Trailblazing Spokane nurse instrumental in bringing ambulances and Deaconess emergency room to Spokane honored with memorial

A “visionary nurse” who among her many successes helped launched the first emergency department at Deaconess Hospital was honored Friday by the Spokane Historical Monument committee in Greenwood Memorial Terrace.

Anna Mae Ericksen developed the first emergency room at Deaconess and helped launch the first ambulance in Spokane. She was a founding member of the Rural Nurses Organization, helped establish the Mr. Yuk Poison Center Program and received several awards for her work, including the Hall of Fame award from the National Emergency Nurses Association.

Ericksen was ahead of her time in the emergency medical field, said Deaconess Chief Nurse Executive Jennifer Graham.

On Friday afternoon many friends, family and fellow nurses came to honor Ericksen and all her innovations in the medical field and emergency services in the Spokane area.

Ericksen was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1919, but her family later moved to Spokane. She graduated from Rogers High School in 1939 and she enrolled in the Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in 1940. During World War II, she served in the United States Army Nurse Corps before returning to Deaconess. She retired from Deaconess in 1987 and died in 2016.

A historical monument was put up in Ericksen’s honor at Greenwood on Friday . This is the 31st dedication that has been placed by the Spokane Historical Monument committee.

“Today is all about Anna Mae, but it is also to honor all the nurses in Spokane,” said Rae Anna Victor, a representative from the Historical Monument Committee.

Ericksen’s niece Kathleen Corrick worked with the committee to create the monument. Corrick, a nurse, followed in her aunt’s footsteps out of admiration.

“It was like a passing of a torch, and my whole career followed hers,” Corrick said. She said her aunt loved Spokane, loved that it was a family town and loved having roots here. “I saw the nursing and I saw the commitment to her small community, and I fell right down that path,” Corrick said.

Friends of Ericksen also spoke about her at the monument reveal, talking about how determined she was to improve the city she loved.

“She could see what needed to be done and you couldn’t say no,” said Pam Reynolds, a friend of Ericksen’s. The two had worked together to make their own hall of fame for nurses in Deaconess Hospital.

“I was honored and pleased to be one of her nurses,” said Valeta Biggs from the Red Cross, another friend of Ericksen’s.

Ericksen continuously inspired the people around her with her excellence in nursing and her dedication to paving the way for the future. Graham, who called Ericksen a visionary, spoke on behalf of Deaconess to celebrate Ericksen’s story.

“She really paved the way for emergency nursing to become a larger player in how we take care of our communities in every hospital,” Graham said. “It is the first door to entering our facility, and so her legacy lives beyond.”