Meet Brittany Blackman | Family Nurse Practitioner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brittany Blackman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brittany, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I knew years ago that I would eventually want my own business, but I didn’t know at the time it would be my own family practice clinic. I have absolutely adored all my 14 years of being a bedside registered nurse. During the last year or two, there was an unrest that began slowly in me. I started to have an inkling of wanting to do more than I was presently. A conversation with a colleague one night at work, ended with me applying for Graduate School. What really made me want to go out on my own and forge my own path were two things. Number one, is the way I was (am) seeing the Healthcare system going. More and more of late, I have seen healthcare turn more into a business practice than that of managing and caring for human lives. First, I understand that at some level there is a fee for service transaction that is occurring, but that has become the forefront of the matter and no longer a detail. People are more worried about making money than taking the necessary time patients need for us to take care of their entire selves. Number two is a symptom of the first, being the response of patients discussing their view of their care and their disappointment. In my last year of practice, it was very unfortunate to watch patients neglect their own health care, not only due to a lack of health literacy/education, but them feeling like they’re just a number and no one actually cared about them as people. They feel unseen, unheard, and rushed through their appointments. Health care shouldn’t be like that, so I decided to have my own business and will do what I can to change the trajectory of that.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have been a registered nurse since 2010. I knew I wanted to be a nurse since I was 13. I have been told I have a strong streak of altruism, and this profession allows me to use that. I started out as a med-surge trauma nurse, and worked in a level one hospital. Being the night shift charge nurse there was no joke, and my colleagues and I learned a lot. I switched specialties after that and went into the world of labor and delivery. I had always been fascinated by the pregnant form. It just didn’t make sense that a little human was balled up in someone’s stomach. Watching a human come into the world just doesn’t get old; every day awesome miracle. I also got to be a travel nurse for 6 years. Although babies come out one of the same two ways, it was cool to get to travel all around the country and experience other communities and cultures as I cared for them. Participating in medical missions has also been a joy. It’s ridiculously rewarding to get to travel to other countries, let alone, get to help them professionally!

What I feel like sets me apart is the way that I see people. Even as a child, I never knew a stranger, and I appreciate the genuine excitement that comes over me to care for a person in need. I feel like I make it different because of the way I truly love and nurture my patients; this isn’t just a job for me. Whether it’s for a happy or sad situation, people have fear when entering a hospital, and it is one of my favorite things to assuage their fears, that I am their advocate, that I’m here for them, and I will support them however I can. Nursing is a service industry. To do this well, you must give of yourself, and I am willing to do that for the sake of others.

In getting to where I am, I have had a permanent pass on the struggle bus. Even before I decided to be a nurse, school and academia had always been difficult for me; from 3rd grade through Grad school. My sisters always got better grades than me, and it was difficult to have a “can-do” attitude, or see myself in a positive light in that regard.
I overcame the challenge with pure undiluted perseverance and endurance. Once I decided to be a nurse, that was it. There was nothing else that I wanted to do, so in order to achieve that goal, I had to keep going no matter what. I had to push through my difficulties in school, learning how I learned, to study, and to keep going even after low or bad grades. I’m sure many of us have heard the phrase that ‘nothing good is easy to obtain’. I’d always said I hated school, yet I keep going back! I now give back in this and am an undergraduate nursing professor; given opportunity to raise up, educate and encourage the next generation of nurses.

What I want people to know about me is that I see you. I see your need. I hear what you don’t say. Your appointment with me isn’t just about your physical health, but you’re emotional, and spiritual, and mental health as well. I want people to know that after they have left my office, their visit wasn’t just a cold exchange, or an aloof conversation, but a collaboration; a partnership with the mutual goal of the betterment of their health. That is a missing aspect of healthcare today, and I hope to bring it back.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, me and my best friends are nerds, so it would probably be a bit tame. Haha! She and I used to use our early release in high school to hang out at the mall and read books in Barnes and Noble! I would take them to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the Perot Museum in downtown Dallas. We would definitely hit up Andretti indoor carting and games, because they have a lot to do in there, AND have tasty food. Lining up other activities like ax throwing and archery would be done, and we couldn’t leave off doing an escape room or two! Breakout Games in Dallas, had some really fun escape rooms I’ve done! If the weather wasn’t too hot, I would also go kayaking on White Rock Lake, and likely do some picnicking on a lovely patch of shady grass with food and wine from Central Market (they have my favorite wine, Henri Bourgeois, from Sancerre France!). Hitting up Eataly in NorthPark Mall would be a must, as that restaurant is amazing and SO good! Authentic tastiness. One fine dining experience, I would take them to is at St Martin’s Wine Bistro in Dallas. The ambience is amazing, and the food and wine are delicious!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As a Christ follower, I don’t believe I would be the person I am today without Jesus, so I’m thankful for His presence in my life. I would also like to thank my family. We are a close, tight knit group, and I’ve been thankful to have grown up with, been loved on by them, be encouraged by them, and have their continual, unwavering support. I am also incredibly thankful for several sweet and amazing ladies at Covenant Church where I attend. In the last two years, I’ve gotten to walk life on life with ladies who have lived life longer than me, and by that, I’ve been able to grow and be sharpened, and challenged in the day to day.

Website: www.hopeandhealthmedical.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Hope4_Health/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-blackman-10b447a2/