With her son requiring regular trips to the hospital, potential employers struggled to accommodate Sueallen McMeekin as she searched for work. But in January she came across the perfect position in a field she not only loves, but one that gives her the flexibility to care for her son.
With the assistance of Advanced Personnel Management, a human services organisation that helps a wide range of people find employment, she secured a role as a receptionist with Fresh Start Professional Health Care.
It was a relief to her to finally find a job that suited her. “I couldn’t take a lot of job offers because of the lack of flexibility of the work,” Mrs McMeekin said.
“Because I have a son with a disability that was my main goal – to get a job that was flexible with his care. “A lot of them wanted me full-time which I couldn’t do.”
She quickly settled in and is now an important part of Fresh Start owner and exercise physiologist Bree Sauer’s business.
“There is no way I would be able to do my job without Sueallen,” Ms Sauer said.
“Every patient that I see generates more work within itself, it’s beyond me ... there just wouldn’t be enough hours in the day.”
Before she started the job, Mrs McMeekin said she was “lost” and didn’t know which field she should commit herself to in the long term.
But now after a couple of months in the job, she is determined to carry on in health care and is set to do a Rocktape course.
“I want to learn how to do rock taping on people, especially children with problems like my son,” she said.
“Bree has really pushed me into that area, (before I got the job) I didn’t really know which area I wanted to go into.”
Ms Sauer said her new employee’s close attention to detail had made her a valuable asset and acting as her mentor in the field was a bonus.
“It is a big passion of Sueallen’s which is why she fits in here so well,” she said. “She is such a top-notch employee that everyone would want to hire… it was so surprising that she even had to seek help to get employed. All she needed was a bit of flexibility.”
Source: Gatton Star, Wednesday, March 29, 2017