Roark Family Health Welcomes New Nurse Practitioner
October 19, 2022
Ezra DeVore
Roark Family Health has welcomed a new Nurse Practitioner, Shelbi Cockrum, who hopes to promote health and wellness locally. In 2014, Cockrum graduated from Cassville’s Crowder Campus and soon began travel nursing across the country while studying to become a nurse practitioner. Cockrum would take classes for approximately two months, then accept a contract which would last approximately three.
After alternating between school and work, Cockrum reached the end of her training during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Cockrum states that very few institutions wanted to expend the time to train a new nurse, and so it grew difficult to secure stable employment. After some time of searching, Cockrum reached out to Dr. Roark, of Cassville, and Roark offered her the position in September of 2021. Until July of this year, Cockrum was training in the building, and as of July, she has begun her practice.
“I hope to promote health and healing,” Cockrum states, saying her passion is prevention, and to “transform the way we view health and healthcare in particular. I think that our healthcare system, for many decades, has gotten it a little backwards - we treat the disease rather than prevent the disease. And so my passion is teaching my patients how to create a healthy lifestyle in their busy routines. Everybody is so busy, working a full time job, trying to meet their responsibilities.”
Another strategy, she says, is changing one’s mindset from ‘there will always be a pill for me to save my life’ to ‘what can I do now to ensure that my body doesn’t need this pill in the future?’
A point Cockrum says she struggles to convey is the importance of time management, citing that “if you don’t create the time for it now, you’ll be forced to make the time for it later - and that’s very hard to get somebody to see who hasn’t been face to face with it.”
She says that those not in the medical field have a limited view of sickness, seeing it when a loved one is in the hospital or on rare accidental occasions, but “me in my position, I’ve seen a lot of illness. A majority of the population doesn’t see that.”
Cockrum says that it is important to eat healthily and exercise, though it is vital to engage in the exercise that one enjoys. “Because,” she begins, “if you don’t enjoy it, you aren’t going to do it, and it’s going to stress you out.”
She says that everyone is unique in physical requirements for their body type and preferences, and it is crucial to find and do what works for you. “It all boils down to: how can I incorporate healthy nutrition into my life, and exercise. I would just want everybody to know that they’re worth it, that they’re worth that time.”
Additionally, Roark Family Health will be hosting free yoga classes on Monday and Thursday at the Cassville Crowder College Community Building at 6:30 p.m.
Roark Family Health has welcomed a new Nurse Practitioner, Shelbi Cockrum, who hopes to promote health and wellness locally. In 2014, Cockrum graduated from Cassville’s Crowder Campus and soon began travel nursing across the country while studying to become a nurse practitioner. Cockrum would take classes for approximately two months, then accept a contract which would last approximately three.
After alternating between school and work, Cockrum reached the end of her training during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Cockrum states that very few institutions wanted to expend the time to train a new nurse, and so it grew difficult to secure stable employment. After some time of searching, Cockrum reached out to Dr. Roark, of Cassville, and Roark offered her the position in September of 2021. Until July of this year, Cockrum was training in the building, and as of July, she has begun her practice.
“I hope to promote health and healing,” Cockrum states, saying her passion is prevention, and to “transform the way we view health and healthcare in particular. I think that our healthcare system, for many decades, has gotten it a little backwards - we treat the disease rather than prevent the disease. And so my passion is teaching my patients how to create a healthy lifestyle in their busy routines. Everybody is so busy, working a full time job, trying to meet their responsibilities.”
Another strategy, she says, is changing one’s mindset from ‘there will always be a pill for me to save my life’ to ‘what can I do now to ensure that my body doesn’t need this pill in the future?’
A point Cockrum says she struggles to convey is the importance of time management, citing that “if you don’t create the time for it now, you’ll be forced to make the time for it later - and that’s very hard to get somebody to see who hasn’t been face to face with it.”
She says that those not in the medical field have a limited view of sickness, seeing it when a loved one is in the hospital or on rare accidental occasions, but “me in my position, I’ve seen a lot of illness. A majority of the population doesn’t see that.”
Cockrum says that it is important to eat healthily and exercise, though it is vital to engage in the exercise that one enjoys. “Because,” she begins, “if you don’t enjoy it, you aren’t going to do it, and it’s going to stress you out.”
She says that everyone is unique in physical requirements for their body type and preferences, and it is crucial to find and do what works for you. “It all boils down to: how can I incorporate healthy nutrition into my life, and exercise. I would just want everybody to know that they’re worth it, that they’re worth that time.”
Additionally, Roark Family Health will be hosting free yoga classes on Monday and Thursday at the Cassville Crowder College Community Building at 6:30 p.m.
