CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Over 1200 CAMC employees being recognized for their years of service at the hospital.
The CAMC Recognition Banquet was held at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center Tuesday evening to celebrate employee’s milestone anniversaries, ranging from five years to 55 years.
Among those being celebrated were nurses Fran Brooks and Dianna Branham, who both started working at CAMC and stayed at CAMC for 50 years.
Brooks said that although she had always wanted to be a nurse when she was a little kid, her journey didn’t get started until she was in her 30s. She said that one of her sisters had gotten sick and she was the one who was taking care of her. Her sister told her that she would make an amazing nurse because of how she had taken care of her sister with.
She first started in med surg nursing, then became the Director of the Emergency Room and now works in the transfer center where talks to other hospitals to get patients transferred if needed.
Brooks says that working in the emergency room and where she is now has been her favorite.
“Always something going on, and I like it real well and I like what I’m doing now at the transfer center bringing patients in from all over, putting patients in beds and like I said I look so forward to going to work,” she said.
On the other hand, Branham, started working with CAMC when she was in school as a nursing assistant. However, when she graduated, she only had her associates degree but with CAMC’s support she was able to get her bachelor’s degree.
Through that she worked with open heart progressive care patients until she retired in December 2022 for two weeks. When she came back, she started working with the regulatory compliance department doing auditing.
Branham said there were three major reasons that kept her at CAMC for so long: the people, the quality of care and the progressiveness of their programs.
“We have really high standards and so those are the things that made me want to stay and I find a lot of joy in the work and that’s why I didn’t want to retire completely, I wanted to stay and continue to see what great things we do,” she said.
Both Brooks and Branham said that the support they have received from CAMC has been amazing.
Brooks said that they have been especially supportive since she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer two years ago.
“And all of my friends a CAMC have been behind, they help and take care of me, like I said I could not ask for a better family than CAMC they have been very good to me, especially through all this, letting me come back to work and work hours that I feel like and I can go and do,” she said.
She also said that her family, especially her daughter and sister, have been extremely supportive of her.
Branham also said that her family, three of which are nurses themselves have been supportive of her.
She said she prides herself in getting her nephew, niece, and daughter into nursing because they’ve seen how important and happy she was with her job.
“I like to say that I got all of them into nursing because they saw the joy I found in my work and they went onto be nurses also, that is one of the things that I am prideful and proud,” Branham said.
Brooks said that if she had to do it all over again, she would still end up at CAMC because of how rewarding it has been for.
“Nursing is one of the most rewarding things that I ever done, you’re helping people, and they appreciate that, and I just love meeting all the people and families,” she said.
She even said that she is still friends and receives cards from patients she has helped over the years.
Branham says that if someone is looking into nursing, they need to make sure that they enjoy helping people, no matter the circumstances.
“Well, you have to have a nursing heart, it’s not anything that you’re going to be taught in school, you have to know that you care for others,” she said. “It’s not an easy job, but it’s a job that at the end of the day you know you have made a difference in someone’s life.”
She also said that when you’re looking at departments make sure you find one that you like and if you don’t there are plenty out there to choose from.