Chapter 06: Significant Nurses in the 1970s; Recalling a Segregated MD Anderson; Final Thoughts
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Identifier
BrewerCC_20061406_C06
Publication Date
6-14-2006
City
Houston, Texas
Interview Session
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS, Oral History Interview, June 14, 2006
Topics Covered
The Interview Subject's Story - The Researcher; MD Anderson Culture; Portraits; Dedication to MD Anderson, to Patients, to Faculty/Staff; Personal Reflections, Memories of MD Anderson
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Disciplines
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Oncology | Oral History
Transcript
Lesley W. Brunet:
I've talked to Roger Anderson, but I -- I've talked briefly with Joyce Alt [oral history interview], but I need to get an interview with her.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Another per -- and Amanda Blanco -- I told you about Amanda Blanco; [Amandina] Blanco, the last time we were here. She's still sharp, she's still -- she's out at Missouri City, she would love to talk to you. She would come over here and sit down. She has -- she goes back farther than -- she goes back to the '50s. She's one of the first Hispanic nurses. She may have been the first Hispanic nurse at MD Anderson; nurse supervisor. Miss Blanco. Her son works there too now. Her son works in cardiopulmonary; David Blanco Jr.
Lesley W. Brunet:
Tradition. There's a tradition of that.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
And they -- but she has -- she's one of the few that are still around who can talk about the '50s. You have a number of non-RNs who can talk about it; AIDS, and things like that, LVNs. And they can talk -- I can give you that list of people at some point because see I -- and I can tell you about ones that are still here. Some of the early black nurses like -- [Lurlene] Harrison. And Lurlene is still -- her niece works here, Julie Grace over in case management. Lurlene dates way back into the early -- late '50s. She's one of the few black RNs that were here at MD Anderson. And there weren't that many in the '60s. But Lurlene was -- became an assistant nurse manager, then she retired maybe 20 years ago. But I understand she's still sharp.
Lesley W. Brunet:
Because I've often heard that when the hospital moved from the Baker estate to the medical center, that they needed space so much that they did away with the segregated restrooms and things. But then I heard it completely different. I've heard a completely different story.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Miss Blanco probably can tell you about the segregated days when they had the colored unit up on the -- they had a colored unit. I wasn't here for the colored unit. They stopped that when I start -- came in 1970. Miss Hilkemeyer talked about it in her bio, but Miss Blanco was part of that era when they had he whole black unit -- the whole colored unit. She and probably Lurlene worked in that old, colored -- the segregated MD Anderson, if you will. I recall when I came here we had a cafeteria located somewhere in the vicinity where the pharmacy is located on the first floor now. And I recall that there's something about the cafeteria was somewhat divided. Where you couldn't eat on this side, but you could eat on this side. But it's -- it was -- it didn't faze me at the time. It may have been that the doctors could only eat here, and then everybody else on this side.
Lesley W. Brunet:
That happened a lot.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Yeah, there was a lot of that going on back then. You know, your doctors would -- you know, your doctors -- if you were a doctor, you'd go here. You're a nurse, you go over here.
Lesley W. Brunet:
Yeah, well, I'm going to just ask you a couple more things. But that's something I would like to talk about. The doctor and nurse --
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Relationship?
Lesley W. Brunet:
-- relationship. Let's see.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
It's 10 minutes fast. Or --
Lesley W. Brunet:
Well, I wanted to give you 10 minutes to get to your next appointment, so maybe we should stop here. But maybe we can pick up on our next time among other things your impressions of some of those physicians that you worked with. And you know, especially the ones who are no longer with us, and of Dr. Clark if (inaudible).
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Yeah, just to end this with my primary employment at MD Anderson. With my strength, and my heart, and my knowledge -- strong knowledge base and dedication in who -- and the area that's given me the most opportunity at MD Anderson has been at head and neck. And the support that I receive from the head and neck surgeons has been second to none, all the way from Dr. Jesse, Dr. Goepfert, Dr. Byers, Guillemondegui, Ballantyne, all the associated physicians that I've worked with over the years at head and neck have been pillars of support. Which have -- which really led to some of my later in life innovations and --
Lesley W. Brunet:
Yes, I do want to talk about your -- the things you developed. When we were talking about the drafting, mechanical draw --
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Mechanical drawing.
Lesley W. Brunet:
The drawing. I just want to come back to the patents because I didn't know until I looked at your wall that you had developed inventions yourself.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
Right. I mean all that's rooted in head and neck.
Lesley W. Brunet:
That's good to know. Well, thanks for this first session, and we'll come back.
Cecil C. Brewer, RN, BSN, MS:
All righty. Thank you.
Recommended Citation
Brewer, Cecil C. RN, BSN, MS and Brunet, Lesley W., "Chapter 06: Significant Nurses in the 1970s; Recalling a Segregated MD Anderson; Final Thoughts" (2006). Interview Chapters. 902.
https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/902
Conditions Governing Access
Open
