UNMC doctors put skills to the test – building skills

As the doctors gather round, Joe Mirfield talks about fingers and thumbs.

As in, don’t lose any.

It’s a brisk Friday morning, and Mirfield, the volunteer supervisor for Omaha’s Habitat for Humanity, is preparing this morning’s crew — doctors from the Metro Omaha Medical Society (MOMS), including UNMC’s Rowen Zetterman, M.D.

Rowen Zetterman, M.D., shows off his surgical skills.

The group came together for three days in early May in an event called DocBuild, working with Habitat for Humanity on homes in North Omaha.

“It’s important to give back to the community, and that’s what Metro Omaha Medical Society is about,” Dr. Zetterman said. “It’s an organization that thinks about its patients as well as its physicians.”

Dr. Zetterman will be cutting wood panel with an electric saw for most of the morning; other doctors are helping to erect a garage behind one of the houses.

An association for physicians throughout the Omaha metro area, MOMS has been in existence for almost 150 years, according to president Deb Esser, M.D. “We offer all sorts of services for physicians — education, community relations, public health events, legislative advocacy — for the health of all Nebraskans.

“But primarily, what we try to do is to bring physicians from throughout the community — different specialties, private practice, different health systems, all together for the betterment of Nebraskans’ health.”

Paul Paulman, M.D., and Audrey Paulman, M.D., participated Saturday, the final day of the event. Dr. Paul Paulman said he developed his building skills while growing up on a farm.

“I liked the opportunity for fellowship, the chance to learn new skills,” he said. “I felt I was doing something which might help someone, and I like Habitat’s approach of giving a hand up, not a hand out.”

Carol Wang, executive director of MOMS, said she is surprised by some of the building talents physicians display.

“I am awestruck by the ones really adept with power tools,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity is a health-related effort, Wang said.

“Having a home can really affect your health, so if we’re about advocating for patients’ health, then this is really at the very base of health,” she said.