Executive Director of the Mason Center for Healthcare Education, Brandi Cox, is a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.
As with all personal journeys, there is a starting place, and Brandi’s interest in healthcare started at an early age. She loved pretending to be a nurse and a teacher as her favorite things to do.
High school allowed her to take a CNA class, but unfortunately, with no guidance on what came next, she had no idea there was a certification test. She thought passing the class was the certification, but it was not.
About a year after graduating from high school, her sister called about an opportunity at Hillcrest North, a long-term care facility now known as Beverly Park Place. They offered her sister the chance to take a CNA class at no cost. She asked Brandi to go through the class with her. She took the class and loved working as a CNA. After completing the class, Brandi transferred to Hillcrest South (now known as Island Home Park Health and Rehab) because it was closer to her house.
During this time, Brandi embarked on a new journey of marriage and parenthood, choosing to stay home and raise her children. “My kids kept me so busy, but I still felt like I needed to do something for myself. As I raised my kids, I explored various opportunities that allowed me to be present for them while still pursuing interests outside the home. I cleaned houses, started an eBay store, sold Avon, became a real estate agent and volunteered at my kids’ schools.”
When she noticed the kids growing up and developing relationships outside of the family, Brandi thought back to when she was a little girl and wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, so she decided, “Okay, let’s do this!” and signed up for nursing school.
After graduating from LMU’s nursing school, she started her nursing career working in hospitals and home health before family tragedies changed her direction. Four family members entered hospice and passed away within six months of each other: her step-dad, her sister, her grandmother, and her father-in-law. “That was a very rough period in my life. I took a break to be there for my mother and to take a mental break for myself.”
The mental break proved healing, and in a couple of months, she applied for a position as a nursing supervisor at Island Home Park. She describes: “I went there for an interview and absolutely felt at home! I worked as a nurse supervisor there for about a year and ultimately took on the position of staff development coordinator.” Her time at Island Home prepared her for the position she was offered at the Hillcrest Healthcare corporate office: Corporate educator with Hillcrest Healthcare, and she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
The full circle of her journey came when her first task as a corporate educator was to develop a CNA program and begin teaching CNA classes in the very same classroom where she had taken the CNA class with her sister many years ago.
She says, “I am also teaching as a nurse! I had the best of both of my childhood dreams!”
Not the end of her story. Remember, she is the executive director of the Mason Center for Healthcare Education.
Doug Bryant, Brandi’s boss, presented her with the brainchild of Barry Davis, the president of Hillcrest Healthcare. Davis wanted to provide education to others, to help other facilities with the same staffing issues that Hillcrest was experiencing. He wanted to help the senior living community utilize upskilling in their facilities. From his plan, the Mason Center for Healthcare Education was born.
The Mason Center has evolved from a thought and a small classroom at Beverly Park Place to leasing a larger space in West Knoxville, just off Cedar Bluff and Kingston Pike.
The Mason Center offers a variety of classes, with more in development: Certified Nursing Assistant classes, Medication Aide classes, CPR for healthcare providers and the public, IV skills classes, Medication Aide Continuing Education Classes and more.
Brandi says her goal as the executive director is to provide guidance and assistance in enriching the lives of students, offering direction and support, regardless of their goals.
She is also currently working on a master’s in healthcare management and administration.
Newly married to James Cox, she calls him not only her best friend, but her biggest cheerleader. She says, “He always makes living life such an adventure!”
Brandi has two grown sons, Hunter and Blake, whom she credits with providing joy and adventure as well. Then the two grandsons. Brandi describes the two as “absolutely handsome and wonderful grandsons who light up my life every time they walk into the room, every time I hear their precious little voices, and every time someone mentions their names.”
Of course, there is a four-legged blessing in her life. “Mrs. Izzy Boo is the most precious four-legged blessing. She is a beautiful French bulldog who is the biggest social butterfly, but also has the most spoiled attitude!”
For information on the Mason Center, visit the website.
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