Woodbury is home to many excellent health care providers. Some of those, including Dr. Ann Lavers, Nadine Haddad and Nick Loudas, also grew up right here in Woodbury. They graciously shared their experiences in our city then and now with Woodbury Magazine.
Dr. Ann Lavers (pictured above)
Urologist, Metro Urology
1990 Woodbury High School graduate
For Dr. Ann Lavers, a high point of her days at Woodbury High School (WHS) was an excitement centered on science. “I always loved science; it came easy to me,” she says, and credits the first-rate faculty at the school with helping to stoke that flame. “The teachers had a vested interest in their students and were genuinely excited about the material.”
Although she decided on a career in medicine by the time she entered middle school, it was the prospect of having a drastic, positive impact on patients’ lives that led her to specialize in urology after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1994 and receiving her medical degree from the University of Minnesota in 1999. As a urologic surgeon, she focuses on incontinence, a problem that 80 percent of women will encounter at some point in their lives. “It’s a condition that not many people talk about, not even with their primary care providers,” Lavers says. “It’s not life-threatening, but it is seriously detrimental to quality of life.”
Lavers remembers her hometown as a “close-knit, almost rural community, [where] it was easy to jump on a bike and ride around. One of the best parts was that I knew everybody, and I knew everybody’s parents. It was never just your own parents looking out for you, but everyone’s parents.” During their middle school years, Lavers and her friends often biked to Valley Creek Mall, where they would grab lunch at the brand-new McDonalds. “I remember when it was just built,” she says. “Before that, there was a PDQ, where Yang’s is now. There was also a restaurant called Donnatelli’s, which was a bit too fancy for us [kids].”
Lavers has witnessed Valley Creek Mall’s “many renaissances” over the years. “There used to be a Sports World and a family-owned video store [where] we rented movies all the time,” she says. She points out that her shopping habits have changed in recent years, and with good reason. “I have 19-month-old twins, so most of my shopping nowadays is at Babies R’ Us and Target.” Her occasional excursions to Valley Creek Mall are for a quick bite from Key’s Café and Bakery or supplies from Frattalone’s Ace Hardware.
Some things in Woodbury remain unchanged, like Ronnally’s, which has great pizza. Lavers says, “It’s been around forever. At least, ever since I can remember. And it’s delicious.” She also spotlights a recent discovery, the Japanese restaurant Osaka. “They do great sushi there,” she says. And what a doctor needs even more than raw fish rolls are comfortable shoes, and Lavers raves about Schuler Shoes, her go-to for footwear. “They are willing to help you, endlessly, to find a pair that you like,” she says.
With the view from her parents’ backdoor now transformed from farmland to housing, Lavers says, “[Today’s] Woodbury is much more of a suburb.” This scaling-up is not without its perks. “You can find anything, any kind of restaurant, even places to do yoga. And there’s a lot more programming for small children.” Although she now lives in St. Paul, she adds, “I could definitely see moving back there someday; it’s still a great place to raise a family.”
Nadine Haddad, R.N. (pictured above)
Nurse, Woodwinds Health Campus
2003 Hill-Murray High School graduate
Nadine Haddad remembers Parkwood Knoll in Woodbury as “a super safe place to grow up.” Her best friend lived down the block, at the bottom of a long hill, and Haddad recalls: “We spent a lot of time running up and down that hill.” She also has fond memories of descending it on a sled or in barrel roll formation.
In 2006 while Haddad, a student at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, was studying abroad in New Zealand, “a wicked car accident” re-routed the then-business major toward a career in nursing. “I flew out of the back the car, broke a few bones, chipped nine teeth; I was pretty injured,” she says. “At first I was scared to get medical care in a foreign country, but the nurses were very compassionate and helped to ease my fears.”
The nurses’ “astounding care” inspired Haddad to enroll in the nursing program at Inver Hills Community College after completing her business degree. In 2008, she began working as a nursing assistant at Woodwinds Health Campus, where she’s now a nurse. She describes Woodwinds as “a smaller hospital with a true sense of community, where you walk down the hall and say ‘hi’ to everybody.” On a daily basis, Haddad is reminded why she chose her profession. She adds, “It’s a real honor to serve the community I grew up in.”
Now as an adult, Haddad appreciates different aspects of her hometown, Woodbury, including the city’s vibrant retail scene. She guesses that she own 50 pairs of shoes; she most enjoys shopping at DSW at Woodbury Lakes. “My mom and I can spend a good hour wandering that store,” she says. Actually, that’s what we’re doing this afternoon!” This month, Haddad completes her Master’s degree in nursing at Bethel University.
Nick Loudas (pictured above)
Medical Student, University of Minnesota
2006 Woodbury High School graduate
Raised in Woodbury from the age of six, Nick Loudas attended Bailey Elementary, Woodbury Junior and Senior High Schools and the University of Iowa. This month, after graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School, he will begin the internship phase of his radiation oncology residency. “There’s really no place I’m hoping to land,” he says. “There are certain reasons I’d like to leave [Minnesota]—namely, the weather—but there are plenty of positives too.”
When it comes to his hometown, there’s certainly no shortage of those. Loudas lauds Woodbury as “nice, quiet, comfortable and safe,” calling it “a great place for shopping,” with “plenty of green space. Woodbury was so safe that [my friends and I] felt like we had the run of the [place]. You spent so much of your childhood in school, or on your own; it was great to have that freedom.” He and his friends exercised their liberty in nearby Ojibway Park, playing soccer and Frisbee or riding their bikes. Caribou Coffee on Valley Creek Road was another popular hangout. “We went there after school to study… or not.” Now that he lives in Minneapolis, the medical student still stops in for the occasional Americano. More often, when he’s home for a visit, he and his friends meet up at Acapulco for adult beverages (the clear winner being the $6 growleritos of Dos Equis).
While at WHS, Loudas took full advantage of the school’s vast selection of AP courses. He never thought this level of involvement was anything exceptional; with such an abundance of activities available to them, it seemed most of his peers found a lot to be excited about at the school. “The great teachers at all levels really set me up well,” he says. “My first year of college was not a big transition like it was for some [freshmen]. I often wonder, if I grew up in rural Iowa or Camden, NJ or East St. Louis, how far would I have gotten? I can’t say with any certainty that I would be here.”
Gifted at math, Loudas naturally gravitated toward the sciences. “Getting into medicine is such a large commitment, so [that] took a lot of thought,” he says. “I considered just about everything.” At one point, as an undergraduate, he’d even weighed the option of going into food science and becoming a master brewer. More recently, he pared his difficult decision down to two potential paths: bioscience research or clinical practice. In the end, he chose the latter, preferring patient interaction to grant writing and research.
