Celebrating National Nurses Week: Janet VanBrakle

Janet VanBrakle, RN, is an experienced nurse whose career milestones and life-changing events served as a stepping stone to her founding the Austin chapter of the National Black Nurses Association.

While raising her family, Janet completed medical assistant training and went on to work for a surgical practice for more than 20 years. Nursing school was her next big achievement, followed by a job at Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, where she worked in the epilepsy unit and respiratory department until her current role as a Pediatric Interventional Radiology nurse.
Although Janet has been able to celebrate many career accomplishments, she and her family have experienced tremendous tragedies with the consecutive loss of her brother, mother, husband and sister.

“My brother died in 2005,” said Janet. “He wasn't taking his medicine properly and thought dialysis was optional. He acted like he didn't hear what the doctor was telling him.”
Janet recalled the death of another close family member a few years later - her sister. “She didn’t really understand the importance of what the doctor was telling her or what she should ask,” said Janet. “My sister died in 2015, and the passing of my family members kept twirling in my head, over and over and over.”

Janet decided she wanted to do something more to help others understand the importance of healthcare. She contemplated a recommendation from some of her nursing friends to get involved in the Black Nurses Association. “When I made the decision to join, I found out Austin did not have a chapter, so I decided to start one,” said Janet.

The National Black Nurses Association, which was incorporated in 1971, represents approximately 200,000 African American nurses from the U.S., Canada, Eastern Caribbean and Africa. “I went to my first national convention, and it was very eye opening,” said Janet. “I met so many nurses: Indian, Black and White.”

Continuing to give

The Black Nurses Association of Austin continues to serve communities of color, and its members are often asked to offer blood pressure checks at local church fairs and community 5K events. Recently, they have also produced easy-to-understand handouts about diabetes and nutrition. “I often think about my sister,” Janet said. “I have friends that say that they don't understand what the doctor says. I love giving back to the community and think it’s just in my genes.”