The Wright way

Diana Wright's life has been marked by countless achievements, adversity and the number of lives she's inspired along the way. But her greatest achievement has been her children.

She saw her four daughters succeed through school, graduate and marry great sons-in-law.

She and her husband, David, have welcomed 16 grandchildren into the world.

Wright, of Siloam Springs, is president and owner of The Right Solutions in Tontitown.

She has been a nurse for more than 34 years and recently was named Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Best Nurse for 2015.

The Right Solutions, which joined the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce last year, has been placing nurses in hospitals across the nation for the past 20 years. More than 300 travel nurses and nearly 75 in-house employees work for the company.

All this would have been unimaginable for her as a child when she faced the biggest challenge in her life.

She grew up in Louisiana in a single-parent home where her mentally-ill mother was physically abusive and unsupportive.

"It was just awful," she said.

Everyone in the house smoked, except for Wright and her younger brother, and there was no food, electricity, TV or radio.

But she survived.

She learned how to pay bills, cook and read at an early age.

She also started planning.

At 6 she decided she would grow up and "eat Cheetos every day of my life."

At 13 she bought a car so she and her younger brother could run a paper route at night. They would get up for school just a few hours later.

She didn't complete high school, but earned a GED.

She decided she would become a pharmacist. She moved and started attending school for the profession, but soon found that wasn't for her. She returned home and heard about a nearby nursing school. She started going there and never looked back. She became a nurse in 1981.

As a new nurse, she worked in the intensive care unit. Her first patient was a woman in her late 20s with beautiful green eyes and a perfect body. But she was very sick and running a 107- to 108-degree fever. She and other nurses would try to cool down her body temperature as much as they could with ice baths, but the fever continued to worsen. At one point, staff purchased a meat thermometer to determine her temperature because it was so high it wouldn't register on the hospital thermometer. The meat thermometer showed she was running a 113-degree fever. The woman was in intensive care for about two weeks before she died. The initial diagnosis was disseminated tuberculosis, but a year later Wright found out that AIDS led to her death. She had cared for the first confirmed AIDS patient in Louisiana, and she did so without gloves. But she was never concerned about contracting the virus.

She worked at various hospitals, and she always dressed for the position she wanted.

It wasn't long before she was a supervisor and director of nurses.

After she'd been a nurse for about four years, she attended a meeting that would set her on a path to establish The Right Solutions. In the meeting, she learned of a future nursing shortage, and she determined she would capture that need.

She had to change her whole life to reach her goal. At the time, she was a nursing director. She went on to become a hospital administrator and worked to understand and manage every department of a hospital. First, she gained the practical knowledge on how to run a hospital. Then, she returned to school to earn a master of business administration.

Wright and her family moved from Shreveport, La., to Siloam Springs in 1995, and she established The Right Solutions later that year. She started by recruiting nurses and working shifts herself at area hospitals. As the company grew, she started hiring in-house staff to recruit and place nurses at assignments throughout the nation.

Amy Mann of Siloam Springs started working full-time for Wright after a summer internship at The Right Solutions.

Mann's mother and Wright had been best friends growing up, and Mann and her sister spent a lot of time with Wright's family when they were growing up.

Mann's mother died when she was in the sixth grade, and Mann said Wright has always been a mother figure to her.

"When I was in eighth grade Diana moved from Louisiana to Northwest Arkansas, and I remember how sad I was that they would not be close to us anymore," Mann said. "Of course we still visited as often as we could."

Mann moved here and lived with Wright while attending the University of Arkansas.

"It is hard to put into words what she means to me," Mann said. "She has always been there for me my entire life. I think one of the main things that inspires me about Diana is her selflessness. She is always there for others and expects nothing in return."

Wright was also there for Angela Kelley of Siloam Springs at a difficult time in her life.

Kelley's son had been born with extensive medical complications, and Wright called, sent cards and helped to support her during that time.

After Kelley's son died, Wright offered her a job, and she accepted it.

"She gave me a position as a recruiter but showed no favoritism to me in the company," Kelley said. "I had to earn my keep -- which gave me the respect I needed within the company. I had expectations just like everyone else."

Wright hired Bo Ramsey of Siloam Springs when he was looking to move to the area to be closer to family.

"She has always had faith in me, and has given me the opportunity and freedom to truly effect change," Ramsey said. "I feel incredibly blessed to be able to contribute in my own way to the growth and success of her dream, and be a part of her team."

He said what inspires him most about Wright is her drive.

"Whether it be building an impactful, purpose-driven, successful company from the ground up, or battling cancer, or just bringing life to an idea, Diana works her tail off, and does so with grace, and an unbeatable spirit," Ramsey said.

Wright was diagnosed with stage-four ovarian cancer about three years ago and was given only months to live. But she accepted the challenge to defeat it.

She developed her own anti-cancer plan, and after being disappointed with conventional treatment in the United States, she sought treatment overseas in Austria.

It was not an easy battle, but recent scans showed no sign of the disease.

Yet the war really hasn't ended. She has continued to fight to keep the cancer at bay.

She has been writing two autobiographies, and the second one will cover her treatment and how she changed her life after the cancer diagnosis. "Here's what you should do," Wright said. "It's all cited and footnoted."

She attributed her success in life to goal setting and planning.

She would lay out every task she needed to complete to achieve each step.

And she always had two backup plans. If one plan didn't work, she'd have another ready to go.

She's also a great researcher. "I was a constant researcher," she said. "I still am."

Research led her to pull back on plans for a new office building in 2006 when the recession hit. She paid off her debts and prepared her staff at The Right Solutions. It was the right move. She didn't lay off anyone in the recession. "I've never lost $1 over the past 20 years," she said. "Never lost a dime."

Now, as the company continues to grow, she's looking at a new office again. Plans include a 22,000-square-foot office about a mile west of the existing one in Tontitown.

It will be more functional, include more bathrooms and more parking. It's expected to be built in 1 ½ years.

She's also working on a new website that will allow nurses to complete education that they need to work. It would streamline training and be a one-stop shop for nurse education so nurses don't have to go to various sites.

While Wright couldn't imagine how great of an impact she would have on others when she was growing up, she's impacting the lives of thousands of people every day who come into contact with the hundreds of nurses who work for her company.

"What inspires me most about Diana has always been her cool, collected manner with everyone," Kelley said. "She is a true Southern lady. She has worked hard to get where she is today. She also shows sincerity to everyone, no matter their social class, age, race or nationality. Everyone is treated with the same love and respect."