Doctor does the right thing

When Steven Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," did the interviews for his book, he found a common denominator: Effective people had a core set of beliefs that ruled every decision.
Dr. Ron Dwinnells could have been one of Covey's subjects. He is the chief executive officer of Ohio North East (ONE) Health Systems -- a group of nonprofit medical care facilities that help those with no, or too little, health insurance.
A military "brat" whose father was a serviceman and whose mother is Japanese, Dr. Dwinnells has gone from a little kid in elementary school who barely spoke English to pediatrician to businessman, and he is both effective and successful.
Core beliefguides him
But, like Covey's subjects, he has based his choices, particularly his career choices, not on the bottom line, but on his core belief: "Do the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way."
Dr. Dwinnells' office is in the Youngstown Community Health Center, a stone's throw from Ursuline High School. He administers three centers -- in Alliance, Youngstown and Warren. This summer, he was named recipient of the 2004 Community Service Award by his alma mater, the University of Kentucky. The award was presented to a medical graduate "who has demonstrated a commitment to improving community service."
Dr. Dwinnells began in community health paying back a medical school scholarship with service time. "I had a four-year commitment," he said. Though he began his payback in Sharon, Pa., in 1986, as a staff pediatrician, he soon spent two days a week at the newly opened Youngstown Community Health Center.
He came backto Youngstown
At the end of his service commitment, he started in private practice in North Carolina but took down his shingle in less than two years. "Truthfully, I didn't like it," he said, "the business part of it. Ironic 'cause that's what I do now. In '94, I came back to Youngstown."
Another thing made Dr. Dwinnells return to community health.
"You know how you remember certain things vividly? Well, I was sitting in my office in a middle-class neighborhood and an old, dilapidated truck pulled up and out walked people in tattered clothing," he recalled. "I thought, 'These people are poor and they're sick, and, as if that isn't enough, they have to pay to get better. Why?'"
Dr. Dwinnells returned to the Health Center as a pediatrician, but when the medical director left suddenly, he was asked to fill in. "Then I was asked to take it permanently," he said.
It was his core belief -- do the right thing, for the right reasons, in the right way -- that guided his choice. "I thought about it and decided I could affect more lives in a positive way as the director," Dr. Dwinnells said.
For the same reason, he accepted the CEO position -- despite the fact that he lacked an MBA. It didn't hurt his performance. He took ONE from an annual budget of $600,000 to $7 million, and from 8,000 patient visits in 1997 to 40,000 last year.
He shares secretsof ONE's growth
Dr. Dwinnells calls his success "chilling" and laughs about it. In his crisp cotton button-down shirt and blue jeans, he doesn't look like a CEO. When he goes to speak at other health centers, sharing the "secrets" of ONE and its impressive growth, he tells them to operate with this ideal: "Ignore the bottom line and provide quality health care with respect and dignity. Look at the patients first and the money will come." His listeners roll their eyes.
It doesn't deter him. His quality care is provided by "wonderful" doctors, dentists and staff chosen carefully and paid competitively. He is confident the preventive care they provide inevitably benefits taxpayers, too.
Dr. Dwinnells was recently offered the position of National Director of Health Disparities, based in D.C. He refused -- still true to his core -- "because I couldn't uproot my kids." He and his wife, Kathy, a Youngstown native who teaches nursing at Kent State University, have four girls, 9, 11, 14, and 15, and one boy, age 3.
"There will be opportunities down the road," he said.
murphy@vindy.com