It is easy for Brian Anderson to surprise his son, Aiden Anderson, with a treat at work.
This is because they both work at the same location: Mercy Health – St. Rita’s Medical Center.
Brian is an EMS, injury prevention and trauma outreach coordinator and has been in his field for 25 years. Aiden just started at St. Rita’s in 2022 and is a patient care assistant (PCA). His goal is to become a registered nurse in the emergency department.
“I chose this career to help me achieve my goals of becoming a nurse,” Aiden shares. “My dad has inspired me to go into the medical field. Growing up, I loved going to the Life Flight hanger and the fire department with him. He always told me I would make a great nurse.”
Brian’s path to St. Rita’s started as a firefighter and paramedic with the Celina Fire Department, progressing to flight paramedic with our Life Flight team.
“I started that role in 2003,” Brian says. “For the next 11 years I worked with Life Flight in a part-time role on my days off from the fire department, eventually progressing to full time with Life Flight.”
Today, Brian’s role at St. Rita’s is working with local fire and EMS agencies as the hospital outreach coordinator and leading injury prevention efforts with our trauma services program.
St. Rita’s is truly a family affair for the Andersons. Aiden’s mom, Kelly, also works for St. Rita’s as a phlebotomist.
“As parents, seeing Aiden come on board and start to flourish in his own medical career, in patient care and in nursing school has been very rewarding,” Brian adds. “We all want our kids to find their calling in life, so working at the same hospital and being able to see that start to happen with Aiden has been very worthwhile.”
The Andersons have a large family with a total of eight kids. Aiden is the third-oldest with five younger siblings.
“He has always shown a high level of care and responsibility as the big brother,” Brian shares. “He has been a good mentor and role model for his younger siblings to look up to.”
“We have a lot in common. We enjoy watching, playing and talking about almost any sport,” Aiden says about his dad.
That includes a deep love for the Chicago Cubs, with trips to Chicago to see games there as well as other ballparks. Aiden was also a leader on his own high school baseball team.
“One of my favorite memories with Aiden would be watching game seven of the 2016 World Series, when the Chicago Cubs finally broke through and won the Major League Baseball (MLB) championship,” Brian recalls. “It was a great game that was delayed by rain, then went into extra innings. When the rain delay hit, all my boys fell asleep. But as soon as the game resumed, I made sure to wake everyone up to watch the outcome as the Cubs made history.”
The father and son have one more thing in common – being nursing students. Through our Guild education tuition reimbursement program, both are enrolled at Rhodes State pursuing their nursing degrees.
“My dad has always told me to do the right thing even when it’s the hard thing,” Aiden shares. “My dad has taught me how to be a responsible young man.”
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