PEEKS [Persona] Moving Up Michele describes the process that brought her from a job as a nurse's aid in a Canadian hospital to her present role as an ob/Gyn with Sutter delta. April 2007

Michele Bergman

As far back as I can remember I wanted to be a doctor. My mom would take me to work with her at her nursing home, and from the early age of five, I had already become familiar and comfortable with the medical care environment.

I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba and began my career in the medical profession at the bottom of the ladder. Mom was an LPN (licensed practical nurse) and I took a nurse's aid course that was offered by the nursing home where she worked. After completing the class I worked at the nursing home with my mom for the next six years - dumping out emesis (vomit) and washing out bedpans back in the days before they became disposable. I worked as a nurses' aid in order to pay my way through my studies at the University of Manitoba. I graduated with a BA in Nursing in 1993.

I was compulsive about grades in Nursing School. I was good at science and math, and loved my classes and my studies. Halfway through the program my sister graduated from medical school. I sat there at her graduation and thought, "This is what I really want to do 'when I grow up.' I want to be a doctor."

Following graduation my first position was in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Californians might consider that to be a ghastly assignment, but moving from Winnipeg to Grand Forks meant moving south. Grand Forks was only two hours from home, however, so the change in climate wasn't actually noticeable. In both places the temperature could fall to 40 degrees below zero. Being on my own and working full time prompted me to go back to school and get my pre-medical degree so I could move toward my goal of becoming a doctor. I attended the local University of North Dakota. I had nothing to lose except sleep.

A Pair of Important Events

I had a remarkable experience during this time. My mother is Jamaican and my father is from Barbados. Dad left us when I was about five years old. I only saw him once afterwards, when I took a trip to see him.

While I was in college I got a call from my father's wife on my 28th birthday. She was a stranger to me, but she said that dad was dying of cancer in a hospital in Connecticut. He was dying of AML (Acute Myelogenous Leukemia) and ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). He was in and out of consciousness and his body was full of infection.

I immediately canceled the big birthday party that I had planned with my friends. My two sisters and I headed for a rendezvous at our father's bedside.

My father's wife picked us up at the airport. She turned out to be a very nice woman, and the hours we spent by my father's bedside created a strong bond among us.

Dad was never conscious, but I think he knew we were there. My nursing instincts took over and I began to do all the things you do for a dying patient.

My mom's teachings influenced our behaviors. She taught us to put away any resentments and simply to help anyone we can. Dad's brother, whom I had never met, flew in from Barbados. We became a close family instantly, it seemed. We prayed together around the bedside and said our good-byes. We were with him at the end; we shut off the respirator. It was a time for tears and regrets over decades that had been lost to us. But it was also a wonderful occasion of closure that filled our hearts with love and peace.

I had another remarkable experience in college. One night I attended a competition of law school students at the University of North Dakota Law School to watch my roommate, Melissa Meyers, who was one of the participants. As I entered the law school building I saw a group of students gathered around a man who had collapsed on the floor.

I dropped my books, took off my coat, and knelt down beside the man. A voice behind me said, "I know CPR." The two of us administered CPR for nine minutes, which seemed like forever. The paramedics finally arrived, defibrillated the victim, and took him to the same hospital where I would soon be working on the evening shift.

It turned out that the man was a Federal Magistrate Judge. I visited him that night and we've been friends ever since. The judge had been a childhood friend of the governor of North Dakota so I received the Governor's Award for my action. When I graduated from college, the judge wrote a letter of reference for my application into medical school.

Moving Towards the Top in Work and Love

I moved from Grand Forks to Rochester, Minnesota to attend medical school at the Mayo Clinic. I was still moving south and the climate was changing a little bit for the better. The temperature in Rochester hardly ever goes lower than 30 below zero in the wintertime. The place is a banana belt compared to Winnipeg!

I was class president all four years, which was a real accomplishment. I'm an alpha-personality type and was surrounded by a sea of betas.

Mayo Clinic throws you in with the patients right away. When it came time to declare a specialty I waffled between General Surgery, Pediatrics, and Ob/Gyn. Ob/Gyn was a good compromise because it involved me both with surgeries and children - and gives me many opportunities to bond with other women, which I really appreciate. I received my Ob/Gyn board certification in December 2006.

I made the decision to do HIV research in San Francisco with Dr. James Kahn at UCSF. I did the actual work at San Francisco General. I was rooming in the City with Melissa, my law-school roommate from college.

I met my husband, Denis in San Francisco on January 9, 1999…. Melissa and I walked into a lounge and when I saw him I said to myself, "Let's hang out here for a while."

It was a quiet night. Denis and his buddy were at one table; my friend and I were at another. Eventually Denis and I struck up a conversation. Denis turned out to be shy and reserved, which means that he is just the opposite of me.

We went on our first date the next week. At that point I had been living in San Francisco for three months but told Denis that I was new in order to give him an excuse to show me around. We spent seven hours just talking with each other while walking through China Town, Fisherman's Wharf, and Union Square. It was a real tour of the City!

Denis was a gentleman. He actually took honorable behavior to an extreme because it took him until our sixth date to give me my first kiss.

I returned to school in March, and we became engaged two months later, after he won my mom's heartfelt approval.

I graduated from medical school a year later and got married the next day. Because I was class president I had to plan both the graduation reception and my own wedding reception. It was a lot of work but I had friends and family coming for my graduation and didn't want them to have to make two trips. Also, I wanted my fellow students to be able to attend.

I think I had the biggest representation of friends and family at my graduation that the school had ever seen for a single graduate.

I did my residency at Cedar Sinai in Beverly Hills. A lot of celebrities went through there. Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas had their first child there. I saw Madonna, Eddy Murphy, Ving Rhames, Nicole Kidman, and Dennis Quaid, plus Rhea Perlman and her visitor, Danny DeVito. Also, those Beverly Hills residents would complain about temperatures in the 50s - a full 100 degrees warmer than the winter lows I had endured.

I was at Cedar Sinai from 2000 to 2004. Residency is hard work and I regularly worked 100 hours a week. But I enjoyed it! I loved the patients and the Nursing Staff. I took pleasure from helping people.

My Family Affair

I made residency even more difficult by giving birth to two children. I used a pump to help breastfeed both of them. During my second pregnancy life became more complicated when the faculty and the other residents elected me as a Chief Resident.

My husband would often bring the baby to me in the hospital in the middle of my 24-hour shifts so our child wouldn't forget who mom is. Denis wonderfully provided stability for our young family.

I'm good at multitasking. I delivered two babies by C-section on the very day that my own first child was due to be born. The next day I checked in to the hospital for a 17-hour labor that finally ended with a C-section and the delivery of a large baby. My husband is 6' 4" and I'm 5' 3" so the numbers weren't in my favor. Our big baby is still growing. He weighed 70 pounds and stood four feet high on his fourth birthday!

"What football team is he going to play for?" everyone asks. I think he'll probably be able to play on whichever football team he chooses. At age four he was already a level three swimmer.

Denis is a house-husband, happily staying home with our two boys. He runs the house, does all the cooking and laundry. He is Hispanic and Italian so he loves to cook things like chicken cacciatore, carne asada, and rice and beans. He also cooks dishes from my culture - Caribbean dishes like curry, jerk chicken, and rice and peas.

Denis is a very good man! We became friends on our first date. Part of our success as a couple is due to the fact that we have always talked so much. During the long-distance part of our relationship our phone calls would often last for six hours! I finally got my M.D., and took a position in the Kaiser clinics in Antioch, Walnut Creek, and Martinez. I joined Sutter Delta Medical Group in March 2006.

Sutter was a better life choice for me because I wanted to work in the same community where I live. I now have control over my schedule.

My home is a seven-minute commute from my office in Brentwood and ten minutes from the Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch. I always wanted to serve my community, and now I'm taking care of neighbors and friends.