Meet AHP Care Manager Sue Sutherland
February 28th, 2017 | Network NewsA critical component of AHP’s mission is to partner with physicians and support their efforts to deliver care to patients. The network’s care management program was developed to do just that, and since its inception earlier this year, AHP has funded the placement of many care managers into community-based practices requesting such support.
The story below is one in a series of articles that profiles members of AHP’s care management team and highlights their important work.
Sue Sutherland, RN began as the AHP care manager for Keuka Family Practice in Bath, NY in October 2015. After graduating from Corning Community College, Sue worked for nearly 20 years in a variety of clinical roles in ambulatory care and primary care settings as well as in the operating room at Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital. A resident of Hammondsport, Sue is highly committed to, knowledgeable about and skilled in delivering health care in rural populations.
I started my nursing career on a medical-surgical floor the day after I graduated from the nursing program at Corning Community College. Within three months, I was working as the unit’s charge nurse and by the time I marked my one-year anniversary, I was working in my dream job in the operating room and Ambulatory Care Unit. After ten years at Ira Davenport Memorial Hospital and much soul searching, I decided a change was needed. I wanted to expand my knowledge and experience beyond the hospital setting, so I took the next path, which was in a primary care clinic. It opened a whole new world of patient care and patient experiences to me.
As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to work in health care. As an AHP care manager, I now have the privilege of working alongside our primary care providers and directly with patients to help educate them about their health conditions, connect them to services, find new supportive resources and coach them in thinking creatively about how to more effectively manage their health challenges. I am always seeking to involve patients and their families in their own care and to support them in meeting their goals with the hope of ensuring optimal health outcomes.
Since I believe “care” should be at the heart of everything we do as care managers, I strive to understand my patients’ perspectives, to listen well and to help them accomplish their health objectives. I want them to always know that I cherish and honor the trust that they put in me and that I am committed to doing all I can do to provide them with the best care possible. Although my high-risk patients face many challenges, I remind them often that they will never have to face them alone.
I am currently embedded as the care manager at Keuka Family Practice in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region. We are in a rural area, and sometimes finding resources can be tricky, but having the support of my AHP Care Management family has been a godsend. I can and do reach out to my colleagues as needed and have come to trust that I will receive valuable, informative support from them almost immediately.
I feel both blessed and fortunate to be an AHP care manager and to be part of Keuka Family Practice as well as our AHP network.
