Nashville Couple Who Turned Their Home Into A Hospital For Blacks Honored Posthumously
From Nashville Public Radio:
The namesake of a large public housing complex in Nashville is being remembered Tuesday for his contributions to health care. John Henry Hale and his wife Millie are being inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame, housed at Belmont University.
The Hales converted the upstairs of their home near Meharry Medical College into a makeshift hospital for black patients who were turned away from white hospitals in the early 1900s. The hospital would soon take over the whole house and officially become the Millie E. Hale Infirmary in 1916. Eventually, the hospital would include 75 beds and treat 4,000 patients, many of whom traveled from neighboring states.