|
by
Kirsten Brown
The Ohio Osteopathic
Association (OOA) honored George Dunigan for his 32 years
of service with the 2006 OOA Meritorious Service Award. The
award, the highest mark of distinction that the association
bestows upon a non-physician, is traditionally presented to an
individual in recognition of outstanding contributions to the
osteopathic professions in scientific, philanthropic or other
fields of public service.
Dunigan fits that description
perfectly. As the OOA and OU-COM director of government
relations, he not only performs an active part in advancing the
rights of the profession, but also helped develop the securing
passage of the 1975 House Bill 229. This was the bill that
called for the establishment of Ohio University’s College of
Osteopathic Medicine.
“I was hired to develop the
legislation to implement the creation of an osteopathic
college,” Dunigan explains. “There were only nine at the time,
and OU-COM ended up being the tenth.”
Dunigan recalls how they
settled on the OU campus for the school’s home.
“In the original legislation,
it was determined that the board of regents would decide where
the college of osteopathic medicine would be located,” he says.
“It became apparent that OU had an appealing location on West
Green. At the time, the university population on West Green had
gone down, and there were several empty dormitories, which the
state and the university were paying off the bond indebtedness.
So we decided to renovate these existing facilities, rather than
starting from scratch and building up from the ground.”
As OU-COM settled into its new
residence, Dunigan was charged with leading the way to shaping
support for OU-COM, although he insists he was only one of many.
“It was truly a confluence of
people coming together,” he says. “The osteopathic profession
came together with its money and its intention and its
organization to join forces behind this initiative.”
Dunigan says the contributing
physicians each gave $250 for six years in order to fund the
effort. Once that was achieved, it was decided that the money
would continue to be raised, eventually aiding in the purchase
of microscopes for the first class and creating the school’s
first scholarships.
“That was the first time in my
memory that I ever recalled a professional community making that
kind of commitment to one of their schools,” he muses. “I was a
small part of that, but the commitment of the profession and
OU-COM’s need melded because of synchronicity — and a lot of
hard work. It was a wonderful project to be involved in.”
Even today, Dunigan continues
as an dynamic promoter of the profession, regularly cooperating
with key state and federal officials on policy concerning
medical education, Medicaid, workers compensation and
professional liability insurance (PLI).
“What I do is I monitor
legislation in the government agency rules that impact on the
practice of osteopathic medicine,” he explains. “As the director
of government relations, I do all the government liaison work
for the college and the OOA in the lobbying assembly and the
U.S. Congress. But, primarily I’ve worked with the Ohio General
Assembly and the governor’s office and cabinet for more than 10
years now.”
At regular intervals, he works
with the state medical licensing board, as well as agencies
outside the osteopathic realm, such as the chiropractic
association.
More recently, Dunigan piloted
the osteopathic profession on PLI reform efforts, and was
appointed by the Ohio Senate to serve on the state’s Medical
Malpractice Commission. In that role, he worked with legislators
on a variety of issues such as medical practice rights,
malpractice insurance, management care companies and
reimbursements by insurance companies.
But before these years devoted
to the osteopathic field, Dunigan was, in his college days, a
merchant seamen traversing the Atlantic to ports in Europe and
North Africa. He returned to the States to earn his degree and
took a job as a teacher and coach at Logan High School.
In Logan, he also
simultaneously served two terms as a city councilman. As a
district representative and research assistant for
then-Congressman Clarence Miller, Dunigan saw the foundation
laid for his future career.
Miller, who represented the
former tenth district of Ohio, proved to be a meaningful mentor
for Dunigan in the political arena.
“Clarence was one of the most
respected men around,” he says. “It didn’t matter if you were
Republican or Democrat, he bent over backward for you. He was a
wonderful man and honest as the day is long. His name on my
resume really opened a lot of doors.”
However, Dunigan attributes his
involvement in osteopathic medicine to another man, whom he came
upon while coaching in Logan.
“John ‘Jack’ Rauch was the team
physician for our high school teams and also my physician, when
I lived in Logan,” Dunigan says. “He introduced me to
osteopathic medicine, so because of him, when I went to Columbus
looking for an opportunity to get involved, one of the stops I
made was at OOA.”
From there unfolded three
decades of service to the osteopathic field. In 1991, Dunigan
received the Phillips Medal of Public Service from OU-COM. That
year he was also made an honorary alumnus of Ohio University.
His service, however, culminated in the reception of the
Meritorious Service Award Friday, June 23, at the AOA
President’s Lunch. The ceremony, OOA’s 108th annual
meeting, was held in the Lodge at Sawmill Creek, in Sandusky,
Ohio.
But the biggest perk of
Dunigan’s job hasn’t been this recognition.
“I sure do love being around
the students,” Dunigan says. “The best part of my job is the
opportunity to share what I do and my time with the students. To
me, they are the most important part of the osteopathic
community — so bright and energetic and giving.”
- 30 -
News for
the week of
July 10 – July 15
News for
the week of
July 3 – July 8
News for
the week of
June 19 – June 23
News Archives
|
