Maple Grove residents are fortunate to have three amazing women in high-level leadership roles related to fire, crime and health. In positions once filled only by men, these ladies fill their own shoes.
More than a Medicine Woman
Pam Doorenbos was born into medicine. She completed her first degree in psychology but soon followed the footsteps of her father, a family medicine doctor in rural Iowa. “I got into medicine because I was curious,” she says. “I wasn’t such a scientist or a fabulous mind. I was curious about how fascinating the body is.” Medicine runs in the family. She shares the field with two sisters as well.
Dr. Doorenbos is a family physician at North Clinic as well as Chief of Staff of the newly-opened Maple Grove Hospital. Her duties include coordination of the medical staff and executive committee. She is responsible for review and recommendation of positions and practices, reporting to the board of trustees and advocacy for physicians.
Doorenbos notes that medicine has become far less gender aware and hardly notices when it is a women who serves at any level in the field. “I admire the focused bottom-line, linear way that men think while I am thinking on the wider picture about options,” she says. “We solve problems in different ways. I find that men are supportive of women in general.”
Support has been important as Doorenbos leads the hospital through the ever-changing landscape that has become health care. When things get challenging, she runs. Not away, of course, but regularly, as a matter of health. “While I run, things get sorted out,” she explains. “With music I can run about three miles, and not a mile more, and then I want to die.”
She uses evenings to balance her practice and administrative roles. “Because I have less experience in this position than some, I have a steep learning curve,” she says, “so I’m always mindful and listening and trying to prepare well.”
“‘Do the right thing’ is her approach to resolving issues,” says Andy Cochrane, CEO of Maple Grove Hospital. “She is willing and able to dismiss whatever historical interpretation exists regarding relationships between doctors and hospital administrators. Her perspectives are fresh, forward-thinking and focused.”
Doorenbos sends the same respect right back to her colleagues. “I love the combination in my job of relationships with people and the medical field. My colleagues are all super smart,” she proclaims. “The new hospital is beautiful, and I would like to campaign for a room in the medical quarters. It’s a very nice unit.”
Pam Doorenbos
Age: 45
Marital Status: Single
Chief of Staff since: 2010
Role Models: My dad and an 80-year-old female patient of mine who ‘tells it like it is’.
Past Times: Running, spending time with nieces and nephews, having no schedule.
What others say about me: “She is approachable, easy to talk to, is happy to laugh at her very public coffee spills that stop meetings, and, she is short.”
Fire Safety 24/7
Marilyn Arnlund was the first female firefighter in Maple Grove. “We still rode the tail board of the fire trucks back then…it was scary!” she exclaims. The job has become safer, and because of her influence, so have the residents of Maple Grove.
In addition to serving as deputy fire marshal full time, Arnlund is an on-call firefighter. “I am a firefighter 24/7,” she says. “I love my job. When the phone rings, it can change my whole day. A fire can change it for several days.”
Arnlund is responsible for fire investigation, department and code plan review, and public fire education and safety. “In 1986, Chief Roger Kuchera convinced me that I would be good at doing daycare inspections for licensing. One thing led to another, and then I was taking inspection classes and finishing a degree in fire protection and a diploma in fire science technology. I have to admit, it was not what I thought I would be when I grew up!
The Minnesota Fire Service Certification Board estimated a mere 20 to 40 women in marshal positions throughout state. That’s not surprising, as only 3.7 percent of firefighters in the state are women. “As a firefighter, it continues to be a challenge to find uniforms and firefighting gear that is designed or available for female firefighters, and believe me…not being a tall person doesn’t help!” says Arnlund. But, she claims to love a challenge. “I think it is what makes me tick.”
And Arnlund’s colleagues have faith in her living up to any challenge. “I love having Marilyn on fire calls,” says Dean Noren, lieutenant at fire station number four. “She is so much more knowledgeable than me. If something isn’t right, she knows who to call. She’s my right hand man —although she’s a woman.”
Arnlund is a 24/7 firefighter as well as a wife, mother and grandmother. “My family has been overwhelmingly supportive of my career,” she says. “I would move a mountain for them if needed.”
She’s moved mountains for Maple Grove too. She nurtures the department’s education to young people. “It was her idea to push for programs and activities in all Maple Grove schools, from kindergarten all the way up to junior high,” say Scott Slimmer, captain at station number five. “It’s been a project of hers for years and it’s become a role model for other fire departments.”
Although Arnlund is ready for anything when the phone rings, she likes to keep people focused on the little things that prevent the flames and phone calls from happening. “I would guess if most residents were asked, they would say it’s the BRT…big red truck that comes to their aid,” she reflects. “But prevention is the real key. The Maple Grove Fire Department in its 36-plus-year history has never had a fire death, and that’s the way I want to keep it.”
Marilyn Arnlund
Age: 55
Marital Status: Married to Dennis Arnlund
Children: Two adult boys, one grandson
Deputy Fire Marshall since: 1992
Role Models: Retired Brooklyn Park Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Meinzer and Plymouth Fire Inspector Stan Scofield
Past Times: Extensive flower gardening, landscaping, family and reading
What others say about me: “She has high standards for herself. She believes in residential fire sprinklers for homes. She is passionate about fire safety.”
Climbing the Ladder
Mona Dohman loves being a police officer. She also knows the significance of her recently-departed role as Maple Grove’s police chief over the past decade. But she doesn’t let it faze her. “Although I am very aware of the fact that another woman has never served as our city’s police chief,” she says, “and I am proud to be able to be ‘the first,’ I cannot help but recognize the chiefs who have gone before me, whose visions for our department allowed me to assume the leadership responsibilities.”
Dohman recently assumed an even larger role with her appointment by Governor Mark Dayton as Minnesota’s commissioner of public safety, and she’ll also oversee the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She estimates fewer than 10 female police chiefs in the state, but as commissioner, Dohman stands alone as the only female in state history to lead the department. “Whether male or female, I believe we face the same challenges and are given the same opportunities,” says Dohman, who was the first female police officer in Glencoe, Marshall and Maple Grove. “It is how we each deal with them that makes the difference.”
Dohman is now responsible for law enforcement and emergency management statewide. This includes recognizable functions like the state patrol, driver licensing and vehicle registration, but also extends to the less obvious state fire marshal, traffic and rail safety, and alcohol and gambling enforcement. “As chief, I oversaw 80 to 85 people,” she says. “As commissioner, it will be 2,100.”
However, leadership roles are not foreign to Dohman. She is the immediate past president of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association. She also picked up experience working with the legislative and executive branches of government through her appointment last year by Governor Pawlenty to Chair of the Police Officer Standards and Training Board.
“She downplays her role,” says Maple Grove Deputy Chief, David Jess. “She is one of the best leaders I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.” Jess describes Dohman as the one in a meeting with the courage to always speak up when something isn’t right. “Do the right things for the right reason—no matter how difficult it is,” he reflects her philosophy.
Dohman might demure. “When you really put others before yourself and allow your faith to help guide you through life’s journeys, you will feel successes along the way,” she says. Dohman describes herself as the “luckiest women alive” with a grounded and supportive husband [St. Louis Park Police Sergeant Ward Dohman]. “He helps remind me when I am out of balance, but also picks up the slack when work commitments take me away,” she explains.
The Dohman children give their parents numerous opportunities to spend hours in hockey arenas and athletic events. All three sing in school choirs. “I just enjoy all of that so much and really do not look forward to the time when they are all grown and gone,” admits Dohman.
Like her leadership role requires, Dohman is always aware—aware of her duties, her role and what it means to her hometown of Maple Grove. But perhaps she’s most aware of the value of the people around her. “I have been mentored, guided, taught and led by many other professionals over my 30 years of law enforcement,” she says. “It doesn’t take long to realize that if faced with difficulty, there is most likely someone very close who has encountered the same situation…and will be willing to help.”
Mona Dohman
Age: 49
Marital Status: Married to Ward Dohman
Children: Three teens—two girls and a boy
Chief of Police: 2001-2011
MN Commissioner of Public Safety since: 2011
Role Model: Mother Teresa
Past Times: Cooking, travel, gardening, singing, running marathons, trying new things, and reading.
What others say about me: “She is curious, tenacious, goal oriented, not afraid to get her hands dirty, an extrovert, a great mother and wife, really cares about people and is a good cop.”
