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Ardmore
ARDMORE, Okla. — From an early age, Erma Willis-Alford remembers her family members nursing their loved ones back to health.
“That’s what I want to do,” Willis-Alford, 79, thought then, as she recalled recently in an interview. “I want to make people feel better.”
The Pauls Valley native later became Ardmore’s first Black nurse in 1966, starting work at what was then known as Memorial Hospital of Southern Oklahoma. She went on to a long career of nursing and advocacy across Oklahoma and the U.S.
Mercy Hospital Ardmore honored Willis-Alford on Friday with a ceremony and luncheon alongside her family and friends. Hospital leaders announced a plaque bearing her name will soon grace the facility’s walls. The celebration during Black History Month marks an important milestone for Ardmore’s hospital and community.
Rewarding Experience
Before Willis-Alford took the job in Ardmore, hospital staff let her know she’d be the first Black nurse and asked if that bothered her. It didn’t, and when she reported to work, she found a welcoming staff who worked hard to support her career.
“They taught me all that I could take in, and that was rewarding,” said Willis-Alford. “They were really passionate about helping not just me, but newcomers who showed that they wanted to do the work and do it well, take care of the patients. And that became a part of me.”
The hospital helped pay for her education as she earned increasingly advanced degrees while working and elevated her to a leadership role. Local groups like the Shriners also helped her family in times of need, like when her daughter required out-of-state medical care for serious burns.
Willis-Alford left Ardmore for Oklahoma City in the 1980s, eventually treating patients in the aftermath of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19, 1995. She also worked in Durant, Madill, Marietta, Sulphur and Tishomingo during her career.
Always active with organizations involving nursing and children, Willis-Alford was also a member of the Oklahoma Silver Haired Legislature and other advocacy groups.
Honoring History
A plaque honoring Willis-Alford’s milestone will soon be installed at Mercy Hospital Ardmore. The plaque was announced Friday during the ceremony honoring her at the hospital as her family and friends looked on.
“It’s important to honor our history because when you work at a hospital, you’re handed a torch for a short while before you pass it to someone else,” said Daryle Voss, president of Mercy Southern Oklahoma Communities. “The people we someday pass the torch to must understand where the torch has been, who carried it and what we went through together. That history is the story of our community.”
Memorial Hospital of Southern Oklahoma opened on Memorial Day 1955. The hospital had 44 beds then and took in patients immediately – caregivers delivered a baby girl on the first day and a baby boy two days later.
The hospital became part of Mercy in 1996 and adopted its modern name of Mercy Hospital Ardmore in 2012. In the 70 years since it opened, it has nearly tripled in size to 120 staffed beds.
Mercy served more than 95,000 people for outpatient visits, admitted 7,200 patients, performed more than 4,200 surgeries and delivered 725 babies in the most recent fiscal year. Mercy’s services in Ardmore continue to expand, with several new physicians and clinics joining Mercy in the last year.
Nurses like Willis-Alford have long been a crucial part of the foundation of patient care at Mercy and hospitals around the world. Mercy honors important nursing milestones and achievements to celebrate and inspire co-workers and patients alike.
