I received my B.S. in Biomedical Science from Marquette University in 2004 and received the Marquette University College of Health Sciences academic achievement award in Biochemistry. I graduated magna cum laude with a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from Marquette University in 2005. 

My background in healthcare includes working in the areas of nephrology, cardiology, urgent care, family practice, internal medicine, and occupational health.

I have served on the national Home Centered Care Institute’s Clinical Advisory team and on the Editorial Board for the Arizona Center on Aging/Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program. I have also served on the board of directors of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine and I am a current member of several PA professional organizations.

Prior to restarting my house calls program I was the Associate Chair and Director of Clinical Education for the Marquette University Physician Assistant Program. I taught courses in evidence-based medical research, clinical decision making, and geriatrics. In addition to that I served as a member of the academic integrity council and the university’s committee for health and wellness.

In my free time, I serve as the Director of the Watertown Blue Revue Dance Studio and have been coaching the varsity team for over fifteen years. I grew up in the Watertown community and reside there with my husband and five children.

I’m so glad you’re here. I’d love to tell you my story.

I started NNH because after 18 years in healthcare I knew there had to be a better way to deliver high quality compassionate care to patients in my community.  After almost 20 years practicing medicine it is easy to become burnt out by the systems and pressure that are placed on providers and patients.  Day after day I saw a healthcare system that created barriers for my patients instead of break throughs.  I saw cold interactions instead of compassionate ones.  Medicine was becoming more like a systematic process and less like a art form.  My experience as a mom of five kids and as a caregiver for aging family members has given me the ability to see medicine from the other side-the consumer.  If I was feeling frustrated by the barriers, the communication deficits, and the costs of healthcare for my own family...how were my patients who didn't live day to day in the healthcare system feeling?  When I made the decision to start NNH it was with a commitment to reduce barriers, increase communication, and provide extraordinary high quality medical care led with love.  

My father started a tradition long ago where he would gift me a book or two every Christmas and include a inscription that usually involved words of wisdom or humor- two things I can always count on him for.  Over the years these books were often about medicine and I have saved them all and come back to them when I need to be reminded of my why.  One book that stands out he gifted me Christmas of 1999.  I was a senior in high school who had plans to attend Marquette University the next fall and major in biomedical science with the ultimate goal of obtaining my masters in physician assistant studies.  The book was called "The Lost Art of Healing- Practicing Compassion in Medicine," and was written by Dr. Bernard Lown.  In the preface section of the book he writes;

This book reaches a different conclusion about what is ailing our health care system.  Medicine's profound crisis, I believe, is only partially related to ballooning costs, for the problem is far deeper than economics.  In my view, the basic reason is that medicine has list its way, if not its soul.  An unwritten covenant between doctor and patient, hallowed over several millennia, is being broken.


Even after almost 25 years those same challenges are facing both providers and patients today.  It is my hope that my patients and their families will find NNH to be a place where they are delivered high quality medical care with compassion and convenience.  

Welcome, I'm happy you are here.

Linnea

Think of it like this…

If you have ever been the one to be diagnosed with what we in medicine call “white coat hypertension” you know all too well the physical response from simply walking into a medical clinic.  You sit down and the nurse says “oh wow your blood pressure is pretty high today!”  You sheepishly look down and say “yeah thats pretty normal for me I get nervous when I come here.”  So as your provider we have to decide do we need to treat this elevated blood pressure or is this truly just your classic white coat hypertension.  The only way we know how to make that decision is to ask you to check your blood pressure when you are NOT in our clinic and then we decide.  This example is a easy way to understand why being able to visit a patient in their home provides me with far better observations and data to direct their care.  It truly is the best way to deliver patient care FOR the patient.  I could rattle off a million barriers to health care- cost, transportation, time off of work, office visit hours of operation, mobility issues… at Nagel Neighbborhood health our goal is to break down those barriers for you and for your loved ones. We believe that of all the advice, medications, and treatments we can offer our patients empathy and compassion remain the top therapies.