April Katz
Anyone who’s ever moved to a new city knows the drill: You start the search for a neighborhood you’ll love, a coffee shop destined to be your new favorite, and the grocery store with the freshest produce, And, maybe toughest of all, you look for new healthcare providers you can trust for the best possible care.
When April Katz moved from Pittsburg to Ames in 1999, joining ISU as a professor of art and visual culture, finding great medical care was at the very top of her list.
Just two years out from a diagnosis of Stage 2 breast cancer, which had been treated with surgery and radiation, April needed follow-up care and testing to check for recurrences and treat any lingering effects of her treatment.
An artist who specializes in printmaking, April investigated her options for follow-up care and landed on MercyOne Katzmann Breast Care in Clive. The relationships she found there extended beyond her healthcare to a personal relationship and artistic connection with Susan Beck, D.O.
“Coming from out of state and needing follow-up care, I was so happy to discover the Katzmann center and Dr. Beck,” she says. “Dr. Beck did my surgical biopsies, which thankfully were pre-cancerous and very treatable, and strongly encouraged me to have genetic testing. Once my condition stabilized, Tracey Jurgensmeier became my primary breast care health provider.
“The personal support at Katzmann is unique, and the care is much more integrated across the Mercy system than I’ve experienced elsewhere. For example, when I’ve had mammograms at Katzmann, I’ve always been able to meet with my provider the same day. That coordination just doesn’t happen at other places where I’ve received care, and it makes a difference.”
Dr. Beck and April found some time to connect over their shared personal interest in art. April’s work created after her breast cancer diagnosis was informed by her study of its possible causes and treatments, and on the patent a private research company, Myriad Genetics, had obtained on a cancer-related gene found in every human body—a patent that was eventually revoked by the U.S. Supreme Court.
When Dr. Beck and Tracey Jurgensmeier attended the opening of a show of April’s work in 2019, they were especially taken with two works. Dr. Beck and her husband purchased “BRCA2: Myriad Detections 1” and April donated a second, entitled “Myriad Anomalies.” Both are on display at Katzmann.
The print incorporates images from April’s own mammograms, as well as images relating to alchemy (a forerunner of modern chemistry). It hangs directly to the left of the large breast cancer quilt in the patient art display at Katzmann.
Although April is now happily relocated to North Fort Myers, Florida, with her wife, fellow artist JoAnn Boehmer, the print offers a lasting tribute to an exceptional doctor-patient relationship for which Katz is still grateful.
“Dr. Beck is incredibly caring and competent, and very present when she’s with you,” April says. “She really embodies the idea of the physician as a servant to the patient, and she’s a wonderful leader of the whole center, who models such caring behavior. I’m still looking for care on that level here in Florida.”
