Photo by Karin Elton Dane Streblow gets support from his mother, Jennifer Streblow, as Meagan Crary, a nurse practitioner from Mankato, puts his socks back on after checking the flexibility of his feet. Dane has cerebral palsy and is able to see Crary in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Dane Streblow, who turned 5 years old last week, examined an otoscope as his mom watched, nervously hoping he wouldn’t break the medical instrument. He was also interested in the blood pressure cuff.

A medical career might be in the future for Dane, his care team says. And the hospital setting is certainly familiar to him. When he was born, he spent 83 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because he was premature.

“It’s a miracle he survived,” his mother, Jennifer Streblow, said. “He was a micro preemie.”

His NICU medical team was on the lookout for any issues that might arise because of Dane’s prematurity so his diplegic cerebral palsy was caught early for which Streblow is grateful.

“If it hadn’t been diagnosed earlier, he would have been a lot worse off,” she said.

To manage Dane’s specialized health care needs — mild cerebral palsy, hearing loss, developmental delay and autism — Streblow takes Dane to regular visits at Avera Marshall and, at first, had to drive over three hours to the Gillette Children’s Specialty Care in St. Paul.

The last couple years she has been able to meet with the Gillette team at Avera Marshall.

“We have an outreach site here in Marshall,” said Erin Jurkovich, provider relations liaison for Gillette.

In addition to Marshall, other outstate sites are Willmar and Mankato. The outreach site in Marshall opened about two years ago. The mobile orthotics services have been partnering with Avera for 15 years.

“So this is an extension of a relationship that has been ongoing,” said Jurkovich.

“Gillette experts have space at Avera Marshall where patients are seen weekly which keeps families from needing to travel to the Twin Cities so much,” said Stacy Neubeck, communications coordinator for Avera Marshall. “Often they are caring for kids with complex conditions and disabilities such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida and brain injuries who need extensive ongoing care for lifelong conditions, so any reduction in travel time and expense makes a big difference to families.”

“Families can spend less time on the road and get to know a provider,” said Mary Fischer, primary care clinic manager. “They get to know Meagan Crary. Meagan is a consistent part of our outreach. She is the mid-level that’s here every time that outreach is provided. She can act as a liaison for the families, too, in terms of the other specialists that maybe don’t come to Marshall, but that the family is in need of.”

They do still receive some services at the main campus in St. Paul, but “they are able to reduce that burden of travel by having some of their visits here,” Jurkovich said.

The Gillette providers at Marshall are able to make adjustments on helmets, braces or custom seating for wheelchairs. Jurkovich said that some patients are fine with “off the shelf” seating for their wheelchairs, but others need customized cushions to be more comfortable.

“If a family wants to receive services, they should call 651-290-8707,” Jurkovich said.

Last Thursday, Streblow, whose husband is Caleb Streblow, took Dane to his semiannual visit with a family nurse practitioner, Meagan Crary, APRN, CNP to check his “overall function and development skills such as walking and running,” Crary said.

Streblow said Dane’s walking and running is good.

“The braces help,” she said. “He seems more stable.”

Crary had Dane and his mom go out into the hall to show how he could walk and run with and without the braces.

Crary’s home base is Mankato, where she works four days a week and one day out of the week she travels to either Marshall or Willmar to see patients.

An orthotic specialist also comes to Marshall as well as a custom seating specialist.