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In This Issue:
Profiles of Excellence
Philippe Dumel has followed the sound of his heart from Haiti to Boston through music and helping others. A patient care assistant at BWH since 2002, Dumel, who is also a teacher, musician, volunteer and father, brings his passion for helping others into every aspect of his life.
“I became a PCA because when someone is sick, he needs to have a happy face of another who will listen to him and to have compassion to share with him his pain,” said Dumel, who worked on Tower 14 and 15 before joining the PCA Float Pool.
Dumel provides basic physical care and assists in re-orienting patients to their surroundings while keeping them physically safe. He finds that by trying to experience what patients are going through, he can calm and soothe them, often through music. “Sometimes you hold their hand and hum and try to find a song they know and sing it for them,” he said. “I like to help people feel that they are at home and comfortable.”
Music has been an integral part of Dumel’s life since he picked up the trombone at age 13. As a conductor, composer and leader of the Haitian American Marching Band of Boston, he finds that music is something that permeates every aspect of life. “We need music. It’s part of the activity of life,” he said.
Dumel studied music in Haiti and then in Paris. After moving to Miami from Haiti in 1991, he brought his family to Dorchester and began reaching out to his new community.
He teaches teenagers at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan to practice abstinence. He also shares his musical talents by teaching trombone, trumpet and cello to children in his community, as well as his own five grandkids.
“My dream is to always help people,” he said. “Being a PCA has helped me to deal with people everywhere in my life, from work to my band to the church.”