By William Smith
Sarah Kottenstette-Kirk, 29, left Burlington in 2013 as a high school graduate, unsure where the winding road of college would take her.
She was one of 26 graduates from her Notre Dame class — a large class for the private Catholic school. Even then, she knew she wanted to help people.
Kottenstette-Kirk returned to Burlington last month with a medical degree and a new job and just started taking patients at Family Medicine-Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center — the definition of “hometown girl makes good.”
“When I was in high school, my mom had breast cancer. Seeing her go through all that treatment, I think that kind of led me into medicine,” she said.
Kottenstette-Kirk gained respect for the profession during that process and learned a valuable lesson first-hand — medical treatment can save lives. Her mom just celebrated 15 years of being cancer-free this month, a milestone made possible through science.
“I enjoy just the science behind it all,” Kottenstette-Kirk said. “I like learning what new medications there are and making sure we get the appropriate treatment for people. There’s already been such great advancements in screening practices for cancer and other things.”
As a primary care family doctor, Kottenstette-Kirk is her patients’ first line of defense. She determines their needs and ultimately dictates their treatment and quality of life.
It’s a big responsibility, one that Kottenstette-Kirk doesn’t shrink away from.
“I enjoy being that person,” she said.
Working in her hometown hospital is a little slice of heaven for Kottenstette-Kirk.
She previously did a month-long rotation at Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center during medical school, and that experience convinced her to go into family medicine. She was attending medical school at the University of Iowa at the time.
“I love it here,” she said.
Before starting in her dream job, Kottenstette-Kirk survived the hell of residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 573-bed county hospital has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the world.
That’s why Kottenstette-Kirk picked it. The level-one trauma center was perfect for an ambitious upstart doctor thirsting for a trial-by-fire. The hospital was her first choice.
“Lots of adventures,” she said with a smile.
As a safety net hospital, the county medical center in Fort Worth is the primary source of care for refugees in the area.
“I worked with a large, undocumented, and un-sheltered population. Lots of non-English speakers,” she said.
The hospital keeps Spanish translators on hand due to the large Hispanic population and uses iPads with translation programs to communicate with other refugees. Some of the refugees have shelter, but many don’t.
“We had a lot of people from Afghanistan and a few from the Ukraine. But most of our refugees came from African countries. So we had some very diverse languages,” she said.
Kottenstette-Kirk loved the energy and chaos. It was a grueling schedule—especially when COVID-19 hit—but she got a lifetime’s worth of medical education in three years.
Before moving to Texas, she used her limited off-time to maintain a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend, M.J. Kirk.
They made it work and got married in Texas shortly before moving to Burlington.
“We were just good friends in college. He wanted to go to dental school, and I wanted to go to med school. But I knew I wanted to go to the University of Iowa, so we did long distance. He stayed in Omaha for four years,” she said.
Kirk now practices dentistry at Randolph Dental, and the couple are proud parents of two beloved cats.
Ironically, they have much more time to see each other in married life than when they were dating.
“I have to figure out what my hobbies are now,” Kottenstette-Kirk said with a laugh.
Kirk didn’t grow up in the area but is getting used to living in a small town. Kottenstette-Kirk loves being back home, and Burlington has changed dramatically since she last lived her over 10 years ago.
“There is so much more downtown than there used to be,” she said.
Kottenstette-Kirk is building up her patient base and familiarizing herself with Iowa’s insurance laws, which vary quite a bit from Texas. More importantly, she’s taking care of those patients.
“I’m accepting new patients, and I’m excited to be here,” she said.