The afternoon was hot, the damp air thick with the threat of rain. But the cracked parking lot behind the newly-opened Cahaba Medical Care clinic in Birmingham’s West End neighborhood was full. And the band was just cranking up.
Dr. Ernestine Clements grabbed nurse manager Veronica McDonald and receptionist LaTonya Greene and headed for the front of the makeshift stage. Clements was about to graduate from her residency program and was in the mood to celebrate becoming a full-fledged doctor in the community where she’d grown up.
Soon Clements was joined by a group of nurses and physician’s assistants at the stage, while the band’s lead singer serenaded them. Nearby, kids from the neighborhood were jumping in bouncy houses set up on the clinic lawn along Tuscaloosa Avenue. Adults sat in the shade of umbrella-covered picnic tables, eating barbecue and chatting with medical staff.
Murleen Simon watched it all from over near the food tent where doctors and nurses were handing out free hot dogs and bottles of water.