From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Red Cross Hospital and Nurse Training Department (Louisville, KY)
Founded in 1899, the Red Cross Hospital and Nurse Training Department in Louisville, KY, was not affiliated with the American Red Cross. The founders were Dr. Ellis D. Whedbee (husband of Bertha Whedbee), Dr. W. T. Merchant, Dr. Solomon Stone, Dr. E. S. Porter, and Dr. William H. Perry. The operation was located in a rented two-story house on 6th Street. A larger facility was purchased in 1905 at 1436 S. Shelby Street, housing the only nurse training program for African Americans in Kentucky. The training program was discontinued in 1937 because of a lack of funds, and the program lost its accreditation. It was re-established in 1948, the same year that the hospital was authorized to operate as a small cancer clinic by the American Cancer Society. The hospital was renamed Community Hospital in 1972, then closed in 1975; the building was purchased by Volunteers of America in 1978. For more information and a photo of the hospital, see A History of Blacks in Kentucky, by M. B. Lucas and G. C. Wright; Life Behind a Veil, by G. C. Wright; and the Red Cross entry in the Encyclopedia of Louisville, ed. by J. E. Kleber. The Red Cross Hospital records and oral history interviews are available at the University of Louisville Libraries, Archives and Special Collections.See also "Louisville National Medical College, by Morris M. Weiss, MD in the publication "History of Louisville National Medical College and the Red Cross Hospital: African American Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky - 1872 to 1976, Part 4" Louisville Medicine, July 2013, pp.14-19. The reference and copies of the article were provided by Allan Weiss.
See also "Louisville National Medical College, by Morris M. Weiss, MD in the publication "History of Louisville National Medical College and the Red Cross Hospital: African American Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky - 1872 to 1976, Part 5" Louisville Medicine, September 2013, pp.13-15. The reference and copies of the article were provided by Allan Weiss.