What to Know
- This is the first in NBC10 Boston's "She Thrives" series, focusing on the achievements of black women in Boston during Black History Month.
- Under Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan's leadership, the Dimock Center has opened an innovative residential drug treatment facility.
- Jordan has also launched a holistic approach to caring for the 19,000 patients a year who seek treatment at the Dimock Center.
She's not your average president and CEO, but the Dimock Center's Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan does it all as she leads Boston's second largest health center and Roxbury's largest employer.
Jordan's leadership at the Dimock Center, a nine-acre community hospital campus in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, has resulted in opening an innovative residential drug treatment facility, even as she finds the time to play with preschool students on the hospital campus.
"We save over 3,000 lives each year," she told NBC10 Boston.
One of the lives saved is Jordan's recovery specialist, Malik Hall, a former heroin and cocaine addict who found long-term treatment at Dimock himself.
"I love Dimock as well," he said. "They stuck with me. They understood what I was going through."
Jordan, who has a medical degree and an MBA, has launched a holistic approach to caring for the 19,000 patients a year who hail from Boston's Mattapan, Dorchester, South End and Roxbury neighborhoods and beyond, providing everything from medical, dental, vision and mental health care, to food banks and even housing.
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"I don't care who you are, I'm going to make sure you get the same level of health care," Jordan said. "I don't care if you are the VIP to the person coming in off the street."
It was back in 2007, pregnant with her second daughter, when Jordan and her husband, a special education teacher, agreed to move their young family to Boston from Maryland.
Jordan admits she was nervous about living in Boston due to the city's past issues with race.
"I went to Brown [University], undergrad and medical school, so I lived in Rhode Island and had come up to Boston and felt like I didn't know where the African American community was," she said. "And part of what helped us make the decision to move was that we knew that Governor [Deval] Patrick was coming into office. So for us it was like, 'OK, there is a change happening there, there is a change afoot.'"
Jordan first wowed Boston as Dimock's chief medical officer, eventually leading to her appointment as president and CEO. Now Jordan and her staff are getting national recognition for fundraisers such as the "Steppin' Out for Dimock" gala and neighborhood partnerships such as the fifth annual 5K Walk/Run.
However, Jordan doesn't want to be called a trailblazer.
"I don't want to be put on a pedestal," she said. "I just want to do work."
