Digging into anything and everything that makes the CNMI tick beyond politics...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Profile: DeLinda D. Wills:The other side of surgery

SHE was in her early twenties, a successful chemist and laboratory technician for Mobile Cicero Lube Plant in Illinois.
Dr. DeLinda D. WillsOne morning, Dr. DeLinda D. Wills, a U.S. board certified general surgeon, woke up dizzy with a blurry vision and with a loud buzzing in her ears.
Alarmed, Wills consulted a doctor who told her it was infection. She stayed in bed for three days thinking that she was going to die. On the fourth day, she got up, got a book on anatomy and physiology and read it from cover to cover.
That book changed her life forever. Wills decided to go into medical school right then and there. She handed her resignation to her employer and bid goodbye to a well-paying job she had for six years. Her employer refused to accept her resignation and gave her three months to “think it over,” assuring her the job will be there when she returned. Wills knew there was no going back.
Medical school was an upward battle for Wills, who was then already in her late 20’s. She was no longer on scholarship like she had in college, and suddenly she was scrimping and going into debts to survive. But she loved every minute of it.
Wills finished medical school and completed her general surgery residency at the Louisiana State University of Shreveport in 2007. She answered a call to serve as a doctor at the LBJ Tropical medical Center in American Samoa.
She came to Saipan and worked as a general surgeon at the Commonwealth Health Center for two months in 2008, went home and back for another two months in 2009. She came back to work for CHC for the third time in Feb. 2010 and finally opened Aulelei Medical to fulfill one of her dreams.
Dream job
In April last year, Wills opened the Aulelei Medical clinic on the third floor of the Marianas Business Plaza, and life and her medical career took on another new meaning.
Although she still works as a surgeon at CHC on weekends, Aulelei Medical is her haven, where she takes people under her wing and makes them feel beautiful.
She said Aulelei Medical is her other side of her career.
“I’ve always been vain, and I wanted to take off the haggard looks from people and make them look fresh and young all the time,” Wills said.
“Helping people on the aesthetic side is like planting something and seeing it grow and blossom and that brings unequalled satisfaction,” she added.
Wills operates a one-man clinic, doing everything by herself to cut on operating costs.
Since last year, people have been coming to her for skin consultations and customized treatments for all kinds of skin problems, and she is more than happy to help.
“I want to get the impression out of the people’s minds that going for a facial or skin treatment and rejuvenation is expensive. Money is only good as long as what you do with it, and if you want to do something, go after it because it is the only to have it. If you save money now and not pay attention to your body now, it may be too late when you finally decide and you will end up spending more,” she said.
Wills spends her weekdays treating skin problems of men and women — acne, oily or dry skin, hyperpigmentation, melasma,  rosacea and does Botox cosmetic and Juvederm consultation, Botox cosmetic, and Juvederm dermal fillers.
Aulelei Medical Clinic is located at Suite 315 of the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe. Visit www.auleleimedical.com, e-mail drwills@auleleimedical.comThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 235-7314 for appointments.
(published HERE)