FREMONT – Ellen Janssen, MD, describes her journey toward medicine as “really nontraditional.”
After studying business finance in college, then spending quite some time working in the field, she realized that she wasn’t making a difference in people’s lives the way she wanted to.
With a newborn and 1-year-old at the time, quitting her job and going back to school for prerequisites seemed crazy, she said looking back. But that’s exactly what she did.
“And the rest is history,” said Dr. Janssen, now an internal medicine physician at Methodist Physicians Clinic (680 E. Fremont Medical Park Drive).
“The best feeling that you can have in this position, when your job is to take care of people, is to have them connect with you to the level where they say, ‘I finally feel seen. I feel that you understand what my concerns are,’” she said.
Although she’s passionate about helping patients navigate and manage chronic conditions, that’s never her priority.
“To me, The Meaning of Care is proving to my patients that it’s not their disease that I’m treating – it’s them as a whole patient. They are my priority. I want to get to know them. I want to know what’s important to them. I want to know more than just what the chart has to tell me. I want to spend time building a relationship with them so that we can work toward common goals and, together, be successful in their health journey.”
In her free time, Dr. Janssen, a Hooper native, enjoys being with her family. Together, they like to travel – especially to Colorado in the summer and beach destinations in the winter.
Schedule an appointment with Dr. Janssen by calling (402) 815-7121.
