David L. Tijerina
PORT ARTHUR — When Glen Alexander, 60, was a child he used to drive by 2128 Procter St. and wish he could convert the odd-shaped building into a playhouse.
Little did he know then he would one day be a pediatric nurse practitioner and run his Children’s Health Center out of the building, carrying a case load of over 1,000 children and treating about 350 of them there monthly.
Nurse practitioners have advanced training — below the level of a doctor — which allows them to cross a “gray-line” and treat common problems such as sore throats and come up with the same outcomes. For more serious problems, they refer their patients to doctors, he said.
Alexander, a native of Port Arthur who graduated from high school the year former president John F. Kennedy was assassinated, earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Prairie View A and M in 1969 and has occupied a number of positions, which eventually led him to his current job.
He was almost drafted by the Army in 1969 at the tail end of the Vietnam War, but enlisted as an airman in the Air Force instead. Later, after a visiting general saw Alexander was running a lab for the military in upstate New York, he received a presidential commission as a second lieutenant and worked as a social psychologist for the Air Force.
After his tour in the Air Force ended, Alexander returned to Port Arthur and was working for the old Gulf Oil refinery company when someone brought in a catalog for the nursing program at Prairie View A and M. Two years later, he completed the program.
Later, Alexander worked for the Port Arthur school district and became the nursing director for city of Port Arthur’s Department of Health — a position his wife Yoshi now occupies. And from 1990-1991, he attended the Dallas campus of Texas Woman’s University to become a nurse practitioner.
“The State of Texas gave scholarships for nurses to become nurse practitioners to answer the call of the medical provider shortage, especially in Southeast Texas,” Alexander said.
In 1992, Alexander opened the Children’s Health Center.
He was quick to say he believes the quality of medical care people can now receive in Southeast Texas is among the best in the country, and he believes his strong ties to the community as a native and his time working in a refinery and the school district have endeared him to the community.
“I know the people, so the people entrust their children to me,” Alexander said.
“My mission statement is to help create and maintain a state of wellness in our community.”
He has done that and more. Alexander also runs a day care called Les enfantes, French for the children’s center, at 2700 Procter St. that services 50 children.
His love for children is evident to those who work with him on a daily basis.
“Tamika Ballard, who has worked for Alexander for two-and-a-half years as an licensed vocational nurse and began bringing her two children, Labrehay, 9, and Charles, 7, to him for treatment as babies, said Alexander works well with children.
“He’s nice,” Ballard said. “He listens to them, the parents and the kids; he’s a people person.”
Holly St. Clair, who is pursuing a masters degree through University of Texas Galveston Medical Branch family nurse practitioner program and began her pediatric nursing rotation with Alexander in May, said she has already learned a lot from him.
“He does so much for (the community),” St. Clair said. “He’s always giving them free medicine samples.
“I don’t know what they’d do without him.”
Most of the patients Alexander treats pay with Medicare and he has found ways to lighten their burden. One way is by charging low rates for physicals.
“I’ve kept the prices of sports physicals down to $10 since 1992, and because of that the children of Southeast Texas haven’t been denied an opportunity of participating in intramural sports or team sports because they couldn’t afford a physical.”
Also seminary student, he and wife Yoshi are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in theology. And true to his love for children, as part of the Mount Sanai Baptist Church he goes on two mission trips to meet the medical needs of children in Haiti annually.”
“It’s not about me,” Alexander said, about his work in Haiti and at the clinic. “This whole clinic is a ministry for the children.”
Contact this reporter at dtijerina@panews.com
