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Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr.2OO3 Michiganians of the Year
Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr.: Sick, poor and think no one cares? Here's the man who does
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Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr. vividly remembers the pretty face of an 18-year-old woman whose throat had been slit by her boyfriend.
While being prepped for surgery, she looked at the Wayne State University medical resident and whimpered, “Please don’t let me die,” just before taking her last breath. She had bled to death.
Since then, Smitherman has witnessed too many senseless, preventable deaths, not only from violence, but also from such things as obesity, smoking and sexually transmitted diseases.
That’s why the tireless warrior fights to help save lives and Detroit’s health care system, which also is ailing. Sixty percent of Detroit’s doctors have left since 1997 and a quarter of the city’s population is uninsured.
Because many Metro Detroiters have no place to go for health care except emergency rooms, the assistant professor at WSU’s School of Medicine is working to build a public health network to provide health maintenance and preventive education.
Good health, Smitherman said, is about humanity, equality and justice.
In 1982, Smitherman earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Northwestern University and his medical degree at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1987. After his residency at Wayne State, he chose to live and work in Detroit because he hoped he could impact its poor health status.
“All of us are born with gifts,” he said. “Life is really about finding that gift that God has given and using it to lift others up for his purpose.”
Smitherman realized that practicing medicine is more than performing procedures, so in 1994 he completed a master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan.
In 1997, Smitherman became medical director for 21 Detroit Medical Center health centers. He transformed dilapidated space into community-based practices. He recruited a team of mostly African-American doctors who were committed to urban health care.
Over time, some clinics closed, and when the DMC decided to sell its last four clinics, Smitherman fought to keep them open. When the DMC did not renew Smitherman’s contract in 2002, he continued to see patients and manage staff for 15 months without pay.
Even when advised to give up the battle that took time away from his wife, Dr. Lynn Smitherman, and his two children, Kristen, 14, and Sean, 10, he forged on. Despite his efforts, the clinics were sold in February.
“He is a champion for Detroit,” said Lucille Smith, executive director of Voices of Detroit Initiative, which advocates for the uninsured. “He’s a good doctor and knows a lot about health care and health care policy. He would be difficult to replace.”
In April, Smitherman and a loyal team of doctors started the Health Centers Detroit Medical Group to continue the mission they began with DMC. With 15 percent of patients uninsured and 50 percent underinsured, they work against financial odds.
Smitherman says he must try.
“If you’re looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem,” he said. “We’ve sought it out.”
Copyright © 2004
The Detroit News.
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