July 27, 2021

JaNaye Erickson, RN, Birthing Center

Central, Life@Work

I was a psychology major in college, but after I graduated, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. At that same time, my sister was in nursing school at Concordia College. She always knew she wanted to be a nurse. So I decided to join her and applied to Concordia’s accelerated nursing program. It was fun having two years of nursing school together because we always had a buddy. After graduation, I worked in Fargo at Sanford Health on the neuro floor and then went to Essentia Health as a resource nurse. In that role, I floated all over the hospital, including postpartum, which led me to my role today as a nurse in the Monticello Birthing Center.

I never thought I would work in OB. I always felt it would be intimidating because there are two lives at stake. But now it’s been six years and I love knowing I can make a difference in our patients’ experience. A big part of that is helping parents gain confidence in taking care of their newborn. I always involve parents in the care and encourage them. Sometimes parents will be nervous and say, “Oh, can I do this?” That’s where I can involve them and let them know, yes you can do everything – it’s your baby! I like working at a smaller hospital because we get to do triage, labor, and postpartum. And when you work multiple days, you get to stay with that couple the whole time, which can lead to some pretty special bonds.