ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) – Paul’s Valley native Erma Willis-Alford found her passion to serve others while helping care for sick relatives as a child.
“They’d get to feeling better and so I thought that’s what I want to do, I want to make people feel better,” Willis-Alford said.
She began her nursing career in 1966 as the first African-American nurse at Memorial Hospital of Southern Oklahoma, now known as Mercy Health in Ardmore, where she provided care to patients in southern Oklahoma for 15 years.
“When I got there, the main lady called and said, ‘I hate to tell you this, but you are the first black nurse we’ve hired,’ and she asked, ‘Does that bother you?’ I hadn’t thought about it; they needed help, and I was there,” Willis-Alford stated.
In the 1980’s, she moved to Oklahoma City and continued her career in healthcare while also serving as an advocate with the Oklahoma Silver Haired Legislature. She also helped treat patients during the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
“We did help and get people placed out of the weather and its something I don’t really want to remember but I do remember it because that was so devastating,” Willis-Alford added.
On Friday, Mercy Health in Ardmore held a special Black History Month celebration to honor Willis-Alford for her dedication to helping others and her efforts in paving the way for African-Americans in healthcare.
“Now more people will know her name, and know her sacrifice, and her commitment to healthcare and making the world a better place for others,” Willis-Alford’s son, Maurice Franklin stated.
“Erma was really impactful, not because she was trying to do something that was ‘breaking the rules’, she was trying to be true to herself,” Mercy Ardmore’s Chief Nursing Officer Melissa Filter said. “And because she did so, she opened the way for other people to do the same,” she added.
A commemorative plaque will be installed at the hospital in her honor in the coming weeks.
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