Debbie Heitmann

Sitting behind her desk at Burke's Pharmacy, Debbie Heitmann methodically reviews her voicemail. Approximately 14 new problems have arisen in the past hour, each requiring action: a follow-up call, a recommendation, more information, product guidance. Meanwhile, an elderly woman standing at the door is feeling dizzy and asks to have her blood pressure taken. Every individual's needs are different, but what each one gets from Debbie is sincere concern and a compassionate response.

Debbie manages the medical equipment department at the pharmacy which includes a variety of ambulatory aids, health monitoring devices, safety products, comfort care items and much more. But her specialty is bras and breast forms. As a certified fitter, she helps breast surgery patients fill the gap, both physically and emotionally.

Although she has not had a personal experience with breast cancer, Debbie admits that her own sense of vanity is a driving force behind her desire to help others. "I think a woman should always look good and feel good about herself," she said. "I make them realize that once they are fitted properly, no one will ever know that they had cancer. They will look perfectly normal in their bra." But perhaps her true gift is the ability to put people at ease. "I think that they feel compassion from me and know that I really care about them."

In her younger years, Debbie considered various career paths, including paralegal work and dental hygiene. She got married instead and chose to stay home with her children. In addition to motherhood, over the years, she has been somewhat of an entrepreneur: running a private daycare service, opening an upscale consignment boutique, and operating a catering and party planning service.

Prior to migrating south, Debbie managed chiropractic offices in New Jersey. Looking for a change of weather, she and her husband, Roy, moved to Hilton Head Island 13 years ago and Debbie took a floater's position at the hospital. "I was always in offices. I took the floating position so I could decide what I'd like to do," she said. Physiatrist, Susan Cramer, soon snapped her up fulltime. "She taught me a lot," said Debbie, who went on to work at the Hilton Head Hospital where she was trained in phlebotomy and bone density. "I became a blood-drawing machine," she said. "It came natural to me. I wasn't squeamish."

For the past nine years, Debbie has been with Burke's Pharmacy. "I love my life," she said. "I never complain about going to work. I love what I do on a daily basis."

What she does best is care. "I'm very aware of everything I say. The person who is standing at that doorway is either sick themselves or is caring for someone who is," said Debbie. "No matter how they come across to me, I treat them with the utmost care."

In another show of compassion, Debbie and Roy recently opened their home and hearts as host parents to seven-year-old Haider Emad Al-Darausha from Iraq. Haider was brought to Hilton Head Island through the Rotary Club's Gift of Life program for surgery to reconstruct his face, hands and legs which were burned in a mortar attack when he was two. "He just warmed my heart," said Debbie, describing the once-in-a-lifetime experience and the deep fulfillment she felt. "It was so special to me to be able to give him safety and happiness, for whatever period of time it was," she said.

Debbie says she missed her calling by not pursuing a medical career earlier in life, but she has no regrets about the choice she made to be a wife and mom first. With her children now in college, it seems that she has ended up right where she belongs. She may not have a medical degree, but she sure knows how to make people feel better.


Up Close

Hometown: Rural New Jersey Family: husband, Roy; children, Jessica, Jamie and Nick; canine kids, Dixie and Ella

Describes herself as: opinionated, honest, Type A, a homebody

Person who has most inspired her: her mother. "She will find the positive in any situation."

When not working, find her: sitting by her pool with her dogs, puttering in the yard; painting walls, or out on the boat with her husband.

Future goal: to open a cancer boutique