Lucile “Tee Rae” Dismukes was the executive director of the Georgia Maternal and Infant Council and acted as a liaison with the Georgia Department of Public Health, Medicaid, and state government. She was instrumental in implementing programs to improve the health of mothers and infants in the state of Georgia.   Every year, GPA awards the “Tee Rae” Dismukes Award to a GPA member (past or present) who has gone above and beyond in the mission of promoting and improving the health of mothers and infants.

Guidelines for nominations for T. Rae Dismuke Award are the following:

Past awardees have been the following:

The Lucile “Tee Rae” Dismukes Award is presented each year to a GPA member who exemplifies the work, mission, and values of Georgia Perinatal Association. The 2023 recipient is Margaret Dorroh.

About Margaret Dorroh. This year’s recipient of the Tee Rae Dismukes Award, Margaret Dorroh, has a rich history in Perinatal Health.  Margaret graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1965 with her BSN.  Her first job at Vanderbilt University Hospital was as a staff nurse in the Birth Defects Unit.  She graduated from Emory University with her MSN in 1971 with a focus on Maternal Child Nursing.  Margaret and her family relocated to Savannah, where she served as the DON at Memorial Hospital.  In 1972, always the pacesetter and risk taker, she initiated Prepared Childbirth Classes and Rooming-in at Memorial.  No one was ready for that in Savannah, GA in 1972.

She returned to the classroom and attended the Medical University of South Carolina School of Nurse Midwifery and graduated in 1977.  As a Certified Nurse Midwife, she began a Home Birth Practice, providing low-risk women, with true choice, in Savannah and the surrounding areas. The story does not end there… This courageous pioneer saw the need to expand choices for women and their families.  She did something that had never been done before, she opened the first freestanding birth center in Georgia in 1987 in Effingham County.  The Family Health and Birth Center, now known as “The Midwife Group, Women’s Health and Birth Center” has served the communities for over 37 years.

Time went by and she realized that after the neonatal period was complete, the babies, much to the parent’s chagrin, had to be referred to Savannah pediatricians.  Back again, Margaret went to Ga Southern to complete the Family Nurse Practitioner program so that the parents had the convenience of continuing their children’s care near home.

Margaret always and continuously mentored midwifery students during her many years of practice.  She has also graced many nursing students over the years with her expertise, as an instructor, at Armstrong and GA Southern nursing programs. Her career culminated after a very busy 47 years.

Incidentally, Tee Rae also graduated ahead of this year’s winner at Vanderbilt and Emory. Margaret had the privilege to cross paths with Tee Rae Dismukes in their advocacy and work with the Ga Hospital Association, the Governor’s Conference on Nursing, and the Georgia League for Nursing.  Two women, so talented, so committed, so similar, so wonderful and so dedicated.  We are grateful to them.  May we all continue their legacy.

Congratulations to Margaret Dorroh – RN, BSN, CNM, MSM, FNP-BC on a job well done!