Austin Eggers is New Intern at Milbank Area Hospital

If you believe music is medicine for the soul, then Austin Eggers has got you covered – body and soul. Eggers, the new intern at the Milbank Area Hospital Avera, sees patients in the morning and entertains and relaxes them during lunch. His piano melodies waft through the halls providing a brief respite from ECGs, CTs, and URIs.

Eggers joined the Milbank healthcare team through the Frontier and Rural Medicine, or FARM program, implemented five years ago at the University of South Dakota Medical School in Vermillion. Students chosen for the program spend nine months at one of the eight sites across the state including Pierre, Winner, Spearfish, and Milbank. The goal is for students to experience rural healthcare in its actual setting. Milbank has participated in the program for five years, and although some sites host two students, Milbank takes just one.

Eggers is from Rosholt, and if his name sounds familiar, it could be because he was active in sports and band in high school and competed in Milbank or because his parents own Eggers Funeral Home in Rosholt. Austin is following more closely in the footsteps of his uncle who is a physician in the Twin Cities. His siblings are also interested in healthcare. His sister Mackenzie, works as an RN in Fargo in a critical care unit, and his youngest sister, Anna, just finished her freshmen year at SDSU. She plans to become a nurse practitioner.

Eggers says he enjoys working in the rural setting of Milbank, and he still finds a lot of things to keep him busy. Some of his favorite things about the area is seeing patients in the clinic and in the community, and being a part of a baby’s birth. When he isn’t studying or working, he loves being outside or cheering on his favorite sports teams – the Twins,Vikings, and Timberwolves. Eggers will be at Milbank Area Hospital Avera until December.

Top picture: Milbank Area Hospital Avera administrator Natalie Gauer and Eggers