Serving to Build Success - HSNT Board Member Spotlight

Dale Tampke

When he began his career in education back in the 1980s, Dale Tampke thought he was going to be a professor. He had just graduated from Texas A&M along with his wife and had taken a job in real estate, but he felt pulled back to education and so enrolled at the University of Illinois. This shift led him into a new area: student affairs. He recognized that college is such an important and defining time in the life of a young person, and he wanted to be a part of that work to see students be successful.

As a member of the HSNT board, that’s what Dale wants to see for our patients, as well.

“I got acquainted with [Federally Qualified Health Centers] when I worked in Ohio. I was the chair of an FQHC there and what they did, and what [HSNT] does here, it’s so vital,” says Dale. “Healthcare is important to all aspects of life. If there’s inadequate healthcare, students can’t learn, people can’t work, so we’re providing a safety net for people to maintain their health and actually improve their wellbeing.”

Dale’s work has taken him up and down the Midwest throughout the last thirty years, from the board of a healthcare nonprofit in Ohio, to Loyola University in Chicago, and back again to Denton, where for the past 10 years he worked at UNT and TWU. For the past 10 years

“I always maintained a kind of home base in Denton,” Dale says. “I’ve served on several boards through the years wherever I’ve lived…but I have to say that serving on the HSNT board is really important to me.”

Dale says that HSNT’s mission of providing primary, preventive, and chronic care is an essential one, especially these days during the COVID-19 pandemic, when giving people a place to rely on other than the emergency room is more important than ever. Currently, Dale serves on the HSNT board as the Treasurer.

“There’s a huge amount of expertise in the finance department at HSNT, and there needs to be, you know? Grants, insurance, private pay…it’s a huge endeavor. My role on the board is to be the go-between for the finance committee and our finance folks – I ask the “dumb guy” questions,” Dale says with a laugh. “Like ‘why do you do it that way?’ and ‘what’s that about?’ Just having an outsider look at the finances is helpful for so many processes.”

Dale’s experience serving on several boards throughout his career, as well as working as an independent consultant for student retention and success, all adds up to one common denominator: giving people the tools they need to succeed. Be that in healthcare or education, Dale’s mission is to see people rise above the challenges they face.

“This is as excellent a board as I’ve ever served on. It really has been a pleasure to contribute to Health Services of North Texas. We’re a really forward-thinking board with regard to a lot of things – electronic medical records, telehealth, for example. And I also must say as a person of faith, my faith tells me that we should bring good news to the underserved, and that means more than just occasional generosity. What we’re doing [at HSNT] is so fundamental to the mission of improving lives over the long term. It’s not just a religious thing. It’s a very human thing. And it’s a joy to be involved.”