[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 40 (Friday, February 28, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1290-H1291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOGNIZING MERCY-DOUGLASS NURSES

  (Ms. SCANLON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)

[[Page H1291]]

  

  Ms. SCANLON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Mercy-
Douglass nurses, who led the way to integrate Pennsylvania's healthcare 
system.
  In the 1940s and 1950s, there were few nursing programs available to 
Black women. At that time, two West Philadelphia hospitals founded by 
Black doctors merged and created the Mercy-Douglass Hospital School of 
Nursing.
  Mercy-Douglass trained young, Black women for professional careers at 
a time when few nursing schools would enroll them, and most hospitals 
in Philadelphia or across the Commonwealth had few, if any, Black 
nurses on staff.
  Early graduates of Mercy-Douglass were often the first Black nurses 
in a facility and had to deal with doctors and White nurses who 
questioned their qualifications or refused to be supervised by them, no 
matter their training or seniority.
  Nevertheless, Mercy-Douglass nurses, like Susan Blake from my 
hometown, persisted to break barriers and emerge as leaders in their 
communities.
  Today, we celebrate the legacy and commitment of the trailblazing 
nurses of Mercy-Douglass Hospital Nursing School to improve the lives 
of those in need of care and for the women who followed.

                          ____________________