Houston TX - Author Alfreda Lawson McDaniel memorializes her voice in print in her new book titled "The Nurse's Clinic: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow".

The book has been recently nominated for the 2005 NAACP Image Awards.

Read about her contribution to the African American community as the first Black female registered nurse in the history of nursing.

In 1982, Alfreda established, implemented, and directed the first health maintenance organization designed specifically for senior citizens in San Antonio, Texas.

Not since the early 1960's with the historical contributions of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, has another African American pioneer braved the waters of creativity, innovation, and vision.

It was Alfreda's observation of the neglect and abuse of senior citizens that initially spurred the motivation for her health maintenance organization.

The original purpose for the clinic was to educate seniors on how to take more responsibility for their own health.

The clinic was designed to equip them with medical knowledge which had previously been withheld from them. Alfreda was able to demonstrate how the morbidity and mortality of chronic disease could be reversed without the side effects of prescription drugs.

Her goal was and still is to keep seniors out of hospitals, long-term care facilities, and nursing homes by introducing them to a higher quality of healthcare at no additional cost to them.

Alfreda wrote a page in history when she became the first African American female registered nurse in the history of nursing.

She opened her doors to the public for the sake of humanity.

She was motivated by her experiences as a public health registered nurse, as well as by the conditions witnessed in mental health institutions and nursing homes.

She established a 24-hour daycare center to assist the working parents of special needs children.