Milwaukee VA Medical Center
Health Care Hero Profile: Dr. Ankur Patel
Dr. Ankur Patel, chief of dental services at the Milwaukee VA, looks over the first day of employee screening at the South Entrance. In his role as co-incident commander during the pandemic, employees said he has provided a calming influence.
Ankur Patel never thought he’d be here this long, and certainly never in this kind of leadership position.
“I’m just a dentist,” he laughed.
That may be an understatement on his part.
Patel has been with VA for a decade now – first doing his two years of residency, then building the Green Bay Clinic dental program six years ago before becoming the Milwaukee VA dental services chief. And since March, he has been one of three co-incident commanders for the hospital’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think I was definitely up to the challenge, but there was certainly an element of, ‘Why me?’” he said.
Together, with Jim McLain, deputy director, and Tim Deacy, the Green Bay Clinic administrator, the three have run the minute-by-minute operations to ensure everything goes smooth with critical, coronavirus issues.
“I’ve learned you have to delegate and let go. It’s all about delegation and communication, from my viewpoint.” Dr. Ankur Patel, on lessons he's learned as a co-incident commander
The incident commander doesn’t make every decision, but serves as the gatekeeper, ensuring many different departments are talking and coordinating. On any given day, they are working through key issues such as where coronavirus patients will be treated, bed counts, screening issues, emergency care, signage, employee communications, getting the word out to Veterans and the community, staffing, traffic flow in the hospital, and any number of other issues that pop up unexpectedly.
The intent is to have a nucleus of experts for long-term planning and spontaneous decisions, to free the rest of the staff and leaders throughout the hospital to continue other daily operations that still need attended.
“I’ve learned you have to delegate and let go. It’s all about delegation and communication, from my viewpoint,” Patel said. “I can’t see all the plates in the air. I can’t catch them or juggle them. It really is our entire team and everybody’s eyes and ears and extra set of hands.
“My job is to help facilitate the communication, so we don’t miss any of those plates. And honestly, if one plate falls on the ground and breaks, we work together to pick up the pieces.”
It’s that type of attitude that made him a perfect fit for the job, McLain said.
“I’ve known him since we set up the Green Bay operation and he is truly a dynamic leader,” he said. “When he was in Green Bay, the intent for that facility was to set up a two-dentist shop. He built that into an operation providing highly complex dental services – not just for Green Bay, but we have had Veterans coming from Tomah, Madison, Iron Mountain, Illinois and Iowa.
“He just has a passion for making things happen. Really, whatever he is involved in, he doesn't just want to succeed, he wants it to be the best it can be.” Jim McLain, discussing why he chose Patel for the role.
“He was able to provide a number of very high-tech procedures. He’s just a fantastic leader who was able to unify his staff. He just has a passion for making things happen. Really, whatever he is involved in, he doesn’t just want it to succeed, he wants it to be the best it can be.”
Patel is married and the father of three children: Zahra, 6; Vera, 4; and Samir, 1.
The Chicago native was raised in Rheinlander, went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then dental school in Washington, D.C. He came back here for his two years of residency, thinking it would launch his career.
“VA dental residencies are highly sought after because you get to do a lot of complex work,” Patel said. “I also figured it would be a cool opportunity to give back and serve Veterans. My intent was never to stay, but I fell in love with it. I can’t imagine being anywhere else. If I would go into private practice now, I would lose so many of the emotional connections I’ve made.”
In his dental role, Patel was instrumental in building the Milwaukee VA’s 3D printing program for dental molds and prosthodontics to replace broken or missing teeth. When the coronavirus shut down dental services, he was able to incorporate his 3D knowledge to create additional protective equipment for health care workers. As a bonus, he was able to use the skills of three of his dental residents who are training here, so they could continue working on their skills.
“The 3D project, more than anything, I am so proud of that,” he said. “My dental team had a huge hand in the success of that because we were the some of the subject matter experts on how that technology worked. That was exciting for me. Of all the unknown things, that was one we knew quite a bit about.”
Looking back on the critical first days of the coronavirus response, Patel said it was a lot of learning on the fly.
“There wasn’t a pre-established way to any of this. We were all learning on the spot and adapting to circumstances as they came up. It certainly wasn’t without its little blips, but everyone handled the response very well. It was a great team of medical personnel and leadership.
“In this job, you have to trust. You can trust, you can trust but verify, but the common thing is ‘trust.’ This is not my regular, day-to-day life, but we have all taken care of one another. It’s an incredible team. It makes it easy to trust.”
Mary Jane Whitehouse, the emergency management coordinator and command center manager, said it helped having someone like Patel on the team.
“His management style makes it easy,” she said. “He’s very personable. He can take that soft approach and explain things, and that makes people want to work with him and follow him.
“During times of stress, there is a lot of anxiety. If you have a calm influence, that calms anxiety.”
