Dougherty County Health Department director retires after three decades

ALBANY – Monday was the last day of work for Dougherty County Health Department Director Vamella Lovett, after 33 years of serving the community. 

It wasn’t an easy goodbye for the southwest Georgia native.

“I’m going to miss all of the people I’ve met in the community, especially during disasters, how we communicate with and help everybody,” Lovett said. 

Lovett, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Albany State University and a master’s degree in Management from Troy University, took interest in the health care field at a young age. Hailing from Edison, she interned at the Calhoun County Health Department as a teen. 

“I fell in love with public health then,” she said. “I just really liked trying to help people.” 

Lovett recalled the limited health care resources she grew up with in her rural hometown.

“I remember when I was a little girl growing up in Edison, there were times that we didn’t have a doctor in town,” she said. “We had one nurse, and she actually worked at a hospital in Arlington. There was a real lack of health care in the local community, and I think that’s what drew me toward it.”

Lovett also was moved to join the public health field when her father died at home after struggling with uncontrolled diabetes. 

“I think if he could have gotten proper care, he could have had a better outcome,” she said. 

Throughout her career, Lovett served as a nurse at Conner Park Hospital and then Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. She spent several years working in nursing homes throughout south Georgia. She began working for the Health Department in 1992. 

“I’d always liked public health, not just because of getting the opportunity to take care of patients and actually help people to have better outcomes – those that were living out in the community — but it felt sort of like home when I first came here,” Lovett said. “I found my niche. I guess that’s why I stayed as long as I did.”

Over 33 years, Lovett worked in three different roles. The first was as a staff nurse in what was then called the adult health program. She worked in stroke and heart attack prevention and took care of patients with diabetes and high blood pressure. After six years, she was promoted to the supervisor position for the program. Then, in 2011, she became the department’s director.

Over the course of three decades at the Health Department, Lovett has seen a lot, but a few major events stick out in her mind. 

She spoke fondly of serving under District Health Director Dr. Paul Newell, who in the 1990s was instrumental in establishing clean indoor air policy for Dougherty County.

“That really made a big impact on the community, because back then, when you went into restaurants, you’d have people smoking all around you,” Lovett said. “Now, when you go to restaurants, you don’t have people smoking around you, and that’s because of the work that he spearheaded.”

She served on the frontlines of disaster as a public health worker. 

During the Flood of 1994, Lovett moved with the rest of the staff into a temporary Health Department in Brooks Plaza after the department’s Slappey Boulevard building flooded. She said at least 50 shelters opened across Albany, and staff with the Health Department had to go out into the community to inspect these shelters and serve community members inside them.

“It was just overwhelming to have that many people in shelters,” she said. “And it wasn’t just official shelters, but also people opening their church doors for people to come in and stay because they had no other place.” 

Lovett was a leader during the COVID-19 pandemic, which she said is a time period that stands out the most when she thinks about her career. 

“At first, no one really knew what to do,” she said. “We didn’t know what was going on. From day to day, you’re learning new things you have to do to make sure that you’re doing what you need for your community.” 

She said the Health Department’s and the community’s resilience made everything turn out OK in the end. 

“In public health, we’re always told that we have to respond to disasters and meet the challenges whatever they may be,” Lovett said.

She said one of her favorite memories about working in public health when she first started at the Health Department, was the ability to get patients immediate care. Patients were able to get screenings and obtain medications from the in-house pharmacy rather than getting a referral. 

“They called us doctors, but we weren’t really doctors,” Lovett said. “It was a really good feeling to be able to do that because nurses in other areas can’t do that.” 

When she first began working at the Health Department, Lovett said there was much more funding to be able to serve patients for completely free. 

“They just walked through the door; we did lab work on them and it was completely free,” she said. “That changed over the years. We couldn’t provide all those services for free because state funding was cut.” 

She said her department was serving 1,500 patients at the time. 

“It’s not that we have fewer diabetics in the community,” Lovett said. “I think we have more, probably today than we had back then, and individuals that have high blood pressure, but it’s just the funding to make it so available to anyone who needs it, we don’t have that anymore.”

Lovett said it’s not easy for her to leave this work.

In her final month, her colleagues threw her a surprise retirement celebration and put together a video compilation in which they spoke about their experience working with Lovett.

“That was the best day because until someone tells you all that they feel about you … you don’t really realize it,” she said. “To hear them say it … it feels good, and it makes you not want to leave them.” 

Even on her final day, Lovett was vouching for a career in health care, especially in public health. 

“I wish I had come into public health earlier than I did,” she said. “It’s a good choice because when you get into it, there’s so many different areas you can go into.” 

Now, she’s looking forward to spending her retirement traveling and with her family.