Brookie Ross’ love of all things medical began with family.
“I’ve always been interested in the medical field,” she said. “My aunt is a nurse. I’ve always admired what she does for a living.”
It wasn’t a surprise that when she began working as a nurse’s assistant at The Medical Center at Scottsville, she decided to do in-house training to become a certified nurse’s assistant.
“(Commonwealth Health Corp., the parent company of The Medical Centers at Scottsville, Bowling Green and Franklin) has an in-house certification. I did on-the-job training,” she said. “You have to job shadow for a certain number of days before you can touch a patient and take the state exam to be certified.”
That was about 12 years ago. Ross is now an emergency room technician and registration clerk at The Medical Center at Scottsville. Ross said her job requires her to be a jack of all trades. Some of her duties include stocking and ordering, completing patient-related paperwork and assisting the doctors in things such as suturing and flu swabs.
“I’m their gofer,” she said, laughing. “I do whatever I can do to assist the nurses and make their jobs easier.”
Her dream is to become a nurse. Ross has been a part-time nursing student at Western Kentucky University for about four semesters while being a full-time mother and working full time.
“I’m doing general education requirements now,” she said. “I hope to get into the nursing program in the spring semester.”
Being a nontraditional student has helped her focus on goals.
“It’s different. I enjoy it,” she said. “I see where I need to be now.”
Ross said most jobs she has held have been in the medical field. She has worked in a doctor’s office as a registration person and medical assistant. At CHC alone, she has had various positions. She was a nurse’s assistant at The Medical Center at Scottsville for about two years. Next, she worked in pediatrics and dialysis at The Medical Center at Bowling Green for about a year. She returned to Scottsville to work at Urgent Care, which is now the Scottsville Rural Health Clinic, as a registration clerk for four years. She then moved to her current position, where she has been for six years.
“I have been to all the CHC hospitals except (The Medical Center at) Franklin,” she said.
Ross said there are many things she likes about her job, including the encouragement she gets from her co-workers and the fact that they are like a family and work as a team.
“It’s a wonderful place to work. The benefits are great. My co-workers are great,” she said. “I can be close to home and be near my children if they need me. It’s a fulfilling job. In the ER, you get to see all kinds of interesting things.”
