Stephanie Igwebuike always knew she wanted to be in medicine. She wanted to help people, prevent diseases and pain, and see patients recover into a healthy person once again. What makes her line of work even more special for her, is that she gets to do these things in the community she grew up in, helping those she grew up with.
Igwebuike is a family nurse practitioner, specializing in Family Practice and Women’s Health at Marram Health Center in Gary. This is the same community she was born and raised in and returns to each day to help her community get the care they need.
Igwebuike graduated Purdue University with two degrees in nursing and then received a Masters Degree of Nursing from South University, with the concentration in family nursing.
“I always knew it was going to be nursing or medicine,” Igwebuike said, of her future career.
In 2015, she accepted a position at Marram Health and enjoys working with the patients and staff of the center. Here, she evaluates all types of patients, from the little ones in pediatrics to adults. She also spends a lot of her time in the gynecology department of the center, helping expecting mothers.
She enjoys talking to patients and helping them through any issues they have, but overall, she enjoys watching them improve and recover their health.
“I enjoy seeing patients improve in their health, like losing weight, controlling their diet, and becoming more controlled in diabetes and blood pressure,” she said. “I like having the opportunity to educate patients. I help in in their preventive measures, teach them about the medicines and help in the management of their chronic illnesses.”
What she truly likes about working at Marram is being part of the large, but close-knit staff of doctors and nurses.
“Working with my coworkers and the staff is great and something I liked when I first started here,” she said.
She has gotten to know these co-workers, just like she has gotten to know her patients, who some of which she has known since she was young. “I like serving the patients in the same community I grew up in,” she said.
The life of a nurse and doctor is hectic, busy, and full of people, and Igwebuike’s own family is busy and full of people as well. The intimate family supports each other each day, making their lives not so hectic.
Igwebuike and her husband have five children: Alberto 19, Nyah 14, Brookelyn 13, Roman 8, and Logan 10 months old. When she gets some free time, she and her family enjoy traveling and personally, Igwebuike likes to read when she has downtime.
They all like to attend and volunteer at their church, the Family Christian Center in Munster on Sundays and overall just spend time together.
Living and working in Northwest Indiana has the perks of its four seasons, proximity to Chicago, and great places to go and do things, yet for Igwebuike, it is the best place to live and work because it is where her family lives.
For more information on Marram Health Center, click here.
