When it comes to our well-being, there are many factors that ensure it. People, of course, are the most important. And each one is connected to the other much like the links in a chain. Each one provides a valuable service, and their link is connected to what others have already pieced together, with the end result of our wellness needs being met. As each finds their place in this chain, they begin to learn that it is actually the chain that needs them - and not so much that they need the chain. It’s called purpose. And purpose is where we matter, where we make a difference.
For some, purpose begins when they are set upon a career course. It’s as though they are led by a calling to be part of something that lends their gifts and talents to something that otherwise would be diminished, or even incomplete. Susan McKemy is purpose in motion for a Tulsa company - a new link in a chain that further strengthens what has already been built.
The company is First Call, a medical staffing and home care business that began in 1997. This enterprise hosts experts in in-home private duty nurse care, nursing jobs, and general health care staffing services with the tag line: Medical Staffing, Home Care, and Sitter Specialists. They currently own three locations, each overseen by a manager who lives in the community they serve.
Any good business realizes the importance of each link that is added to its existing chain. They understand that they must be able to support the weight of the links being added while still protecting those before it. And this is where McKemy fits into this chain. Though not a nurse or medical practitioner, she is anything but a weak link. In fact, First Call believes so much in her strength and abilities to manage and strengthen its chain, owner Joe Wolfe convinced her to uproot from her home in Tucson, Arizona, and plant roots in Tulsa. Now serving as the new Vice-President of Operations, she has quickly become the asset the owners knew she would be.
Her climb to the top of the chain would begin years earlier in the mid-nineties, while working in mid-management roles in the staffing industry. But it would be a new opportunity in December of 2001 that would bring a new leader and mentor into her life who would see her great potential. Chris Sanders would play a pivotal role both then and now for McKemy, first giving her opportunity and experience while setting her on a course that would eventually lead her to a vice-presidency at First Call.
Upon accepting employment with Sanders, the first time, she found her new role on the West Coast exciting and challenging. It saw her overseeing nurse staffing agencies in Arizona, Texas, California, and Colorado - a position she thrived in as she learned the importance that administration plays in the medical servicing field. Twenty-one years later, Sanders would offer her another opportunity, one she could not refuse. Retired from the company she and McKemy worked for, Sanders had become partners with First Call owner Joe Wolfe. Knowing what talent and drive McKemy could offer to this company chain, she hoped to bring her to Tulsa. It wouldn’t be long before she made that first call to McKemy. With the timing in her life perfect, she accepted the position of vice president in April of last year and left Arizona for Tulsa, a place she has quickly grown smitten with.
“I love it here! I had a choice between Tulsa and Dallas as to where I could move when I accepted the job. I had never been to Tulsa, and after traveling to both, it was a very easy choice to pick Tulsa. I absolutely love it,” she said. She further loves the community spirit and involvement, and its status of being a tight-knit community.
“It’s a career dream to be part of what Joe Wolfe has built. I hear so many compliments in the industry about how he has run his business. I love being here,” McKemy said. She seems to have found her place as a strong link in this new chain - and in a beautiful city to live, to boot. And though there were many roads traveled to finally settle here, each was one of purpose, just as each link has been. And because of her dedication to each chain she has been attached to, First Call has gained yet another strong link of support for all those who know well-being matters first.