Millie E. Hale

Millie Essie Gibson Hale (27 February 1881 – 6 June 1930) was an American nurse, hospital founder, social activist, and civic worker.

In 1916 she founded Millie E. Hale Hospital with her husband, John Henry Hale, M.D., in Nashville, Tennessee, the first year-round hospital for African Americans in the city. born to Henry and Nannie Gibson.

In December 1905, Millie E. Gibson married John Henry Hale and the couple went on to have two daughters together: Mildred and Essie. At the time, African-Americans were denied care at other hospitals due to financial and racial discrimination. Hale served as the hospital's head nurse and administrator. In addition to these responsibilities, she created a monthly newspaper educating people on health issues, set up programs for prenatal care and nurse training, bought land for playgrounds, and eventually transformed the Hale home into a community center. The hospital was open for over two decades and closed eight years after her death in 1930. It started with only a 12-bed hospital and it grew to 75 beds and thousands of patients were treated there from all over the South. The Hales were inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame at Belmont University on October 16, 2018.