What Dr. Michael Lindberg will miss the most about his role as chief medical officer at Monadnock Community Hospital is the daily interactions with the staff and making a difference in the lives of patients.
Lindberg, who has filled the position for the last five-plus years, is set to officially retire once a replacement is identified.
Lindberg was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease two years ago and it has taken a toll physically and was one of the main reasons he decided it was time to put his medical career behind him.
“It catches up with you after a while,” Lindberg said. Cognitively, Lindberg said, there are no issues. But his endurance isn’t what it used to be, his voice is a bit more husky and there are some bouts with shaking and tremors. He also deals with a loss of smell.
“Something in this day and age that’s not a good thing,” he said.
The conversations about a transition began over the summer with Lindberg setting a goal of late winter/early spring for his retirement to become official.
While discussing his ongoing issues with Parkinson’s, Lindberg got a piece of sound advice from a trusted mentor.
“She reminded me I had been taking care of people for 40 years and it’s time to take care of myself,” Lindberg said.
Born and raised in Connecticut, Lindberg left his home state for the chief medical officer position at MCH, which he took over in November 2015. Prior to moving to Peterborough, Lindberg was physician in chief of geriatric and palliative medicine across Hartford Healthcare’s five hospital system, and before that served as chief of medicine.
When he saw the opening at MCH, Lindberg saw it as one final step in his medical career.
“I wanted to try the opportunity and the challenge of being a chief medical officer,” Lindberg said. “That position gives you the ability to make and influence change throughout the entire organization.”
He had worked at a small critical care hospital in Eutaw, Alabama, not unlike Monadnock Community Hospital. He knew the kind of difference that can take place in a more rural setting.
“It’s about the commitment to the community and the community’s commitment back to the hospital,” Lindberg said. “It’s about those personal relationships and you don’t get that at a bigger hospital.”
Treating patients always held a special meaning for Lindberg.
“The fact someone trusts you with a deeply important part of their lives is a sign of responsibility and a sign of trust,” he said.
Lindberg’s family growing up was very much blue-collar, he said; his father was a truck driver and his mother a secretary, and the family had times where healthcare was not always readily available.
His high school guidance counselor asked one day if he ever thought about being a doctor. It was of interest and he quickly got hooked on the idea.
Lindberg went to Georgetown University for his undergraduate degree in biology before applying to Georgetown’s School of Medicine. He didn’t get on his first try, instead going to grad school for two years before applying again and being accepted in 1979.
One thing was clear in Lindberg’s mind: “I knew I was not a surgeon,” he said.
He landed on internal medicine and “got bit by the bug.” He spent four years with the National Health Service Corps in Alabama.
“It was kind of interesting for a young kid from Connecticut,” Lindberg said. From there he went to teach at the University of Alabama for a little over a year before expanding into a new field with a geriatrics fellowship at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Lindberg has always been big into hiking and spent a lot of time doing so around the world. He’s hiked to Everest Base Camp, across England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and in various locations in Northern Italy, Switzerland and Austria. This fall, there is a tentative plan for Lindberg and his wife Nancy, also a doctor, to hike from the south shore to the north shore of Wales in September – but only if safe to do so depending on where things stand with the COVID-19 pandemic.
He plans to hike a lot in retirement, something that helps in his battle with Parkinson’s.
“A big part of the therapy for Parkinson’s is regular, vigorous exercise,” Lindberg said. He’s part of a research study at Dartmouth in Lebanon, undergoing regular exams. A way to give back to the field that has consumed the last four decades of his life.
Lindberg’s final year in medicine will be defined by the first global pandemic in more than 100 years.
“From a clinical standpoint, it’s absolutely fascinating to watch,” he said. But from a societal view, it’s been one of the most horrible things to watch happen.
“It’s just absolutely terrifying,” Lindberg said. He wishes everyone could have done better in the beginning, but in the same breath marvels at the way the pandemic brought the community and hospital together.
“I can’t be any prouder of or say anything better of what took place,” he said.