By Sean Williams / Guest Column
Graduation season is upon us as thousands of young people complete their studies and move on to the next chapter in their lives. In Iowa City, the excitement is especially palpable with students completing undergraduate and graduate degrees, and many more graduating soon from our area high schools.
I remember my own educational life passages, from high school in the Quad Cities, college in Dubuque and graduate school in Des Moines. Each celebration of finishing years of study led to the next chapter, each one refining my interests and directing me ultimately toward my career.
As in most areas of life, you need to go back before you go forward. Going back means understanding who you are and why you are here. With that knowledge you can start to think about where you should go.
It is common to confuse your vocation with your career, which can lead to dissatisfaction and frustration. In my case my vocation is to be a husband and father, and my career is there to support my vocation. For me, wrapping all of this in my Catholic faith gives me both a foundation to stand on and high ideals to strive for.
It wasn’t my initial intention to become a health care executive, but I learned over time that this career would allow me to use the skills I enjoy most and to do meaningful work through them.
During the 20 years I have been in health care, I have had the good fortune to learn from wonderful colleagues and mentors who I can never repay. I encourage all graduating students to pick their first positions based on what they can learn and not on how much they make. Those early years of a career are best spent learning as much as you can.
It’s exciting to be in a field that offers so many opportunities to the next generation of workers that range from direct and indirect patient care in hospitals and many other settings, to research and teaching, or developing the equipment, systems and products of the future. Work/life balance is achievable too, with every type of full- and part-time option imaginable. And for those who wish to be retrained or change careers, the opportunities to go back to school exist throughout Eastern Iowa.
No matter where a person chooses to work in health care, they are providing a profound service to others. I feel especially fortunate to have arrived at Mercy Iowa City now, when it has the full support of the Sisters of Mercy to become part of Mercy Health Network, the unified Catholic health system in Iowa, and grow even stronger with partners across the state.
It is my belief that a strong Catholic spiritual tradition brings much more significance to the mission of serving others, especially those most vulnerable and in need. It’s the reason I am attracted to faith-based health care – because mission drives every decision.
I hope there are many graduating from all of the great schools in this area who will choose some aspect of health care as a career. It is a gift to work with caring and talented people who have chosen health care as their life’s work. We wish all of our new graduates the very best.
Sean Williams is president and CEO of Mercy Iowa City.
