Serving Houston Methodist: Spotlight on Danny Burleson
2023 was a miserable year for my husband Donnie. He was hospitalized at Houston Methodist four times during a six month period. Two stays were lengthy. Needless to say, I practically lived at Methodist. We all know that lousy times can include moments of happiness. I had some chitchatting with Danny Burleson who has been serving meals to Methodist patients for 42 years.
The first time I met Danny I was lying on the couch that was my bed in Donnie’s hospital room in Methodist’s Fondren Tower. Danny entered wearing a black vest, a hair net and a battleaxe smile. “Hi, I’m Danny. I come to take your order.” Day after day I watched him maneuver past the IV stand and respiratory equipment to enter menu items into his tablet, and serve and retrieve food trays. Nothing rattled him, not even puke. Danny instinctively knew that mentioning a football team or serving two cups of cherry ice, not one, soothed a sick person.
Among the things 62 year old Danny and I chatted about was Tropical Storm Allison which dumped 37 inches of rain on the Medical Center in June 2001, and walloped Methodist to the tune of about $250 million in damage, requiring relocating some patients. “I worked the night before it hit. Strange, that day was sunny, a perfect day. I tried to call in, and couldn’t get no one, later learned the basement was underwater. The next day I came in. Flood water had reached the first floor ceiling. It was real hot, but everyone came to work, did what they had to do. The patients needed to be cared for. Everyone knew that.” Especially Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom who counted on Danny and the rest of his staff to put patients before themselves. “Overcoming Allison’s devastation,” Boom said, “proved to the Methodist community it could get through anything.” Although the Methodist community couldn’t have imagined Covid biting it in the butt.
Ever since the late 1960s when DeBakey and his colleagues performed twelve heart transplants and two lung transplants, the world has thought of Methodist as super-duper advanced. Feats of that caliber continued. Newsworthy research takes place. Here’s one example. Nanotech engineers study carbon fiber materials in the International Space Station to determine the feasibility of making implantable drug-delivery devices, and prostheses. This is mouth dropping. At least to me. Here’s another. Researchers perform mathematical modelling to quantify the sensitivity of cancer cells to specific drugs. This hits close to home. Methodist did my post-surgery radiation and drug treatment, so math nerds doing modelling suits me just fine. My point here is that in every direction scientists, researchers and physicians are involved in endeavors to propel optimal treatment. Shooting the breeze with Danny, I sensed he saw his job as equally important. “People come to Methodist, they want to be with Danny.”
We all know Methodist treated President Bush and Barbara Bush. Did Danny meet them? “I ran into Mrs. Bush in the hallway. A very nice lady. She spoke to me. That was nice of her.”
What landed him at Methodist? “My sister was pregnant and had a check-up here at the Medical Center, so I came with her and put in some applications. In those days we filled out those old paper applications. I did that at Memorial Herman, Texas Childrens and Methodist. A few weeks later Methodist called me and I started. All these years I’ve worked in only one department, food service.” With a push from his mama. “I thank my mama for getting me here. I was 20 or 21, working part time jobs, and living under her roof like I was some kid, like she was gonna take care of me the rest of my life. One day she came in my room, said enough is enough, get up and get a job. She meant a real job, not part time jobs. So I did. The first 25 years I worked Methodist and second jobs. I credit my parents for my work ethic. My sons have the same work ethic in them. They get up and work two jobs.”
I asked about his part time gigs. I did yardwork, worked at a park, at Weingarten, Albertsons, at the Astro Hall and Astrodome, Jack in the Box, others.” Diversion Bowling Alley in the Galleria was his favorite. “My younger sister worked at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour in the Galleria. In those days we rode the bus to that part of town.” Danny accompanied her and applied. The bowling alley put him to work that instant. “It was fun, ranked at the top. I made close friends. You know how a man ain’t supposed to cry? When they said that place closed, I cried. I became friendly with people from all these other neighborhoods, people from Lamar, from Memorial, really good friends. If time machines existed, I would go right back there.”
Danny was raised in the Sunnyside area of southeast Houston. “We lived in a close community, a tight knit community. Had a lot of fun, going to the park, playing basketball, and softball. I’m thankful. I had great parents. My father had a very firm hand. He was a truck driver. He also had a small church, he was a pastor. We were brought up in the church. Before he passed away he told me, it doesn’t matter which church you go to, whatever you do in life, stay in church. And I did.”
Eventually his mama needed him. “In 2003 I moved back into my parent’s house to help my mother. She had dementia. Me and my younger sons moved in and split up her care, that way they could stay in school and I could go to work.” On days off he takes her to the doctor. “She’s 93. I figure she’ll be with me until 99.” Occasionally Danny visits his old park, to see what changed. Apparently basketball changed. “I go sit and watch them play. They don’t play like we did. We played serious. We competed. They have cell phones.”
How many children? “I have four sons, but if you count my step children I have a total of nine. I lost my wife to ovarian cancer in 2003.”
Danny, has anyone ever written about you? “No. But they should.”
It’s said sitting is the new smoking, so every day I strolled around Methodist, through all the towers, and saw interesting things. One day I saw workers shop-vacuum the lobby because the fountain overflowed. In Walter Tower I saw a plaque that commemorates a philanthropic whopper. Paula and Rusty Walter and Walter Oil & Gas forked over $101 million, the largest single gift in Methodist’s history. I asked Danny if he ever worked in the heftily endowed Walter Tower. “No, but I stayed on the 18th floor of Walter when I had a stroke. It has big rooms. Great views. You could see NRG. I felt excited seeing that, like when I was a kid.” Butting up to Walter is the construction site for the $1.4 billion, 26-story Centennial Tower, which opens in 2027. After, Methodist will demolish two older buildings, Main Tower and West Pavilion, where my husband spent time. Unexpectedly, I bumped into Danny’s boss CEO Dr. Boom. What a sweet guy. He took time to talk to me. Why was I at Methodist, Boom asked. My husband was in West Pavilion. “I’d like to apologize for how old that building is, but tell your husband I didn’t hesitate to put my father there.”
It’s early Monday morning. Danny reports a relaxing weekend. “Had my grandkids with me, relaxed, did some yard work, watched some football.” Another Monday morning, on the other hand, Danny seemed wilted. “Busy weekend. I had my grandchildren with me. My son Daniel’s children. It’s a lot. They played all day Saturday, stuck with me all day. They spoiled. Spoiled.” Then he back-peddled. “Truth is, I spoil them.”