EPCC Professor Highlights the Nursing Program

El Paso, Texas, May 15, 2024 – El Paso Community College (EPCC) Nursing Program recognizes the outstanding work of Assistant Professor Maria O’Toole Corey, who has been with the college since 2020 and has had a powerful impact with EPCC nursing students.
In April 2024, she wrote an article “My Old Stethoscope” for the recognized American Nurse Journal; this article is about saying goodbye to an old friend is important even if a stethoscope is only a tool, for her it was more than that.

Ms. O’Toole has been a Registered Nurse (RN) for over 40 years, stating that her mother was her inspiration as she lived with chronic severe mental illness and epilepsy. Her care taught O’Toole about seeing the person, not the illness.

After retiring from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Maria decided to join EPCC as part-time nursing faculty. Then in 2023, she became an Assistant Professor.

“I spent a few months at home and was flunking retirement. I was venting to another VA Nurse retiree, Christine Aguirre, who started working for EPCC and told me O’Toole, you know we are not the types to just stay at home and she encouraged me to apply,” Ms. O’Toole said.

EPCC has been a huge impact in Ms. O’Toole career as a Nurse, currently she has been teaching Foundations in the Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program. She is persistent in teaching the students to take nursing school one day at a time and encouraging them to face their fears and go for it.

“EPCC has many resources like the Teaching Seminar which I attended last year to support my encore career as nursing faculty and I like how the faculty and students are working for the purpose of promoting the nursing profession,” Ms. O’Toole said,
EPCC is proud to have wonderful professors like Ms. O’Toole that help our students to their path to success in the field.

Read My Old Stethoscope article at: https://www.myamericannurse.com/382161-2/

Photos Courtesy: Rudy Gutierrez/EPCC

Student Bianca Hernandez and O’Toole Corey.

Armando Sosa, Joyce Lieb, Maria O’Toole-Corey, Christine Sambrano, and Helen Carmona.