Health disparities for racial and ethnic minorities have been present in the United States and persist today. NMHCs (Nurse-Managed Health Center), which can serve as “Medical Homes,” are one mechanism by which nurses can attempt to overcome these disparities within communities. In the mid-1960s, Nancy Milio developed and found funding for a NMHC to address disparities in Detroit, Michigan. History shows that the center was so valued by community members that it remained untouched during the Detroit riot of 1967, despite all buildings surrounding it having been burned down or destroyed. This article uses traditional historic methods to describe the establishment of the center in inner-city Detroit in the 1960s in historical context and analyze factors that led to Milio’s success. To address disparities via NMHCs, nurses must be persistent in acquiring funding and should involve a racially and culturally diverse group representative of community members in the development, planning, and ongoing operation of the enterprise.
Blind-pig raid was spark. (1967, July24). Detroit Free Press, pp. 1A-4A.
5.
CohenJ. J.GabrielB. A.TerrellC. (2002). The case for diversity in the health care workforce. Health Affairs, 21(5), 90-102.
6.
CooperK. (n.d.). Affordable Care Act Nurse-managed health clinics (NMHC) (Frequently Asked Questions). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/grants/nursemangfaq.pdf.
7.
GriffithJ.HansenJ.DeweyJ. C. (1967, July27). White looter is killed; death toll 36. Detroit Free Press, pp. 1A-6A.
8.
H. 7152, 88th Congress (1964)
9.
H. 6675, 89th Congress (1965).
10.
Hansen-TurtonT.BaileyD. N.TorresN. R. A. (2010). Nurse-managed health centers: Key to a healthy future. American Journal of Nursing, 110(9), 23-26.
11.
Hansen-TurtonT.WareJ.McClellanF. (2010). Nurse practitioners in primary care. Temple Law Review, 82(5), 1235-1263.
12.
KallinsE. L. (1967). Textbook of public health nursing. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
13.
LefkowitzB. (2007). Community health centers: A movement and the people who made them happen, Princeton, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
14.
MilioN. (1965). Nancy Milio diary #1 (Nancy Milio Personal Diary, March 1965-July 1966; Nancy Milio Papers, Box 1). Charlottesville, VA: Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry.
15.
MilioN. (1967a). Nancy Milio diary #6 (Nancy Milio Personal Diary, July-October 1967; Nancy Milio Papers, Box 1). Charlottesville, VA: Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry.
16.
MilioN. (1967b). Project in a negro ghetto. The American Journal of Nursing, 76(5), 1006.
17.
MilioN. (1968). Untouched in the holocaust. The American Journal of Nursing, 68(3), 508-509.
18.
MilioN. (1971a). 9226 Kercheval: The storefront that did not burn. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
19.
MilioN. (1971b). Getting resources for innovation in health care. Journal of Nursing Administration, 40-44.
20.
MilioN. (1994). Michigan leaders in community health nursing oral history project records. Detroit: University of Michigan.
21.
Mom-Tots Center saved–for a while (1966, December20). [clipping from the Detroit Free Press]. Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
22.
National Institutes of Health. (2008). Extramural scientist administration interest group: Community-based participatory research scientific interest group (CBPR-SIG). Retrieved March 11, 2011, from http://grants.nih.gov/grants/training/esaig/cbpr_sig.htm
23.
NugentK. E.ChildsG.JonesR.CookP.RavenellK. (2002). Call to action: The need to increase diversity in the nursing workforce. Nursing Forum, 37(2), 28-32.
24.
O’BrienC. (1966a, December13). [clipping from the Detroit Free Press] Cutoff of money may spell end for Tots’ Center. Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
25.
O’BrienC. (1966b, December15). New plea for Tots-Center funds. The Detroit News, pp. 1-C.
26.
O’BrienC. (1966c, December14). TAP rejects plea for money by Tots’ Center. The Detroit News.
27.
PohlJ. M.TannerC.BarkauskasV. H.GansD. N.NagelkerkJ.FiandtK. (2010). Toward a national nurse-managed health center data set: Findings and lessons learned over 3 years. Nursing Outlook, 58(2), 97.
RipleyA. (1965, February28). [clipping from the Detroit Free Press] Detroit’s militant groups aim for political power. Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
30.
SardellA. (1983). Neighborhood health centers and community-based care: Federal policy from 1965-1982. Journal of Public Health Policy, 4(4), 484-503.
31.
SmedleyB. D.StitchA. Y.NelsonA. R. (Eds.). (2003). The healthcare environment and its relationship to disparities. In Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare (pp. 83). Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
32.
Tax Foundation. (1968). Antipoverty programs under the Economic Opportunity Act. Washington, DC: Author.
33.
ThomisW. (1967, July28). Detroit holocaust. Chicago Tribune, p. 4.
34.
ThompsonH. A. (2001). Whose Detroit? Politics, labor and race in a modern American city. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
35.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). About OMH. Retrieved May 5, 2011, from http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/.
36.
WallersteinN.DuranB. (2010). Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: The intersection of science and practice to improve health equity. American Journal of Public Health, 100(1), 40-46.
