The Tri-County Black Nurses Association will be honoring the achievements of the late Mrs. Melvina Gadsden, R.N., at a Valentine Scholarship Dance.

During the 1940s and ‘50s there were very few hospitals that gave black women an opportunity to be trained in an environment of equality. Mrs. Gadsden worked at an understaffed and poorly-financed black hospital. She helped out whenever and wherever it was necessary. She went on to become director of nurses and never looked back.

At McClennan-Banks Memorial she continued as the director of nursing. It was during her employment there that the hospital became the first in Charleston to receive a AAA rating from the American Hospital Association for superior quality in nursing service.

Mrs. Gadsden spent 42 years of her life as a nurse, 22 years as director of nursing, public speaker and humanitarian. She died in spring 1998, leaving behind a legacy for black women.

The event takes place Feb. 12 at the Mount Pleasant Holiday Inn. Tickets are $20 per person.

For more information, call Ida Spruill, Department of Endocrinology, at 792-5158.