Tribute to Women: Stephanie McCorkle, FNP-BC
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photo by shane darby.
“My dream is to care for patients and families from birth until end-of-life care.”
Stephanie McCorkle was born and raised in Texarkana, and she has planted her own blended family here, consisting of her husband, Charles, and the couple’s collective six adult daughters. “Raising my family in Texarkana has proven to be a nice, quiet life, full of opportunities professionally,” she said. “It has been a happy, simple, and fulfilling life.”
Stephanie is a family nurse practitioner. Her first job was as a nurse at the CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital emergency room, “when it was still downtown,” she said. “My first boss was Sue Johnson. I have often said you cannot match her skills. She gave me an opportunity at St. Michael as a new graduate that others would have not done.”
When she decided to pursue a master’s degree in nursing science, Stephanie knew she was facing an uphill battle. She had to travel between Texarkana and Little Rock multiple nights every week in order to attend classes and continue working. When she graduated in 1997, she returned to Texarkana as “part of a small group of nurses who were the first nurse practitioners in the Texarkana area,” she said. Patients and other medical professionals were not readily accepting.
“Remember, this is before anyone worked with nurse practitioners or physician assistants much,” Stephanie said. “We were new and not widely accepted. We had to build trust and prove our worth. Having grown up in Texarkana and [having started work] in the emergency room helped with this, but walls were still present for many years.”
Stephanie’s career as a practitioner has traversed many roles, buildings, and organizations. As a CHRISTUS employee, she helped open campus clinics within the Texarkana Independent School District. She began her family practice career alongside Dr. Chris Lux and Dr. Russell Mayo, providing “all aspects of family-practice care, and we were instrumental in serving our underserved and uninsured patients,” she said. That practice became Texarkana Community Clinic and then Genesis PrimeCare.
In her years working with a systematically disadvantaged population, Stephanie “learned much about mental health, an aspect of care I had missed my entire career,” she shared. “I was introduced to the role depression, anxiety, and PTSD play in patients’ ability to participate in their own healthcare and also in their routine days. It was eye-opening and changed the way I practice.”
From 2019 to 2023, Stephanie worked in Collum and Carney’s internal medicine department. She then resumed her family-medicine practice, joining the CHRISTUS Trinity Family Practice, where she works today.
Stephanie and her husband, Charles, are most proud of their six adult daughters. submitted photo.
“My dream is to care for patients and families from birth until end-of-life care,” she said. “It is an honor when I am able to do this. I learn something new almost daily about medicine and myself. I hope to continue to be open to new learning opportunities, new medical options. I believe my job is to teach and inform patients and their families, but I also must allow them to choose what is best for them.”
While all medical professionals are, in essence, patient educators, Stephanie has a history of formal instruction: she taught nursing classes at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ Hope campus. “I learned more during my teaching years than ever,” she said. “You have to be on your feet for students.”
In their free time, Stephanie and Charles are often traveling to visit their grown daughters, three of whom are either already practicing nursing or pursuing nursing education. “Charles and I spend much time on the road, going from daughter to daughter. My girls have consumed my days—and my bank account,” Stephanie laughed, adding that they love taking family beach trips and attending country-music concerts. When at home, she bakes sourdough goods, gardens in her yard, and spends time with her female friends. “I have a group of women that I spend time with and tell them often I do not know how I did life without them,” she said. “It is a blessing to be surrounded by such fabulous, professional, and Godly women.”
FSLM ASKED STEPHANIE:
What book are you currently reading? I am reading the Bible through. At age 53, I have to admit it is the first time. My girl group is doing it together, and it has been a wonderful journey.
What’s your favorite local place to spend time? My six girls and I love to shop. If you haven’t found Apricot Lane and Gables, you are missing out!
Name a woman you admire. Yvonne van Amerongen. She is a retired occupational therapist and social worker who founded the Hogeweyk Dementia Colony. She believes in a normal life for people with dementia. I hope to someday bring the concept to our area.
HOW SHERRY MISSILDINE SEES STEPHANIE:
“I have known Stephanie since I was in nursing school in 2000. She was one of my instructors in my RN/BSN program. There was a small group of us who were older (30+) in the program, and she was one of our favorite instructors! Since graduating with my master’s in 2006 and working in medicine, we have remained in contact, now as colleagues. I have always had a great deal of respect for Stephanie as she is smart, factual, down-to-earth, and tells it like it is. A lot of the things I do in communicating with patients and talking with other colleagues in medicine I learned from Stephanie. She will always remain a trusted colleague and friend in my life.”