Celebrating Our People: Sonja McCarty, Medical Group Orthopedics Leader

Sonja McCarty puts the numbers together with the people. 

Under her purview as clinic administrator of Saint Joseph Medical Group’s orthopedic line, patient experience metrics increased and critical goals were met—both significant factors in her being named the 2024 Leader of the Year for both Saint Joseph Medical Group and the Saint Joseph Health/CommonSpirit Kentucky ministry overall.

But to Sonja, those numbers simply mean this: “It’s supporting the managers in their roles so that they can support the caregivers to provide the best care to our patients.”

Data also factors into her role in overseeing patient and caregiver feedback, the latter of which is gathered through monthly surveys. Again linking data with people, Sonja opts for talking to caregivers to get a better understanding of what problems they’re facing in the clinical setting and how to best address them.

“I like to meet with the caregivers and sit down with them and say, ‘What do you see, where are the places we can improve, what do we do well, what do we need to look at as an opportunity for improvement,’” she said. “When we ask our caregivers to give us input, give us feedback, and we act upon it, we see our (patient experience) scores go up and we see them having better satisfaction.”

The key, Sonja said, is that everyone has a voice in the Saint Joseph ministry. “So I think when you let everybody have that voice, it really makes an impact and a difference,” she said. “And I think our organization allows that and encourages that.”

Though she is based at Saint Joseph Medical Group – Orthopedics in Mount Sterling, Sonja travels among other Saint Joseph orthopedic clinics, from Lexington, Lebanon, Corbin and points in between. She said she uses the driving time to make calls, think through issues and formulate plans. 

The 27-year Saint Joseph veteran started out as an X-ray tech and certified medical assistant before moving into management. While she misses that patient contact, she said her earlier work is a plus: “I’m able to help the staff members with a little more understanding of the clinical role and also the front desk role. I can cover both sides.”

Orthopedics is a high-volume specialty where people come to the clinic in pain, with broken bones or needing surgery, Sonja said. “I think it’s a challenge to make them comfortable as we give them the care that they need to get them healed and back to their normal lives. You have to have that compassion and empathy to see them through—to get them through their visits, through their surgeries and to get them through their recovery processes.”

Sonja said the best part of her job is the people with whom she works. “I have a terrific group of managers that I work with,” she said. “I couldn’t do it without them. And we have wonderful caregivers under those managers.”

How does Saint Joseph Health’s Leader of the Year define leadership? “I think it means to be able to mentor and to guide other leaders and other staff members to make our organization and our clinic the place that people want to come to for their care,” Sonja said. “I don’t want my managers looking up to me as, ‘She’s the boss.’ I want them to respect me and to feel comfortable, to trust me, to come to me with any issues or problems they have and know that I will be there for them.”

Sonja also leads the spirit team for Saint Joseph Medical Group, with the goal of doing at least one event a month. Projects have included school supply drives, collecting toiletries for nursing home and decorating clinic lobbies. The team has a peacock mascot, Joy, that is awarded to the clinic that collects the most items or otherwise stands out.

Sonja and her husband, Randy, a machine mechanic, live in Owingsville in Bath County. The couple has two adult sons—one a Louisville police officer and the other a physical therapy student at University of Kentucky. She is active in her church and has co-led its youth group for many years. 

“I love the fact that Saint Joseph is a faith-based organization. Faith is something that is very strong for me. I feel like the values and that faith-based aspect of the organization really lines up with my life,” she said.