{"id":26160,"date":"2025-02-10T23:48:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T23:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/?p=26160"},"modified":"2025-08-18T22:55:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T22:55:49","slug":"dr-richard-smith-and-the-call-to-desegregate-americas-hospitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/medex\/magazine\/2025\/02\/10\/dr-richard-smith-and-the-call-to-desegregate-americas-hospitals\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Richard Smith and the Call to Desegregate the Nation’s Hospitals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In recognition of 2025 Black History Month, we are <\/span>posting<\/span> the following <\/span>excerpt from the upcoming <\/span><\/span>Multiply My Hands: The Life of Dr. Richard A. Smith<\/span><\/span><\/strong>,<\/span> the first complete telling of the life <\/span>and times <\/span>of this visionary civil rights and healthcare leader.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

Two years<\/span> before Dr. Smith moved from Washington, D.C. <\/span>to <\/span>Seattle, WA <\/span>to pursue an <\/span>idea that he had long fostered — <\/span>the creation and <\/span>launch<\/span> of <\/span>MEDEX Northwest — <\/span>he was<\/span> part of the executive staff within the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>U.S. Surgeon General\u2019s Office. <\/span>His<\/span> assignment in the Surgeon General\u2019s Office<\/span> had <\/span>followed on the heels of his pivotal <\/span>leadership <\/span>work <\/span>in Nigeria <\/span>with <\/span>the <\/span>then <\/span>newly-created<\/span> Peace Corps<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This excerpt, \u201cDr. Richard Smith and the Call to Desegregate America\u2019s Hospitals,\u201d b<\/span>egins with <\/span>Dr. <\/span>Smith sitting in the office of his boss<\/span> U.S. Surgeon General William Stewart and <\/span>learning of his new <\/span>assignment as <\/span>Deputy Director of the Office of Equal Health <\/span>Opportunity (OEHO)<\/span>. His specific <\/span>task in this new role was to <\/span>desegregate<\/span>\u00a0the nation\u2019s <\/span>hospitals, which numbered over 7000 at the time.<\/span> This daunting task would prove to be a transformative experience for the <\/span><\/span>34-year-old<\/span><\/span> Richard Smith, and \u201c<\/span><\/span>the biggest contribution I\u2019ve made to my country,\u201d <\/span>he<\/span> would later claim<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

See the Editor’s Note at the bottom of this post for an explanation of the immersive historical narrative style<\/strong> being employed in this piece of writing.<\/em><\/p>\n

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