After several years without regular OB-GYN care in the immediate area, Dr. Tana Setness Hoefs has joined Langdon Prairie Health as a visiting OB-GYN specialist; she will see patients for a range of gynecological concerns.

“I am a non-interventionalist by nature,” said Dr. Setness Hoefs in regard to her care philosophy. “I don’t want patients to ever feel pushed toward medication or procedures; I want to guide you to a lifestyle path that will allow you to be your healthiest self so that you don’t need medical interventions.”

A resident of Grand Forks and employed with Altru Hospital, Dr. Setness Hoefs already has a significant number of patients from Langdon and the surrounding areas who have been traveling to see her at Altru for several years, and she says that she is looking forward to saving them the four-hour round-trip drive.

“Both of my parents grew up in a small community outside Langdon, so I have roots and a lot of family in that area who have to travel to get medical care,” explained Dr. Setness Hoefs. 

“There are families in small communities that have lost their hospitals, their clinics. I didn’t grow up in a big city, and I have family members that live that life – I know the hardship that has come for them because of that. I know how important it is for doctors to be willing to travel to offer services – that’s important to me.”

Dr. Setness Hoefs has been practicing in Grand Forks for 20 years, and said that during that time, three hospitals in the surrounding area have stopped delivering babies. 

“So now patients are looking at a two-hour drive to have their babies,” she said. “Or when you need an appointment every single week at the end of your pregnancy, four hours for an OB appointment is a lot – I get the hardship that patients have to go through when they have to travel for care.”

Instead, Dr. Setness Hoefs will be doing the commuting, along with nurse Carly Bjerke, who has worked with Dr. Setness Hoefs for more than two years.

“The good news is that I will be traveling with my own clinic nurse,” explained Dr. Setness Hoefs. “She’ll drive and I’ll have remote access to the EMR [electronic medical record], so on the way there, I will be going through notes and documenting on charts. Coming back home, I’ll be documenting what I did that day – and there’s other work-related activity that I can do in the car.” 

When it comes to work, Dr. Setness Hoefs pointed out that having OB-GYN care in the Langdon area is good not only for the patients themselves, but also for the community: “I think any time a person doesn’t have to take four hours off of work to travel to an appointment, that’s a good thing – instead, they can be productive for their employers, which is a benefit to the community.”

In addition, Dr. Setness Hoefs noted that it’s always an advantage to keep health care dollars in the community, which helps keep hospital and clinic doors open.

“We’ve seen what happens when hospitals and clinics close: Too often, patients don’t want to travel until they have to, and sometimes that means they’re really sick by that time – and that puts patients at an increased risk of bad outcomes,” she said

Initially, Dr. Setness Hoefs plans to work at LPH one full day each month, with the potential to increase the number of days if there’s enough demand. At LPH, she will provide basic OB-GYN care for a variety of gynecological concerns and conditions, as well as prenatal care up to 36 weeks, including:

• D&C (diagnosis or therapeutic)
• Endometrial biopsies
• Colposcopy - a procedure in which a lighted, magnifying instrument called a colposcope is used to examine the cervix, vagina and vulva
• Insertion of IUD

Dr. Setness Hoefs will also provide consultation for:

• Hysterectomy
• LaForte vaginal repair
• Tubal ligation
• Laparascopy

After earning her medical degree at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, Dr. Setness Hoefs completed her residency in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health at the University of Minnesota. She also received the 2022 Dean’s Special Recognition Award for Outstanding Volunteer Faculty from the University of North Dakota.

Dr. Setness Hoefs is accepting new OB-GYN patients at the Langdon Clinic; no referral is necessary. To learn more about her or to make an appointment, call 701-780-6900 visit our women's health page.