Region 6 administrator, medical director retires but plans to remain active in medical field

When Dr. David Holcombe took the job as regional administrator and medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health Region 6 about 17 years ago this month, he didn’t do it for the money. Other doctors thought it was crazy that the job didn't pay more.

But Holcombe took the job, and he's enjoyed it because he felt good about what he was doing, despite issues he faced.

“I really had the feeling that I was interested in the larger picture, the larger health issues and could possibly make an impact," Holcombe said. "And after 17 years, I think I did.”

Now he is ready to retire. A public retirement celebration will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday at the Rapides Parish Health Unit, 5604 A Coliseum Blvd., where people can drop by and wish him well.

He joked that his wife, Nicole, told him if he retired, she’d kill him. But then she softened and told him he could but he couldn’t stay home.

“She thinks I'm very high maintenance and I leave too many lights on and I just do stuff that bothers her,” he said. “She's been so used to having her own life and being completely independent that having some other person there is scary to her. But, she's not objecting to it.”

His other family members never understood why he was still working at 73.

“But I’ve been able to and I hope I’ve done a good job,” he said.

It's an “au revoir," not an “adieu”

Holcombe said that he isn’t leaving forever, and he's been telling people that this is more of a “au revoir” than an “adieu.”

“Adieu” means “until we meet with God,” like when someone is dying, he explained. “Au revoir” means, “Until we see each other again.”

Holcombe will remain part-time to help his successor make a smooth transition. That's his top priority. He wants guide them and help them as they teach students who go through the health department.

Holcombe reflected on his time and some of the more important things he accomplished, such as starting a disparities forum that brought to the forefront the huge differences that exist in the health outcomes between Blacks and whites. He said they focused on the differences a decade before other entities in the state took notice.

Poverty and poor educational outcomes, which have an overall negative impact on the health of the region, have affected Blacks more than whites, he said.

These two social detriments determine people’s health no matter if they live in England, Scandinavia, Vermont or Central Louisiana, he said. This is something he’s harped on for the past 17 years.

To that end, he said they worked closely with organizations like The Rapides Foundation to shift their focus from a “health” focus to a “social determinants of health” focus.

He also spoke about the eight hurricanes that happened during the 17 years he's been there and the work the he and his staff did at the Alexandria Mega Shelter on U.S. Highway 71 near LSUA.

Holcombe said they spent 76 days at the shelter in 2020. In 2021, they were there for 30 days. Each time, they had almost 2,000 people at the shelter and saw close to 700 people in the clinical area, where they worked with contractors to cover the medical evacuees.

Then, there was COVID

"In the middle of all of that, we had 100-year pandemic,” he said.

To date the health department has given more than 64,000 vaccines and administered 74,000 tests. Unfortunately, he said the vaccination rates among the general population in this area never got above 46%. The bright side was that the vaccination rate among the elderly people was much higher at 80%. And region distinguished itself from other regions in the state for giving three times as many COVID shots per capita, he added.

“So those are really some of the highlights,” he said. “We didn't have to close any health units. We still see more direct care per capita in our region than most other regions."

That care includes reproductive health, immunizations and sexually transmitted infections.

“We've confronted a terrible syphilis epidemic - had some of the worst rates in the entire state,” he said.

The health department also is actively involved in harm reduction. He said they distributed Narcan to every single health unit, most schools, fire departments and police departments. They've also worked actively with CLAS on its syringe services, though they are not directly involved in it, he said.

They also work closely with partner organizations to try and tackle issues of infant and maternal mortality, drownings, heat-related illnesses and West Nile and Zika viruses.

There is also an educational component to the health department. The teaching part has been very important for him.

“We have nursing students come through here, APRN students come through here, medical students come through here. And, we're resuming our residency rotations,” he said.

He also teaches annual courses for entomology students about mosquitoes at LSUA. The health department has successfully worked with VCOM, which is the osteopathic medical school in Monroe who do a two-week rotation. Masters of Public Health students also do practicums there and often will end up with some kind of publication, he said.

He's also had 340 articles published in local publications, has done numerous media interviews and has given hundreds of presentations.

“Maybe people listen to me. Maybe they don't. But they certainly can't say they didn't get the information,” he said.

Will continue to practice medicine

Holcombe isn’t retiring from practicing medicine. He will continue to see immigration clients at the free clinic.

“I've seen 930 of them," he said. "That's all that's pro bono work. And I had to learn Spanish. I can do the English, Spanish and French. And use all of those languages. In fact, 50% of those 900 are Hispanics. Mostly from Mexico, but also Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Cuba, wherever. That's been a very gratifying thing to do entirely for free.”

He is also on an institutional review board for CHRISTUS which he says is “a very specialized thing where you look at different research and you determine whether it’s ethical and all that.”

He also will continue to be on a hospital required infectious disease advisory board.

“I will probably be a volunteer to do public health accreditation site visits which would occur all of the United States, because I have a lot of knowledge now,” he said. “And the other thing I'm still going to do is, I'll be on my DMAT, my Disaster Medical Assistance Team.”

He has been on 12 deployments with DMAT, six of which have been hurricanes. He worked in an emergency room that was set up in a tent in front of a hospital in Florida because their emergency room was overwhelmed. During the two-weeks he was there, they saw more than 1,000 people.

“It was a little shocking because I'm not used to doing that direct care services. And I'm a little old, like older than everyone there. But I was still able to work,” he said.

Holcombe also spoke about going to San Francisco during COVID with his DMAT team where they had to board a ship in the middle of the night to see people. He said the governor had them over to his mansion and thanked them, which he thought was very nice.

He was also recognized with a Dr. David Holcombe Day by former Alexandria Mayor Jeff Hall.

“We worked tons with the National Guard. And I got that,” he said, pointing to a photograph in a book that showed a photo of him with the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal that they awarded him.

“I don't think I've done this perfectly, but I I think I've done a lot more good than harm,” he said of his time as regional administrator and medical director. “And I guess that's what we all need to see when we're finished for the job or our life.”

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Holcombe retires but plans to remain active in medical field