The Central San Joaquin Valley Nursing Hall of Fame inducted
Fresno hospice pioneer Nancy L. Hinds and Fresno City College nursing
educator Dr. Carolyn C. Drake at its fifth annual awards luncheon.

They join other nursing leaders recognized for their lifetime
dedication and achievements in nursing with plaques in McLane Hall,
which houses California State University, Fresno’s Department of
Nursing.

The Hall of Fame was created in 2004. It is a collaborative
project involving nursing leaders and sponsored by Fresno State’s
College of Health and Human Services, the Nursing Leadership Council of
the Central San Joaquin Valley; and the Mu Nu Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau
International Honor Society.

Drake began her career more than 40 years ago as a nurse’s aide,
becoming the first female African American to get a job other than
domestic work in Orrville, Ohio, in 1964.  She graduated from Akron
(Ohio) City Hospital School of Nursing, and worked in private and public
nursing before moving to California.

She later received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fresno
State and her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from University of
Southern California She began her teaching career at Fresno City
College, where she became  associate dean of instruction and nursing
director in 1994, building the largest nursing program west of the
Mississippi.

She is the founding president of the Central Valley Black Nurses
Association. She has won the NAACP Image Award, the Rosa Parks Award,
the Top 10 Business/Professional Women of the Year and numerous career
awards. Drake also is a  Wall of Honor inductee at the Fresno Black
Heritage Museum.

Hinds, a pioneer in the care of the terminally ill in the U.S
and authority in end-of-life care, also has enjoyed a four-decade
nursing career that began in Ohio (Cleveland) and included work in the
West Indies and Africa.

She began caring for the terminally ill in her home in 1980.
Today, Hinds Hospice includes a home as well as outpatient services in
Fresno, Madera and Merced counties, serving thousands of families.

She developed such other programs as the Center for Grief and
Loss, Angel Babies and perinatal, pediatric, multicultural outreach and
inmate hospice programs.

Hinds, who holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from St. John’s
College in Cleveland, Ohio. She has received numerous honors, including
the Pope John XXIII Award and the National Unsung Heroine Award from
Mitsubishi Motors.

For more information about the Nursing Hall of Fame, contact
Mary Barakzai at 559.278.3428 or maryb@csufresno.edu.