“It’s funny, but I’ve known since I was in kindergarten that I wanted to be a nurse. I want to help people. I want to make a difference in people’s lives. I knew it when I was very young, and I’ve never veered from that path,” Jennifer Vandenberg explains.
With a clear purpose in mind, the Weatherford, Texas native didn’t waste any time earning an associate’s degree in nursing at the local community college. Afterward, she spent a decade caring for patients in the ICU and ER—rising to supervisor roles.
“I did just about every kind of major nursing job there is, and then I decided I wanted to do more,” she notes. “I wanted to help people in a different way, so I decided to become a nurse practitioner.”
Vandenberg headed to Texas Tech University to pursue Bachelor of Science Nursing and Master of Science Nursing (Family Nurse Practitioner) degrees.
“My first job as a nurse practitioner was with a hospitalists group. I found my favorite calls were always urology calls because I learned so much from the urologists,” she remembers. “When a urology position opened at John Peter Smith Hospital, I went there because I wanted to learn more about the it.”
Vandenberg’s tenure at the busy Fort Worth trauma center prepared her well for her role at Urology Partners of North Texas (UPNT). Today, she helps UPNT patients overcome incontinence, kidney stones, urinary tract infections, erectile dysfunction and other and urologic issues.
“I always try to find a way to relate to them. It helps build trust and paves the way for frank conversations that allow me to help patients understand what’s going on without using medical jargon,” she explains.
Her personable approach helps deliver success stories. “When one of my patients with recurring UTIs reports it’s been a while since their last infection, or one of my incontinence patients is thrilled they don’t have to wear pads anymore, we celebrate. We do a happy dance in the office because those are important milestones. They’re worth getting excited about,” she beams.
When Vandenberg isn’t caring for patients, chances are you can find the devoted soccer mom cheering on her two daughters from the sidelines.
