/
WESTERN MICHIGAN
p
Ameri an ulture."
Grandparen ,aun , nd uncle
Family Health enter A-Team' hack row, (l-r): Krato hvll 'teve Reiman, urkre • mlth, tephen
Robin n. Front ro . Pamela Iteghl and Monica Padgett. (photo. hy D. 00 )
Disabling ecret
becomes cl-aim-to fame
By DANNY COOKS
Corr".pon d"nt
20. It wa the reality of her inability
to read.
AU E RE ALL D the inci
dent: A written j ke wa pa sed
around "at a dinner party, ea h per-
n in turn laughing a he or h
read it. She wa. near tears, 0 reat
was her pain over th imminent di -
cov ry r her. ecret. Scared and
a harned. . he eventually Lled the
room b .t'orc h r turn to read came.
however, gave
t deal with her
Spruette, who took lime between
cia e and after chool to help me."
Having taken the bull by the
horns, Alice didn't finish after ob
taining a G.E.D., he wa awarded
a high chool diploma, also. Even
tually, he attended Kalamazoo
Valley Community College for one
and a half yea , tudying octal
. work, before transferring to Daven
port College, tudying bu ine
management for two years, receiv
ing a certificate.
ALICE' FUTURE plans in-
clude obtaining a bachelor'S
in social work from We tern
Michigan University (WMU).
For the pa l' seven years she
ha been employed a� WMU'
food ervice department a a
cook, ri ing to her pre ent
po i tion a a Head Cook in
Burnham' Dining Service on
Western' campus.
Alice' community invol
vement includes an advi ory
board member of the William.
W. Institute, an employment
re earch facility funded by the
Upjohn Company. She i al '0
a staff mernb r of the Whole
Art Theatre Company.
Under contract with Della
Publications to publish one of
her many literary creation,
Alice aid the manu cript i
about life's struggles for a
Black woman.
Sniedze Rungi , Director
of the Whole Art Theatre feel
Alice has the potential to be aneth r
Sojourner Truth. "Sojourner w
raised by a Dutch family and spoke
Dutch exclusively until age ten."
Rungi aid Sojourner wa then
old to an English ettler and h�d to
re-Iearn how to relate to others.
"Alice also had to go through a
erious learning proces. I admire
her."
ret.
"I had to fight my own name,
my own elf-piety" he aid, ex
plaining why it took her two more
years b ore a tually attacking the
problem. ttl had t ay, 'I d n't c re
if you know I can't read.'"
P rta e Adult Educati n Center
whi ked li e from third grade
reading level t an eight grade level
in one and a half years. "I have to
give pecial credit to Mary
Ihc
n
r op
n
By DANNY COOKS
Corr •• pondfMt
On Wedne day, November 20th
the Family Health Center at 117 W.
Paterson held an open hou for
community organiz tions nd ag n
cies who work with Family He lth
Center client , and al 0 for com
munity leaders.
Director Eurkre Smith intro
duced newly-appointed medical
director Stephen Robin n, who
came to Kalamazo from Duane
Water' Ho pital in Jack on.
Michigan; Dr. teve Reiman. D.O.;
ui-going medical dire tor Clyde
Kratochvil, M.D., PhD.' and
Phy ican' A si tant Moni a
Padgett and Pamela Iteghie. Smith
aid "the e new additions will en
ure the succe of the Center."
Kratochvil, who retir d from the
Air Force after 26 years a Com
mander of Areo pace Medical Re
search in Dayton, Ohio and then
retired from Upjohn Internation
al Medical Director. aid h '11 con
tinueonattheCenter. "I'm plea ed
to ay we've turned the Center
around. Everybody was ying we
were going down the tubes," he bel
lowed, obviously proud of the Cen-
ter and pleased with hi
contribution to its revival.
Like Smith, Kratochvil credits a
dedicated taff for turning the Cen
ter around. "Thi open house i to
how the community that we are
alive and well, w haven't failed;
there arc a lot of good doctor'
ar und who pitched in and help d."
o TRARY TO the opinion
of the uninformed, the Center is not
a medical clinic for poor Black
folk-- "It i for the medically under-
erved, or indigent," Kratochvil
tre ed. "Half the people erved
here are white ." he dded.
A i ting doctors with an in
crea ing ca eload and decreasing
o
D
. A girl child wa born in 1957
into a ituati n unique Ior many
Black families. Her mom, wanting
a better life for this child, aw an
opportunity to impr vc the
newborn' situation by relinqui h
ing some parental right. --giving
them to a clo e friend, Alice Clay.
Alice, a married nurse unable t
conceive children herself,
embraced the infant' a her own.
However, over ub equent years,
the child, named Alic
Boyd, bounced be
tween natural and
fo ter mother. By age
fourteen Alice had not
bonded to either
"Mom." It i not far
fetched to b lievc
Alice may have been
confu ed, with
divided loyaltie .
Seeking relief,
Alice fled into the
arm of a man; the
wrong man. At age fi f
teen. Alice bore a
child, a product of her
mi guided effort to
bond with someon .
Alice quit chool at
age ixteen to get a job
. 0 her cmld wouldn't
b rai ed on welfare.
Over the next eleven
years thi high chool
dropout kipped
thr ugh at lea t eight job, al 0
bearing another child at age
nineteen.
An accompli hm nt which Alice
appears extremely pr ud of wa a
thirteen year relation hip. "It made
me feel afe," he c n ided. The
relation hip helped her keep con
cealed from the world her di .abling
ecret, a secret which finally ur
faced in an embarras ing way at age
r in rd r to
overcome. "You now within
yours I what i right nd wron ,
what i n d d and not need d.
You h v to t ke th r ponsibility
out on th
facts."
•
I
door
the amount of tim a p tient h to
wait, i th mann r Iteghie beli v
he can as i 1 th Center in erving
the community. Her home tat of·
Georgia and the University of
Georgia' . medical coil may
till fre h in her mind but It hie,
Bachelor of Science Degree in
Biology leading her w y, look for
ward to'''a new adventure" in water,
winter wonderland.
A recent graduate of Howard
University, Padgett aid, "I've al
way wanted to be in health care,
even a a mall child." To be
needed here in Kalamazoo i her
dream come true.
In addition to the e full-time
personnel, there are five part-tim ,
contracted doctors available to help
the Center' patients, according to
Smith.
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