Allcock and her colleagues tutored neighborhood children in reading, established a library for them, and later started a nursery school. In , Allcock secured her medical license as well as enough money to purchase some medical equipment. She placed her medical sign on the premises, and began accepting patients.
She faced resistance at first, as people were not accustomed to a female physician. The clinic had 32 full time staff members, including four physicians. Patients were charged on a sliding scale based on their ability to pay , and the clinic ran on a break-even basis.
In a article on hunger in Germantown, Allcock testified that a large number of the one thousand babies seen by the clinic each year showed signs of malnutrition. Allcock served as the director of Covenant House Health Services for 25 years.
She later earned an M. Allcock became an activist in the Guilford Conservation Commission from to , including serving as its chairperson for five years. In , Allcock planned on returning to Pennsylvania. Jennifer A. The Reverend Paul M. Washington Born in England, Dr. Jennifer Allcock first came to the U. It was primitive. And it [the hospital] was full of the very poor and the very sick. A llcock was leaning toward accepting a position in Nigeria until some friends of hers suggested another planβpurchase a house in a poor section of Philadelphia, and service the needs of the neighborhood.
Inspired by the civil rights movement, Allcock took up the challenge, purchasing a house in Germantown. She and her friend, Joan Hemenway, founded what would later be called Covenant House. Hemenway became her lifelong companion.
