Your Neighbor: Meet Keri Britt

By Mandy Haggerson

For the Clemmons Courier

Growing up in a family that encouraged her to try new things and experiences, Keri Prybylo Britt saw the value of those opportunities. The youngest of three girls, Britt was very active with various sports from volleyball, softball, basketball and summer swim to name a few. Her dad even helped coach several of her teams which made it extra special. Outside of sports she was encouraged to focus on her academics.

While many lessons are learned in the classroom, often plenty occur in life’s unexpected moments. During one of Britt’s earlier memories, she recalls her mother having surgery.

“To keep me entertained while we were visiting my mom as she recovered, my dad took me to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU),” Britt said. “I was mesmerized. I thought to myself that one day I wanted to grow up and take care of babies, too. As soon as I was old enough to intern at the NICU, my mom connected me with someone she knew there. I was so excited for the opportunity. From that moment on, I didn’t leave the NICU.”

After graduating high school from Bishop McGuinness High School, Britt headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to become a nurse.

“I loved my time in college,” Britt said. “I learned a lot and was excited to parlay that to help babies when I graduated.”

As soon as Britt graduated, she headed back to the Winston-Salem area as a nurse practitioner at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health in the NICU.

“I can’t believe it’s already been 21 years,” Britt said. “It’s so rewarding helping babies and supporting their families. Especially the ones that don’t have a good chance, and you’re able to help them turn around. That’s why you do what you do.”

Britt’s impact has been felt recently, even in western North Carolina because of the destruction from Hurricane Helene.

“Our transport team was responsible for helping babies that needed assistance because they couldn’t get out of their area and needed to be cared for,” Britt said. “If a local hospital is unable to assist a baby, we’ve been able to make sure their needs are met by not only caring for them but transporting them to our hospital. We were lucky that that I-40 was opened up for us because we were an emergency vehicle which allowed us to get as close as possible to help. Along the way for our medical missions, I was blown away by the devastation. I was also humbled by how much people were coming together to help this community. In particular, there was a country store that we passed that had tables and tents set up. They were giving out food to around 500 people a day. Their entire purpose was just to help whoever needed it. I’ve donated money to their cause because I was so inspired by their efforts. I plan to go up and help myself once I recover from my surgery at this country store.”

While Britt is on the mend, she still wanted to help in other ways which involved her family, husband, Jason, son, Jacob, and daughter, Kierann.

“When we dropped off donations at the Forsyth Humane Society, who had also galvanized an effort to help western North Carolina with both supplies and helping the animals, the foster director told us that there were still six kittens that needed foster homes,” Britt said. “My daughter gravitated towards one male teenager in particular and asked if we could help. How could I say no?

“I sent a message to my husband who was at our son’s baseball game to let him know we’d be bringing home a temporary guest. Although, one of our younger cats seems to like him so much he may never leave. He’s also weathered at least five name changes from the kids, so time will tell.”

Britt is no stranger to helping animals as she has rescued several pregnant mom cats in the community and helped her and the kittens find homes after raising and vetting them.

“I just believe if you can help, it’s the right thing to do,” Britt said. “I also love that my children instinctually want to help and are very active in the process. Teaching them to be kind and compassionate are important values that were instilled in my sisters and I by our parents. And ironically when you help others, it always makes you feel better than the person or animal that you’ve helped. So, everyone wins.”

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