She owns a Gulfport medical clinic and wants to see more minorities in top healthcare positions
This is Color on the Coast, a series created to share the journeys, experiences, successes and challenges of people of color on the Coast. You can find episodes on our Instagram (@SunHeraldBiloxi) and YouTube (Sun Herald) pages.
Becoming a nurse practitioner was a long journey for Carricka Thomas, who now owns NP Family Medical Clinic in Gulfport.
But she was on a mission to go above and beyond the norm.
“I wanted something more. When you look at the medical field and see people of color ...You see more CNAs and people on the lower spectrum, but I wanted to encourage people to go higher.”
Becoming a nurse practitioner wasn’t the last goal Thomas wanted to achieve. She wanted to own her own clinic, too.
She didn’t have a client following when she left the Memorial Hospital at Gulfport system. All she had was her faith, she said.
But the community was quick to embrace her because she was skilled and made her patients feel right at home.
“Sometimes patients migrate to people who look like them because they feel like I might understand them better than someone who doesn’t look like them,” Thomas said.
“I can empathize with them better and they’re able to open up with me a little better because they feel like I’ve walked a little bit in their shoes.”
To hear more of Carricka’s story, head over to our Instagram (@SunHeraldBiloxi) or YouTube (Sun Herald) page to watch her Color on the Coast episode.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
