News

As we looked around our hospital recently, we noticed a quiet but powerful pattern: many of our most skilled team members didn't arrive here with those titles. They grew into them. We realized that so many of our employees have risen through the ranks, starting in entry-level positions and building serious careers right here in our community. As we sought out a new way to spotlight our team, we decided to highlight these stories, the people who put in the work and the culture that supported their rise. This series is called "Growing Our Own," and Brandon’s journey is the perfect place to start.

Brandon remembers his first week in the business office clearly, and he doesn’t sugarcoat it. "The first week, not gonna lie, was terrifying," he says. He had just left a job where he had spent two years becoming comfortable and knowing exactly what he was doing. Walking into the hospital was a stark contrast. "It was a big change for me going from stocking shelves in the grocery store to now trying to use my brain to figure out what's going on with an account," he explains. Faced with new systems and terminology, and admitting he "didn't know the first thing about insurance," the pressure was heavy: "I honestly felt like a fraud starting out".  

In many work environments, that kind of uncertainty can make you feel isolated, but Brandon quickly realized this team was different. Coming from a background in retail where he felt like There wasnt support, the atmosphere at the hospital was a shock. "The biggest surprise for me was like how much everyone had each other's backs," he says. Instead of being annoyed by his questions, his teammates were patient. "They’d just be like, this is the answer to your question and just let me know if you have more," Brandon recalls. They took the time to explain exactly why everything was done a certain way, helping him build a foundation of understanding.  

That support turned into genuine career growth. Once his manager, Stephanie, saw that he was comfortable with his initial duties, she started handing him more tasks, moving him from self-pay collections to secondary insurance billing. When a medical coding position opened up later, she didn't just post the job, she approached Brandon directly and encouraged him to apply. The hospital backed that belief with investment, paying for his professional certification while he trained on real accounts. He started with simpler clinic coding, moved on to the ER, and is now learning inpatient coding.  

The fear he felt during that first week didn't vanish overnight, but The real turning point came when he realized he could help others. "Whenever I had it in my mind that like, okay, I can now take this information and teach it to someone else... is whenever I felt less scared about what I was doing," Brandon explains. For him, that was the proof of competence: "If you can teach it to someone else," he says, you truly understand it.

Today, Brandon takes quiet pride in the role he plays for the community. He jokes that because he has to chase down documentation, he might be "the least favorite person in the hospital" to some providers. But he knows the work is vital. "My job is making sure the hospital gets paid for the care it provides," he says. "That keeps the doors open". If he could go back and talk to himself on that terrifying first day, his advice would be simple: "It gets easier. And don't be so scared of change".