She treated an enormous population with limited resources.

She built trust.

She advocated for prevention.

She challenged alcohol sellers.

She became involved in land issues.

She created an institution that outlived her.

The “first” label can also produce a misleading idea about exceptionalism.

Susan’s success did not prove that discrimination had vanished.

It proved that an extraordinary individual had found a path through it.

Most Native women of her generation did not have a politically influential father, access to eastern education, financial sponsorship, and the ability to enter a women’s medical college.