Board Highlight: New Board President Dr. Stephanie Crawford

Dr. Stephanie Crawford, DNP APRN, was elected president of the ISAPN Board of Directors in October 2022. She took over for Raechel Ferry-Rooney, DNP APRN-ANP, who had served since 2019.

“I love being a member of ISAPN. I love being on the board. It’s just that comraderies and doing what’s best for everybody. I’m excited to be back on the board again and hopefully I will serve everyone well,” says Crawford.

Serving in Her Community Hospital

Crawford works at Rochelle Community Hospital as an adult nurse practitioner.

“I work in primary care. It’s a rural clinic. It’s a rural hospital. It’s very busy. I physically hands-on do a lot of procedures. It’s been fun,” she says.

Before her current position, she worked at Mercyhealth Hospital—Rockton Avenue in Rockford as an adult nurse practitioner and then as a palliative care nurse practitioner. When Rochelle Community Hospital reached out about a position, she was excited to work in her local hospital.

“I’ve been there six years now. It’s just a great atmosphere to work in, with a great team of people who work at the top of their licenses. I feel very blessed to be where I’m at and very lucky that it kind of fell into my lap like that,” she says.

Drawn to Nursing from a Young Age

Crawford’s mother was a CNA, and Crawford liked to flip through her books as a child. Once, when she was five years old, she saw an image of a man with really bad bedsores. She asked her mom about it, and her mother explained that it was a condition that could happen to people if they weren’t moved often enough.

“I thought ‘I don’t ever want that to happen to somebody. I want to help people not have that happen.’ So I was always drawn to healthcare.”

However, in high school, as an outspoken girl who held her own in arguments, she was often pointed in another career direction.

“In high school—I’m a little argumentative—I was always told ‘You should be a lawyer!’ I was actually a political science and pre-law major when I applied to college. Then the week before college started, I switched to nursing. I was like ‘What am I going into law school for? I want to be a nurse!’ And that’s where I’ve been ever since.”

Combining Nursing & Business

As her nursing career progressed, she saw the need for adding business skills to her toolkit.

“In one of my jobs in my career, I worked at a bariatric hospital. In that position, I was a department head and so at that time, I thought ‘Oh I’ll get my MBA and that’ll help with this.’ It’s actually a really good marriage, having an MBA in healthcare.”

By the time she finished the degree, though, that organization had closed and she realized she missed patient care.

“I started working the floor again, and when I started my master’s in nursing. I just knew I wanted patient care again.”

Longtime ISAPN Member & Region Chair

Crawford joined ISAPN as a new nurse practitioner, and she became active in her regional meetings.

“As soon as I joined, I went to my first region meeting. I knew a couple of people and remember feeling very intimidated because I was a new nurse practitioner,” she says. “I met some people and then I just started going to meetings and then we had our conference. At the conference, I just came out of my comfort zone. That’s really how I got involved.”

When the Northwest Region chair stepped down, Crawford was asked to consider taking the chair position.

“I was scared to death. I took the chair position and just ran with it. I had a lot of support from members who had been previous chairs.”

She served two terms before stepping down while she finished her DNP. Even then, she continued working on ISAPN board committees.

Supporting Regions as President

“At the region level there’s so many things that can be done creatively for our members. That’s really, I feel, the heart of ISAPN, is in our membership, in our region areas because we exist for our membership.”

That’s why supporting the regional chairs to strengthen membership in each region is one of her top priorities.

“What can the organization do to support the region chairs to help them with that? That’s where I’m starting is working with that and then just taking it from there and seeing where it can go.”

She continues. “That’s really what got me excited, was going to my region meetings so that’s why I feel so strongly about getting our regions revitalized.”

Along with regional events, she’s excited about the CE opportunities for members, particularly the free APRN2APRN monthly calls.

“Those I think have really been a great opportunity because it’s a free benefit. You don’t pay for that CE. It’s an hour-long conversation. You can present at those meetings and get credit, because we have to have that for our certifications,” she says. “I think we have a lot to offer.”

Another priority for Crawford is reaching the student nursing population. Her message is simple:

“The biggest thing I explain to them is that in the state of Illinois ISAPN is the only organization that is out there to help protect their license. First and foremost. You know, we all have our professional national organizations for nurse practitioners, clin specs, midwives, and anesthetists, but they are working at the federal level to increase access to care and to remove some of the barriers at the national level. But you know, it comes down to the state level. Who’s protecting the state license? ISAPN.”

You can reach Crawford at president@isapn.com.