Pioneer black nurse dies at 101
HUNTSVILLE — A black nurse who started the first clinic in Triana and was viewed as a medical savior for many blacks in north Alabama during the segregation era has died at 101.
Jean Dent, a public health nurse who made sure Madison County's black residents got medical care in the segregated 1940s and '50s, died in her sleep at her Huntsville home Wednesday.
Her death was reported by The Huntsville Times. Royal Funeral Home said Thursday that funeral arrangements haven't been finalized.
In 1973, Dent became the first black registered nurse to be named Alabama's nurse of the year by the Alabama State Nurses Association.
Madison County's health department hired the Tuskegee University nursing school graduate in 1946 to train midwives, including some unable to read or write. She later helped bring the first clinic to Triana.
County Health Officer Larry Robey said "Nurse Dent," as she was known to generations of patients and their families, made sure poor people had access to vaccinations and prenatal care.
Her nephew Irvin Dent said she helped integrate the health department by demanding that black patients be allowed to come through the front door.
