Mrs. Dorothy Sturges Saad’s name is synonymous with senior care in Alabama. Her nursing career began in Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended nursing school at South Baltimore General Hospital. She enlisted in the U.S. Army as a nurse and served overseas during World War II in the Nurse Corps of the U.S. Army–European theatre. After the war, Mrs. Saad moved to Mobile, Alabama, and worked at Mobile City Hospital, Mobile General Hospital, the Visiting Nurses Association, the American Red Cross, and in two nursing homes. In 1961, Mrs. Saad served as assistant director of a new nursing home facility in Mobile, Lynwood Nursing Home. By 1964, she emerged as a leader and advocate to improve the quality of health care for the elderly in Mobile. In 1966, she opened Heritage Nursing and Convalescent Center, a 174-bed facility for patients who needed total patient care. In the 1960s, Mrs. Saad was a member of the group that met in Montgomery, Alabama, to write the standards for what is now known as the Medicaid program. Mrs. Saad developed an innovative plan that offered the Mobile area specific levels of nursing care for the senior population in need of long-term nursing care. She opened Gordon Oaks Retirement Community in 1986 with a continuum of care facilities to provide independent living apartments, assisted living, skilled nursing care, and specialty care assisted living for those suffering with Alzheimer’s disease. Mrs. Saad’s many honors include being named First Lady of the Year in Mobile, Mobile Woman of the Year, and Alabama Senior Citizen Hall of Fame Eagle Nurse of the Year; receiving the Alabama Gerontological Nurse of the Year Award; and being listed in Who’s Who in American Nursing. In her pioneering role as an advocate for the elderly, Dorothy Saad raised the standard for nursing care in Mobile, Alabama, and the nation.