Susie’s Story: Embracing Generations

As you step into the Quin­cy Med­ical Group Mt. Ster­ling Clin­ic, a famil­iar and reas­sur­ing pres­ence will wel­come you. Susie Buck­ley, a patient access rep­re­sen­ta­tive, has been an inte­gral part of our clin­ic for over three decades. Through­out the years, she’s tak­en on var­i­ous roles and embraced new respon­si­bil­i­ties, all while fos­ter­ing a pro­found sense of fam­i­ly with­in the clin­ic and the community.

Buckley’s jour­ney began as a blend of clin­i­cal and admin­is­tra­tive respon­si­bil­i­ties. Fresh out of high school, she pur­sued her edu­ca­tion to become a med­ical assis­tant, a choice that would set the course for her career in health­care. After work­ing at pri­vate prac­tices in Quin­cy and Mt Ster­ling, she found her­self drawn to the QMG fam­i­ly, a place that would become her home since 1987.

Buck­ley takes great pride in serv­ing her own com­mu­ni­ty. As she looks back on her years at QMG, she feels like an exten­sion of the fam­i­lies who see each day in the clinic.

“I was fig­ur­ing the oth­er day, in my time here at QMG, I’m on the third or maybe fourth gen­er­a­tion of fam­i­lies,” she shared.

The tra­di­tion of care at QMG is shared with­in her own fam­i­ly as well. Her grand­moth­ers both came to QMG and it has con­tin­ued down the line to include Buckley’s grandchildren.

That sense of fam­i­ly is some­thing she also feels among her cowork­ers. The staff’s will­ing­ness to go the extra mile is a tes­ta­ment to the famil­ial bond they share, she said. Whether it’s arrang­ing a walk-in time for a patient in need or lend­ing a hand to some­one strug­gling to step out of their car, the atmos­phere is one of gen­uine care.

“It’s just like you’re tak­ing care of your own fam­i­ly out here. Every­one here goes above and beyond to deliv­er that care,” she shared.

Buck­ley cher­ish­es the bonds she shares with patients and makes it a pri­or­i­ty to get to know every patient so they feel wel­comed and comfortable.

“I would say 99 per­cent of the patients who walk through the door I know,” she said with a laugh.

Even new­com­ers from neigh­bor­ing towns are wel­comed with open arms, their names remem­bered from the moment they step through the door. It’s this per­son­al touch, which sets QMG apart, Buck­ley said.

“We do get a lot of new patients from oth­er com­mu­ni­ties, such as Macomb and Carthage. They always mar­vel when they come, and on their sec­ond vis­it we greet them by name and they’re sur­prised we know their names. We like to know our peo­ple,” she said.

As Buck­ley looks to the future, she doesn’t see her­self any­where else than the place she calls home.

“This has been my home for a long time,” she shared. ​“I’ve been to oth­er clin­ics and oth­er places, and the culture’s not there. Our cul­ture far exceeds oth­er places.