Long before Angel Johnson-Branch was Director of Home Health at Pinecrest Retirement Community, she was a high school student in the late eighties thinking about her future. “I decided to go for my CNA, which led me to a program at what was then known as Grace Care,” she recalled. “That’s where I first met Lawanda.” Lawanda is Lawanda Bright, who was Angel’s instructor in the CNA program, as well as an infection control nurse at Grace Care. “She was a wonderful teacher,” Johnson-Branch remembered. “She played a pivotal role at a time when I was still trying to figure out my future.”
Today, Johnson-Branch is a Registered Nurse and has enjoyed an accomplished career in the field she first pondered entering under the caring tutelage of Mrs. Bright. As fate would have it, she and her former teacher are together once again.
“Lawanda and her husband moved to Pinecrest several years ago,” said Johnson-Branch. “We’ve been able to reconnect during that time and I was Director of Nursing when her husband passed away.”
The pair has become close since Bright moved to Assisted Living. “She’s so proud of me,” said Johnson-Branch with a smile. “She’s seen me go from this high school student who was passionate about helping people all the way to an RN who’s now playing a role in assisting her with her daily needs. It’s really a wonderful way to pay forward what she did for me.”
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