After spending a long week in and out of the hospital for a family member, I received a phone call. It was not unusual to get a call from Leggett Athletic Director Ra’Shod Jefferson, but what he said to start our conversation was confusing.
“I saw you going into the hospital,” he said.
I looked around me. How did he know where I was?
“I also work here,” he said.
Jefferson has worked at HCA Healthcare in Kingwood for two and a half years, and has been in the medical field since before he attended college. A handful of certifications were needed to work for Child Protective Services as he did years ago, so Jefferson put his love of caring for people into another career.
“I was just sitting home one summer back in 2022 and was searching online,” the Leggett coach said. “A job in healthcare popped up, so I just applied during the summertime, because I didn't have anything going on. I have been working here ever since then. They work with me, and they know that I work in education and coach, so I mainly just pick up during the weekends when I don't have a game or anything. During the summertime, I work a lot.”
Jefferson spends his time in the radiology department, helping out with scans and paperwork. Certifications he holds allows him to work in the behavior department as well.
In order to work in Kingwood, Jefferson has to be dedicated. Employees put in 12-hour shifts and can be on the clock even longer.
“The longest shift I have worked is 16 hours. So, maybe I will go in on a Saturday at 7 a.m. if we don't have school or games, and I will work until 11 p.m.”
In the summer, those shifts are the norm.
“I am constantly working if I don't have anything going on. Right now, I am working a summer camp, so I will go there from 8 a.m. to noon. I get off there, and I will come to the hospital from 2-11 p.m. and go home, decompress, and wake up to come back to school. When summer camp is over, I will work 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
During the season, HCA is the weekend job. He does get off early on Sundays to prepare for the next school week.
“I have interest in healthcare and have always been interested,” Jefferson explained. “I guess just growing up, my grandmother was sick and was in and out of the hospital. It is taking care of people and the ones you love that draws your interest. It is just giving that back.”
Just when you thought Jefferson was lazy for only having two careers, he has also labored in a funeral home since 2018 at Houston’s Pruitt & Pruitt Mortuary. He participates in all aspects of the funeral home, except for embalming.
“I help pick up bodies, I help dress them, help put them in the coffin, I drive the hearse or ‘coach’ as they call it, work services and all of that.”
A close friend got Jefferson into the funeral business, and he has taken part ever since. He admitted to being a little nervous when picking up that first customer.
“The first one I went to was with my close friend and it was crazy. I'm not going to tell stories – I was scared. My heart was racing 300 mph. Everything was just running through my mind, and I was thinking, ‘This person is going to grab me.’
“I was driving the coach, and the spray was on top. We were in a procession heading to the funeral home. I hit a bump and all I see is the spray starting to slide. Every time I turned, it started to slide. I kept thinking, somebody is going to come out of this casket and I don't know how I'm going to get out of this hearse. My heart is pounding and I'm looking in the rearview mirror.
“It freaked me out a little bit, but I am used to it (now). I go pick them up by myself.”
Three jobs aren’t enough, right?
If there is “down” time, the coach helps another friend by driving charter buses, since he already holds a commercial driver's license.
“My time off to do something is I go to coaching schools and coaching clinics,” Jefferson said. “Those are my vacations. But, this year, I am taking my own vacation. I am taking a cruise and will be gone for about seven or eight days. I'm not working any jobs.
“I love working. I go to work sunup to sundown and by the time I go home, it is to shower and sleep a bit. I haven't turned on the TV in my house in about six to eight months. I hope it still works. The most I stay at home is six or seven hours. I have a lot going on.”
