Sunday, May 9, 2004

Benedicte Kurzen / Associated Press James Haveman

2OO3 Michiganians of the Year

James Haveman: He is helping resuscitate Iraq's near-dead national health system

By Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News

James Haveman Age: 59 Residence: Grand Rapids Occupation: Senior U.S. adviser to the provisional Iraqi Health Ministry Why honored: For answering the country's call to help rebuild Iraq Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

By most accounts, the U.S. government got a bargain when it hired Michigan’s former health chief to help rebuild Iraq last June.

Known as a workaholic during his 12 years in state government, James Haveman put in days that stretch from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. while helping to reconstruct the Mideast nation’s health care system.

“You’re basically working all the time you’re here,” said Haveman by satellite phone from Baghdad, Iraq’s capital city, in early April. That’s where he has spent most of the last year, away from his wife, Barbara, two grown children, five grandchildren and friends in hometown Grand Rapids.

“You lose track of days. You’ve got to be real focused and you’ve got to be self-sustaining.”

And that he is.

His parents and Dutch heritage taught him to value integrity and hard work. You build one board at a time, he recalls hearing more than once from his father, who was an architect.

It prepared him for difficult assignments.

In 1991, former Gov. John Engler appointed him state mental health director. He weathered criticism when he closed antiquated state mental hospitals. At Engler’s request for a more comprehensive approach to state health services, he merged his agency with the Health Department in 1996, a move that resulted in additional controversy.

In Iraq, Haveman is trying to fix a health care system devastated by war and neglect, while doctors struggle with shortages of equipment, medicines and, at times, even basic supplies.

Haveman earned a degree in sociology and economics from Calvin College in 1966 and a master’s degree in social work from Michigan State University in 1968. He directed Kent County’s mental health services board for seven years. Before joining the Engler administration, he headed Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids, an adoption agency.

Associates describe him as tough and persistent.

“Nothing swayed him. He knew what he was doing was right and he plowed forward,” said friend and former Engler press secretary John Truscott. “He’s driven. It’s not unusual for him to send an e-mail to his staff at 1 o’clock in the morning, when he’s up thinking about something.”

When President Bush asked him to consider the Iraq assignment last spring, Haveman didn’t hesitate. He assembled a staff, planned, scheduled and dug in.

Most recently, he delivered the country’s first detailed health budget in more than three decades, totaling $948 million. Iraq’s 26 million residents, 240 hospitals and 1,200 medical clinics had been surviving on a meager $16 million a year, Haveman said. (Compare that to Michigan, which lays out $9.1 billion annually on health care for its 10 million residents).

Haveman turned the health ministry back over to Iraqi leadership in a formal ceremony at the end of March, then stuck around as chief adviser for about another month before coming home to Michigan.

“I’ve heard the other leaders talk about him,” said Michigan State University President Peter McPherson, who took leave from his East Lansing post to run Iraq’s banking and monetary system for the provisional government last spring and summer.

“They were really impressed — the military leaders, the civilian directors, Iraqis. Haveman is an action-oriented guy. He’s been able to get a lot done quickly.”