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Nancy Denning Martin, Executive Director
Hospital Hospitality House

On a summer break from teaching English at the collegiate level, Nancy Denning Martin decided to try her hand at something new … working in crisis intervention.

“I was drawn to non-profit work because I felt that it provided the opportunity to engage all my skills and interests –– left brain and right brain –– in a way that truly touches and changes lives on a daily basis,” she explained.

In July 2005, after working with other area agencies, Denning Martin took the helm at Hospital Hospitality House.

“Experiences I had in medical mission work in Guatemala and Ukraine shaped my understanding of how meeting the most basic of needs can be just as important as a stethoscope or medicine,” she said.

Denning Martin added Nashville is “truly blessed to have some of the best hospitals in the world right here,” which attracts patients from around the globe thus creating a need for medical housing. She noted HHH has served patients and families from all 50 states and 38 foreign countries.

“People travel a long way to find the medical treatment they need in our city. It’s important to make sure those patients and caregivers find what they need when they get here –– an affordable place to stay, meals, laundry services, listening ears, strong shoulders, comforting words. Caregiver involvement has a direct impact on the quality and speed of a patient’s recovery. As a medical community, we have to care for the caregivers,” she stated.

Based on current estimates, she continued, “Nashville is at least 130 rooms short of being able to meet that need.” To alleviate some of the pressure, HHH recently contracted with an extended stay hotel to provide extra rooms while continuing to work toward the long-term goal of building a larger facility. Even with the extra space, it still isn’t enough … and that’s what drives Denning Martin to continue to look for solutions.

“When I sit with a guest who calls HHH a ‘miracle’ or the people here ‘angels,’ there’s a combined sense of clarity, purpose and reward that I don’t think a lot of people get to feel,” she noted. “I’m reminded daily that loving and serving bring just as much reward to the giver as to the recipient.”

The same passion Denning Martin pours into HHH is evident in the ambitious projects she and her husband … jazz guitarist Danny Ray Martin … have recently launched.

“Danny Ray and I opened the East Nashville School of Music in Riverside Village in East Nashville last year,” she said. “I think our youngest student is four, and I won’t speculate on the age of our oldest student,” she said with a laugh.

The couple has also started a class at their church called Missions 101 that reaches out to identify and meet needs in the community. Projects have included hosting a Christmas meal for more than 100 families, offering parenting classes, a financial seminar and recruiting mentors for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

“Right now, we’re working on a school uniform exchange for the summer, in addition to teen workshops and arts and crafts workshops,” said Denning Martin.

In the near future, the couple hopes to add children to the mix of their busy lives.

When asked what she would like to accomplish in the next decade, Denning Martin simply answered, “I’d like to uncover the secret to doing it all!”



May 2008

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