Maria Lopez was graduating from nursing school and wanted to get her foot in the door. Pamela Johnson wanted a job closer to home. Lakendra Branch had just moved to the area and needed a job. And Shannon Letchworth just wanted to get out of the house during quarantine.
Since the start of the pandemic, Texas Health has hired nearly 500 screeners, many of whom have gone on to other jobs within the organization.
“Screeners have played a key role in protecting everyone who enters our hospitals,” said Carla Dawson, chief people officer. “It’s so gratifying to see how many have decided to make Texas Health the place to do their life’s best work.”
Meet four employees who turned the job of screener into a career
Lakendra Branch
When the pandemic began, Lakendra Branch had recently returned to North Texas after attending college in Houston. A former volunteer at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, Branch again turned to Texas Health.
“I knew there’d be jobs at the hospital, so I applied at all the Texas Health hospitals,” said Branch, who was hired in September 2020 as a screener at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Cleburne. “I was only a screener for a few weeks, then a position opened at Mission Control for a transporter.”
Now a unit secretary, Branch is all in on a career in healthcare.
“I just started school for respiratory therapy,” she said. “I like everyone at the hospital; it’s almost like a big family. It’s a smaller hospital, so everyone knows each other.”
Pamela Johnson
Pamela Johnson had been working as a teacher’s aide in Arlington when the pandemic began.
“My husband and I had bought a home in Cleburne, so it was already a long drive,” Johnson said. “When COVID started, they added more and more duties to our position, and the long drive took more of a toll.”
She had always wanted a career in healthcare and saw the screener jobs as a good opportunity to get started. After being hired as a Texas Health Cleburne screener in November 2020, she kept her eye out for other openings.
“I knew eventually the screener jobs would go away,” she said.
Johnson was hired as an assistant in Security at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth in May.
“This job is a keeper for me,” she said. “I get to see different people every day, and I love meeting people in so many different jobs – nurses, doctors, transporters.”
Shannon Letchworth
Shannon Letchworth, a former retail manager, was a stay-at-home mom with three daughters when the pandemic began.
“With everything going on with COVID, I wanted to do something helpful,” said Letchworth, who was hired in July 2020 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Allen. “I thought, ‘What better way to help?’ At first, I just wanted a few hours to get out of the house. Then they asked me to work a few more hours, then a few more, until it turned into a full-time gig.”
The decision to stay was easy.
“I just fell in love with Texas Health,” Letchworth said. “I love this hospital. I love the people, the energy, the patients. When we only had one entrance open, as a screener you’d meet every person who came in the building.”
She is currently working as a mammography assistant in the hospital’s breast center.
“It’s temporary, just to help out, but I’m hoping to make it permanent,” she said.
Maria Lopez
Maria Lopez, R.N., was getting ready to graduate from nursing school in September 2020 when she accepted a screener job at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth.
“At first, I was kind of nervous because I was going to be the first person everyone saw at the hospital,” Lopez said. “But we were very protected, and I liked being the first impression for patients and families. It’s not as fast-paced as nursing, but it helped prepare me.”
As part of her job, she made deliveries to units throughout the hospital.
“I was able to see how each unit was set up and what the flow was like,” said Lopez, who is now a nurse in medical-surgical telemetry. “It also helped me make connections before I started as a nurse.”
