“I came to this job because of my desire to work in critical care in the ICU and my love for trauma. I would say that I have stayed because I’ve fallen in love with the team.”
Brittany Janofski, an ECU Health advanced practice provider (APP), found her calling as a physician assistant. Growing up in a remote area of Indonesia, Janofski’s mother served as a nurse and the only medical provider in the community. Janofski said her childhood impacted her worldview, fostering a desire to work in health care in medically underserved areas. From treating patients in eastern North Carolina with compassionate care in trauma settings to a six-week service trip at a hospital in Kenya, Janofski is a shining example of the important role APPs hold at ECU Health and across the globe.
“My parents are missionaries, so I grew up in a very remote setting in the mountains of Indonesia. My mom was an ICU nurse, and she applied those skills to where we lived as she was the only medical provider in the valley. It was very formative for me to see the impact that a single medical provider can have in an area of need.
“I’d been searching for an opportunity to serve in a medically underserved community since before I was a PA. That’s actually why I became a PA and why I went into trauma—because trauma happens everywhere in the world. While serving in eastern North Carolina has certainly helped fulfill some of my desire to serve in this capacity, I heard about an opportunity to serve in Kenya for six weeks through a doctor friend. He’d gone there to volunteer, so I pursued it and the Lord opened up doors.
“I had the opportunity to work at a hospital in Kapsowar, Kenya, which is a very remote region near the Ugandan border. Their setting is extremely resource limited; they are the last net for people who would otherwise have no medical care whatsoever. They get patients who have very advanced stages of cancer or wounds that need intervention, often in an emergent fashion.
“I got to work with a general surgeon, Dr. Celeste Adrian, who was phenomenal. I worked extensively with her in the operating room as well as assisted with advanced wound care at bedside. I feel like I was uniquely privileged in the opportunity to go because of the sacrifices made by my team at ECU Health. They were incredibly generous to cover shifts while I was gone. They knew this was a passion of mine and they didn’t hesitate. They helped make that happen—I’m really grateful for a team who is so supportive.
“I graduated from PA school here at East Carolina University, then I did a one-year fellowship at WakeMed in trauma and general surgery, which included critical care training. I returned to work at ECU Health on Halloween of 2022. This was a beautiful full circle, because I first discovered my passion for trauma while doing a rotation in PA school with this ECU Trauma team. It was certainly a defining rotation for me. I loved the team and what they did, getting to help people in crisis; at that point, my aspirations turned from wanting to work in emergency medicine to wanting to work in trauma.
“I came to this job because of my desire to work in critical care in the ICU and my love for trauma. I would say that I have stayed because I’ve fallen in love with the team. The APPs are tremendous, and they have become good friends. The attendings are approachable and stellar, and the nursing and support staff have a strong dynamic that really makes this a great job to come to everyday. Working in trauma is a very high intensity and exhausting job—physically, mentally and oftentimes emotionally, but it is my way of mitigating evil in the world. To have a team that has such a strong spirit and a closeness makes this job a unique privilege.”