BRANDON, Fla. — A set of twins who worked alongside each other for the last 45 years is retiring.

Karen Crouch and Sharon Thacker were among the first employees of HCA Florida Brandon Hospital when it was built in the 1970s. They talked with Spectrum News about their staying power in a field that has significantly changed over the decades.

Crouch and Thacker have amassed a vast collection of photos during their time at HCA Florida Brandon Hospital.

The two employees in the finance department have served 46 and 45 years, respectively. Crouch is in charge of fixed assets.

“That there was the first personal computer,” she said while pointing to a photo. “It was with the two drives, like floppy disk drives, the five-inch or something. They were huge. It did make a big difference.” 

As the hospital expanded, many departments were relocated, but Crouch and Thacker remained in the same building. Following her time on the switchboard, Thacker transitioned to insurance billing.

“Everything was manual, everything was on a typewriter,” she recalls.

As paperwork and payments were digitized, she encountered some challenges.

“Hard for me to keep up a little bit,” she said.

Thacker is the last original employee of the staff hired in 1977. Her twin, Crouch, was hired a year later. 

Their starting pay was less than $3 an hour.

The twins had no intention of working in the same department. 

“Mom always wanted us to be individuals,” said Thacker. “It didn’t work that way. But, you know, she made us be in separate classes at school.”

Crouch says they always had the same group of friends.

“We never shared the same class until high school, when you could pick your classes. Our senior year is when we had all of our classes together,” she added.

Working in the finance department has connected the twins with employees throughout the entire HCA Florida Hospital system, who they consider as extended family. The decision to retire is bittersweet.

“I’ve wanted to retire a couple of years ago,” said Thacker.

“I was thinking to stay for 50 years, you know,” Crouch added.

“But, I thought that’s where we’re turning 65 in January. And so for four more years, it’s like we’re getting, we’ll get a lot older. And I’m like, I want to enjoy some of my old age before I get too old,” said Thacker.

The staff has nicknamed two hyperbaric chambers after the sisters to honor them.

“Well, we love it. We begged for it. Really? We knew that they named their machines. Usually, if there’s more than one, you know, of something like in the lab, they named them,” said Thacker.

They sit side by side, just as the sisters did for more than four decades. 

“Some people probably couldn’t work with their sibling, but she’s much nicer than me. She puts up with a lot,” said Thacker.

In recent years, many workers are not staying with one employer for very long. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median job tenure has dropped by nearly 11% in the last decade, from 4.6 years to 4.1 years. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find employees who are committed to staying with a company for the long term.

Despite this trend, there are still some employees who are dedicated to their work and stay with the same employer for many years. “We know we are unicorns, hard to find,” the twins say.

The twin sisters are planning to celebrate their achievement of staying with their employer for a long time. “We have a bucket list and want to visit every state,” they said. They turned in their badges and exchanged their old routine for a new adventure they planned to enjoy side by side.