Hicks, Dee, 1946-

Dee Hicks was born in Damascus, Arkansas in 1946. She was the tenth of 13 children born to Guy and Augusta Goff. Her father was a Baptist preacher and carpenter by trade, and her mother was a housewife. Hick’s decision to become a nurse became a focal point in her life in the tenth grade. She joined the Future Nurses’ Club and geared her high school classes toward nursing. Later, Hicks went to Oklahoma Baptist University and graduated with a bachelor of science in nursing.

After marrying in 1969, Hicks joined her husband in Las Vegas, Nevada, who was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. At the age of 22, she joined the staff at Sunrise Hospital. There were only 500 beds at that time, and over the course of her 35 year at that hospital, she saw it grow to 701 beds. Hicks’ career included starting out as a staff nurse, then becoming a charge nurse, house supervisor, director of adult critical care, assistant director of nurses, and finally director of nurses.

In addition to her nursing duties, Hicks also served on the State Board of Health and on many nursing boards. She did volunteer work with Street Teens, helped pass a bill that allows Licensed Practicing Nurses to do Intravenous (IV) interventions with patients, and took training to be a parish nurse so she could volunteer to help sick people in her congregation.