Dupuis ends career of public service

BURTON DUPUIS stands near
the entrance of St. Martin
Hospital in Breaux Bridge. He
has retired after 16 years as CEO
of the parish’s only hospital and
a lifelong career of civic service
to the community.

Photo by: Henri C. Bienvenu

By Henri C. Bienvenu
t_news@bellsouth.net

Breaux Bridge – After spending more than 46 years of work as an educator and public administrator along with volunteer involvement in civic organizations and projects ranging from the fire department to key government advisory councils, Burton Dupuis is finally taking time, as he phrases it, “ ... to put me first.”
Dupuis, 65, retired June 30 as chief executive officer of St. Martin Hospital (formerly Gary Memorial) after holding the job for 16 years.
A native of Breaux Bridge and 1961 graduate of Breaux Bridge High School, Dupuis earned degrees in education and administration from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (UL-Lafayette) and began his career in education as a teacher at teacher at Breaux Bridge Jr. High in 1965. He was appointed principal of Breaux Bridge Primary in 1971 and was named superintendent of parish schools in 1980, retiring in 1985 after 20 years is the system.
He then accepted a position as associate administrator at Gary Memorial Hospital, returning briefly to the school system in 1991-92 as director of personnel for then Supt. Roland Chevalier.
He was named CEO of the Breaux Bridge-based hospital in 1992.
Dupuis’ list of community involvement stretches back to 1962 when he joined the Breaux Bridge Volunteer Fire Co. During 41 years with the department he served as secretary-treasurer for 24 years and as fire chief from 1988 to 2002, leaving the department in 2003 due to age limitations.
While a volunteer fireman, he also served on the committee that helped establish the St. Martin Parish Fire District in 1969 and chaired the subcommittee of the district that hired the parish’s first fire district coordinator in 1995.
Dupuis also chaired the Home Rule Charter Commission that drew up the charter approved by parish voters in 1999.
Along the way he also found time to belong to the Crawfish Festival Association (1968-72), and the Breaux Bridge Planning Commission (1969-73) helping develop the city’s zoning and subdivision ordinance. In 1992 he served on a special Crawfish Festival Advisory Commission created by the city council. He also served on the city council for one year (1972-73), completing the term of Roland Hebert when Hebert was elected to the school board.
In 2001 he was appointed by parish government to the St. Martin Reapportionment Committee and elected chairman by committee members.
The Breaux Bridge Chamber of Commerce presented Dupuis with its Distinguished Community Service Award in 1999 and in 2004 he was appointed to the City of Breaux Bridge’s civil service board.
He somehow also found time to work as a football official with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association from 1975 to 1980.

On Solid Ground
When Dupuis took over as CEO of St. Martin Hospital in 1991 the facility faced serious financial difficulties, as did many other small, community hospitals.
The facility finished that year with a loss of $475,895 on operations and had a cash balance of $614,000. ER visits over the 12-month period numbered less than 2,400 while outpatient visits totalled a little more than 8,600.
Tough times continued through 2000 and a decision was made by Dupuis and the hospital board to place more emphasis on ER and outpatient services. Dupuis also began a campaign to promote the hospital as a parish resource, rather than one serving primarily the immediate Breaux Bridge area. As part of that effort the name was changed form Gary Memorial to St. Martin Hospital.
Over the past seven years the ER and outpatient activity steadily increased, and during 2007 amounted to 12,445 ER visits and 28,130 outpatient visits.
This increased business helped the hospital net just under $600,000 on its operations during 2007, with the ending cash balance climbing to $2,920,000.
That turnaround, along with the restoration of employee salary cuts during his term as superintendent of schools, is among Dupuis’ proudest accomplishments, he says.
“Over the past 16 years the hospital board gave me the opportunity to run the facility as if I owned it,” he observed. “Not too many people have that experience. We have been able to upgrade the facility and have received total support from the board, staff, employees and the public. We’ve been able to stabilize operations and our high volume of outpatient service shows that we’ve become well accepted by the residents of the parish.”
Dupuis gives credit to the hospital commissioners — John “Boysie” Martin, Bob Laville, Lawrence Jacobs, Fred Mills and Billy Guidry — for supporting his efforts, and to Dr. Warren Degatur, who has served as chief of staff since 1992. “He’s been a tremendous asset to our operations,” Dupuis says.

Looking back over his long career, Dupuis says he’s always tried to avoid being caught up in politics. “There have always been ‘factions’ in about every group I’ve worked with,” he recalls “But I made it my business to make decisions based on facts, not factions, and that has served me well.”
Breaux Bridge businessman Ray Pellerin, who worked closely with Dupuis in the Breaux Bridge and parish volunteer fire operations, confirmed that philosophy.
“Burton has always been thoroughly prepared in all the deliberations I’ve been involved in with him. He’s very meticulous; when you gave him a job you could count on it being done. He could always be trusted and you never had to second guess him.”
“It’s been a pleasure working with him all these years,” Pellerin added. “He’s a rare breed and the community owes him a hell of a lot. He’s always had the interest of the community at heart and most people don’t realize all that he’s done behind the scenes to improve things in Breaux Bridge and around the parish.”
Martin, who was on the steering committee that first organized the hospital and has served continuously on the board of commissioners since the hospital opened in 1967, lauds Dupuis as having done an outstanding job running the hospital. “He’s been an A-1 fellow for us,” he says.
And Rep. Fred Mills Jr., another hospital commissioner, recalls that “at one time we were really struggling, like a lot of other small hospitals. But we felt that Burt was underpaid and offered him a modest salary increase. He refused the raise, saying he wouldn’t accept an increase until we could afford to give all the other employees one. That’s the kind of guy he is.”
Mills adds that one of Dupuis’ strong points has been the solid information the CEO has always provided to the commissioners. “He laid out the facts and we knew we could always count on being well informed.”
“Burton’s done so many little things for the hospital and community,” he adds. “Things that the general public was aware of.”

Consultant
Dupuis will continue to serve as a consultant to his successor for several months and Martin, who is planning to retire from the board of commissioners later this month, said he will recommend to the Parish Council that Dupuis be appointed to take Martin’s seat on the advisory board.
The hospital became affiliated with Lafayette General Medical Center several years ago, and LGMC officials are handling the hiring of a new CEO, expected to be announced in the near future.

Time to Relax
Dupuis’ wife, Carolyn, is a retired educator. His son Wes, lives in Breaux Bridge, while daughter Colleen Welch resides in Houma with her family. Dupuis has three grandsons and one granddaughter, ranging in ages form 17 to 4 years.
After spending his final day at his desk on June 30, Dupuis says his immediate plans are to catch up on a list of home maintenance and improvement projects, a task that will likely keep him busy for several months.
He enjoys riding around the Acadiana area on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and recently purchased as professional set of drums and took lessons to satisfy a lifelong interest in music.
“Carolyn and I don’t yet have plans for any major retirement activities,” he says.
Of course, Dupuis will likely remain very involved in community activities and expects to continue his work with the hospital as a commissioner and with the city as a member of the municipal civil service board.