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Diane Howlin with husband Richard.
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The board of Faith In Action in Chelsea has named Diane Howlin, M.D., as the Howard S. Holmes Humanitarian of the Year, an annual award that recognizes the outstanding community member who exemplifies the spirit of FIA.
"Diane is the founder, organizer and ongoing energy behind the local HOPE Clinic, which provides medical care to uninsured adults in this area," said FIA Director Nancy Paul. "She and her husband Richard, a child psychologist, have both made significant contributions to the health of this community and they are wonderful people."
Howlin will be honored at the FIA Annual Benefit Banquet on April 19.
"I'm really honored to receive this award as it's totally unexpected and just something I've always enjoyed doing on the side to give back to the community that has given so much to me and my family," Howlin said. "If we, one day, find a way to have health care for all our citizens, perhaps Hope Chelsea will become obsolete.
"Meanwhile, we certainly enjoy what we do."
Howlin has practiced medicine in Chelsea for almost 17 years. After going into private practice seven years ago, she saw the need for free health care for the uninsured and opened Hope Chelsea clinic in the Faith in Action building.
"We're a branch of Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti," she said. "When I was researching how to open such a clinic, Dr. Heffernan, their medical director, invited me to become a branch since we had the same mission."
Initially, a grant from the Chelsea Community Foundation got the clinic started.
"Two years ago we became a United Way organization, which has been monumental in keeping us going," Howlin says. "That allowed me to focus on medicine rather than fund-raising."
Howlin was a founding member of the Chelsea Community Foundation, but stepped down once Hope Chelsea was established to devote her time to the clinic.
She is board certified in internal medicine with a special interest and certification in lasers used for cosmetic and medical purposes, including smoking cessation, pain control and weight reduction.
"My other passion in internal medicine is caring for the elderly," Howlin said. "They are very interesting people with so much depth to them that they'll often share if one listens.
"For example, I've had a patient who wired the Panama Canal, one who was in a concentration camp, a World War II veteran who was shot down and got his plane stuck on an aircraft carrier, an astronaut, Detroit automotive family heirs and the list goes on."
Her own parents are elderly, and have struggled with chronic illness, strokes and dementia.
"That has really put me in touch with my patients and their families as I understand what they go through to get medical care," she says.
"Home visits to patients' houses are something I offer as it's hard for them to get into the office when they cannot drive themselves and their adult children are working or parenting."
A native of Dearborn, Howlin did her undergraduate degree at Wayne State University, and went to medical school at the University of Munich, a sister university to WSU. She did her residency at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor.
She is on staff at Chelsea Community Hospital, a huge factor in the clinic being able to provide so many services to the uninsured, she says. CCH allows Hope Chelsea to use the lab, x-ray, and operating room specialists when the need arises.
Howlin says Hope Chelsea allows her to practice medicine for all the reasons she went into this career - to help people.
"It cuts out the bureaucracy of insurance companies which has gotten out of hand," she said. "For example, in regular practice, we have to get pre-authorizations from insurance companies all day long to get patients the medicines or procedures they need.
"Conversely, Hope Chelsea is just pure medicine. The patients are very grateful for the help. It's gratifying because the people we help get healthier and get gainfully employed and move on with their lives. They thank us for giving them hope and dignity. It's very fulfilling."
Hope Chelsea is where primary care medicine really shines, she says.
"Currently in medicine, the primary care fields are becoming more and more obsolete with new graduates, due to heavy bureaucracy that is un-reimbursed.
"When I see our primary care doctors who volunteer at Hope Chelsea, they bond with their patients and get tremendous gratification from really helping the individual."
Hope Chelsea doctors - Jim Peggs, Randy Forsch, Rodney Dewyer, Kathryn Dietz, Sue Stern, John Crump, and Carla Page - are internists, emergency physicians and family medicine doctors. Some are in private practice.
"Our impact on the community is that we help fill a void where our current medical system cannot," Howlin says. "Chelsea is generally a well-to-do community and the citizens have been most willing to help provide us funding for the clinic.
"Faith in Action has given us the space to practice. They are a very important institution because they are connected to the people who need our services the most. It's an interdenominational institution, so no one feels uncomfortable in that setting. FIA staff answer the phones for us and book our appointments. So they're our lifeline."
Two other institutions that have helped the clinic are St. Mary Catholic Church in Chelsea and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Dexter.
"They regularly hold collections and donate to our clinic," Howlin says. "If other individuals or institutions would be interested in helping support Hope Chelsea clinic, they may contact me through Faith in Action or my office."
Clinic dates are held monthly on Saturdays in the Faith in Action building on the CCH campus. In between visits, if a patient has a medical need, the clinic has an on-call system to see them. Office manager Brenda Milliken coordinates this care and the necessary follow-up, such as getting test results to patients or making sure that they get an appointment with the specialist.
Howlin and her husband have called Chelsea home for 22 years. Their daughter Kate works for a resort in Aspen, Col., while daughter Mary is in medical school in England, her father's native country and a place the family often visits.
Howlin is involved in St. Joseph Church in Dexter, and also enjoys skiing, travel and playing the violin. "I played professionally through residency, then ran out of time. Now I mostly play for my church."
A lover of the performing arts, and formerly a dancer for the Detroit City Ballet in the 1970s, she enjoys season tickets to the Detroit Symphony.
She also enjoys speaking German. "My office staff has learned some German taking care of German patients. It's not uncommon to hear 'Auf wiedersehen' as patients leave the practice," she says.
Amid a busy medical career, Howlin likes to relax and unwind among nature and animals.
"The best end to a day is a long hike, enjoying what nature has to offer out in the country," she says. "A typical day will include deer, cranes, herons, and other wildlife."
Sheila Pursglove is a freelance writer. She can be reached at bingley51@yahoo.com.
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