Busy businesswoman Erica Henderson is work ethic personified

ALBANY – Erica Henderson didn’t really want to do this story. She’s not much of a self-promoter and, truth be told, she didn’t think she’d done anything special to warrant such attention.

But people who know her said the mother of two nurse/manager who works with Phoebe Pain Management at Meredyth while also managing the Burnt Tree Trailer Park owned by her mother and grandmother and the Summit Shopping Center that she co-owns is work ethic personified at a time when so many people are trying to find ways not to work.

Milan Patel, one of the area’s most successful developers, calls Henderson an “inspiration.”

“Look at what she does,” Patel said. “She outworks everybody; she basically has three full-time jobs simultaneously. She’s someone that everyone can admire, but imagine what little girls who’ve been told that women have a ‘place’ think when they see all that Erica does.

“We hear so much about the bad stuff in Albany, but there is good stuff, too. And people should hear Erica’s story.”

Raised in southwest Georgia and a graduate of Deerfield-Windsor School in Albany, Henderson found that her dream of attending the University of Georgia was not all it was cracked up to be. So after a year and a half, she headed south to Panama City Junior College to earn an associate’s degree in nursing.

“It was the fastest way for me to support myself,” she said.

After passing required boards, Henderson took a position at Grady Hospital in Atlanta (“the only place that would take me without a bachelor’s degree”) where she was introduced to the world of nursing in a high-crime area.

“I saw my share of gunshot and crime victims,” she said.

A friend helped Henderson land a job with an anesthesiologist/pain management specialist, work that came naturally to her. Pretty soon, she’d become so adept at her job, she was asked to take on more responsibility to the point that she essentially managed the office.

“I like being independent, and I like to learn,” Henderson said. “I’d been working since I was 12, babysitting, working in a cafe, working at Envy (clothing store).

“Work at the pain clinic came naturally to me, and pretty soon I was doing all the management chores, including firing people.”

It was during this time that Henderson met her husband, Patrick. They started their family, which now includes Wes, 8, and Aubrey, 6, leading to a shift in priorities.

The young couple were not particularly happy with the pace of life in Atlanta, and shortly after Patrick’s father passed away, they started talking about making changes. They visited southwest Georgia, and decided to move to Albany seven years ago.

“My family was close by, and when we came to visit, we took a walk,” Henderson said. “Patrick loved it, and I was able to recognize the area’s endearing qualities that I didn’t see when I lived here.”

Patrick took a job with the now-shuttered Pretoria Fields Brewery downtown, and after a brief period of looking and finding no job, Erica “got my foot in the door in nursing” with MSA of Albany.

She eventually worked at Albany Urology until meeting “this elegantly dressed lady” while at a Chuck E. Cheese’s outing. That lady turned out to be Dr. Sunny Orillosa, who had been hired to manage the Phoebe Pain and Management Center. The two talked, found they had much in common, and when they ran into each other again, their next conversation led to Henderson being hired.

And while keeping her hand in the medical field was something that appealed to Henderson, it wasn’t as if she didn’t have plenty to do.

She’d taken over management of the Burnt Tree Trailer Park owned by her family, one of those strange situations that seemed to call to Henderson. She knew nothing of managing such a facility and quickly found herself facing what might have been an insurmountable challenge.

“I get out there at the trailer park for my mom, and this guy from Metro Plumbing tells me I have to move a trailer,” Henderson said. “I was asked if I wanted to buy it, and I told the guy I could pay $6,000. He said he wanted more but finally agreed. I got someone to deliver the trailer, but I found out I couldn’t put it where I’d planned because of a pile of broken glass.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do, but there was a guy who lived out there who said he’d cut the grass and prepare a lot for the trailer.”

That man, Demond Dawson, became Henderson’s go-to guy. And “Big,” as she calls him because, well, he’s a big guy, has become an invaluable part of what she’s done at Burnt Tree.

“I’d worked with a friend of Erica’s six or seven years ago, and we hit it off from the start,” Dawson said. “She’s the nicest boss lady I’ve ever had, and if there’s something that needs to be done, I try to do it. She’s great to work with; I love her to death.”

Since taking over management of the park, Henderson and Big have put up new signs, turned the overgrown tennis courts into basketball courts, set up grills and got all of the tenants on leases.

Henderson is part owner of the Summit Shopping Complex, where she’s taken care of tenants’ concerns and got them all on leases where there had been none before.

“I’ve met some awesome trade people managing the center,” Henderson said. “We’re helping tenants reach their potential. The nail salon there is getting ready to take over another space and expand.

“I believe our tenants deserve the kind of attention we give them.”

Henderson’s days are not like most people’s. She gets up and, being a morning person, goes through her exercise routine. She helps Patrick get the kids off to school, then makes it to work at the Pain Management Center by 8. After a full day there, she regularly runs by the trailer park and the shopping center, sometimes getting home as late as 8 p.m.

If she’s needed there during the day, she’s free to take time away from the clinic.

“I’m busier than I’ve ever been, and I love it,” she said. “But there’s an understanding that there will be times I need to take some time at one of the other businesses. One of the great things that Dr. Orillosa understands is that I’m willing to help, but on my terms.”

Henderson spends time with the family after work and often continues her schedule into the late hours of the night.

“Our kids are great; they’re not co-dependent,” she said. “We’ll play games together, and I help put them to bed. Our kids know we’ll be there if they need us. That’s the coolest thing as a woman, to set an example for your kids.”

In medical assistant Kim Potter, whom she hired to work at the Pain Management Center, Henderson has met a similar hard worker who relates to her schedule.

“My husband and I own a construction business, so Erica and I often shoot ideas about projects off each other,” Potter said. “But Erica is an amazing person. She doesn’t like to sit still; she’ll do the job of three or four people. 

“I think we fit in well together; there’s a good vibe around her.”

It’s, perhaps, telling, that Henderson laughs at the story of her kids being asked what their parents do for a living and one, very accurately noting, that her mom “works at the trailer park.”

She’s just not that concerned with what people might think.

“I love what I’m doing,” she said. “I’m doing the things I want to do. I know most people are not like me, but I’m one of those people who wants to work, to stay busy. I’m certainly no princess, but I enjoy life.”

And, as Patel says, “Somewhere out there, a young girl is going to read Erica’s story and say, ‘I want to be like that.’ And that’s an amazing tribute to her.”