LuAnn Lehnertz grew up in the Twin Cities, completed her post-college internship in Indiana and had a full-time job lined up back home in Minnesota when she set off on a road trip to Texas, taking the scenic route across the American West.
One stop on that road trip was Central Oregon, where St. Charles was in the process of moving its hospital from downtown Bend to its current location on Neff Road. The year: 1975.
“The part-time dietitian in Redmond was going to go full time in Bend, so I called the administrator and he said, ‘You’d want to work here?’ And I said, ‘Yes!’” she said. “So they hired me — November 10th, 1975 — for 15 hours per week. I dropped my full-time offer, came out here, and I’ve been here ever since.”
In other words, this month marks 50 years at St. Charles for Lehnertz, who currently works at the Center for Women’s Health in Redmond, doing outpatient nutrition therapy.
“I didn’t want to be in a big city. that was part of it,” she said. “It was my size and I knew I could cross-country ski, bike and hike here — which I did and still do.”
Her five decades at St. Charles have been an adventure of their own, full of varied experiences and firsts. Lehnertz was the first full-time dietitian in Redmond. She managed food service for 20 years while also visiting inpatients. She designed the hospital’s new kitchen, ordered supplies, handled scheduling and, as a working manager, filled in as needed, all without computers, internet or email.
“We worked side by side,” she said. “It was a family atmosphere and really nice. We knew most of the patients and most everyone who walked the halls.”
Lehnertz was on the team to first offer comprehensive lifestyle programs to supplement medical weight management efforts, and she was part of the team that started bariatric surgery support groups and classes. She was also the first dietitian in Redmond to get certified as a diabetes educator, and she started diabetes education programs and classes with St. Charles endocrinologists.
As the field of nutrition has changed over the years, Lehnertz has continued to learn and embrace challenges, choosing not to reject new ideas but to go with the flow and help make them work.
Asked to reflect on spending a half-century with one organization, Lehnertz is quick with a quip: “I was never bored for a minute,” she said. “I could never have guessed I’d be here for 50 years. It happened a day at a time.”
These days, Lehnertz is teaching fitness classes at the Redmond Senior Center through Redmond Area Park and Recreation District — it’s my “hobby job,” she said. She spends more time looking forward than looking back.
“For me, I believe I’ve had the very best years of being a dietitian in health care and the very best years in Redmond,” she said. “I think the years I was doing this job were the best anybody could’ve had.”
