VCOM View Vol 10 No 1

Early Life Experiences Inspired the Birchers to Help Others in Need by Sara Jamison

M ike and Judy Bircher grew up only four miles from each other, but never met until after high school. After a mix-up on a double date, Judy and Mike started dating and fell in love. Education was important to both of them, but they did not have the funds to attend college at the same time. Mike enrolled first at Kent State University and commuted, worked part time and attended school full time. Later Judy started at Kent State when their youngest child started kindergarten. He found a landscape architecture program at The Ohio State University where he transferred after two years at Kent State. The summer before starting at The Ohio State University, Mike and Judy were married. Their plan was for Mike to finish school while Judy found work. She transferred to work at Ohio Bell Telephone Company in Columbus, but before her first day of work the company went on strike. It was an anxious and uncertain time with Mike enrolled in college and Judy without work. The bills were piling up, and they struggled to make ends meet. That’s when they met a couple that would change their lives forever. Mike recalls, “I was doing odd jobs for a businessman in Columbus and started a conversation about needing work and a new place to live. It was

one of those conversations that I didn’t really know why I was sharing so many details.” Unfortunately, the businessman didn’t know of any opportunities at the time but said he would stay in touch. That was on Friday, and by Monday the businessman called and said they had an open position and an apartment ready for them. Mike gladly accepted the offer, and he and Judy moved in only weeks before their first child was born. The Birchers “ We found our purpose and a perfect way to pay it forward.” Mike and Judy Bircher, VCOM Standardized Patients were grateful and Mike recalled, “This family believed in me and supported us through a tough time. They were angels. I was working as the building janitor full time, going to class full time and didn’t have to worry about rent. This especially helped when Judy was on maternity leave.”

her that I didn’t know how we were ever going to repay them. She reassured me that it wasn’t needed, but rather to ‘pay it forward’ and help someone else in need. We never forgot those words or that couple.” The Birchers had quite an extensive career moving around to different jobs and communities. They raised four children and put an emphasis on education. In 2009, they decided to return to Blacksburg where Mike had once taught landscape architecture at Virginia Tech in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. They loved the mountains, the community and the convenience of Warm Hearth Village, the retirement community they call home. Trying to find ways to engage in the community, they found the Standardized Patient (SP) program at VCOM. The SP program uses hired individuals to act as patients. The SP portrays physical or emotional dysfunctions while assessing the medical students’ knowledge, effective communication and clinical skills. Mike started with the program first; he found an article in the paper that intrigued him, and he inquired more about it at a health fair. His first round of the program was in 2010, and he is one of the longest

Mike and Judy always remembered the kindness of that family and how they helped them through college. Shortly after moving in, Judy had a conversation with the wife, “I told

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