Meet Brooke Yakel, NP

"I have over 10 years of experience in health care, 6 as a Registered Nurse. During that time I worked in a variety of settings including medical/surgical ICU, ambulatory surgery, PACU, and home care. It was my experiences in those settings that opened my eyes to the sick care system we all know and tolerate, and got me thinking that there is more we could be doing to help patients thrive, not just survive. 

Personally, my story of how I got on a functional medicine path starts about 10 months into working in the ICU during Covid. I started to not feel like myself both emotionally and physically and I really started to worry that there was something wrong. I went to my primary care provider who did some bloodwork where we found some deficiencies and the results of that bloodwork also led me to rheumatology, which felt daunting. It was at rheumatology where we had discussions that my blood work was not “normal” but there was no diagnosis they could give and nothing for them to treat at that time. They said come back if things worsen and I thought that is not my answer. At that time I was not aware of functional medicine clinics in the area like Discovery Health Healing Center and what they had to offer. I simply started to take steps towards better health as far as changing my diet, moving my body in ways that felt good and focusing on self-care. And while there’s still room for improvement, my symptoms have significantly improved with simple changes like replenishing deficiencies and lifestyle modification. So, from that, a passion started to help patients really feel better. Not waiting until things worsen….not a take this for that mentality. It’s about supporting the body and providing the right environment for it to heal and repair."