Celebrating HELPcare Clinic’s Third Birthday

Three years ago this morning, on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, we saw our first patient at HELPcare Clinic, and before we opened for the day Dr. Dave Strobel recorded this guided tour to introduce the clinic and share his hopes and plans for how it might develop:

On that first Friday...

• We didn't yet have nurses.
• Because our wi-fi hadn't been activated, we had to use my cell phone's mobile hotspot for internet service.
• Members who wanted lab tests had to drive to Bloomington to get blood drawn, because we were still two months away from having an operational lab.
• Dr. Strobel was still working Monday through Thursday at the Pipe Trades clinic in Eagan, so we were only able to see patients on Fridays and Saturday mornings.

This opening was made possible by 151 Founding Members who believed in what we felt we were called to do and who were willing to sign up for membership when HELPcare Clinic was just an idea, and when the services were far from what we said they would become.

In the video above, Dr. Strobel had expressed hope that as popularity of HELPcare Clinic grew, we would be able to add more practitioners.

• That hope began to be realized when Nurse Practitioner Stephanie Kimmes joined us in May 2022.
• Dr. Strobel gradually reduced his Pipe Trades work until he was able to go full-time at HELPcare Clinic in early 2023.
• Physician Assistant Elizabeth Hedlund started here two years ago this month.
• As we saw a surge in membership coming with the Mower County Health Plan and other employer groups starting as of Jan. 1, we added Nurse Practitioner Danae Boorsma last October.

We also opened HELPcare Clinic Rochester in early 2023, and now have more than 1,800 members between the two locations.

Membership has more than tripled in the last two years, and just as we've seen the fulfillment of Dr. Strobel's hope for more providers to join with him, we hope both clinics will continue to grow and that we will be able to bring the HELPcare Clinic experience to other communities.

That's why we've created our new HELPcare Careers page, so others who share our passion and our core values can express interest in joining this movement.

As we look back on these last three years we're filled with gratitude for so many blessings, and we look forward in faith to what's ahead.

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Lee Aase

Lee Aase is the founder of HELPcare LLC, which provides comprehensive membership, marketing and management services for provider-owned HELPcare Clinics, as well as metabolic health education and coaching for people interested in restoring health and reversing disease through lifestyle changes. Lee and his wife Lisa live in Austin, MN and have six married children and 19 grandchildren.