BIOGRAPHY
Mrs.
Dorothy Jean Mottley was born to Artist and Anthony
Woods in Ann Arbor, MI on October 26, 1928. She
spent her childhood in Ann Arbor and attended St.
Thomas the Apostle Catholic School, recalling that
she was the only black student in her class. Because
of racial tension, she and her sister were sent
to a Catholic boarding school in Virginia for a
brief time, but Mrs. Mottley returned to graduate
from St. Thomas in 1946. With encouragement from
her family and friends, Mrs. Mottley entered the
Harlem Hospital School of Nursing, New York, NY
in 1948 and passed her board exams in 1951. She
remained in New York City until 1956, working in
the emergency room of Harlem Hospital and taking
classes in public health at New York University.
She left New York for Detroit in 1956.
Mrs.
Mottley chose to work in the public sector in
Detroit and took a position as a psychiatric nurse
at the Lafayette Clinic from 1956-1958. In the
early 1960's, she worked part-time at Providence
Hospital, Kirwood Hospital, and in a private OB-GYN
practice. In 1963, Mrs. Mottley started working
as a staff nurse at the Wayne State University
Health Center where she provided care to the students
until 1968.
She
left Wayne State to work with the newly created
Neighborhood Comprehensive Health Services Center
(NCHSC), located in the Herman Kiefer Hospital
complex. The NCHSC provided free health care to
neighborhood residents who could afford health
care insurance. Mrs. Mottley supervised the work
of nursing assistants in four departments: medicine,
surgery, obstetrics/gynecology, and pediatrics.
In
1976, Mrs. Mottley left NCHSC to begin working
with the Detroit Health Department as a public
health field nurse. At this time, her interest
in union issues increased and she was later elected
president of the International Nurses Association
of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County,
and Municipal Employees) in 1985. Mrs. Mottley
retired from the Detroit Health Department in
1997.
|
| The
following excerpt represents Opinions/Observations
regarding the demise of black proprietary hospitals:
Interviewer's question: "Getting
back to black patients/white hospitals: Do you think
that the integration of the hospital system in Detroit
caused the demise of the black hospitals, or were there
other issues or factors involved?)"
"I'm sure of it. That had to be a factor that the hospitals closed because
black patients realized that they could go to majority-owned hospitals, and they were
bigger and better, and seemed to provide services that…unlike those in the small
Kirwood. Our doctors were then admitted to the staffs. It then made it easier. And I truly
believe...I know one of the hospitals, I remember closed because Blue Cross let them get
way behind, and then they couldn't pay up when they wanted the money, so they had to
close. And I just wonder if they may have...that...I won't say because it doesn't have to
be true. But, I know one by one they just folded." |
