Dallas County Health Department names community room after Trailblazing Nurse

On Feb.13, the Dallas County Health Department named its community room after Vera Jenkins Booker.

Booker was a trailblazing nurse in the Selma community who broke racial barriers, being one of the first African American nurses hired by the Dallas County Health Department.   | Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information

By Faith Callens

Special to the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Information

Just a day before valentine’s day, the Dallas County Health Department named its community room after Vera Jenkins Booker. Booker was a trailblazing nurse in the Selma community who broke racial barriers, being one of the first African American nurses hired by the Dallas County Health Department.

Prior to Booker joining the Dallas County Health Department, she was employed at Good Samaritan Hospital that was located on the corner of Washington Street and Voeglin Avenue in Selma. In 1965, Booker was the nurse supervisor on the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift when civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson was brought to the hospital after being shot during a voting rights protest in Marion, Alabama. Booker helped care for Jackson before he succumbed to his gunshot wounds eight days later, according to the Vera Jenkins Booker Community Room dedication program.

The program said that Booker dedicated her entire career to improving the health and well-being of all residents in Dallas County, especially during times when access to healthcare for African Americans were severely limited.

On Feb. 13, The Dallas County Health Department County Administrator Sarina Stewart joined Senator Robert Stewart alongside Dr. Constance Smith Hendricks and many others in welcoming the public to the dedication and renaming ceremony of the Dallas County Health Department's community room in honor of Vera Jenkins Booker.