Carolyn Cordle
Director of Clinical Services, COVERSA – Collection of Victim’s Evidence Regarding Sexual Assault
Carolyn Cordle is the Director of Clinical Services for COVERSA (Collection of Victims Evidence Regarding Sexual Assault), a community-based forensic nursing program in Kansas City, Missouri. Ms. Cordle started her nursing career in 2004 as an intensive care nurse and became a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner in 2007. In 2009, Ms. Cordle became the Director of Clinical Services for COVERSA. At that time, COVERSA provided forensic services at one hospital, where they conducted 80 medical forensic exams a year with a staff of four nurses. Today, COVERSA has contracts with 15 hospitals and a staff of 24 nurses serving over 320 patients a year. Ms. Cordle has performed over 500 medical forensic exams and trained hundreds of nurses to become SANEs. Ms. Cordle partnered with the University of Missouri of Kansas City to develop a clinical component for hands on training. This training was awarded first place for their poster presentation through the International Association of Forensic Nurses (IAFN) at their annual conference in 2011. Ms. Cordle has co-authored three published articles pertaining to improving the response to sexual assault and SANE training. Ms. Cordle has received numerous awards: The Forensic Nurse of the Year award from the Emergency Nurses Association in Kansas City, an Education Article of the year Award from the Journal of Forensic Nursing, a Publication of the Year Award from the Missouri Public Health Association and she was a finalist for the March of Dimes Future of Nursing Award. Ms Cordle continually presents to nurses, as well as other community partners to improve the response to sexual assault. Ms. Cordle served as past president elect for the IAFN Foundation Board, President elect, and the Missouri Chapter of the IAFN. She is a member of two local Sexual Assault Response Teams (SART), and she served on the Planning committee for St. Luke’s Annual Forensic Conference, and the Kansas City Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Ms. Cordle is married with 4 children and 4 grandchildren and resides in Kansas City, Missouri.