Dr. Betty A. Alexander

Location: North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem

Video by Julia Wall

"Katie B." staff, 1964-1978

During her time as the Chief Medical Technologist at Kate Bitting Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Dr. Betty Alexander saw a lot, including the "fight" during the Civil Rights Movement: "In Winston-Salem, we had a community of fighters. ... We [had a] Black community, a thriving Black community when I came [here]. ... They had everything Black that wanted to be Black."

Originally from Kansas, Alexander came to North Carolina after college specifically to serve at Katie B., something she knew she could do. That was the way she'd give back and fight. "You have an act that you can do to help in situations," she said. "I could do something to help. That's why I came to Katie B."

Alexander worked at the hospital from 1964 to 1978 and saw Katie B. close and the new facility, Reynolds Memorial Hospital, open. At Winston-Salem State University, she created the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program and served in other roles. Alexander wanted to help the Black community better understand how important healthcare is, and Katie B. laid the foundation for that. "We had that good Black medicine that took care of people when all we had was salt and water to give them," she said. "It was a community."