Interim NCH President Receives Red Cross "Nursing Hero" Award

As the pandemic descended on New England in the winter of 2020, Jeanette Ives Erickson got a call from then Massachusetts General Hospital President Peter Slavin. He described his vision for what would become the Boston Hope field hospital that would handle the overflow of COVID-19 patients. But he needed someone with the right background to run it. Slavin wanted Ives Erickson - Mass General's former chief nurse - to take on the daunting task. "I'm in," Ives Erickson told him.

Ives Erickson, who just began her second stint as interim President and CEO at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, gave Slavin her commitment and would go on to spearhead the creation of Boston Hope at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. She hired 1,000 people, and over the course of the next year, Boston Hope would treat more than 700 recovering COVID-19 patients and unsheltered homeless individuals.

For her efforts, Ives Erickson was recognized on Wednesday by the Massachusetts chapter of the American Red Cross with its "Nursing Hero" award.

“At the time, I didn’t think I did anything special,” said Ives Erickson in a statement released by NCH on Thursday. “I simply answered the call because that’s what we nurses do. I’m not a hero. Let’s start there. I’m not a hero. Those providing direct care and the patients themselves are the heroes. I was the facilitator.

“As I look back on it, being called upon to help the region get through the pandemic with the Boston Hope field hospital and the COVID-19 vaccination site were among the highlights of my career," she added. "It is an absolute honor to be recognized this way by such an esteemed organizations as the American Red Cross.”

In addition to her current role at NCH, Ives Erickson is chief nurse emerita at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Instructor at Harvard Medical School, and Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She also serves as the chair, Chief Nurse Council, Mass General Brigham.

Dr. Ives Erickson earned her diploma in nursing from Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, her BSN from Westbrook College, her MS from Boston University, and her doctorate of executive nursing practice from the MGH Institute of Health Professions. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and a past Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow where her research was the role of the Chief Nurse in integrated health care systems.