Business Analyst Kay Kellerhouse has been connected to military service her whole life. The youngest of three daughters, she was born on a naval base in Annapolis, Maryland. Kay’s father was a career sailor and musician in the Naval Academy Band, and his service would have a lasting impact on Kay’s own journey.
Growing up in the small town of Grantville, Ga., Kay looked for opportunities for an education and career of her own. Thanks to her mother’s tenacity, Kay entered Kindergarten early and graduated high school at just 17 in 1989 but didn’t have the money to afford college.
“I asked my dad about joining the military to help pay for my education, and he was supportive as long as I joined the Navy,” Kay laughs.
“My mom immediately connected with Navy recruiters, and when I came home from work at the local plastics factory, they were sitting in the living room!”
Embarking on a life-changing voyage
Kay entered boot camp and scored well on her aptitude test, opening up opportunities for service.
“I narrowed it down to air traffic control or weather forecasting,” Kay explains. “I didn’t want to stay in a tower all day long, so I went with weather!”
After graduating boot camp and weather school as an aerographer, Kay was deployed to the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Going from a tiny Georgia town to a military installation in Cuba was a major adjustment. Not only did the base house personnel from across the country in four military branches, but they also hired local civilians to work on-base.
“It was the most diverse place I’d ever been,” Kay remembers.
Analyzing data to make weather predictions was a challenge, but Kay grew to love the work as much as the people she worked with. To help Navy ships and personnel stay safe, she documented weather observations, studied patterns and prepared forecasts that were broadcast around the base, taking the opportunity every now and then to drum up interest in a softball game when the weather looked especially good for it.
Kay says the work taught her attention to detail, an ability to recognize patterns and the confidence to act on the information in front of her.
Diving into new challenges
After about a year and a half at Guantanamo Bay, Kay joined the crew of the USS Forrestal, built in 1955 as the Navy’s first super carrier.
While the older ship underwent an overhaul in the Philadelphia shipyards, Kay’s regular weather duties were limited, so she took on additional responsibilities as part of the ship’s Alpha Fire Party, the first responders called in the event of a fire on the massive carrier. When an alarm sounded, she had to leap into action, grab her gear and navigate the dozen or so decks of a town-sized ship with a crew of thousands.
Looking back, Kay sometimes marvels at how much responsibility she carried at such a young age.
“I think, ‘Gosh, I was fearless back then,’” she says.
With the USS Forrestal entering retirement, Kay had the opportunity to transition back into civilian life. In September 1993, she received an honorable discharge as an Aerographer’s Mate 3rd Class.
She took her Navy lessons with her. Kay says military service reinforced integrity, respect, accountability, resilience and the importance of following through. Above all, it taught her what it means to be part of a team.
“It’s a family that I never thought I’d have in my entire life,” she says. “We had each other’s backs. Even now, all these years later.”
She continued to pursue that sense of shared purpose back home, working at a behavioral health company and for two decades at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia.
After moving to Tennessee, Kay began looking for an opportunity closer to her new home. She already knew about BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and hoped another local Blue plan could give her the connection to members and community she always valued.
She joined the company this summer and says the experience felt right from the very beginning.
“I literally told my director, ‘I feel like I’m back home,’” she says.
Putting numbers to work for members
Now a business analyst on our Enterprise Member Quality team, Kay studies patterns in health care data and works with vendors to identify and address gaps in care. Those vendors can help members access testing for measures such as A1C, colorectal cancer screening and eye exams. Kay and her teammates then use the resulting data to understand performance, identify trends and help ensure programs are meeting quality expectations.
“Being able to dive in and find the issue at hand and clearly explain it to leadership is of utmost importance for me,” she says. “My work helps our quality measures and makes us more competitive, but ultimately the members really win when we help ensure excellent care and close those gaps.”
Finding safe harbor with family and friends
Outside work, Kay keeps busy. She and her partner have four adult children and a growing group of grandchildren. She’s also an avid sports fan who follows the Atlanta Braves and Georgia Bulldogs, while her partner roots for the Tennessee Vols. They’ve agreed to support each other’s teams when they aren’t playing head-to head.
She also follows in her father’s footsteps musically as a drummer and even encourages the young kids in her life to pursue the instrument, sometimes to their parents’ dismay.
This Veterans Day, Kay reflects on her journey, and the lessons she carries with her. From the life-changing experiences abroad to the life-long connections she cherishes, Kay is grateful to have taken the journey.
“The military is a family like no other,” Kay says. “You have support at every turn, and I feel like I have that here, as well.”
A graduate of The University of South, Sewanee, Jacob joined the Corporate Communications team in 2018. With a background in marketing, public relations and literary publishing, he brings storytelling expertise and a collaborative spirit to every project.