailment of some kind and either fix it or make it way better to help them be more independent, walk their daughter down the aisle at their wedding, instead of using a cane or something like that.

And I feel like that's the most rewarding part of it, is that you're seeing the whole spectrum. We started with one problem. We kind of made some steps, and now even though the problem may not be completely resolved, we've gotten a huge impact. And you don't see that in every specialty, which I think is kind of—I don't want to say unique to orthopedics—but a really special thing about orthopedics in general.

Host: I would imagine. In fact, another thing that would be special about it is that your patients run the gamut. You mentioned someone that just wants to be able to be mobile again, to walk someone down the aisle, right? I would imagine there are people like that. There are people that want to get back to their athletic endeavor, whatever that may be from a younger athlete to a weekend warrior, so to speak. So, you're meeting people that'll have all kinds of different goals, but whatever they are, you're trying to help them meet them, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah. And it could be a three-year-old that, you know, needs to climb up and down off of a couch. It could be like you mentioned an athlete in high school that's torn an ACL, we've repaired it, and now we're getting ready to go back and play soccer or whatever the sport might be. So, I love that we can see patients throughout the entire lifespan too. You know, you might see a 3-year-old in one room. The next room is a 10-year-old. And then, you see someone in their 90s. I love the variation there.

Host: Yeah, I can definitely see that. So, why did you choose to come to Woodlawn?

Leigh Barts , FNP: So, I wanted to come back and give to the community that raised me. I've been in Rochester since 2000. I live here, I've got a family here. My in-laws, my whole family is in Rochester. And it only made sense for me to stay as local as I can and help my neighbors and the people that helped bring me up. Like I mentioned before, you might have a 90-year-old in one room. It might be a three-year-old. It might be a former teacher. It might be a classmate of mine's grandparent. I know a lot of people in the town, and it's been rewarding to help the people that I know and give back in that way.

Host: So, you might be at the grocery store and you see somebody that comes up at the check-in line and says, "Hey, you fixed my ankle," right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yep. I think that part's fun. And I'm never afraid to stand and catch up with someone about, you know, if they got a puppy.

Host: It doesn't have to be about work, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Right. Right. To build those relationships with patients too, in ways that are not always just about their health.

Host: Speaking of which, it leads me perfectly into my next question, Leigh, which is obviously being someone that's doing this in a rural area presents some unique challenges. So, I want to ask you about your favorite thing about rural healthcare. Is it the fact that you're really serving the community and the true sense we just touched on where you're seeing these people out and about, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah, I think that's my favorite part of it. Living in Rochester, I've commuted other places to work and then come back to Rochester and that's where my home is. But I do think that there's a huge piece of that puzzle that's so rewarding to, like you said, go to the grocery store and see patients, and keep that relationship going.

Host: Now switching gears a little bit, Leigh, you say you have extraordinary—and I'm quoting here from your LinkedIn page—you have "extraordinary time prioritization skills." Now, this is something that most everyone, yours truly included, can use help with. So, what would be one tip you can offer us there?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I'm not sure if you're familiar with the phrase Eat the Frog. That's probably my best piece of advice is whatever it is that you really, really, really don't want to do, do it first, because everything else after that feels easy to accomplish. So for me, like in school, if it's one class that I really didn't want to study for, I'm going to study for that first and get it over with, because then everything else feels like a walk in the park.

Other people will think of that exactly opposite and they'd say, "Well, I'm going to do all the easy stuff first and save that hard thing for last." I don't think that works, because you can always put off what you don't want to do. You'll find a way to justify how to not do something, right? I really think that eating the frog or getting it over with, especially first thing in the morning, if it's something that you're going to start your day off with and you just get it done, the rest of your day is free of that mental load or mental stress of having to accomplish that task later. That's my biggest piece of advice.

Host: That term, eat the frog. It is kind of an offshoot of just rip off the bandaid, right? Put To Put it another way.

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yep.

Host: Get the negative stuff out of the way, the dreaded stuff out of the way first, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah. And then, of course, you feel a sense of accomplishment too. Because you're like, "Okay, I did that thing I didn't want to do and now it's over and I've got all of this—you know, it's one less thing in the back of your mind that's kind of weighing you down all day.

Host: Sure. So, you also say, Leigh, that you try to empower staff to be leaders through examples. So, what does that mean to you?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I worked in leadership before I went back to NP school, and I really feel like integrity is one of the things that you need as a leader in healthcare. If it's something that I'm not willing to do myself, then I shouldn't be asking anyone else to do it for me. And if someone needs to see that I'm able to do it, you know, just watch me, I'm going to go do it. It's not that hard. Let's get it over with, kind of like eating the frog, right? So, let's go in together and do this task or, If it's too hard for you, then come in with me and we'll learn how to do it together. I think that having that kind of integrity and doing the right thing, doing that thing with staff is really helpful, especially if somebody might be a little bit anxious. It's the first time they've placed a catheter. It's the first time they've done an IV outside of nursing school or whatever it might be. I think that teaching is really fun. And there's a lot of things that can be done that way when you're empowering other people to—well, if you're scared, let's go do it together, and I'm going to pump you up the whole way. I'm going to be your cheerleader.

Host: That sounds great. And it's important, especially when people are starting out to have mentors and people that are welcoming and make them feel comfortable, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah, I agree. And you're never going to feel comfortable doing something by yourself, especially for the first time, and pretending that you know how to do it isn't helping anyone.

Host: You can only fool them for so long, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah. Yeah. Fake it till you make it doesn't work that well in healthcare.

Host: I would imagine not. I would imagine not. So, couple of other things, you're obviously so passionate about what you do, which is great to hear. But when you're away from work, you mentioned you have a family. What do you like to do to unwind?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I like to exercise. I like to crochet. We have a dog. I like to take our dog on a walk and just spend as much time outside in nature unplugged as I possibly can. One of my favorite things to do is leave my phone inside and go outside and do something else. You know, we're coming out of winter, so my favorite things to do in the winter time that keep us inside. I like to crochet. And I like to read. Those are probably the top two things. Doing puzzles are really fun, jigsaw puzzles. My husband and I and our three young kids like to try and help with those. So, sometimes the pieces are missing, but...

Host: i'm sure. I'm sure.

Leigh Barts , FNP: But they're fun either way.

Host: Yeah. So, you've got some kind of old-school interests there, right? Crocheting, puzzles, reading. There are people nowadays that don't do a whole lot of reading. So, what do you attribute that to, the fact that you like kind of the simple things oftentimes, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah, I don't know. When I was growing up, my mom started me with cross stitch when I was probably eight or nine. And that's another thing you don't hear of very often anymore, is cross stitch. But I've always kind of been crafty and I have a little bit of a distractible brain. So, something to keep my hands busy was always a really good thing for me growing up just to have something to do with my hands and keep myself busy.

And now that I'm an adult, it still kind of holds true. And who doesn't like to get lost in another world in a book? You know, like sometimes it's just nice to be able to escape your reality. Whether it's what you're seeing on the news or if it's something that's going on in your family or work or whatever, you just need to turn your brain off for a little bit and read a book. That's one of my favorite things to do. Because you can go to a million different worlds through books, even if you can't afford a vacation to wherever you want to go.

Host: It sounds both practical and peaceful at the same time, right?

Leigh Barts , FNP: Yeah.

Host: Then finally, Leigh, in summary here, to kind of put a bow on this, you've mentioned some of the things that you love about your job. If you had to sum it up, what's most rewarding about what you do on a daily basis? What's a great day at work from you when you get home to your husband and your three kids and you look back at your day?

Leigh Barts , FNP: I think honestly even more than providing—of course, providing care to patients is number one, but having those relationships built with patients that make the patient feel like they got something out of the day and I got something out of the day by providing them that care. If I'm able to come home and say, "Yeah, I really helped that person. And I learned about their granddaughter that's in nursing school" or whatever. Building those relationships, I think, is probably my favorite part of what I do.

Host: Absolutely. I'm sure it is. Well, folks, we trust you are now more familiar with Leigh Barts Leigh, keep up all your great work. Enjoy those puzzles and that crocheting and reading, of course. It really sounds like a great way to spend a day. I might do some of that this weekend. And thanks so much again. Great to meet you.

Leigh Barts , FNP: Oh, thanks, Joey.

Host: Thank you. And for more information, please visit woodlawnhospital.org/orthopedic-and-sportsmedicine. If you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media. I'm Joey Wahler. And thanks so much again for being part of Woodlawn Doc Talk.