SOUTH FLORIDA – African American women make up only 2% of America’s Doctors, Dr. Michelle C. Powell, D.O., M.P.H looks to shift those numbers as she continues to mentor young girls of color.
October is National Women’s Small Business Month and today we spotlight Dr. Michelle C. Powell, D.O., MPH
Q: When did you go into business?
A: I started by company Powell Health Solutions, March 7, 2004, 12 years ago.
Q: What are the top three hurdles you faced when getting started?
A: The top hurdle I faced was in getting a start-up loan for the medical practice without any prior business experience in the industry. I had not been rejected by any major banks and did not qualify for a small business loan.
The next hurdle I had to face was to find the information for setting up a medical practice. The information I had to collect included the inventory of clinical supplies, equipment as well as administrative tools such as phones and Internet systems.
Finally the next most difficulty and continues to be an ongoing challenge is finding the right staff members. I have hired and fired over 60 people in the course of selecting the right staff for the business.
Q: What are the management secrets you would share?
A: Be professional at all times. You may find yourself becoming comfortable with your staff and vendors but remember you are the CEO of your company, which means you lead the way.
Be consistent with your employees. Have rules that apply only sometimes and to some people will lead to problems with Human Resources and also effect company moral.
Have a vision and ensure every member of your team is aware and clear of the vision of the company. Quickly remove individuals who do not fit your culture and vision.
Q: What advice would you give to a woman who wants to start her own business ?
A: Work in the realm of your interest, knowledge and passion.
Be realistic about the time and energy starting and maintaining the business will require.
Ensure you are willing to pay the price of time, energy, social life and family life necessary to make your business successful.
You don’t have to know everything about the business but ensure you have people around you who do.
I strongly hope that I inspire women of color to enter the medical field because we still are a minority in the field of medicine in America.
I take student in my office from high school, college and in medical school, nursing school and medical assistant school. I am a teacher, trainer and health educator.
My office is a training ground for anyone who is serious about helping others through the health profession.
Q: What is your favorite quote?
A: “…..to know even one life has breathed easier because you’ve lived. That is to have succeeded.” Ralf Waldo Emerson
About Michelle C. Powell, D.O., M.P.H.
Michelle C. Powell, D.O., M.P.H. is a Board Certified Osteopathic Family Physician with over 20 years of experience.
Throughout her career she has established herself as a physician who not only cares about better outcomes but also lifestyle changes to sustain them.
She has achieved success by pairing the right medical prescription with appropriate patient education in order to maintain long-term positive outcomes.
In her medical practice, patients most frequently seek Dr. Powell to aid them in addressing Hypertension, Diabetes and Obesity. The common denominator to these conditions is frequently lifestyle choices.
Dr. Powell educates and empowers her patients to take control of these choices. Dr. Powell appreciates and encourages the long term proactive solutions that focus on lifestyle modification to ensure consistent patient participation in healthy living.
Dr. Powell relies heavily on patient education when it comes to treating those she serves. She often employs weight loss, nutritional support, and other disease mitigating solutions.
Dr. Powell is also the Founder and CEO of Powell Health Solutions (PHS), a multi-specialty medical practice with multiple centers throughout Southern Florida.
Established in 2004, PHS fulfills the vision of Dr. Powell by delivering affordable care, increasing access to care, and providing not only treatment but quality preventative health care. PHS takes Dr. Powell’s promise of patient-centered care and provides it a community perspective by employing population health management principles.
PHS and the staff and medical practitioners that it employs take a holistic approach to medical treatment. As explained by Dr. Powell, “External change does not occur before internal change.”
An astute businesswoman as well as an accomplished physician, Dr. Powell is an increasingly popular lecturer and spokesperson.
In her speaking engagements she not only analyzes processes, she also challenges thinking. “If you do not change the way you think, you do not change the way you behave,” says Dr. Powell.
Changing behavior to result in better outcomes is a cornerstone to both her practice as a physician, an owner of a thriving medical care corporation, and a lecturer.
Dr. Powell’s commitment to promoting wellness and self-empowerment extends to her spare time also. She is a founding physician of HOPE (Health Occupations Promoting Education).
HOPE sponsors grassroots health awareness, education workshops to community groups and churches, and medical mission to underprivileged in foreign countries.
As a founding physician, Dr. Powell plays a key role in the administration and participates in medical missions to her native Jamaica.
Whether serving underprivileged patients in Jamaica, providing patient education, training medical staff, or providing guidance growing a successful practice in an evermore difficult healthcare market, Dr. Powell delivers with strength backed by years of experience.
