Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy

02/26/2026

IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

Dr. Thomas N. Harris, born April 6, 1868, in Montgomery, Alabama was one of the earliest black physicians to practice medicine in Mobile, and was a prominent figure in Alabama's Black Hospital Movement during the late nineteenth century. Dr. Harris graduated from Tuskegee Institute in 1889, taught printing at what is now Alabama State University, and ran a printing business in Montgomery. In 1899, he graduated from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee with dual degrees in dentistry and medicine. To further his medical knowledge, he completed post graduate medical courses at Philadelphia Poly Clinic in Pennsylvania. Afterwards, he relocated to Mobile. On the corner of St. Francis Street and North Warren Street, is the former location of where Dr. Harris opened Mobile's first professionally staffed medical infirmary in 1905. The infirmary was dedicated to improving healthcare in the African American community.

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY...LET'S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

02/25/2026

Pictured: St. Martin de Porres (Saint of the Broom) - Patron Saint of in*******al justice, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers, all those seeking racial harmony and animals; Bishop C. Bowers of Ghana with Archbishop T. J. Toolen of Mobile/Birmingham in front of St. Martin de Porres Hospital.

IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

Saint Martin de Porres was a Catholic hospital operated by the Sisters of Mercy, an organization of nuns in charge of nearly a hundred hospitals across the United States during the hospital's time. Mother Veronica, Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, and Bishop Toolen, Bishop of Mobile-Birmingham, began medical work in Mobile in 1941. Established in 1947 by the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile for the black community because segregation and Jim Crow laws prevented black doctors from working and black patients from being admitted to the City Hospital. When they came to Mobile there were only four beds available to any African American maternity patients. They were able to expand this to nine beds quickly but worked to further expand the medical facilities in Mobile.
Opened in April 1950, St. Martin de Porres Hospital featured modern facilities, 35 beds, and plans for expansion. Established with $616,000, funding came from church leaders, the federal government, and Mobile’s Black community. Local Black civic groups equipped, furnished the hospital spaces and donated a statue of St. Martin de Porres. The hospital was one of the few Southern hospitals with biracial medical staff, allowing black doctors access to advanced tools. Led by the Sisters of Mercy, it had a diverse nursing team of eight and was governed by both a Board of Trustees and a Board of Governors.
However, due to integration and financial constraints, the hospital shut down in 1968 as desegregation reduced the need for a separate hospital. Afterwards, the building was repurposed and later became the Allen Memorial Home, a nursing home, and now Allen Health & Rehabilitation which continues to serve the Mobile community in a different capacity.
St. Martin de Porres Hospital remains a symbol of faith, justice, and the fight for healthcare for all.

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY...LET'S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

02/21/2026

Male Call Outreach Ministry & New Birth Community Church is having their Community Outreach Fair NEXT WEEK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH at NOON. Please come out and enjoy the festivities. For more information, please call Brother Tony Clifton at 251-599-5490.

02/19/2026

IT'S BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

Hey...check out John Hopkins! The hospital welcomed five surgical residents: Valentine S. Alia, Lawrence B. Brown, Ivy Mannoh, Zachary Obinna Enumah and Ifeoluwa “Ife” Shoyombo. They are now leading John Hopkins’ flagship Halsted service in Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. It is the first time in the hospital’s history that the program has been led by an all-Black team of residents.

A team of five surgical residents at John Hopkins Hospital is making history as the first all-Black team to work at the hospital’s Halsted service. They shared the significance of the milestone as they stepped into the legacy of Vivien Thomas, a pioneer of cardiac surgery and the first Black person to wear a white coat at John Hopkins.

The five residents posed in a photograph memorializing the milestone. They notably posed in front of a portrait of Vivien Thomas, who was a pioneer in cardiac surgery and was the first Black person to wear a white coat at the hospital in 1941. Thomas was a pioneer in his field for having developed techniques and tools that led to how heart surgery is performed today. He received no formal medical training due to racial barriers of the time. John Hopkins eventually awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1976.

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY...LET'S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

02/17/2026

Have fun! Be safe! Let the good times roll!

02/16/2026

Enjoy the festivities! Be safe!

02/16/2026

Remember, this event is happening EVERY SUNDAY THROUGH MARCH 8TH. Please call Jessica Fountain at 205-233-1613 or email at jfountain@echca.org for more information.

02/14/2026

02/14/2026

The Black Angel Nurses of Sea View Hospital, Staten Island, NY. Top row: Jane Shirley; Bessie, a charge nurse; Curlene Jennings. Bottom row: Phyllis Alfreda Hall, Salaria Kea, Virginia Lee Greene. (Credit: The Shirley family, Greene family, the Bennett family, the Allen family, and the Sea View archives, via The Emancipator).

From 1929 to 1961, more than 300 Black nurses—now known as The Black Angels—stepped into Sea View Hospital on Staten Island when white nurses were resigning in fear of tuberculosis. [1] [1]
Tuberculosis was the deadliest infectious disease in the U.S., spreading quickly through crowded neighborhoods, and many patients were sent to Sea View under horrific conditions. These nurses cared for people who had been all but abandoned, often providing what we now call palliative care long before it had a name.
They worked with little protection in overcrowded conditions—at one point even being banned from wearing masks—and they were underpaid and denied many professional opportunities given to white nurses. Still, they stayed for decades, bound by duty and a profound sense of humanity.
When Sea View hosted the first successful human trial of Isoniazid—the antibiotic that finally helped cure TB—the Black Angels were essential to the treatment and care that made the breakthrough possible. Yet newspapers celebrating the cure didn’t mention them at all.
Despite being barred from the American Nurses Association until 1949 and rejected from many hospitals nationwide, they persisted, they healed, they saved lives. They made miracles in a place built for dying. Today, only two of these remarkable women are still living, and their descendants continue working to ensure their story is finally told.

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY...LET'S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

02/12/2026

Founded in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History ignited a movement that began as Negro History Week. Held during the second week of February to honor the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, this powerful celebration quickly became a nationwide call to recognize the brilliance, courage, and contributions of Black Americans.

By 1976, that single week blossomed into a full month—Black History Month—and President Gerald R. Ford urged the nation to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

And now—100 years later—we’re celebrating a major milestone with this year’s theme: “A Century of Black History Commemorations.” It’s an invitation for all of us to reflect, learn, celebrate, and really dive into how these commemorations have shaped our understanding of Black history and its influence around the world.

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY...LET'S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

02/10/2026

TODAY IS NUTRITION Rx DAY! See you soon 😊

02/09/2026

The pharmacy will be closed Monday, February 16th and Tuesday, February 17th. If you have prescriptions that need to be filled, please drop them off and pick up when they're ready before/by Friday, February 13th. Thank you!