A Mother & Daughter Duo – Kathleen and Cara

 A mother is a daughter’s best friend; they have an unbreakable bond founded upon unconditional love.
One local mother-daughter duo, Kathleen Anderson and Cara Brown, have a very close relationship not only at home, but also in the workplace. The two have worked together at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital for six years.
Kathleen, a proud mother of four, has been with the hospital a total of 23 years, 18 of those as a supervisor in the Health Information Management department.
“This job is really important because we oversee all the medical records, so it deals directly with patient safety,” she said. “I love enriching and mentoring my staff to accomplish something so worthwhile.”
Her eldest daughter, Cara, started working at the hospital six years ago as an Executive Assistant in the Information Systems department. Over the last four years, Cara has transitioned into a project coordinator reporting directly to the Vice President and Chief Information Officer. She helps oversee all the technological projects that happen in the hospital, lately that has included a focus on construction that pertains to the hospital’s new patient tower.
Growing up, Cara had always wanted to be a nurse, but never had the stomach for it. “I love being able to support the clinical staff who provide quality care to the patients,” Cara said.
In 1979, when Cara was 18-months-old, the family moved to Santa Clarita and Kathleen remembers taking her to Henry Mayo’s small ER at the time. “The hospital has really grown since that visit,” Kathleen said. “We’re really invested in this place and rely on it for the best possible care.”
Although the two work together, they are in different buildings and don’t see each other as much as they’d like.
“We make it a point to get lunch together occasionally,” Cara said.
She also said it came in handy when her mom was on site when she wasn’t feeling good during her second pregnancy. “Mom was always there for the good days and the bad days, but I was especially grateful for her being there during the bad days,” Cara said.
Cara has two children, a 6-year-old son Koa and 4-year-old daughter Kailani. Since the children are invested in their sports on weekends, the family is mostly out there supporting them at their games and in their free time they enjoy camping at the beach.
Cara is the oldest of three siblings, two of which live on the east coast. She said growing up, they were raised by two loving parents that taught them good life skills. The greatest thing her parents instilled in her was her work ethic.
“I’ve been working full time since I was 20-years-old and wanted to be the same example my parents were to me, to my children,” Cara said. “I feel fortunate to have my mom here with me because she’s been such a big part of my life and now my kids get to have her in their life too.”
“I’m really proud of Cara and everything she’s worked so hard to achieve,” Kathleen said of her daughter.

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