Kimberly Krohn

It’s been six months since Minot was hit by record-breaking floodwaters, dashing the belief of most residents of the city that water-control projects completed on the Mouse River over the past four decades would protect the city from such a disaster.  Among the many organizations affected by the Minot flood was the UND Center for Family Medicine, including the Family Medicine Residency Program and clinic.  Though fortunately located well out of the floodwaters’ reach, the staff, faculty, and trainees had stressful circumstances to deal with during and as a result of the flood.  The floodwaters have finally receded, but the reparations continue.  

One of the Center’s trainees, Dr. Mark Longmuir from Stanley, says it was like when Kennedy was shot for some people. “I’ll never forget sitting in noon conference and learning we had a short period of time to move out,” he said.  They were told they had five days, but ended up moving out in 36 hours.  Their rental home, located right next to the river, took on nine feet of water.  His family of five had nowhere to go except to pack up and move out to Stanley, 50 miles away.

This is the house of Bruce and Louise Bogenrief during the flood.  Louise is a pharmacist with the UND Center for Family Medicine in Minot.

Four of the Center staff and one of the employees of the UND Center for Rural Health living in Minot experienced disastrous flooding of their homes. One of the faculty members and her family were evacuated for two months, living with friends.  Since the evacuation, most of the others have been living in recreational vehicles and now are moving into FEMA trailers brought in by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  Around 4,000 structures in the city were lost in the flood.  According to the Minot Daily News, only 3 percent of flood victims had returned to their homes as of the end of October.  Flood victims await news of redevelopment plans so they will be able to predict the future of their neighborhoods and their ability to salvage their homes.

Many staff, faculty, and resident physicians have helped other flood victims by assisting in moving housefuls of furniture, hosting evacuees, and storing valuable items for long periods of time.  The patients served by the Center are all affected by the disaster in the community as well.  Though no lives were lost in the flood, the trauma to the community continues.  Many Minot residents have left town because of the lack of housing, creating staffing shortages in health care and other organizations.  The new first-year residents and new CFM faculty member Kwanza Devlin, MD, found their prearranged housing unavailable as they arrived in Minot to start at the Center on July 1.  It’s been a struggle since, and candidates for faculty and resident positions are fearful that they will not be able to find affordable housing when and if they secure jobs in Minot.

During the flood, the major north–south routes in Minot were closed to traffic, making getting around town extremely difficult.  A three-mile trek to the clinic became a 90-minute ordeal some days.  The clinic never closed, and in fact became the site of the residency graduation on June 28, because I was concerned that if the planned graduation site on North Hill of Minot were used, the entire physician complement of the clinic could become stranded on the wrong side of the river from the clinic and hospital.

 The staff and a local caterer pitched in to make graduation special, which we held in the lobby of the clinic building.  Though the 250-bed Trinity Nursing Home was evacuated, Trinity Hospital remained open and none of the residents lost training time.  Several residents and faculty volunteered at the North Hill clinic and emergency center equipped by Trinity Hospital to provide urgent care for residents of the north part of the city.  

Currently, Minot is bustling to make sure new housing is being built and the flooded homes get closed up enough to be able to have their foundations heated throughout the winter.  The FEMA trailers are providing temporary shelter and the community shelters are getting closed.  The residency program remains dedicated to serving our community as it rebuilds and hopes for better times to come.