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By Joy Blackburn
ST. CROIX - Guts and determination.
To Dr. Mercedes Dullum, Gov. John deJongh Jr.'s nominee for V.I. Health Commissioner, those words represent many things.
They refer to a trophy her father and brothers, who built and raced cars, won in a rally car race in Jamaica many years ago.
"In this particular rally, they had multiple problems with the car and the race, but they kept going and finally finished the race," she said. They did not win, she noted, but they managed to persevere and cross the finish line.
"They were awarded this trophy for their persistence," Dullum said.
Those words also embody an attitude she considers a family trait, she said.
Finally, they represent to her how she plans to deal with problems and difficult situations as they crop up at the Health Department.
"As each situation arises in my new position, it will require a focused response to that particular problem, but I will get through it with guts and determination," she told The Daily News.
DeJongh announced Dullum as his choice to head the Health Department during a press conference on Nov. 7. She assumed the role of acting Health Commissioner on Dec. 1.
Her nomination still has to go before the Senate for confirmation.
A chest surgeon with more than 30 years in the health care field, Dullum, 57, said that a number of things - including her work ethic, her experience, her interest in preventing disease and the point she had reached in her career - combined to create her interest in the Health Commissioner position.
Dullum, who was born and grew up in Jamaica, earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. She did her general surgery residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and her thoracic surgery residency at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Her professional experience includes 18 years in a multi-physician private practice in the Washington, D.C., area at Washington Regional Cardiac Surgery P.C. For the last five of those 18 years, she was a managing partner.
More recently, she worked for seven years at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida, where her positions included medical director of international patient services and director of cardiac surgery.
Long before her appointment as Health Commissioner, Dullum was well-known in the territory's medical community, from years of coming down to provide continuing medical education for doctors. She also was involved in helping set up telemedicine capabilities between the Cleveland Clinic and Myrah Keating Community Health Center on St. John.
When Dullum developed arthritis in her hand, she made the decision to stop doing chest surgery, she said.
Initially, she saw doctors and tried conservative treatments.
But when the same dexterity she had before did not return to the hand, it was time to make a decision, she said.
"It just was not the right thing to continue," she said. "I had to stop operating."
Dullum took a yearlong medical leave from the Cleveland Clinic, starting in August 2010.
In August this year, she retired from the position there.
The decision to stop performing surgery was a difficult one - but Dullum felt it was the right thing to do, she said.
"I am not saying it was easy. But patients are always, always first. You gotta be at the top of your game," she said. "I could never forgive myself if I did something that hurt a patient."
She began to look for something else to do that still would allow her to be productive and contribute and realized that she had always enjoyed administration, she said. Through friends and contacts in the territory, she heard about the Health Commissioner opening and began looking into it.
Although heading up a government agency and being a cabinet member may seem political, Dullum said she sees the position differently.
"I am a health care worker at heart. I am not a political person," she said. "I am used to taking care of one patient at a time, or a team at a time. And this would give me the opportunity to take care of the whole territory. I was talking to the governor, and he said, 'You know, you can make a difference.'"
The assets she brings to table, she said, are an understanding of health care needs from both sides, understanding teamwork and its value to any organization and experience with information technology, which will be key in implementing electronic medical records and health care reform in the territory.
She also is fully aware of the current financial challenges the government is facing, she said.
"There are great people working in the Department of Health," she said.
One of the biggest facing the Health Department is "continuing to perform our functions with what we currently have," she said.
Improving the information technology at the department without additional funding may prove to be a significant challenge, she said, but she added that the department is seeking grants for that.
Dullum would like to see improved infrastructure, organization and communications at the Health Department, she said.
Her priorities also include increasing the department's disease prevention efforts and outreach programs, particularly in areas that present the biggest health problems in the territory, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Dullum said she wants to see residents become more involved in their own health care and in preventing disease.
"We are a team approach here, and you are the most important part of our team," she said of the public.
Dullum said she still is in the process of meeting employees, sitting down with directors and working out how to move the department toward meeting its goals.
She said she also hopes to get employees more engaged in their jobs.
Dullum said she is aware of a perception that the department is a troubled agency, but she said she believes there are very good people working there who have the answers to solving any problems that may arise.
Dullum sees part of her job as engaging employees, and then helping and supporting them as they work toward improving the agency, she said.
And while she knows it will be challenging - and that times are difficult all around - she said she believes the Health Department can improve.
"I have never felt that anything was impossible," she said. "And I have met such good people here." |
