The Dr. Ruth Temple Health Center located at 3834 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, California, stands as a tribute to a remarkable woman physician, educator, and public health practitioner who slept in a chicken coop for years in order to provide badly needed health care services to Los Angeles' minority populations. When young, Ruth wanted to be a nurse unaware that women could be doctors. When she learned there were two women doctors working with Dr. John Harvey Kellogg she enrolled in Loma Linda University graduating as the first female African American physician in California. Dr. Ruth began a private practice and specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. Author DeWitt S. Williams recounts her journey to become the Director of Public Health for Los Angeles and the pioneering programs she implemented to bring health to the hurting and sick.
