Crystal McCoy
Crystal McCoy
Director of Nursing
Correct Care Solutions
Crystal McCoy, director of nursing at the Wrightsville Hawkins Unit at Prescott, said working with the incarcerated allows her to inspire wellness habits and prepare women to lead healthier lives upon release.
“For some of our patients this is the first access they have had to medical care or education about their health,” McCoy said. “It is an awesome responsibility. It is critical that these women understand their health conditions.
“I believe women’s health issues are even more critical in our environment because if we do our jobs right they return to their families perhaps healthier than they came to us.”
McCoy’s staff deals with inmates of every race, age and socio-economic background on subjects and conditions from nutrition and healthy food choices to gynecological conditions, STD education and mammograms.
“This diversity requires us to be a well-rounded group of health care providers,” McCoy said.
One aspect of McCoy’s role that surprises people is how similar her patients’ health issues are to those faced by women in the outside world.
“Access to healthy, fresh foods is an issue that faces all women as is balancing work schedules and other responsibilities with medications and medical appointments,” McCoy said. “All women need to understand that health issues should not be put off and that their health is important and should be prioritized accordingly.”
Wrightsville Hawkins houses all pregnant inmates of the Arkansas Department of Correction, therefore the most prevalent role for McCoy and her team is in the area of pre-natal and postpartum care.
“We work in a partnership with the UAMS ANGELS program, which allows us to provide comprehensive care to these patients throughout their pregnancies, delivery and follow-up phase,” McCoy said.
“This process allows these women to be a source of information for their own families. In cases of women who deliver their babies while incarcerated this becomes paramount,” she said. “We must arm these women with knowledge to return to their children healthy and ready to take on the very demanding role of a parent. The importance of the role of mothers must be recognized. They can have such a huge impact on the future of their children and in turn society.”
McCoy received her nurses training through Baptist Health School of Nursing. She said her work in the penal system speaks volumes about what she considers her vocation in health care.
“It is so important that we provide support and education so that these women return to their ‘free-world’ lives empowered and healthy,” she said.
Highlights:
» Graduated from Baptist Health School of Nursing
» Works with UAMS ANGELS program to see to need of pregnant inmates
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