Meet De Bloh

“I provide accurate information, and I think that's probably one of our most significant services.”

I was born in Middlesex, England, which begins on the outskirts of London and goes out into the country where it's really very rural. Actually, Middlesex doesn't exist anymore. It's been taken over by the city of London, so now it comes under the London borough. I grew up in a little village called Pinner, which is close to Harrow—everybody knows Harrow, that's where all the Prime Ministers went to school. My claim to fame is that I went to elementary school with Elton John, whose real name, by the way, is Reginald Dwight. When I was 13, I went to an all-girls school in Harrow. I was on the netball team and the tennis team. I graduated from high school, and worked in a drugstore for a year until I was old enough to go into nursing school."

Nursing is so different in England. When you first go into nursing, you spend three months in the school, then you're on the wards for a year, then you go back to school for eight weeks, then you're on the wards again. So it's practical. That's what nursing is about, rather than sitting in a classroom, trying to learn. You learn a lot more when you have these cases given to you and you meet the people, deal with them, and then go back in the classroom and discuss chemistry and biology and all the rest.

After Nursing School, I came to North Carolina, to Burlington, where my husband was from, which in terms of culture shock was quite traumatic, actually. Many things surprised me... I was surprised to see mountains. I thought America was all skyscrapers, you know, New York-style. The population seemed so sparse, there was so much open space. The people were overwhelming. They are extremely friendly, whereas the English are a lot more... reserved. The whole culture is different. Take shopping. The English go to the shops every day, they don't shop for the week like we do here. You know, people are different wherever you go. But I have adjusted and I really love living here and the work that I do.

I loved the nursing profession, but I haven't practiced since I've been over here. I would have had to go through the last year of school again, and take the RN exam over here. I went to work at Integon in the underwriting area, which was interesting because it included working with medical issues. I was there for six years and probably would have stayed longer except that I wanted to take time off to be with my new son.

My next underwriting experience involved third party administrators and small group plans. I did this type of work for ten years, with my last three years as Underwriting Supervisor for Southern Plan Services. That was a challenging position. The Company handled an in-force block of over 2,000 cases and at one time my department of seven underwriters was handling 400 new cases a month. I came to Group U.S. after Plan Services decided to close their branch offices and return all their administration to Florida.

At Group U.S., De's job is to find a market for every group and to make the issue procedure for every sold case as smooth as possible. Having been an underwriter for 29 years, she knows how an underwriter thinks and the information they need to perform their function. Her nursing background is likewise valuable since she often helps obtain and interpret medical records. “When questions come in, I can often reply straight away. But if I don't know the answer, I'll find out and call back. I provide accurate information, and I think that's probably one of our most significant services. For most of our carriers I've learned who I can go to, and who I can get the best information from. I know what the companies want and I know how to get priority for our submissions.”

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