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When Dr. John Mallett was in medical school, a good many of his classmates had no idea what it was like to actually work in a hospital.

He, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was getting into.

Among the jobs he held during his youth at what was then Howard Memorial Hospital (now Biloxi Regional Medical Center) were cutting the grass, sweeping floors, and serving as an orderly and emergency-room tech.

For all these early experiences, the Biloxi OB/GYN has his mother to thank.

“Her way of keeping up with us during the summer was to get all of the kids jobs at the hospital,” he said of his mother, nurse Tillie Mallett, who worked as director of the ICU and later in staff development.

“It worked out well for her,” he said, with a chuckle. “It convinced three out of the four of us in the family to go into medicine.”

Today his brother, Dr. Presley Mallett, works as an anesthesiologist at an outpatient surgery center. His sister, Debbie Pitzer, retired as a labor-and-delivery nurse to work at his practice, the Biloxi OB/GYN Clinic. Keeping it in the “family,” his other office nurse, Rose “Pinky” Rodriguez, was once his boss during his stint as an orderly in the emergency room.

The close-knit working environment harkens back to a different era on the coast.

“We grew up in Biloxi when Biloxi was a small town,” said Mallett, whose practice partner today is Dr. Steve Jones.

The practice traces its lineage back to founder Dr. Frank Gruich Sr., the first OB/GYN-trained specialist on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

With a career stretching over five decades, Gruich had practiced long enough to deliver many third-generation babies. It was a fact that Mallett used to tease him about — until he recently started delivering second-generation babies himself.

“That really means you’re getting where you’ve practiced a while,” he noted.

Back in August 1989, the opportunity to join a well-established and well-respected practice was part of the attraction in Mallett’s decision to return to his hometown after his medical training.

He graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of South Carolina. For his undergraduate studies, he attended Delta State University.

Coming back home to launch his career meant stepping back into the networks of family and friends who were already in place around him.

“My mother is one of 10 children and my father’s one of 12,” he said. “Most of them live in this area, so that’s already a big referral base.”

Even more important, he said, has been building a base of patients who value the kindness and competence of his care and pass that word along.

“If you make someone happy and they’re telling their friends and family members that you’re a good physician and take care of them — there’s no Yellow Pages for that,” he said.

Back in medical school, Mallett was attracted to OB/GYN as one of the few specialties where he, as a student, got to be directly involved in patient care by delivering babies.

Also, ironically for a doctor, he didn’t really like taking care of sick people.

“I liked the fact my patients were younger and healthier,” he admitted. “And in a vast majority of the cases, you’re with your patients for one of the happiest days of their life — the day when they have their children.

“That’s very special when you move back to your hometown and these patients are your friends and family.”

A renewed emphasis on that relationship has been the chief change Mallett’s practice has seen over the past years.

When he first joined the practice, the three physicians already in the practice had a system wherein patients rotated to see different doctors each time they came for a visit. Then, when it was time for delivery, whichever doctor was on call was the one who delivered the baby.

Instead, today, each patient picks her own doctor and sees that doctor for every visit. That same doctor also performs the delivery whether he’s on call or not, unless he’s out of town.

“It requires more time in being devoted to your patients, but in today’s market, the patients expect more,” Mallett said.

Today, he delivers about 98 percent of the patients he sees, a figure that’s been further strengthened by induced deliveries.

The other major change in Mallett’s practice has been the economy on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The arrival of casino gaming and subsequent job growth helped drop his practice’s Medicaid rate from about 95 percent in 1989 to about 25 percent today.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Biloxi Regional’s close proximity to Keesler Air Force Base actually created an increase in business, since the base’s hospital was closed for about 18 months after the storm. Mallett’s practice shot up to 125 percent of his pre-Katrina business during that time, dropping back to about 75 percent once the Air Force hospital reopened.

Mallett himself weathered the storm on the coast and spent the following day in the hospital’s operating room performing a C-section — without the benefit of air-conditioning.

“I had on a pair of cut-off scrub pants for shorts and a T-shirt,” he said. “The nurses were pouring ice water down our backs to keep us from getting overheated while we worked.

“But our hospital never shut down, and I’m very proud of that.”

Life on the coast, with all its dynamic factors, is after all what Mallett returned home for.
Off hours, he enjoys fishing and boating on the barrier islands. Living on one of the inland rivers, he takes advantage of water sports like skiing, jet-skiing and rafting.



January 2008

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