Podcasts about vincent hospital

ResourcesWound Treatment Associate (WTA®) ProgramHow to become a certification wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) nurseOstomy Care Associate (OCA®) ProgramAbout the GuestLaurie Wooley, MSN, RN, CWCN, COCN, is an experienced inpatient wound and ostomy nurse with a decade of expertise in the field. As a WTA Course Coordinator and Ladder III nurse at AHN-St. Vincent Hospital, she focuses on quality improvement initiatives to reduce hospital-acquired pressure injuries. Holding both a BSN and a master's degree in nursing education, Laurie has earned two national board certifications—Certified Wound Care Nurse (CWCN) and Certified Ostomy Care Nurse (COCN)—through the experiential route. Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.

Drs. Jensen and Richey welcome back Dr. Patrick DeHeer to Dean's Chat! The discussion centers around Dr. DeHeer's residency program, his mission trips, the Foundatoin for Podiatric Medical Education, and the podiatric profession! Dr. DeHeer serves as a Trustee on the APMA Board of Trustees. He practices in Central Indiana as part of the national supergroup Upperline Health. Dr. DeHeer serves as the residency director of the podiatric surgical residency program at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. In addition, he served as the team podiatrist for the Indiana Pacers for thirty years, from 1992 to 2022. Dr. DeHeer, DPM, is a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) and a fellow of the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons (ASPS), and American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS).  He is also a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Dr. DeHeer is a Diplomat of the American Board of Foot & Ankle Surgery certified in foot surgery and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery. He is the inventor of The Equinus Brace™ and a partner in IQ Med. He is the President and Founder of Step-By-Step Haiti and Foot Aid. Dr. DeHeer's passion for teaching and providing lower extremity healthcare in developing countries culminated in recognition by the 2014 International Federation of Podiatrists Humanitarian Award and the 2011 APMA Humanitarian of the Year Award.   Dr. DeHeer also shares his interests outside of his work life. He expresses a love for intellectual pursuits and aesthetics, such as music, particularly the Grateful Dead, and various forms of art and culture. He enjoys engaging with theater, movies, reading, and visiting museums. Tune in to hear about Dr. DeHeer's appreciation for intellectual pursuits and artistic expressions.  www.explorepodmed.org https://podiatrist2be.com/ https://higherlearninghub.com/

Senior downsizing and relocation can be challenging, especially for those with ADHD, as it involves managing physical clutter, emotional attachments, and decision-making overwhelm. ADHD can make it harder to stay organized and focused, but with the right strategies, it's possible to simplify the process and create a smoother transition. In this episode, Naeemah has a heartfelt conversation with her mom Beverly, as they discuss real-life insights and practical tips for anyone looking to help a loved one downsize and relocate, especially when ADHD is involved. Beverly Chatmon recently retired after a remarkable 34-year career in nursing. A 1990 graduate of the College of Staten Island, Beverly began her journey as a registered nurse at Staten Island University Hospital before moving on to St. Vincent Hospital in Staten Island, NY. Demonstrating an unwavering commitment to professional growth, she later earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Science in Nursing from Nebraska Methodist College. For 27 years, Beverly dedicated her expertise and compassion to the Douglas County Youth Center in Omaha, NE, providing vital medical care to young people and making a lasting impact on their lives. While Beverly's career is marked by impressive achievements, she views her true success as raising her eight children, whose journeys and accomplishments fill her with pride. Beverly's career and personal legacy exemplify her deep commitment to excellence. To learn more about Naeemah, visit her ⁠⁠website⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠naeemahfordgoldson.com⁠⁠⁠ Follow us on Social Media!⁠⁠⁠ www.instagram.com/organizemeradio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ www.facebook.com/OrganizeMeRadio #SeniorDownsizing #ADHDSupport #RelocationTips #ADHDOrganization #DeclutteringWithADHD #SeniorMovingTips #DownsizingJourney #ADHDSupportForSeniors #OrganizingWithADHD #SeniorLivingTransitions #organizemeradio

Our guest on a Wednesday health focus was Dr. Jeffrey McGovern, pulmonologist with AHN St. Vincent Hospital. We discussed diagnosis of sleep apnea and a new treatment that can eliminate the CPAP machine.

On the morning of Thursday, June 20, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally outside the hospital to raise awareness of their efforts to secure a first contract and to show management that they're not backing down from their core demands for safe staffing and an operational model that puts patients and patient care first. "St. Agnes nurses are calling on Ascension to accept their proposals to improve safe staffing and, subsequently, nurse retention," a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) stated. "Nearly 20 percent of nurses at St. Agnes began employment at the hospital after January 1 of this year. Meanwhile, just over a third of nurses have more than four years of experience at the hospital... The Catholic hospital system is one of the largest in the country with 140 hospitals in 19 states and also one of the wealthiest, with cash reserves, an investment company, and a private equity operation worth billions of dollars—and, because of its nonprofit status, is exempt from paying federal taxes." In this on-the-ground episode, we take you to the NNOC/NNU picket line and speak with Nicki Horvat, an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Ascension St. Agnes and member of the bargaining team, about what she and her coworkers are fighting for. Additional links/info below… National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and Instagram NNOC/NNU Press Release: "Ascension Saint Agnes nurses demand hospital accept ‘Patients First,' staffing enforcement policies" Angela Roberts, The Baltimore Sun, "Saint Agnes nurses rally for better pay, more patient protections" Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "An oral history of the 10-month St. Vincent Hospital strike" Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "Striking nurses hold the line against investor-owned healthcare giant" Robert Glatter, Peter Papadakos, & Yash Shah, Time Magazine, "American health care faces a staffing crisis and it's affecting care" Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Kaiser workers win big after largest healthcare strike in US history" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music... Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song

On the morning of Thursday, June 20, unionized nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore held a rally outside the hospital to raise awareness of their efforts to secure a first contract and to show management that they're not backing down from their core demands for safe staffing and an operational model that puts patients and patient care first. "St. Agnes nurses are calling on Ascension to accept their proposals to improve safe staffing and, subsequently, nurse retention," a press release from National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) stated. "Nearly 20 percent of nurses at St. Agnes began employment at the hospital after January 1 of this year. Meanwhile, just over a third of nurses have more than four years of experience at the hospital... The Catholic hospital system is one of the largest in the country with 140 hospitals in 19 states and also one of the wealthiest, with cash reserves, an investment company, and a private equity operation worth billions of dollars—and, because of its nonprofit status, is exempt from paying federal taxes." In this on-the-ground episode, we take you to the NNOC/NNU picket line and speak with Nicki Horvat, an RN in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit at Ascension St. Agnes and member of the bargaining team, about what she and her coworkers are fighting for.Studio Production: Maximillian AlvarezPost-Production: Alina NehlichAdditional links/info below…National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United website, Facebook page, Twitter/X page, and InstagramNNOC/NNU Press Release: "Ascension Saint Agnes nurses demand hospital accept ‘Patients First,' staffing enforcement policies"Angela Roberts, The Baltimore Sun, "Saint Agnes nurses rally for better pay, more patient protections"Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "An oral history of the 10-month St. Vincent Hospital strike"Gino Canella, The Real News Network, "Striking nurses hold the line against investor-owned healthcare giant"Robert Glatter, Peter Papadakos, & Yash Shah, Time Magazine, "American health care faces a staffing crisis and it's affecting care"Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, "Kaiser workers win big after largest healthcare strike in US history"Permanent links below...Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music...Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme SongBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.

Hopkins County relief managers are looking for volunteer help to get food to Hopkins and Muhlenberg County tornado victims... Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital reports good progress in recovering from last month's cyber attack... A judge has ordered a mental evaluation for a man charged in the death of a West Franklin pedestrian back in April... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite a ransomeware cyber attack almost a week ago, Asencion St. Vincent Hospital remains largely operational... A Poseyville man is in custody after leading police on a short chase early this morning... One person showed up at a local hospital last night suffering from a gunshot wound, and police are investigating...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Evansville's Ascension St. Vincent Hospital is affected by an overnight cyber attack that's impacted 140 hospitals... The search of three locations in Oakland City Tuesday IS related to the disappearance of Andi Wagner... Indiana State Police are investigating the theft of an ATM in Spencer County with an M.O. like another such theft...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this installment of Savage to Sage, host Kyle Maloney talks with guest Craig Overmyer, an expert in executive coaching with an impressive career spanning two decades. They delve deep into the creation of a revolutionary culture of dignity in businesses. Throughout the discussion, the significance of a learning ecosystem where individuals are consistently elevated and empowered is discussed. Craig also shares his wisdom on the impact of coaching styles on organizational dynamics and the essential role of continuous improvement for leadership success. Tune in to witness a transformative dialogue that encapsulates turning from savage to sage in the entrepreneurial journey.Key Topics00:00 Introduction03:30 Craig Overmyer's background06:40 Discussing the importance of becoming a learning organization.11:25 Encouraging note-taking and discussing organizational challenges.14:14 How organizations deal with challenges without guidance.16:34 Leaders face constant demands due to humanity.20:26 Leadership training necessary for effective delegation.23:54 Six leadership styles impact performance and results.31:00 Listening and learning are essential leadership qualities.32:33 Practice active listening, understand others' thoughts.37:08 Challenges in living out mission, vision, values.41:25 Belbin team roles and transcending leadership excellence.44:16 Reflection on conversation highlights call to leadership.46:34 Grateful for your time and opportunity, Greg.Guest BioDr. Craig Overmyer is a best-selling author of the book, Accelerate Thru Conflict: The Missing Conversations…Before It's Too Late. Dr. Overmyer served as a behavioral health provider and leader at St. Vincent Hospital and the Center for Complementary Medicine and Pain Management for 14 years. Craig had a private practice with 10,000 hours of experience in 20 years.For the last 20 years, Dr. Overmyer has trained and coached over 250 executive teams and CEOs in healthcare, education, Inc. 100 firms; mid-market growth firms and not-for profit organizations.Dr. Overmyer is certified by the NeuroLeadership Institute in Results Coaching and works with growth firms and exponential organizations as a Scaling Up Certified Coach. Dr. Overmyer is also a certified consultant for the Cultural Values Assessment and is a member of the National Speakers Association.Website - Cultures That WorkLinkedInLinks and Resources MentionedThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni - Amazon LinkThe Revolution of Dignity by Ari Weinzweig - Purchase HereProductive Conflict Assessment – The DiSC ProfileLeadership training resources from Korn Ferry - WebsiteLeadership that Gets Results by Daniel Goleman, an HBR paper Available at Harvard Business Review's WebsiteThe work of Jim Collins - WebsiteVern Harnish's tools and insights -

Dr. Christina Francis discusses the importance and need for life-affirming healthcare for both the patient and the physician providing the care. She reviews the various ways reproductive health issues are impacted by policy, education, research, and the Hippocratic Oath, and why we must help protect healthcare providers right to conscientiously object to providing treatment that goes against their values.Dr.  Francis is a board-certified Ob/Gyn who currently works in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Dr. Francis completed medical school at Indiana University in 2005 and completed her Ob/Gyn residency at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis in 2009. She is chair of the board of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) and a board member of Indiana Right to Life. As a professional speaker, Dr. Francis offers her medical expertise, knowledge of bioethics, and pro-life reasoning both here in the U.S. and around the globe. She has always had a passion for human rights, spending a significant portion of the past 10 years in various countries working tirelessly on behalf of women and children. Dr. Francis spent time working with orphans in Romania and Burma, discussing the importance of life issues with university students in Israel, and working for three years as the only OB/GYN at a mission hospital in rural Kenya. Dr. Francis left Kenya in 2014 to work on behalf of women and children in her home state and beyond who are often victims of the abortion industry, and to educate people on the greatest social injustice of our time.Be sure to stay up to date with Abundant Life: You Were Made for More by visiting our blog - and if you're loving the podcast, send guest recommendations to us or leave us a star-rating/review on your favorite listening platform to spread the word about the you were made for more message.You Were Made for More Social Media: FacebookTwitterInstagram

On Tuesday's episode, we welcomed Dr. Chris Clark, the President of AHN St. Vincent Hospital. We discussed respiratory illness, the new Critical Decision Unit and behavioral health wing, plus the work being done to encourage young people to enter nursing and the medical fields.

Therese B. Pandl, RN, MN, MBA, FACHEExecutive SummaryTherese is a healthcare executive, with over 35 years of progressive leadership in large, complex health care systems. Successful record of achievement in building integrated systems of care, advancing physician alignment, improving clinical delivery systems as well as developing successful risk-based payment models. She has led strategic growth initiatives including multiple physician integration initiatives, alignment of independent hospitals, development of a provider-sponsored health plan as well as service line expansions. Operationally, Therese drove a division structure to reduce redundancies, increase efficiency and reduce costs across the continuum. Therese is recognized for developing teams that produce significant results while maintaining effective board, physician, and staff relationships. Passionate about coaching to enhance leadership capacity, driving improvements in safety, quality, and affordability.Professional Experiences• HSHS: Eastern Wisconsin Division President and CEO• HSHS: President and CEO St. Vincent Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center• Columbia St. Mary's: Executive Vice President and COO; Executive VP of Hospital Operations; EVP Ozaukee Region• St. Mary's Hospital, Ozaukee: Senior VP and COO.• St. Mary's Milwaukee: Vice President of Operations; Vice President of Patient Services, Director Special Projects, and Education; various clinical leadership positions Key Career Accomplishments• Achieved highest performing division within system as Division President and CEO, drove performance of 4 hospitals including the partner relationship with an integrated physician clinic with over 400 providers (Prevea Health) and minority affiliation with a fifth hospital. Grew revenue and operating margin by over 35% over the 11 years served.• Served on system-wide strategy team and led various system initiatives including clinical and operational improvements.• Developed financial integration and partnership models with large multi-specialty physician group and separately with a progressive medical oncology group.• Led initiative to implement EMR in division, which was later adopted and installed across the system.• Developed strategic partnerships with regional hospitals through minority equity investments and service line strategies to coordinate care in broader market.• Created Division structure for all 4 hospitals to function cooperatively with a single executive team, shared management, spreading expertise to drive highly reliable patient care, providing standardized, high quality support to each facility. Reduced management structure by over 50%.• Implemented service line structure across the division, with vision, strategic plan and dashboards for each line. Growth and performance improvement demonstrated in each line.• Led development of provider-sponsored health plan in partnership with well-respected existing insurer to leverage their infrastructure. Previously served as president of hospital-physician organization, which contracted with managed care to drive appropriate payment protocols.• Developed designated Children's hospital within a hospital, achieving significant community support through a successful multi-million-dollar capital campaign with Aaron Rodgers as Honorary Campaign Chair.• Designed and delivered regional system agenda for performance improvement, including quality & safety, executive sponsor for LEAN program, data- driven efficiency processes and improving patient satisfaction.• Oversaw major facility construction projects including replacement hospital, inpatient tower additions, ambulatory surgery centers, physician clinics, etc. totally over $800 million.• Chaired Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) board, served on multiple committees and received WHA Distinguished Service Award.Education• MBA University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 1992• MN Master of Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle Washington, 1979• BSN University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1976 Certifications, Honors and Affiliations• Fellow American College of Healthcare Executives• American Hospital Association – Regional Policy Board- 2018 to 2020; Governing Council for Metro Areas 2011-2014• Medical College of Wisconsin- Green Bay Campus Community Advisory Board 2015-2019• St. Norbert College Schneider School of Business Advisory Council 2015-2020• Congregation of St. Agnes Sponsorship Board, Fond du Lac, WI.  Jan. 2015-2018• Prevea Health, Board of Directors 2009- 2020• Nicolet National Bank, Board of Directors, 2010- 2016

In this episode, Cathie Quillet, LMFT interviews Dr. Colleen Miller from Tennessee Fertility Institute. From the perspective of a Reproductive Endocrinologist, Dr. Miller explains the the diagnosis of infertility, how to being treatment with a fertility clinic and what a patient should expect from testing and treatments. Colleen M. Miller, M.D. earned her Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition with a minor in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as her medical degree, from The Ohio State University. While there, she help multiple peer-elected leadership positions and received an award for excellence in professionalism.Dr. Miller completed her OB/GYN residency at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, during which she published a book chapter on mentorship for academic scientists and physicians. She was also selected as an ACOG Gellhaus Advocacy Fellow; as such, she lobbied for maternal healthcare and obtained bipartisan support for the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act, signed into law in 2018.She completed her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Mayo Clinic, where she authored multiple peer-reviewed publications, one of which was chosen as the topic of discussion at an ASRM global journal club. While at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Miller also earned a master's degree in Biomedical Sciences in Reproductive Endocrinology.Dr. Miller is passionate about patient advocacy and dedicated to providing patient-centered care. She believes in empowering her patients with the knowledge to achieve their own personal fertility and family building goals.Tennessee Fertility Institute:https://tnfertility.comhttps://www.instagram.com/tennesseefertility/Tennessee Reproductive Therapyhttps://tennesseereproductivetherapy.comhttps://www.instagram.com/tennesseereproductivetherapy/Sponsor: Navigating Infertilityhttps://navigatinginfertility.comhttps://www.instagram.com/navigatinginfertilitytogether/

Over the summer, Don't Touch My Podcast says, "Don't Touch my Politics" as we sit down with political candidates running for the Worcester City Council and School Committee seats. In this episode, we sit down with School Committee Member, Sue Mailman, to discuss her reelection focus, her connection to vocational schools, and her commitment to creating an equitable school committee and reflective school system. About Sue: Born in Gardner, MA and adopted by loving parents from Worcester, Sue's roots have been in this community from the start. Her mother and father were selfless leaders and alumni of Classical High School, supporting local organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Little League, the Boys and Girls Clubs, and more. Sue graduated from public high school and began working full time, including with her family business based in Worcester, employing and supporting union electricians. In 1986 she welcomed her son, Jeff, who graduated from Burncoat High School. Sue continued her education, attending night classes at Quinsigamond Community College, Worcester State, and Assumption University, eventually going on to take the GMAT, and earn her MBA from Northeastern University in 2003. Today, Sue lives in North Worcester with her husband Jim Chapdelaine. She has 6 step children, Paul & Kevin Mailman, Suzanne Nelhuebel, James, John and Ian Chapdelaine, and 4 grandchildren Ezra and Salem Chapdelaine, Miles Nelhuebel, and Teddy Cross. Sue tragically lost her son Jeff in 2007. In her free time, She enjoys spending quality time with her family, tends to her gardens, loves cooking, cherishes local art, and adores all things Worcester. Sue continues to work to enhance this community that she holds so dearly and she humbly asks for your vote on November 7th. Business Leadership: Sue is proud of the smart and talented union electricians that she has worked with for over 35 years in the family construction business, which she has led since 2002.   Sue has taken great pride in her involvement with the union electrical industry, holding positions with the IBEW/NECA and regional groups supporting apprenticeship opportunities and workforce development. As a contractor, Sue has performed work at WPI, UMass Memorial/UMass Chan, St. Vincent Hospital, the DCU Center, and many other local and regional projects across New England. Community and Non-Profit Work: Following in her father's footsteps, Sue has helped to promote Worcester Technical High School by chairing the WTHS Advisory Board and advancing our local community colleges as a past chair of Board of Trustees at Quinsigamond Community College. Her passion for supporting our youth is reflected through her involvement with the Young Women's Club of America (YWCA) in Worcester, as well as the United Way of Central Massachusetts. Sue helps to advocate for expanded workforce development through the State Apprenticeship Advisory Council and back at home, has co-chaired the technology subcommittee of the Worcester Public Schools Strategy Committee.  Sue is currently a proud board member of U Mass Memorial Health Care. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donttouchmypodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/donttouchmypodcast/support

Dean's Chat host, Dr. Jeffrey Jensen, is joined this week by Dr. Patrick DeHeer. Dr. DeHeer serves as a Trustee on the APMA Board of Trustees, currently in his seventh year on the Board. He practices in Central Indiana as part of the national supergroup Upperline Health. Dr. DeHeer serves as the residency director of the podiatric surgical residency program at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. In addition, he served as the team podiatrist for the Indiana Pacers for thirty years, from 1992 to 2022. Dr. DeHeer, DPM, is a member of the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA) and a fellow of the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons (ASPS), and American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS).  He is also a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. Dr. DeHeer is a Diplomat of the American Board of Foot & Ankle Surgery certified in foot surgery and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery. He is the inventor of The Equinus Brace™ and a partner in IQ Med. He is the President and Founder of Step-By-Step Haiti and Foot Aid. Dr. DeHeer's passion for teaching and providing lower extremity healthcare in developing countries culminated in recognition by the 2014 International Federation of Podiatrists Humanitarian Award and the 2011 APMA Humanitarian of the Year Award.   Dr. DeHeer shares his journey into the profession, starting with his initial interest in dentistry and his eventual decision to pursue podiatric medicine. He discusses his educational background and highlights his role as the team podiatrist for the Indiana Pacers for the past 30 years. Tune in to learn more about Dr. DeHeer's extensive experience and leadership in the podiatric profession. Dr. DeHeer expresses a strong preference for structure and order in both his daily life and professional practice. For example, he enjoys the familiarity of eating at the same restaurant for lunch, where the staff knows them well enough to anticipate his order. Furthermore, Dr. DeHeer's work life is characterized by a structured schedule. Dr. DeHeer also shares his interests outside of his work life. He expresses a love for intellectual pursuits and aesthetics, such as music, particularly the Grateful Dead, and various forms of art and culture. He enjoys engaging with theater, movies, reading, and visiting museums. Tune in to hear about Dr. DeHeer's appreciation for intellectual pursuits and artistic expressions. Dean's Chat Website  Dean's Chat Episodes  Dean's Chat Blog Why Podiatric Medicine?  Become a Podiatric Physician 

  Bobby Kopp is a Heath Science Teacher at Milton Hershey School.  Before pursuing his career as a teacher, Bobby was trained as a Registered Nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Pittsburgh.  Bobby grew up in St. Marys, Pennsylvania where he began his professional healthcare career as an EMT employed at St. Marys Area Ambulance Service.  After college, Bobby developed his nursing experience in the IMCU at St. Vincent Hospital in Erie, PA until he returned home to work in the Emergency Department at Elk Regional Medical Center (now Penn Highlands Elk) for five years.  During that time, he began teaching the Health Occupations Career and Tech program at St. Marys Area High School.  During his three years there, the program developed a Nurse Assisting and EMT program.  He continued working as a Registered Nurse at Pinecrest Manor as a Unit Coordinator for three years until he was hired by Milton Hershey School (MHS).    Bobby has been at MHS since 2018, where he teaches and is an assistant coach for Freshmen Football and Track & Field.  By teaching to the MHS sacred values of Commitment to Mission, Integrity, Positive Spirit, and Mutual Respect, Bobby hopes to help students develop character and work ethic.  His professional style focuses on incorporating technology, hands on learning, and collaboration with healthcare professionals to help students learn how to think on their feet.   More: Intro and Outro music "Vicious Pen" courtesy of Moby Gratis ++

In this final episode of Season three, Siobhan Kiernan from the class of 2021 speaks with Sean O'Connor from the class of 1992. As a fundraiser and member of the Holy Cross Annual Fund Team, Siobhan talks with Sean about his accomplished career in fundraising. Today, he continues to make a difference as the Chief Development Officer at the National Audubon Society. Their conversation gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to support the nonprofit organizations that we love. The Holy Cross mission of serving others is central to the work that they do. As people foreign with others, their careers modeled the idea of doing well while doing good. Interview originally recorded in August 2022. --- Sean: When I'm being reflective of the relationship between the effort and the work that I've applied my daily profession to the outcome, it completely aligns with my worldview of actually helping other people and helping organizations and helping the world. Whether it's through art, or healthcare or science or human rights or conservation, I feel pretty good about that. Maura: Welcome to Mission Driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, from the class of 2007, Director of Alumni Career Development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. In this final episode of Season three, Siobhan Kiernan from the class of 2021 speaks with Sean O'Connor from the class of 1992. As a fundraiser and member of the Holy Cross Annual Fund Team, Siobhan talks with Sean about his accomplished career in fundraising. After a year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Sean accepted a role raising funds for a small Catholic school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Thanks to the support and encouragement of some Holy Cross alumni, he accepted a position with CCS fundraising, which brought his fundraising overseas and greatly expanded the scope of his work. Today, he continues to make a difference as the Chief Development Officer at the National Audubon Society. Their conversation gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to support the nonprofit organizations that we love. The Holy Cross mission of serving others is central to the work that they do. As people foreign with others, their careers modeled the idea of doing well while doing good. Siobhan: Hello everyone. My name is Siobhan Kiernan and I am a 2021 Holy Cross grad, and current member of the Holy Cross Fund Team. And I'm joined here with Sean O'Connor. Hello, how are you? Sean: Hi Siobhan. Good to see you again. Siobhan: Yeah, you too. Where are you zooming from? Sean: I'm zooming from Goldens Bridge, New York, which is Northern Westchester County near Bedford and North Salem. Siobhan: Nice. Oh my gosh. I'm zooming from New York City, so... Sean: Oh wow. Whereabouts? Siobhan: In like little... I'm on the Upper East Side right now. It's where I grew up. Sean: Oh, that's right. I grew... For a while. I lived on 83rd and third when I did all this. Siobhan: Oh yes, we talked about this. Sean: Yeah, right. Siobhan: Oh, that's awesome. Are you from New York? Sean: No, I actually grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts where there's a school called Holy Cross, is there I think. And I in that way was born at St. Vincent Hospital and then grew up really in Holden, Massachusetts, which is just north of Worcester. And I went to Wachusett Regional High School. And I know your next question is why I don't have an accent, but for some reason I dropped the Worcester accent. When I went to Holy Cross, actually, ironically, I think my accent started to go away. Siobhan: They ironed it out of you. Sean: They must have ironed it out of me, yes. I could put on the Worcester accent, but only under severe pressure. Siobhan: That's so funny. I've been told that I don't have a New York accent either. Sean: No, you don't. Siobhan: So I guess there's something about Holy Cross and taking out accents. So you kind of really just started this, I guess, but why Holy Cross? I mean, I know you're from Worcester, but some people I know probably wouldn't have wanted to go to a school in their hometown. So why did you stay, and what about Holy Cross made you want to go there? Sean: It is a family school. For me, my grandfather was class of '31 and my father was class of '66. My uncle was class of '62. I think even have one of my other father's relatives went there. And so I always had heard about Holy Cross. And I lived on campus, I didn't commute even though I was about 10 miles away from Worcester, or from home rather. But it was obviously one of the most important decisions I made as a young person. And then probably, in truth, is probably the best school I got into when I was applying for colleges. That was another part as well. Siobhan: No, but that worked out. The one thing I love about Holy Cross is that you can feel very much away even if you are local. Sean: Right. Siobhan: I have friends who lived off campus and I remember I always lived on campus and my thought process was, you have your whole life to live outside the gates of Mt. St. James. Why would you want to go now? Sean: Right, for sure. But I enjoyed it. It was great. Siobhan: Yeah. So what was your time on campus? What did you do? What did you major in? What activities did you like to do? Sean: I was a history major, and I took my academics semi-seriously, I think. I'm a lifelong reader and I probably am still interested in history and read a lot of William Durant history surveys when I'm on the plane on a tarmac or something like that. So I still enjoy learning, but I spent a lot of time on extracurricular activities. I didn't play sports, and maybe once in a while would play a soccer pickup game if one existed. But I was involved in the radio station, I was the station manager for a year. Siobhan: Oh cool. Sean: And a DJ. And then I was involved, I think in one of the campus activity boards, I think my senior year. Is it called SS or something? I'm trying to remember then what the acronym was. Siobhan: Or is it CAB? I mean, today I think it's probably the equivalent. Sean: Something like that. I would put on concerts at Hogan. I did one concert. I think I almost got kicked off campus because I did not go through the proper channels of getting permits and things like that. So I learned a lot at college about doing things like that. We had a band called The Mighty, Mighty Boss Tones playing in the basement, which was a fun, legendary show. And then when I was at the station, radio station, we did a kind of benefit concert for the Worcester Coalition for the Homeless in Worcester. There was a band named Fugazi that we brought up to Worcester and did a show, which is fun. So we did some fun stuff connecting Worcester where I grew up to Holy Cross. I was also a resident assistant in the Mulledy basement. So yeah, it was a fun four years. Siobhan: Wow. So you mentioned you were a history major. I'm always curious, because I did economics, why history? And did you have a favorite class? Sean: I kind of go back and forth between really US history and European history or world history. And I did take an African history class, which is pretty influential. Professor David O'Brien was my advisor and he's kind of a labor and Catholic historian. And I still am interested in labor history. I can get really geeky I suppose, about history. I just really do enjoy it in terms of understanding patterns and issues and big issues that we're facing now as a country, and what are the historical analogs, and what has happened in the past that informs where you are right now. And all my family were English majors or our English majors. I think my daughter is an English, is going to become an English major, not a history major. My son was a poly sci major at Bucknell and a film major. But history is, I just enjoy it. And I go back and forth. I probably read more non-US history these days, but it's an escapism too for me. Dealing with everything else, it's kind of fun to read about the Age of Enlightenment or something like that, and just learn about different thinkers and different parts of history that you weren't aware of. And then if you get really excited, you can go deep on those things and get really geeky. Siobhan: I took one history class in Holy Cross, and I found that I almost felt like an investigator, like a detective, which as an economics major it is... That's a different way of thinking. So actually I have a lot of respect for the history department. Cause you very much have to tell a story, and really unpack documents and things. And I think that's... Sean: Yeah, for sure. Siobhan: And you mentioned your professor. I always love to hear about, because the school is so small and the community is so great. Is there anyone that comes to mind who had a meaningful impact on you at Hogan? Sean: Academically, David Chu, who is my accounting professor, and I just didn't do as well in accounting, but that taught me a lot about the importance of studying, actually. There was a professor Whall when I took my early survey class in history, which kind of awakened me to academic writing in a different way. And I lifeguarded at the pool, so got to hang out with the late Barry Parenteau who just passed away. And that was fun times there. And then some of the student life people, I think Dean Simon, I'm trying to remember his name, but he was the one that I worked with a little bit in my senior year. He was the Student Life Dean, if I remember correctly, out of Hogan. And then actually career advisors towards the end. I think one of the more influential people in my career, if we segue into that section, is this John Winters, who is there as a career advisor who really got me on the pathway of where I am right now. Siobhan: Oh, fabulous. Actually, that was a great segue. That was actually my next question was going to be, could you just take me through from commencement to where you are? Sean: Sure. Siobhan: Your journey. I did look into your bio a little bit and you had a very vast career so far, but I want to hear about it from you, your whole journey. Sean: So when I got out of school, I remember second semester, senior year, gosh knows what you're going to do. But I think I interviewed, think at some advertising agency, Leo Burnett, that has historically hired Holy Cross grads and did not get the interview. But I was able to go to Chicago for that all day interview, which was kind of fun. Get to stay in the fancy hotel for the first time. And then when I got out of school I ended up going to Jesuit Volunteer Corps. So I did the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in the northwest and was stationed, or placed, I guess is the language in Auburn, Washington, which is between Seattle and Tacoma. And my placement, or my job, the volunteer job was working at a residential youth shelter for physically and sexually abused kids. And I was doing that for a year. And so my job was to take to care of them, drive them to school, make them dinner, take them on field trips, and then talk to them. And then, learning what it meant to be a social worker and would write about my day and my interactions to help the therapists and the psychologists who are helping them connect the dots about what issues they were facing. They were typically there for a couple of weeks. It was transitional short term, before they might have been between foster placements or they might have been just removed from the home. And the state was trying to figure out what to do with them. So it was a very eye-opening experience, making $20 a week living in a community in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. But that moment I was actually really interested in understanding how nonprofits were financed. I was like, all right, so how did they actually get the money to do the work? How does it actually work? So I was able to understand a little bit about the particular organization I was volunteering at. It was called Auburn Youth Resources. And they would receive a lot of money from the King County, which is the local county outside of Seattle. But the philanthropy piece, that people would give them money was relatively small. And anyways, it was, it's an opportunity for me to think about that. I wanted to do good but also do well. And I think a lot of this has to do with Holy Cross, but also that my parents or both teachers. My brother's a teacher, my sister's a teacher, my other sister who went to Holy Cross works in nonprofits as well, she was class of '95. So I think that, my family upbringing and combined with Holy Cross in terms of its ethos of men and women for others, I think really kind of pushed me into this career, which wasn't really a career back then. I don't know if you want me to keep going, but when I got back from the year of volunteer work and I came back to the East Coast, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I lived in Worcester, outside of Worcester. I thought I wanted to move to Boston where, because I was nearby that was a big city, or move to Washington DC where a lot of my roommates were and friends. But John Winter in the Career Center said, did you ever think about development? And I said, what's development? And we talked more about it, what that actually meant. And he connected me with a guy named Pat Cunningham, who I think is class of '85. And Pat Cunningham worked in New York City, and at the time he worked for the Archdiocese of New York. And the program there was that they were trying to help small Catholic parochial schools become sustainable. So small Catholic schools in New York City were always a big deal for helping teach kids and families who didn't have a lot of money, but get a good education. The outcomes were terrific. Typically, a lot of the kids went on to college. But the financial model was becoming challenging, because the religious communities who would tend to teach at those schools was diminishing. So they would have to hire lay teachers, you don't have to pay a Sister as much as you have to pay a layperson. So I think that caused like, oh my goodness, tuition is not covering the cost. And so they were trying to figure out a way could they raise money? Like private high schools, like St. John's in Shrewsbury or St. John's in Danvers, as BC High or Notre Dame Academy, they tend to raise money from their alums or parents. Pat Cunningham's job was to figure that out with some parochial schools in New York. There was a philanthropist who just passed away a couple of years ago, a guy named Richard Gilder, who was a Jewish, who founded a company Gilder, Gagnon, & Howe. Anyways, he believed in Catholic education and funded a lot of these schools. He believed in the outcomes and giving back in the community. And so he was essentially underwriting director and development positions. So the salary that a director of development would require. So there was an opportunity for me to work at a school called St. Columba Elementary School, which is on 25th between eighth and ninth without any experience at 23 years old. Siobhan: Is it still there? Sean: It is still there. But unfortunately, the school is closed and is now probably a private or a charter school. It Is the school... Had a couple famous alums, Whoopi Goldberg, graduated from... it's the school Whoopi Goldberg graduated from St. Columba, and as well as a singer from the sixties and seventies, Tony Orlando went to St. Colo. He's a guy who sang Tie A Yellow Ribbon and Knock Three Times. You ever hear those songs? No. Knock three times on the ceiling. Siobhan: Maybe. Sean: Yeah. I don't want to sing it. So what I had to do is work with the sisters and figure out a way to help raise money. And I learned a ton. It was fun. I started talking to some of the colleagues who were doing the similar work in the city, and we created a consortium of colleagues, I think we called it ourselves development, gosh, I forgot what we called it. Ourselves like Development Resources, Development Resource Group, I think DRG maybe. In any case, we would meet and just try to do some brainstorming and figure out how to solve problems. And we actually got some funding to actually help our little mini consortium. And I was there for about a year. It was fun. Siobhan: And then I know that you also did some foundation work, correct? Sean: Yeah. So after what? So I was doing that for a year, and then I had heard about this big company called CCS Fundraising and it's called... At the time it was called Community Counseling Service. And it's still around. It's a big, big fundraising company. And at the time, back when I was there, it's probably quadrupled since I was working there. Any case, we didn't have any money at St. Columba for professional development. So there was this big conference in New York called Fundraising Day in New York. And it is held every, it's the third Friday of June every year. So it's like a one day, it's one of the biggest fundraising conferences in New York. But to go to it, you know, it's like $600 or something like that. And we didn't have any money at St. Columba to do that. And so there was a scholarship opportunity. So if I wrote an essay to the committee that they would send scholarships out. So I wrote an essay to the committee and they underwrote my admission. So I was able to go to the event. And at the event I ran into an executive at CCS Fundraising and talked to him. He encouraged me to apply to CCS, which I did. And then I got a job with CCS Fundraising, which really did change my career for the good. And they sent me all around the world and helped train me in fundraising. And it was great. I was there for a long, long time. And that's where I did do some foundation work. So to continue on that, so when I got to CCS, I went to Yorkshire, England to do some work for the Diocese of Leeds and raise money there. So essentially CCS as a company that would get hired by nonprofits to actually help them raise money. Siobhan: Like a consultant. Sean: A hundred percent like a consultant. And it's weird because you'd be 24 years old or 25 years old and you're a consultant. And I remember a lot of my family friends is like, what do you know? You're just a kid. And there was a lot of truth in that, because I didn't know what I was doing. But the way the model worked at CCS was that they would train you, and there was actually different levels of consulting. And actually modern consulting firms like McKinsey have a similar model where you have the partners who are the thought leaders, and the business development people who actually find the clients. And they just need people to do the work. And those are the directors, the associate directors who essentially just took direction from the leadership. And in the case of going to the Diocese of Leeds, my charge was to work with parishes and coordinate, manage, design and execute what I would call mini-campaigns for each of those parishes. So I would go to the priest, I would orient the priest on the plan, we'd recruit a leadership team and go out and raise money. It was a very, very difficult assignment, but I learned a lot about resilience and persuasion and problem-solving and persistence and all that stuff, because it was a very intense five or six months. But it was fun. Get to live in Yorkshire in the middle of the winter when you're 24, 25 years old. That was great. Siobhan: I was going to say, that also just sounds really cool because you kind of get to dabble in so many different types of advancement. I know in development, I remember when I first learned about it, I was like, oh, that's like for schools. And I'm like, wait, no. There's fundraising for hospitals and political campaigns and nature organizations, which I want to get to eventually. Sean: And human rights organizations or arts and cultural groups. I think that that's a really good point, Siobhan, because where I got really lucky was that I, and it really serves me well right now at this stage in my career that I have a very diverse set of experiences and what we call multi-sector kind of experience. I'm not just a higher ed fundraiser, I've done every single type of nonprofit fundraising. And when you do that, you get to see where the commonalities are, and what the challenges are. Everything from a museum on Japanese sculptor named Isamu Noguchi, or to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, with Dr. Watson, who just basically discovered DNA. So I've been very blessed with having been exposed, and working with very different kinds of organizations. And I know that at this point in my life, there's not a lot of people who have that kind of experience. And so that kind of becomes my professional marker, I guess. So the person who's done a lot of big complex organizations, but also a lot of small organizations too. Siobhan: So I have two questions on that. The first is, it's a soft question. In all of those different types of fundraising, which was your favorite, I guess what kind of fundraising was most enjoyable for you? Sean: I do the arts and cultural world because I find the board and the people to be very interesting and fun to work with. It is perhaps the hardest sector to work on because a lot of what we do is 400 billion is given away by people and corporations and foundations every year. And the top sector, it's religion, is probably the largest recipient of philanthropy, healthcare and education come in pretty close after that. So you're going to get a lot, it's not saying it's easier to raise money in higher ed, in healthcare, but in some ways it is because in healthcare it typically centers around solving a problem or the so-called grateful patient. "Dr X saved my life, I'm going to give him all my money or a lot of my money" and higher education is "professor Y saved my life and got me on the right path, so I'm going to give money there." Arts and cultural tends to be not necessarily the top priority people. It could be second or third or maybe sometimes fourth. And so it's harder sometimes, but I find it to be more interesting. And then in terms of my most enjoyable experience, probably when I worked in London again in 2000, when I got to do some work with the International Accounting Standards Board, which sounds very boring, but the job was very exciting because what the job was, was to raise money for an organization that was trying to harmonize accounting standards around the world. Siobhan: Oh, cool. Sean: I got to travel around Europe to actually interview executives on their willingness to support this cause, this kind of new plan. And it was just fun working on that kind of scale. One of the great things about this, that I've enjoyed about my career is that I have to learn about every kind of thing. I'm not an expert on accounting, but I have to be able to have a conversation about it. I'm not an expert on art museums, but I have to be able to at least have a conversation about it. And here at Audubon, I'm not an ornithologist, but I have to be able to talk about climate change and the importance of eelgrass in San Francisco Bay. Because what I'm doing is representing these organizations, and serving as the middle person between philanthropy and good causes. And that's on thing I think my profession's about. It's not about asking for money, in a weird way. It's really about creating an environment where you create opportunities for people who have money, who want to give away money, to do it in a way that they feel comfortable doing it. Siobhan: No, I feel the same way, especially in connecting with alums. It's not about asking them for money. It's about what did you love about Holy Cross and how can you support that again? Sean: Exactly. Siobhan: But you mentioned Audubon. And I just, so again, with advancement just being so vast, if I'm being honest, I didn't know that such an organization existed. When I saw that that's where you work, I was like, oh my God, of course that would exist. Sean: I'm going to have to do more work then, Siobhan to make sure you hear about this. Siobhan: But it makes sense. Birds are so important, and the environment is such, no pun intended, but a hot topic right now. But how did you, I guess, find that organization and what brought you there? Sean: Yeah. Siobhan: Is that one of your passions too? Is the environment something that strikes... Sean: It is, I think certainly climate change and birds over time. The truth is that they found me and reached out to me. And then, right now at this stage of my career, I think when I was a little younger... And I have some advice about careers too, but, and this is what I share with people, is that you really do want to go to a place where the people, you kind of vibe with the people that you're going to work with. I think mission is very important, but as you're building a career, it's very important to find people that believe in you, give you the resources to be successful in where you can learn. At Audubon, at this stage of my career, because I have a leadership role, I can control some of those things. I can control the type of culture I'm trying to create with my team, and which I think is very, very important for fundraisers. For fundraisers to stay, is actually understanding what makes motivates fundraisers and what motivates development. Because I think a lot of this is, there's some similar aspects I think to a really good fundraising personality. But Audubon, I think the reason why I'm here is because they wanted to grow. And one of the things I've learned about my career recently is that there's some people who are comfortable in a status quo environment. And then there's some people who just like to build things. And I'm certainly in the ladder, and part of this is because of my consulting background. I like to solve problems, and figure out a way to grow. I know that sounds like every organization wants to do that, but not necessarily. Because I think in order to do that, there has to be an alignment between the board and the leadership of the organization, and actually a really good case of why growth is needed. And then of course they need to invest. So you need to spend money to raise money. All those elements were in place when I was talking to Audubon about five and a half years ago with leadership. So if I see alignment between the Chair of the Board and the CEO, and if they kind of align with the Chief Development Officer or the person who's in charge of raising money, that's when really great things can happen. Because this is never, in my view, a money issue. There's plenty of money in this world right now. This is always a strategy problem. How are we getting the money? How are we telling our story? Do we have the mechanical pieces in place? Do we have the right people? Are they trained? Do we have the right leadership in place? Those are the things that staff ultimately control. And if they are in the right spot, and doing it the right way, the money should come. It's very difficult to get all that stuff figured out. And that's really, at the end of the day, that's what the work is. Is that I think good fundraisers have a vision for what the word will look like or feel like. At any given day, I know what kind of meeting I'm trying to design between a board member and my CEO, and I know what I want them to say and I know who I want in the room. So I'm always trying to get to that point. Not as easy as it sounds, because it just takes time to get all those things in place, and to make sure that the conversation's happening. And making sure you have answers to all the questions that funders want. So for instance, at Audubon we're... Bezos gives a wait a lot of money for climate, we spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make that approach happen the right way. I don't want need to digress, but that's a lot of it how I think of it. Siobhan: No, and that's awesome. Actually, so I have a few questions that are going in different directions, so I'll see if I can loop them all together. So the first one is, I guess, what keeps you in this work? What drives your day? What kept your passion in the work that you're doing? Sean: Well, yeah, there were times, I remember in 2000, 2001 during the first dot com boom, I remember I would've been about 30 or so, there was a lot of people in my peer group trying to go to dotcom and early in internet stage companies. And I did talk to some people, this is after I got back from London. And I remember talking to some, what I would call philtech. Phil, P H I L technology, so philanthropy technology companies that were starting at that time and ultimately did not pursue them. And then on occasion, during the late two thousands or before the 2008 recession, could I parlay this experience into some kind of for-profit thing? I think ultimately, what kept me is, which is what you hear when you hear people give career advice when you're younger is, and I think there's a lot of truth to this, is if you actually like what you do and eventually you become good at it, then everything else takes care of itself. So I really do like what I'm doing, and I've become pretty good at it. And so then everything else takes care of itself. And being intentional about the different moves you make. And because designing a career is... I'm not saying it's a full-time job, but you cannot approach that casually. You have to be attainable about it. And what I mean by that is that whenever you go to an organization, and it doesn't really matter what sector we're talking about, but certainly in the fundraising sector, you want to understand not only how you're going to be successful there, but what will it lead to? What if you're successful at XYZ organization, will it give you an opportunity to grow within the organization or maybe even go to another organization, that type of thing. Depending on what you ultimately want to do. You don't have to become a Chief Development Officer. You can become the best frontline fundraiser in an area that you really, really love. And that's the great thing about this sector is that there's a lot of different diverse job functions. You have the development operations side, which is very much oriented towards tech people and people who are data-driven. The foundation relations kind of world, which really solid writers do well in that sector or that section of the work. And then frontline fundraisers are really usually a kind of sales salesperson orientation. Siobhan: I was going to say, as someone who is on the soliciting end of things, I feel like I'm a salesperson for Holy Cross, which I love because as someone, and you get this as someone who benefited from the product, it almost makes the job easy. But I was curious, so as someone, you weren't on both ends of the spectrum, so the soliciting side, which we've said isn't all about asking for money, but sometimes it comes down to, okay, here's my wallet. And then also the giving away of money. How would you, I guess, compare those roles? Because right now, as someone who's just starting out, I find the idea of grant giving and the other side of the work to be intriguing. Sean: It is intriguing. So my experience and foundations, I did some work with the MacArthur Foundation and the Gates Foundation, both those opportunities, I got to obviously work closely with them to understand more how they work. And over my career, I've got to work closely with some foundations. And over my career, I've probably felt the same thing that you're feeling, oh, it would be fun to get away money. But it's funny, they kind of have the same challenges in some ways because they... And I think that that actually helps you become a good fundraiser with foundations. To kind of boil this down, everyone has a job and everyone has to do things. So if you're a foundation officer, you have to do things, you have to give away money. And it is hard to give away money, because you're going to be evaluated on how the partnerships that you developed, did you squander the money or did you give the money away smartly? And if you gave the money away, did you do a good job following up in a and actually evaluating their efficacy? And that is hard. And there's a lot of pressure. And so if you orient yourself as a, now I'm going on the solicitor side, if you orient yourself to, I'm going to make this person's life easier, then you're talking to them like a person and you're creating a partnership. How can I help you with your job, or what you have to do? We're a good organization, we're going to communicate with you, we're going to spend your money the right way. Then it's a great thing. So you're not really asking them for money, you're really creating a partnership. And I think that that makes all the things in the world. But then if you think about designing strategies for a billionaire who wants to, some billionaire from Holy Cross calls you Siobhan and said, Siobhan, I want you to run a foundation for me and figure out... I want to give away money to human rights organizations and arts organizations in South America, and I'm going to give you a budget and you figure it out. So what would you do? You would probably start creating a network. You would go travel and see some, understand the issue. Go to South America, go visit museums, create a network of people, and then start to give away money. Yes, that would be fun. That would be really fun. But going to a big foundation and running a program, you do have to be a subject matter expert. Oftentimes, not all the time, because now there are a lot of foundations out there that I've been encountering that will hire a friend, someone they trust to actually help them with their foundation. I met this foundation recently where, all of a sudden they found themselves with a whole lot of money and they wanted to create this foundation because that's what the estate had directed them to do. And they're going to find the person that they trust. And so sometimes that person's not a subject matter expert, but they're a trusted advisor to the family. But if you're a subject matter expert in human rights, you're coming at it from a different direction. You're an academic that goes into a foundation. But I do think it's a growing, obviously a growing field as the wealth inequality continues to increase. I'll just give you a little tidbit on, this is one of my favorite facts. When I started in the business, mid-nineties, I would always go to the Hudson News in Grand Central and buy the Forbes 400, which would come out, I guess it would come on the fall. I'm trying to remember when it did. But I always loved that because I would go home on the train and just read it, and learn about the families who had wealth. And I quickly learned that not everybody, wealth and philanthropy are not the same thing. People with money and people who are philanthropic, there's like a Venn diagram in the middle. But to be the four hundredth, wealthiest person on that list, right back in the mid-nineties, the net worth was 400 million or something like that. It's a lot of money. What do you think it is today? Siobhan: It's more. Because I feel like... I was going to say, I feel like, because nowadays, and maybe it's because I work in fundraising, a million dollars doesn't seem like that much money anymore. Sean: Something like 1.7 billion. Siobhan: I was going to say at least a billion dollars. Sean: So why that's extraordinary. Not only how much it's gone up. Might be 1.4, but I know it's something like that. There's a whole lot of people below that. We don't even know who those people are. Siobhan: Wow. Sean: They're not necessarily publicly known. So the amount of people... It used to be rather, you used to be able to understand where the wealth was. And now I think you just don't, A very interesting world we live in now in terms of the relationship between wealth, philanthropy, and our business. There's a lot of new philanthropists coming on board that are coming out of the nowhere, partly because they're just not as well known. It's just more. There's more opportunity. That's why we're not really at a wealthy, it's not about money, it's about strategy. Siobhan: I was also going to say, I find... At least I can relate to least the capacity because sometimes, you use all the data that you have and you assume that someone has this profile, but you could either be over assuming, but then you could also be easily under assuming too. There are probably people that you don't think they would give maybe over a thousand dollars. But if you go about it, as you were saying, strategy, if you talk to them, if they're into music and you talk to them about the new performing arts center, you might inspire their generosity more than if you're talking to them about a new basketball court. Sean: I think that that's a hundred percent right. And I think, that's why I think it sounds a little old school. I think research can be a little overdone. I love research by the way. I think that my research team, they call me an, I'm an honorary researcher because on occasion, if I'm sitting in front of the TV or something like that, I'll go deep on some name and I just love finding these little nuggets of information. I'll send our director of prospect research these random emails. I said, look into this, look into that. Because at least at Audubon, I'm looking into people who care about climate, who care about birds, who care about... Siobhan: Again, that is so unique. Sean: Well, there's one, if you look on... Here's one of the cool things about birds besides the fact they're cool. If you go to... The Fish and Wildlife Service did a report on one of the most common outdoor activity, obviously gardening is actually probably the top. Birding is actually second or so. They estimate over 40 million people at one point in their life have gone out and watched birds, whether it's in their backyard or something like that. It's an awful lot of people. Siobhan: It is a lot of people. That's a fun fact. Sean: Yeah, it drives our work for sure. And we're doing this cool thing. This is kind of a little bit out of sequence, but we have this thing called Bird Song, which is this project we're doing. In fact, you can look on Spotify, and this has been in the New York Times. A music supervisor, a guy named Randall Poster who works with Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese approached Audubon, and he got the bird bug over the pandemic because he was at home and listening to birds. He approached all of his musician friends, people like Jarvis Cocker and Yo-Yo Ma and Yoko Ono and Karen O and Beck to do songs inspired by Bird Song. And so he has 180 tracks. He's also asked his actor friends like Liam Neeson and Matthew McConaughey and Adrien Brody to read poems that are about birds, including a bird poem written by another Holy Cross alum, Billy Collins, who is a poet who wrote a poem about sandhill cranes in Nebraska. He has Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes reading that poem. Anyways, there's going to be a big album, a box set release, and all the money's going to go to Audubon. Siobhan: That's awesome. Sean: Birds are having a moment. Siobhan: Birds are having a moment. It's a bird's world and we're just living in it. Sean: It is. That's a good way of putting it, I'm going to borrow that. Siobhan: You can totally, as long as you give me copyright credit. Sean: I'll absolutely give you copyright, and all the royalties. Siobhan: Exactly. And I do want to just be cognizant of time, but as the podcast is about Holy Cross's mission and how it influenced your life, and I know you did talk about this a little bit at the beginning. I just wanted to hear more about how Holy Cross impacted your life and your work, and maybe Holy Cross' mission in addition to being men and women for others. Sean: I found a profession that I think in the beginning it might not have made sense, but I have to tell you now, at my age, there's a lot of people, a lot of friends who went to all lacrosse and other places are some ways jealous of this career because... So I have this ability to do well and do good. Use persuasion techniques or skills that could be implied to advertising or banking or some other sales job. But when I'm being reflective of the relationship between the effort and the work that I've applied my daily profession to the outcome, it completely aligns with my worldview of actually helping other people and helping organizations and helping the world, whether it's through art or healthcare or science or human rights or conservation. I feel pretty good about that. And I also feel very fortunate because I don't think I'd be in this profession if it wasn't for Holy Cross, partly because combined with how I was raised and also Holy Cross reinforcing some of those values and elevating them. And then, really the specific moment when Jonathan Winters actually said, hey, you should look into this job. And really made the connection between me as a recent alum and an opportunity with another Holy Cross person. So if Pat Cunningham's listening to this podcast, and I reach out to him once in a while, was a very influential person in terms of where I'm at right now, and I'm very grateful for that. So it's a fun profession. I encourage, I do a lot of connecting with other Holy Cross grads that have helped people. And there's a lot of Holy Cross people that I've met who are in this business, and you try to get together. Because I think there's a really interesting theme here in terms of what we do. And a lot of us are doing, in pretty good organizations, doing really, really good work. So celebrating that as a profession would be fun to do. I actually, Danita Wickwire, who is class of '94 joined my team recently. Which is incredible, because I told her, she reminds me a little bit of why I'm in this profession. Because if you go into this world of fundraising, it's hard to keep up with everything. But then, because she's here and because of our common history at Holy Cross, it's nice to have her because we were able to align around that a lot. And I think she participated in one of these podcasts as well. And she's a really, really influential and important leader in this space as well. Siobhan: Oh, that's awesome. She is an outstanding volunteer and name in our office. So our office is a big fan of Danita, she's great. Also, what I really like too that you said is, I don't know, I find that the job doesn't really feel like work and it's comforting to hear that doesn't change. Sean: It doesn't really. No, it doesn't change. I mean, listen, it's not saying it's easy all the time, but it's certainly fun. Siobhan: And then I guess you kind of touched upon this, but for someone starting out in this work, what is some advice you would give? And then I guess also, looking back on your journey that got you here, is there anything that you would've done differently? Sean: I don't think I have any regrets about choices I've made, also philosophically don't believe in that because I don't think it's helpful. But I think in terms of advice, I do think, and I know this sounds slightly cynical, so I soften this a little bit, but I really do feel it's important to go to a place where your boss and your colleagues believe and align with how you think about this work. I think often, sometimes I see folks make a mistake going to an organization for the mission only, and then what ends up happening sometimes, not all the time, is that the expectations aren't there. And then it can really be a hard place to be. One of the hardest things about this business is... It's a very optimistic, enthusiastic person, but I also know how hard this is and things can go wrong, and you might not have control over certain things. And so educating non-fundraisers, or orienting them about how this work actually unfolds happens with experience. So I'm able to do that with a little bit more ease than I did when I was younger. But be very intentional about your career. If you have a lot of the elements in place, that's great. If you're able to grow, that's great. Don't go for the money, so to speak, or for the mission, make sure everything else is in place. That's my advice. Siobhan: That's very deep. I think that's applicable to anything too. Sean: It is. But I remember, I give a lot of career advice and sometimes I see people, it looks really good, but you got to ask all the right questions, make sure you're asking the questions so you have it all figured out. Siobhan: Yeah. Then I guess, is there any type of organization that you haven't worked with yet that you'd want to? You said you've worked with most of them, but is there anything that maybe in your journey that you've seen... Sean: I was in Columbia last week, the country, because we do a lot of work hemispherically, so I was in Bogota and Cali. I really enjoy, where I think this is headed, and maybe it would be fun, is like this orientation about raising money in other parts of the world. I've done it before, I've done it in England, and it's different in every country and it's evolving and this cultural barriers of this and all that stuff. But I like the way the globalization in terms of how we're thinking about the NGO, bottom up. And also the importance of diversifying our space. Our profession has to be more intentional about how to do that and create space and opportunities for people of color and other backgrounds because there's a lot of history and reasons why it is what it is. And we have to continue to try to figure out ways to open up doors and opportunities that are just not going to happen naturally. You have to be forceful about that. So any place that is in that space. You know what, the weird thing about this space, and I talked to Ron Lawson about this, who's a Chief Operating Officer of a coalition, homeless coalition in New York. It's in a weird way, it's really hard to raise private philanthropy for some social justice issues like homelessness and hunger. Hunger, not as much as it used to be. But I'm always curious about why that is. And there are some organizations that kind of outperform. There's so much money that's given away and there's some sectors that are just not there yet. And that would be fun to understand more why that's happening and help with that too. Siobhan: Cool. I just wanted to see where you were headed next. Sean: I don't know. Siobhan: Nonprofit. Sean: Yeah, it's fun. I'm glad you're in this space and you should keep in touch, Siobhan, it'd be fun to see where your career's going to take you. Siobhan: I was going to say, I'll have you on speed dial. Sean: Good. Awesome. Siobhan: Awesome. And before I let you go, I just wanted to end on a fun little speed Holy Cross round. Sean: Sure. Siobhan: Very quick. Okay. What was your freshman dorm? Sean: Mulledy Siobhan: What was your hardest class? Sean: That economics class with Professor Chu. No, actually accounting class with Professor Chu. Yeah. Siobhan: Nice. Best professor you've ever had? Sean: Probably Professor Chu Siobhan: I see him sometimes, so I'll be sure to let him know. Sean: I think he just retired actually. I thought I just saw that he's retiring soon. Siobhan: He is, but he has his little research. Sean: Yeah, you can tell him that. Tell him, gave him a shout-out. I think I was, it might have been... That was his first year he got here, I think. Siobhan: Oh, that's so funny. Senior dorm? Sean: Carlin. Siobhan: Oh, nice. Sean: Yeah, Carlin Siobhan: Favorite spot on campus? Sean: I guess I liked the radio station. That was a great place to escape. Siobhan: Oh, cute. First meal you think of when you think of Kimball. Sean: Ah, that's good. Probably just like chicken fingers, I guess. They actually existed, I think that they did. Or that Turkey. There's like some kind of Turkey meal that was good there. Siobhan: Oh my goodness. The Thanksgiving Turkey dinner slaps. Best restaurant in Worcester. This is good because you're a local. Sean: Yeah, well the best restaurant right now that I was just like, wow, this is a pretty good restaurant. There's that sushi place on Park Avenue is really, really good actually. And then when I was there, I guess Arturo's was a great Italian place, but that's not, I think that's closed now. Best Breakfast place is probably Lou Roc's on West Boylston Street, which is a really, really good diner. Siobhan: Good to know. Everyone always talks about Miss Worcester's, I'll have to... Sean: Miss Worcester's is good, but Lou Roc's is a little further out, but it's excellent, excellent. Yeah. Siobhan: Oh, fabulous. All right. Your go-to study spot? Sean: The Library right side, as you're walking on the right side. Yeah, not the left side. Siobhan: Okay. And if you were going to campus right now, where are you going first? Sean: I am going to check out this new performing arts center which is the coolest looking building in Worcester, I think. Siobhan: Right? It kind of looks like an airport, but in a good way. Sean: It's a very cool, it's one of the coolest architecture buildings I've seen. And it's certainly one of the coolest things in Worcester. I think it's awesome. I want to go inside it. Siobhan: And then last question, your fondest Holy Cross memory. Sean: Fondest Holy Cross memory? Oh, I don't know. I really enjoy fall at Holy Cross. That's what I enjoyed the most. Yeah, and I like fall in Worcester. Yeah, for sure. Siobhan: That's a good answer. Sean: Yeah. Siobhan: Especially fall at Holy Cross is beautiful. Sean: Yeah, like a football game in the fall. That's probably it. Siobhan: Nice. Wow. Thank you so much for chatting with me. Sean: Thanks Siobhan. Siobhan: Taking the time out of your today. Sean: That was great, thanks. Thanks for the opportunity. Maura Sweeney: That's our show. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the mission to be people for and with others. A special thanks to today's guests and everyone at Holy Cross who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. If you or someone would like to be featured on this podcast, then please send us an email at alumnicareers.holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review. This podcast is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations at the College of the Holy Cross. You can subscribe for future episodes wherever you find your podcast. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, "Now go forth and set the world on fire." Theme music composed by Scott Holmes, courtesy of freemusicarchive.org.

Dr. Lori Buzzetti joins Tim to talk about one of the most magical stories of all time, one we all think we know, but it's amazing what we don't. Lori is a board-certified physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served in private practice, and at a large medical center, where she was on the teaching faculty. Today, she is the founder and president of a nonprofit organization that serves expectant mothers called So Big. In this episode we're going to talk about one of the most basic questions you can think of. What actually happens in those nine months before we meet our babies? This episode was originally released August 16, 2021. https://traffic.libsyn.com/forcedn/shapingopinion/295_-_Encore_-_The_Baby_Story.mp3 We all have our own understandings of how babies are made based on what we may have read, or been told, or been taught in health class. And of course, based on our own experience as mothers … and as fathers. Or as family members. Today, we're going to assume none of that. We're going to start with a clean slate, and walk through the most amazing journey on the planet with someone who knows. We're going to learn about the baby. Just the baby. Not the mom, not the dad, and not so much the pregnancy per se. Just the baby. Links So Big, (Lori's nonprofit organization website) LynLeee Hope, Meet the Baby Who Was Born Twice, ‘For Every Mom' Blog Extreme Preemie Born at 21 Weeks Young at Emory Decatur Hospital, Fox 5 Atlanta Pregnancy Week by Week, Mayo Clinic About this Episode's Guest Dr. Lori Buzzetti Dr. Lori Buzzetti is the founder and President of a nonprofit organization called So Big, which serves expectant mothers. So Big has established one Mountain House maternity home in Indiana with plans to expand in the near future. These homes would help expectant mothers meet their basic needs and connect with other programs that also serve pregnant women in need. Joining forces with others that have similar passion and goals will help us reach the women and children we want to serve and to do it more effectively. In the end it's about giving hope. It's about sharing God's love. She is married to Dr. Tony Buzzetti, with a daughter, Tessa and a son, Jake. They attend Traders Point Christian Church. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Iowa State University and M.D. from the University of Iowa. She completed her training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Indiana University Medical Center. She is Board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a former private practitioner on the south-side of Indianapolis. She is formerly employed by St. Vincent Hospital where she was a member of the teaching faculty and administration for the OBGYN residency program.

The CME experience for this Podcast is powered by CMEfy - click here to reflect and unlock credits & more: https://earnc.me/Fo4kTT Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis. He is clinical instructor of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University and Marian University Schools of Medicine. A graduate of Indiana University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Profeta completed his post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and writer as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio who has gained critical acclaim for his essays on topics such as his eye-opening look at our national preparedness for influenza pandemics in What Scares Me More than Ebola. Today's Episode is brought to you by Doc2Doc Lending. Doc2Doc provides Match Day loans of up to $25,000 to fourth-year medical students and current residents. These loans are designed to help students cover personal expenses, such as moving costs, housing down payments, and living expenses before and during residency. With fixed interest rates, flexible repayment terms, and no prepayment penalties, Doc2Doc Match Day loans provide financial flexibility and allow students to focus on their exciting journey towards becoming a physician. Doc2Doc was founded for doctors, by doctors. They understand the challenges and hard work involved in becoming a doctor, and they support doctors throughout their careers. Using their in-house lending platform, Doc2Doc considers the unique financial considerations of doctors that are not typically considered by traditional financial institutions. So, Don't let financial stress hold you back from achieving your goals - Doc2Doc lending has you covered. Visit www.doc2doclending.com/mdcoaches to Learn more.     Join the Conversation! We want to hear from you! Do you have additional thoughts about today's topic? Do you have your own Prescription for Success? Record a message on Speakpipe Unlock Bonus content and get the shows early on our Patreon Follow us or Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Amazon  | Spotify --- Show notes at https://rxforsuccesspodcast.com/156 Report-out with comments or feedback at https://rxforsuccesspodcast.com/report Music by Ryan Jones. Find Ryan on Instagram at _ryjones_, Contact Ryan at ryjonesofficial@gmail.com Production assistance by Clawson Solutions Group, find them on the web at csolgroup.com        

Host: Charles Turck, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP Guest: Brian Mulherin, MD What are the current treatment options available for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and how can we select the appropriate option based on various factors like efficacy, safety, and patient access? Joining Dr. Charles Turck in this important discussion is Dr. Brian Mulherin from Hematology Oncology of Indiana and Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis.

Season 4 Episode 3- CAR T Therapy This week we sit down with Teresa Thakrar, PharmD, BCOP, CPP to discuss CAR T therapy. Dr. Thakrar is currently a hematology, stem cell transplant, and cellular therapy Clinical Pharmacist and Clinical Oncology Pharmacy Team Lead at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. Prior to this role, she was a stem cell transplant Clinical Pharmacist at the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Thakrar received her Doctor of Pharmacy from Purdue University College of Pharmacy. She completed a PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Residency at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis and a PGY2 Oncology Pharmacy Residency at the University of North Carolina Medical Center.

Patient #23, a young girl suffering from dissociative amnesia is currently one of only five patients at St. Vincent Hospital, a financially struggling mental health sanatorium in the Hudson Valley. She was brought here, together with her little daughter Tess, whom she doesn't recognize, after being found meandering the streets without memory of her past, lost and disoriented. Dr. Jane Chu, the caring and good hearted head therapist of St.Vincent has tried every conventional treatment with 23, but thus far they failed to recover any memory. She decides to try an unlicensed therapy called P.A.T., developed by the former head of St. Vincent, Dr. Sermon, himself once a star in the field of psychiatry who fell from grace and disappeared after being accused of misconduct.The highly experimental P.A.T therapy session helps 23 uncover a memory, but it's not her own. It belongs to a young woman named: Teresa Ercolano, who lives in Italy and experienced a strange incident in the ancient city of Pompeii.Shocked about the setback Dr. Chu looks through old VHS tapes of Dr. Sermon's experiments, hoping to find more information about the treatment.

On March 8, 2021, protesting dangerous working conditions and staffing ratios, over 700 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Massachusetts hit the picket line for what would become the longest nurses' strike in the state's history. This is their story. Today's show is excerpted from an hourlong video by Gino Canella for TRNN, The Real News Network. These interviews with St. Vincent nurses comprise a ripped-from-the-headlines oral history of a ferocious labor battle that carries lessons for workers everywhere. On this week's Labor History in Two: The cause and effect of unskilled temps. Questions, comments, or suggestions are welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @wrkclasshistory @TheRealNews @MassNurses

This week we will discuss Functional Medicine as it relates to Cardiology.  Our guest today is Dr. Trent Orfanos. Dr. Trent Orfanos is the Director of Integrative and Functional Cardiology at Case Integrative Health.  Dr. Orfanos brings decades of experience in both Cardiology and Integrative Medicine.   In his own words: "I practiced adult invasive, nuclear, noninvasive, and interventional cardiology from 1982 to 2019.  From 2010 to 2019, I embraced preventative cardiology from a functional medicine perspective while maintaining my full-time interventional cardiology practice. I saw my patients flourish with these functional medicine interventions who were previously deteriorating with only conventional care. This was very gratifying for myself and my patients."  At CIH, Dr. Orfanos will continue to practice his functional philosophy and expand his toolkit for serving patients.  ​ Dr. Orfanos earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences and his Doctorate of Medicine from Indiana University.  His residency is in Internal Medicine at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis before completing a Fellowship in Cardiology under Edward Steinmetz, MD.  He has Board Certifications in Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Integrative Medicine, Functional Medicine, and Antiaging medicine (five if you're counting).  He is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology as well as the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.   During his time in hospitals, Dr. Orfanos was the Sub-section Chief of Cardiology at St. Anthony Medical Center, as well as a Regional Director on their Board.  Dr. Orfanos is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the IU School of Medicine Northlake Campus.

An oral history of a ferocious labor battle that became the longest nurses' strike in Massachusetts state history. It happened in 2021.  Today's show comes to us from The Real News Network; if you enjoy this report, please help TRNN continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following them and making a small donation. Got a questions, comments or suggestions welcome, and to find out how you can be a part of Labor History Today, email us at LaborHistoryToday@gmail.com Labor History Today is produced by Union City Radio and the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. Hosted and produced by Chris Garlock.  #LaborRadioPod #History #WorkingClass #ClassStruggle @GeorgetownKILWP #LaborHistory @UMDMLA @ILLaborHistory @AFLCIO @StrikeHistory #LaborHistory @TheRealNews

Dr. Chris Clark, Prep Class of 1987, is the President of St. Vincent Hospital. Host Jimmy Smith ‘11, AVP of Development & Strategic Initiatives, and Dr. Clark have a great conversation where he shares valuable wisdom on his rise to success. On this episode, Dr. Clark shares how his time at Prep helped develop characteristics that led to him being successful in his career path. He talks about finding your passions and discusses complacency being the enemy. We are positive that you will gain a wealth of knowledge out of this episode!

What does Dr. Profeta tell college kids about drugs? He shows them what it's like for him, as an emergency physician, to tell their parents they died of an overdose. That's the worse horror for a doctor. Dr. Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis. He is clinical instructor of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University and Marian University Schools of Medicine. A graduate of Indiana University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Profeta completed his post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and writer as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio who has gained critical acclaim for his essays on topics such as his eye-opening look at our national preparedness for influenza pandemics in What Scares Me More than Ebola.  In 2015, 2016 and again in 2017 he was named LinkedIn Top Voice for readership in health care. In 2020 he was recognized by LinkedIn as one of the Top Voices In Health Care related to Covid-19. The Society of Professional Journalism honored his scathingly sarcastic but passionate essay, Your Kid and My Kid Aren't Playing in the Pros, as one of the best articles on sports in 2014. In 2018 he was honored by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for his contributions to online media. Dr. Profeta's best-selling book, The Patient in Room Nine Says He's God, continues to earn critical acclaim as a poignant and passionate look at society, God and life through the eyes of an ER doctor. His essay  I Know You Love Me--Now Let Me Die has been read more than five million times on LinkedIn, the Huffington Post and NPR and has sparked a whole new debate on end-of-life care. His 2017 essays, When the Lion Kills Your Child ,  A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying with the Frat Boys and I'll Look at Your Facebook Profile Before I tell Your Mother You're Dead, are three of the most read and shared articles ever on LinkedIn, exposing the disastrous consequences of the opiate epidemic, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexual assaults on college campuses.  He is quickly becoming one of the most widely read opinion essayists in America. Dr. Profeta and his wife Sheryl are parents of three gr

The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding failure at every level of government to prevent its spread dealt a devastating blow to healthcare workers. Nurses, doctors, and other medical workers faced increasingly dangerous conditions, along with employers more concerned with increasing profits than saving the lives of their patients or employees. At St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, nurses fought back against their corporate employer by organizing a strike of over 700 workers that lasted for 10 months. Filmed by TRNN contributor Gino Canella, these interviews with St. Vincent nurses comprise an oral history of a ferocious labor battle that became the longest nurses' strike in Massachusetts state history.Read the transcript of this podcast: https://therealnews.com/an-oral-history-of-the-10-month-st-vincent-hospital-strikePre-Production/Studio: Gino CanellaPost-Production: Adam ColeyHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

The union says the hospital is forcing nurses to work longer shifts, just months after signing a new labor contract. They worry longer work days could drive away experienced nurses.

In the fourth episode of Perusing the Pandemic, we break down what the Omicron variant is and how the Omicron surge has impacted hospitals— specifically hospital staffing and patient care as hospital Covid-19 numbers never seemed to really drop despite Omicron's generally-speaking mild nature. We visit with Dr. Doug Ross, the president of CHI St. Vincent Hospital in Hot Springs, Arkansas to get a closer look at what kind of state Omicron has left their hospital and its staff in; we also re-visit with Dr. Kendrick, a physician from Conway, Arkansas (who was featured in our second episode) to hear him explain why this variant and wave are different from the others. This episode seeks to help listeners gain a better and fuller understanding of the Omicron variant, as well as empathy for those, such as health-care workers, who don't have the privilege of being able to ignore information about the coronavirus whenever they want.

Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis. He is clinical instructor of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University and Marian University Schools of Medicine. A graduate of Indiana University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Profeta completed his post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and writer as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio who has gained critical acclaim for his essays on topics such as his eye-opening look at our national preparedness for influenza pandemics in What Scares Me More than Ebola.   Unlock Bonus content and get the shows early on our Patreon Follow us or Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Amazon  | Spotify --- Show notes at https://rxforsuccesspodcast.com/91 Report-out with comments or feedback at https://rxforsuccesspodcast.com/report Music by Ryan Jones. Find Ryan on Instagram at _ryjones_, Contact Ryan at ryjonesofficial@gmail.com

In this episode, Daniel Kang explores the importance of play with physical therapist Ryan Jacobson. How do playing and learning work together in kids' development? What does play have to do with stewarding our souls?Ryan Jacobson is an assistant professor of physical therapy at George Fox University. He has formerly worked as a pediatric rehab supervisor with Providence Children's Development Institute in Portland, an inpatient physical therapist at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, and as a program supervisor with PRIDE for Kids in Vancouver, Washington.The host for this episode, Dr. Daniel Kang, joined George Fox's Department of Physical Therapy as an assistant professor of physical therapy in 2013. Previously, he worked for nine years as owner and lead physical therapist of Kang Physical Therapy Inc. of Ventura, California. His teaching experience includes stints as an instructor of kinesiology at California State University of Channel Islands and as a teaching assistant of anatomy and physiology at Loma Linda University. He is in the process of earning a graduate certification of medical physiology with a specialization in cardiovascular/renal physiology and pathophysiology from the University of Florida. He holds a doctor of physical therapy degree (2004), a master's degree in physical therapy (2002) and a bachelor's degree in health science (2002), all from Loma Linda University.These podcasts are also all video recorded and on our YouTube channel! You can also visit our website at https://georgefox.edu/talks for more content like this. 

A pediatric physician at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital lost his job for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 citing a religious conflict. Dr. Paul Halczenko claims aborted fetal tissue was used in the testing and development. This process, he says, goes against his Christian faith. So, was vaccine testing and development connected to aborted fetal tissue? Find out in this episode of Medical Minutes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

WBZ's Chris Fama reports on the end of a nearly 10 month long nurses strike in Worcester.

Welcome back to another episode of open globe talk, we are joined today by Dr. Jenny Yu, who is an Oculoplastics specialist and the Co-founder of Project Theia. Dr. Yu attended the Ohio State University where she received a BS with distinction, honoring in biochemistry. She later obtained her MD through OSU's College of Medicine and Public Health before embarking on a residency in Ophthalmology at St. Vincent Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh where she also fellowship trained in Oculoplastics. As our first episode on Global Oculoplastics, this episode goes over multiple topics relevant at the trainee-level. You don't want to miss this incredible session!

The main demands made by the MNA were met, staffing improvements and the guarantee that all seven hundred striking nurses will be allowed to return to work with same positions, hours, and shifts they worked before the strike. WBZ's Shari Small reports.

One week from today, Santa will have already dropped off his gifts and moved on. The strike is finally over as St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association announced that a tentative agreement has been reached. Columbia Gas is still paying to promote the Merrimack Valley. Five minutes of news that keeps you in The Loop.

On Saturday, November 25, 2006, I married Lauren Elizabeth Duff in Hillsboro, Ohio and she took my last name. I had just turned 20 and Lauren was 19. At the end of July 2007 our first son Josiah David was born at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Near the end of June 2008, our second son Elihu James was born, also at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. At the end of December 2009, our third son Solomon Emmanuel was born at home in Jamestown, Ohio. The midwives were late to our early morning homebirth. So I delivered him the day before New Year's Eve. In 2010, Lauren and I found out we were pregnant again, but decided to keep the news to ourselves for a while. Our hearts broke when Lauren miscarried, and we wrestled with whether we had cared too much what people would say. May 2011 our fourth son Daniel Joseph was born at home in Hillsboro, Ohio. On the encouragement of the midwives, since we had done so well with our first unassisted homebirth, I delivered Daniel as well - on Star Wars Day, no less. July 2012, Lauren and our four boys followed me out West and we moved into our rental home in the countryside north of Glendive, Montana - my hometown after I landed a job as a lease operator with ConocoPhillips and started my career in Oil and Gas. Near the end of September 2013, our daughter Evelyn Grace was born at home with the help of a very dear midwife Lauren had found in the area. In April 2014 we bought and moved into our first home in Sidney, Montana. December 2015, our fifth son Enoch Theophilus was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Miles City. We had hoped and planned for another homebirth with the assistance of a midwife, but were relieved all the same that everything worked out. October 2016 I decided to leave my first Oil and Gas job with ConocoPhillips to explore other options. January 2017, I started a new venture with Zedi and worked my way by into Automation by the end of the year. Toward the end of May 2018, our sixth son John Lazarus was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Miles City, Montana. Once again, we had hoped and planned for a homebirth, but the Lord had other plans. At the beginning of September 2019, Lauren and I moved our family to Greeley, Colorado as I took a job with Sterling Energy. Twice in 2020 - once in February and a second time in June - we suffered two miscarriages. The first Lauren learned at the ultrasound was an ectopic; the second was a miscarriage at home. Again, our hearts broke. November 2021, Lauren and I got away to a cabin in the mountains, just the two of us, for three days and two nights to celebrate my 35th birthday, our 15th wedding anniversary, and a new job with Eagle Automation. By God's grace, we have come a long ways, and are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us from here on - particularly with an eighth son named Andrew Matthias due January 2022. This is our story. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/garrett-ashley-mullet/support

Thousands of employees across the US are on strikes demanding change, and they're hoping that a worker-friendly Congress and arguably the most pro-union president in decades will help them get it.  In this episode: Marlena Pellegrino, nurse striking from St. Vincent Hospital (@SaintVincentMA) and Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Nurses Association (@MassNurses) Bargaining Unit Nafisah Ula, Organizing Director of Jobs With Justice National (@jwjnational) Thomas Kochan, Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management Connect with The Take:  Twitter (@AJTheTake), Instagram (@ajthetake) and Facebook (@TheTakePod)

Broadcast on October 14, 2021 Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith This week's show: 700 nurses have been striking for 8 months at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the folks who make Elijah Craig Bourbons at the Heaven Hill distillery in Kentucky have been on strike since September 11. Plus: Click here to support Your Rights At Work's home station WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kaliah Chapman. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFLCIO @MassNurses #StVincentHospital #Tenet #Healthcare @UFCW Local 23D

This week on the Chop Shop, William B. Henry Experience Podcast, Krikor Jansezian is live in the studio! Originally from Lebanon, Krikor grew up in California and shares the story of how he got to Montana and his job as COO of St. Vincent Hospital. He's got great insight into our community's healthcare system during this pandemic and discusses his PHD in Diversity and Inclusion with William.Don't miss this inspiring episode! This episode is sponsored by the Billings Chamber of Commerce, click the link to learn more or join them https://www.billingschamber.com/

Plus, an update on the ongoing nurses' strike at St. Vincent Hospital, and a conversation about where to find the most breathtaking foliage in New England.

We speak to Carolyn Jackson, the CEO of St. Vincent Hospital, and later, to Marlena Pellegrino, a striking nurse at the hospital and member of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, to hear their perspectives.

Good Morning, Colorado, you're listening to the Daily Sun-Up with the Colorado Sun. It's Tuesday September 21st,   Today - As rural hospitals close across the country, the historic St. Vincent hospital is back and stronger than ever with the opening of a new eight-bed facility. The city's mayor calls it a “stunning accomplishment” for a community hospital started in the 1870s by two Kansas nuns,    But before we begin, let's go back in time with some Colorado history adapted from historian Derek R Everett's book “Colorado Day by Day”:   Today we're going back to September 21st, 2012 when President Barack Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to declare Colorado's Chimney Rock a National Monument. Archeologists believe that Chacoans, who dominated the region at the turn of the second millennium, used the Chimney Rock site as an astronomical calendar.   Now, our feature story.   Seven years ago, the only hospital in Leadville appeared on the verge of death. But this month, the historic St. Vincent hospital surged back to life with the opening of a new eight-bed facility, now called St. Vincent Health. The city's mayor calls it a “stunning accomplishment” for a community hospital started in the 1870s by two Kansas nuns, and it comes at a time when rural hospitals are closing across the United States. For people in Leadville -- the nation's highest incorporated city -- new services will be available close to home, shaving what can be lengthy drives on slick mountain roads. But it also promises to pump new energy into Leadville's economy, creating high-paying jobs and a more livable community. Shannon Najmabadi has the details.     To read more of Shannon Najmabadi's reporting on economic development initiatives across Colorado, go to coloradosun.com.    And Before we go, here are a few stories that you should know about today:   A fifth teenager from the tiny Eastern Plains town of Wiley has died as a result of a car crash earlier this month. Fifteen-year-old Braden Black died on Friday. He was a passenger in a SUV that was hit by a truck when the 16-year-old driver ran a stop sign on September 8, the Colorado State Patrol says. The superintendent of schools in Wiley says his community, which had just 260 students, is reeling from the loss, but is managing with help from grief counselors dispatched by organizations in other towns.   Denver-based Alterra Mountain Co. lost about $200 million when its North American ski operations shut down last year because of COVID. But its insurer is refusing to pay claims Alterra made under its business interruption policy. Alterra is suing Lexington Insurance in Denver District Court, noting that the policy did not exclude losses as a result of infectious or contagious disease. Other insurers have excluded that type of loss since the SARS virus outbreak in 2003.    The number of electric vehicles sold in Colorado is growing quickly, but not fast enough to meet the state's ambitious goal of having nearly a million of them on the road by 2030 to help reduce pollution. To encourage sales, Xcel Energy is offering incentives to help people making less than $85,000 a year afford a new or used EV and working with landlords to install chargers at apartment complexes and offering rebates for chargers installed in homes. The utility also wants to speed development of Colorado's public charging network, which currently includes about 15,000 ports to refuel. About 165,000 are needed to ease consumer anxiety about getting stuck somewhere on the road.   Hundreds of students from North High School and other Denver Public Schools walked out of their classrooms Monday morning and marched to the district headquarters to demand the school board do more about board member Tay Anderson than merely censure him. Some of the students said they will feel unsafe as long as he is in office. The board on Friday voted 6-1 to censure 23-year-old Anderson for conduct unbecoming. They voted after a six-month investigation found claims that Anderson had sexually assaulted students were unsubstantiated. It did find that he had flirted inappropriately with a 16-year-old on social media before learning her age, and that he made social media posts during the investigation that were threatening to witnesses.    For more information on all of these stories, visit our website, www.coloradosun.com. And don't forget to tune in again tomorrow.   The Colorado Sun is non-partisan and completely independent. We're always dedicated to telling the in-depth stories we need today more than ever. And The Sun is supported by readers and listeners like you.   Right now, you can head to ColoradoSun.com and become a member. Starting at $5 per month for a basic membership and if you bump it up to $20 per month, you'll get access to our exclusive politics and outdoors newsletters. Thanks for starting your morning with us and don't forget to tune in again tomorrow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's 51%, we discuss the growing burnout among healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic, and why some are leaving the profession. We also visit a new vacation spot for families and children battling serious illness, and speak with the new chief of surgery at a major hospital in New York state. Guests: Candie St. Jean, nurse case manager at Cooley Dickinson Hospital; Dr. KMarie King, chief of surgery at Albany Medical Center Follow Along A large crowd gathered for the grand opening of the “Family Retreat at Krantz Cottage” in July. You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for giving us a listen, I'm Jesse King. We're bringing you a trio of healthcare stories today — starting, of course, with the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, we're all familiar with tales of the nurses and doctors battling the virus on the front lines, but what does the battle look and feel like now that the vaccine is out, and the country is straining for some version of normalcy?  Well, in some ways, it’s not all that different. COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise due to the Delta variant. Hospitals across the country are once again struggling to make room for new patients, only this time many of them rejected the vaccine that was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. So many healthcare workers are burning out. Some are quitting, exacerbating staffing shortages and wait times nationwide. In March, Beacon Research in Boston surveyed 500 nurses across Massachusetts, and 37 percent said they see themselves leaving the profession sooner than they had planned. The Massachusetts Nursing Association is calling for a number of reforms, including better transparency from hospital administrators, decreased mental health boarding in emergency rooms, and the presumption that any healthcare staff diagnosed with COVID-19 caught it while on the job. A nurses' strike at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester has stretched on for over six months over disputed working conditions. I recently spoke with Candie St. Jean, a nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. What is it like, being a nurse right now? The talk is, you know, healthcare workers experiencing burnout, which is very, very real. But I want to stress, number one, burnout doesn’t just happen because of a pandemic. Many of the things, if not all of the things that we’re experiencing right now, were happening before COVI

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has thrown America's deeply dysfunctional system of caregiving into sharp relief: overcrowded and understaffed nursing homes account for a third of all COVID-19 deaths in the US. ICUs have been stretched to capacity while nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals—already beset by a nursing shortage prior to the pandemic—face high levels of burnout. And, of course, last year's school and daycare closures put severe strains on many parents, particularly women, who have had to navigate 24/7 childcare while simultaneously trying to work their jobs, either remotely or in-person. Add to this the fact that care work has been the fastest-growing labor sector in the US, and it's clear that any labor movement that is serious about building working-class power must be committed to organizing and fighting for care workers. But what does such a movement look like in practice? And how can we merge the struggles of care workers today with those of workers in other labor sectors.As part of a special collaboration with Jacobin magazine, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez joined hosts of The Jacobin Show Jen Pan and Paul Prescod for an extended episode examining the past, present, and future of the American labor movement. In this segment from the show, Pan explores the unique and varied struggles care workers face today, the importance of building a labor movement that includes care workers, and the ongoing fights by care workers in places like Worcester, Massachusetts, where 800 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital have been on strike since early March. We are sharing this segment with our TRNN audience with permission from Jacobin.Subscribe to the Jacobin YouTube channel and tune in every week for new episodes of The Jacobin Show.

As Covid cases are back on the rise and the Delta variant continues to gain momentum, hospitals all over the country are experiencing nursing shortages, and Erie is not immune. Sallie Piazza, RN, Chief Nursing Officer at AHN St. Vincent Hospital joined us for our Wednesday health focus to talk about the staffing issues among nurses here in Erie. Sallie brought to light the reality of what an outbreak of COVID hospitalizations brings to our health care facilities.

Hundreds of nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester are still not back at work after nearly six months on strike. We hear from the hospital CEO, Carolyn Jackson.

In this week's episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Louis Profeta, M.D. Dr. Profeta has decades of experience as an emergency physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis, a level one trauma center. He is also an award-winning writer. You may be familiar with some of his work, including his essay titled “A Sunday Talk on Sex, Drugs, Drinking and Dying”, on the topic of drugs, sexual assault, and alcohol abuse on college campuses. Dr. Profeta travels the country talking to college students and his approach is extremely direct and brutally honest. Trigger warning... we talk about drug and alcohol abuse and the experience of losing a child. Please consider that before listening to this episode. My goal in interviewing Dr. Profeta is to help educate parents about how to prepare their teens for college and life after high school in order to keep them safe. During our conversation, Dr. Profeta shares his wisdom and experience on topics including how to get through to your kids during the tough conversations, the danger of sending your kids to college with prescription drugs, and how to tell if your teen is truly ready to go to college. Please visit the show notes page for more information and links mentioned during this episode. Connect with Me! High School Hamster Wheel Facebook Page Betsy Jewell Career Coaching Instagram LinkedIn Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the beginning of August, we caught you up on more than 700 nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, who had been on strike since March. As of today, they are still not back at work.

Dr. Lori Buzzetti joins Tim to talk about one of the most magical stories of all time, one we all think we know, but it's amazing what we don't. Lori is a board-certified physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served in private practice, and at a large medical center, where she was on the teaching faculty. Today, she is the founder and president of a nonprofit organization that serves expectant mothers called So Big. In this episode we're going to talk about one of the most basic questions you can think of. What actually happens in those nine months before we meet our babies? https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/The_Baby_Story_Full.mp3 We all have our own understandings of how babies are made based on what we may have read, or been told, or been taught in health class. And of course, based on our own experience as mothers … and as fathers. Or as family members. Today, we're going to assume none of that. We're going to start with a clean slate, and walk through the most amazing journey on the planet with someone who knows. We're going to learn about the baby. Just the baby. Not the mom, not the dad, and not so much the pregnancy per se. Just the baby. Links So Big, (Lori's nonprofit organization website) LynLeee Hope, Meet the Baby Who Was Born Twice, 'For Every Mom' Blog Extreme Preemie Born at 21 Weeks Young at Emory Decatur Hospital, Fox 5 Atlanta Pregnancy Week by Week, Mayo Clinic About this Episode's Guest Dr. Lori Buzzetti Dr. Lori Buzzetti is the founder and President of a nonprofit organization called So Big, which serves expectant mothers. So Big has established one Mountain House maternity home in Indiana with plans to expand in the near future. These homes would help expectant mothers meet their basic needs and connect with other programs that also serve pregnant women in need. Joining forces with others that have similar passion and goals will help us reach the women and children we want to serve and to do it more effectively. In the end it's about giving hope. It's about sharing God's love. She is married to Dr. Tony Buzzetti, with a daughter, Tessa and a son, Jake. They attend Traders Point Christian Church. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Iowa State University and M.D. from the University of Iowa. She completed her training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Indiana University Medical Center. She is Board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and a former private practitioner on the south-side of Indianapolis. She is formerly employed by St. Vincent Hospital where she was a member of the teaching faculty and administration for the OBGYN residency program.

Nurses have been on picket lines since March 8, citing staffing levels.

Plus, we discuss the latest developments in the Green Line crash, speak with gubernatorial candidate Danielle Allen, and take your questions on viruses, vaccines, and variants on another edition of "Ask The Docs."

On today’s episode, Phil talks with Dr. John Isch, retired cardiovascular surgeon and Chief of Surgery at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis. Dr. Isch shares his story of learning to kill his own pride, give God all the glory, and see his profession as an opportunity to help more than the physical hearts of his patients.

Well hello Toowoomba, welcome to Episode 51 of the Talkin Toowoomba podcast, We are proudly brought to you by our good friends at Recognition Plus, put your name, where it counts!. From promo gear and trophies, to name badges, they will help you be seen. Now let's catch up on some news around town and what's on this week. A suite of promotional videos aimed at enticing residents and visitors to venture into the CBD precinct for work and pleasure has just been launched, Toowoomba Regional Council, The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce (including the Revitalisation Advisory Committee and Southern Queensland Country Tourism. The venture funded by the council will encourage all of us to get out and about within our own city. “Southern Queensland Country Tourism will promote these videos through all its social and digital networks.” The videos are available via the Council’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/toowoombaregion , and the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Southern Queensland Country Tourism’s networks. Remember to get Christmas in July festive and get your tickets for next month's business networking event, at the Toowoomba Showgrounds, Saturday, July 17. Join us and a variety of small businesses in Toowoomba for some fun, and networking, hosted by Terri Adams-Munn from Ten Thousand Dreams, and Dale Kaschula of Kasch Designs & Personal Styling.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ Monday 28.06.2021 from Monday to Sunday this week there a number of Art exhibitions by various artists, including, Jenny Hartley, Bruce Griffiths, Marion Bolton, and the Lindsay Collection see councils events page for details Cobb + Co Museum, 27 Lindsay Street, Toowoomba 10:00 am - 02:00 pm Monday 28 June 2021 Celebrate STEM and the new Code Breakers exhibition these school holidays. Presented by Queensland Museum Network for World Science Festival Queensland. Book online: At the Cobb n Co website https://cobb.qm.qld.gov.au/Events+and+Exhibitions/Events/2021/06/Robo+Games Wednesday 30.06.2021 Toowoomba Sightseeing Bus Tours Discover Toowoomba's rich history, see magnificent homesteads, learn our aboriginal heritage, appreciate the hidden gems even if you have lived here all your life, you will come away from the 2 hr trip with a new understanding of what makes up the 2nd biggest inland city in Australia. Departs Visitor Infomation centre in James Street at 10 am. Book online at www. Toowoombasightseeing.com.au or call 0447 070 635 Canvas Coworking has a Robotics evening from 5:30 pm Thursday 01.07.2021 9:00 am - 01:00 pm Thursday 01 July 2021 School Holiday Blacksmithing Location: Cobb+Co Museum, 27 Lindsay Street, Toowoomba, Queensland Australia Create a custom project in this three-hour workshop designed for teens aged 13 to 17 years. Terry Dranen has been teaching blacksmithing courses at Cobb+Co Museum for over 15 years. Spectators are welcome at all workshops. Please see the website or council event pages for details. You should all know this one is on...Toowoomba Australian Psychic Expo 19 Days from the 1st of July. 9 till 7 pm at Rumours International Saturday 03.07.2021 The Ten Tenors 25th year Anniversary tour is on at the Empire Theatre from 7 pm Tickets at the Empire website. The Toowoomba Farmers markets on from 07 am under the windmill at Cobb n Co museum The Toowoomba Farmers markets on from 07am under the windmill at Cobb n Co museum Sunday 04.07.2021 The Handmade Expo Grand re-opening Harristown High School 9 till 1 pm Indigenous Artesian Market on Vincent Hospital 9

Saint Vincent Hospital Nurses Strike https://jacobinmag.com/2021/05/union-nurses-saint-vincent-strike-massachusetts-tenet-mna #peoplearerevolting twitter.com/peoplerevolting Peoplearerevolting.com movingtrainradio.com

Massachusetts Nurses Association Vice President Marie Ritacco was the first featured guest on today’s episode of the AWF Union Podcast. She spoke about her history in the MNA, how she participated in a strike at St. Vincent Hospital in 2000 and the ongoing strike at St. Vincent Hospital.  Also featured on today’s episode was IBEW Local 29 member Mike Fiore. He discussed his history as a lineman, the honor of introducing President Biden during his visit to Pittsburgh and how President Biden provides hope for union members.

On our Wednesday focus on health, Stephen Henderson, Director of Pharmacy for AHN St. Vincent Hospital joined us. He explained the efforts of the AHN health system to ramp up distribution of the vaccine amid high demand and low supply.

Dr. Louis Profeta is not only an emergency physician at St. Vincent Hospital, he's also a renowned lecturer and author; his critically-acclaimed book The Patient in Room Nine Says He's God, as well as his many articles tackling drug and alcohol abuse in teens, have made him one of the most widely-read opinion writers out there. On this episode of Innovation19, Daniel Anstandig sits down with Dr. Profeta to hear about what it's like being on the frontlines of Covid-19, the future of technology in medicine, and his solution for fixing the health crisis in America, diving into everything from social media to bringing doctors back into public schools to how pig kidneys might make dialysis a thing of the past. You can learn more about Dr. Profeta and access his articles and talks at LouisProfeta.com.

France's cautious approach to rolling out a coronavirus vaccination program appears to have backfired, leaving barely 500 people inoculated in the first week and rekindling anger over the government's handling of the pandemic.Amid public outcry, the health minister vowed Monday to step up the pace, and made a belated public plea on behalf of the vaccine, saying it offers a “chance” for France and the world to vanquish a pandemic that has killed more than 1.8 million people. President Emmanuel Macron was holding a special meeting with top government officials Monday to address the vaccine strategy and other virus developments.The slow rollout of the vaccine made by Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech was blamed on mismanagement, staffing shortages during holiday vacations and a complex French consent policy designed to accommodate unusually broad vaccine skepticism among the French public.Doctors, mayors and opposition politicians pleaded Monday for speedier access to vaccines.“It's a state scandal,” said Jean Rottner, president of the Grand-Est region of eastern France, where infections are surging and some hospitals are over capacity.“Getting vaccinated is becoming more complicated than buying a car,” he said on France-2 television.In France, a country of 67 million people, only 516 people were vaccinated in the first six days, according to the French Health Ministry. Health Minister Olivier Veran promised that by the end of Monday, “several thousand” people will have been vaccinated, with the tempo picking up through the week — but that still leaves France well behind its neighbors.Germany's first-week total surpassed 200,000 and Italy's was over 100,000 — and even those countries are under fire for being too slow to protect the public from a pandemic that has killed more than 1.8 million people worldwide.The U.S. and China, meanwhile, have vaccinated millions. Britain on Monday became the first nation in the world to start giving people shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, so the U.K. now has two approved vaccines to use.France started its vaccination campaign on Dec. 27 in nursing homes, because so many elderly people have died with the virus. But facing fears that people with cognitive problems would be vaccinated against their will, the government devised a time-consuming screening process before the vaccines can be ordered and administered.Macron's government is also keen not to appear that it is forcing vaccines on anyone.Though France has lost more lives to the virus than most countries — over 65,000 — polls suggest the French are unusually wary of vaccines. They remember past French drug scandals, worry about how quickly these new vaccines were developed and their long-term impact, and wonder about the profits they bring to big pharmaceutical companies.But many other French people are eager to vaccinated and have been frustrated by the surprisingly slow rollout.“We are doing anything we can to motivate people to get vaccinated,” said Frederic Leyret, director of the St. Vincent Hospital in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, whose geriatric rehabilitation facility started vaccinations Monday.He lamented a mixed message from leading French officials, which he sums up as: “Go get vaccinated, but we will go slowly because it could be dangerous.”Now that millions of people in multiple countries are getting injected, he said attitudes are starting to shift. The French government adjusted its policies over the weekend to allow immediate vaccinations for medical workers over 50, alongside nursing home residents. Vaccines will gradually be made available to others.On Monday, French authorities reported 378 new deaths from the virus and said numbers of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in intensive care units — more than 2,600 people — remained stable.Similar troubles have surfaced around Europe.Spain saw vaccinations move slowly over the New Year holiday, blamed on shortages of medical personnel...

This episode--part 3 of a 3-part clinical series, sponsored by 3M--covered common diagnosis questions sent in from listeners of the ACDIS Podcast. With special guest Dawn R. Valdez, RN, LNC, CDIP, CCDS, the CDI manager of education at Ardent Health Services in Nashville, Tennessee. Co-hosted by Sharme Brodie, RN, CCDS, AHIMA Approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer, a full-time instructor for the CDI Boot Camps and subject matter expert for ACDIS. To view the OIG Medicare Hospital Provider Compliance Audit: St. Vincent Hospital, please click here: https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51800040.pdf To view the OIG Medicare Hospital Provider Compliance Audit: Carolinas Hospital, please click here: https://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region4/41808063.pdf To view a list of ACDIS' 2019 accomplishments as featured on ACDIS Update, please click here: https://acdis.org/articles/note-acdis-director-saying-thanks-great-2019

Tom talks with Dr. Christopher Clark, president of Saint Vincent hospital, about all the recent and new projects and expansions there. Also on the program is the curator of the Erie County Historical Society, Becky Weiser, with an outline of all the programs, tours, and exhibits at the Hagen History Center.

Episode 12, The Case Against    From "Blood on Black" by Gary Meece    "Suicidal, threatening family, drug Use, Parental concern re: Satanism"       When Pam Echols and Joe Hutchison picked up Damien from Charter Hospital in Little Rock, Hutchison had not seen his son for years and didn't recognize him at first. “I was in there and turned around to Pam and ask her, ‘Is this him?' You know, I was very confused,”  Hutchison later testified. In a Sept. 3, 2000, declaration, Hutchison talked about Damien's time in Oregon: “I told Pam I thought we should move to Oregon and we packed up the family and took off. Michael was having a really hard time then. He had just broken up with his girlfriend Deanna and cried the entire ride up there. He was just really, really sad. When we got to Oregon, I set Michael up with a job at one of the BP gas stations that I ran. I thought Michael would do a really good job working there and I was hoping that everything was going to work out.” Echols spent several weeks with the family in Aloha, Ore., just outside Portland, before matters came to a head.  As with many accounts from the Echols family, what actually happened remained unclear. Several incidents led up to Echols being readmitted to a mental hospital.   One medical professional subsequently downplayed Echols' display of symptoms, suggesting he was using alleged mental problems as a means of manipulation.   Indeed, Echols often has seemed able to turn the “crazy” off at will, using his “mental illness” as just another attention-seeking schtick, like dressing up in black, or as an excuse for bad behavior.       Echols was either dangerously mentally ill or doing a very good imitation of a violent maniac in Portland. As Joe Hutchison later testified, “The altercations that was brought up is two different instances made in one. The first instance was this is —- I was afraid —- he had a habit of shutting his bedroom door and had been by himself and him being depressed as he was, and the medicine that he was taking, I was worried. I went into the bedroom. I opened the bedroom door. He did have a knife. It wasn't an altercation at that time. I asked him one time, ‘Hand me the knife.' There was never an argument, never a cross word. He handed me the knife.” Hutchison testified Echols had been talking about committing suicide. As for the second incident, Hutchison testified, “I am the one who took him to the hospital. … And the altercation that broke out he did tell me he would eat me alive but it was after I made the first move …. He had —- he didn't want to be there but he went there because I took him there for them to do observation on him and at that time and the way that I am, sometimes my temper gets the best of me.  If you say just one little word, you know, it would kind of tee me off. But it was my mistake. I'm the one who cause him to tell me that … He stood up in there and he said somebody is going to get slapped. Well, if anybody had to be slapped,  I'd rather it had been me. I stood in front of him and called him names that I shouldn't have called him. I called him a punk and I'm one —- I can't —- it's my fault. He did tell me he would eat me alive but it was after that. I'm the one who caused it.” Hutchison testified that Echols remained in the hospital about two weeks, though records showed he was there just two days. “From there he was homesick for his girlfriend and everything. I had to make arrangements for her to come out there.”  Echols supposedly had been distraught over his breakup with Deanna but had also reconnected with Domini. Given the time frame, it's not clear how Hutchison would have been able to make arrangements for Domini  “to come out there.” “And he was set on coming back into Arkansas, back to West  Memphis, and at that time Jack was living down there.”   Hutchison testified, “And finally I said, ‘Well, you know if that's what he wants, then, you know, let him have him.' And that's when he come back to live with Jack. … I put him in a cab. I had a cab take him to the bus station.”  According to records at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center in Portland,  Echols was admitted on on Sept. 2, 1992.   Echols was described as  “suicidal, threatening family, drug use, parental concern re: satanism.”  According to notes from a social worker: “Dad says that Damien has been sniffing gasoline & that at dinner table tonight he talks about drinking a bottle of bleach & that it would be over soon. Pt told sister that he would be killing himself in the next 3 days … has made threats to kill himself by hanging w/bed sheet or tying socks together & told grandmother today that he would cut his mother's throat.”  Hutchison later struggled to explain the  incident to WMPD Chief Inspector Gary Gitchell and John Fogleman: “There had been some kind of misunderstanding one night, you know, I was in on it. And I was, somebody had uh, a matter of fact, his grandmother had told me, well, you know, he's got a knife. He's got a knife out of the drawer … I went looking for it. I did not find one, you know. And after all this was over with, and there was a big scuffle, um, there wasn't a scuffle. We didn't fight. No, did not fight. Uh, he was took to the hospital. …” Gitchell asked: “Well why did you have to take him to the hospital?” Hutchison answered: “Because when I accused him of this, he got a little upset, and again, I haven't been around this boy in 8 years, and uh, so I told him that it's best, let's go to the hospital. Now, you know we all know you know, uh, I'm not going to say he's not right, you know …” Understandably Fogleman and Gitchell did not know. Fogleman followed up with the obvious, unanswered question: “What, I mean, what happened that it got so bad, he needed to go to the hospital?” Hutchison's answer did little to clarify: “Nothing, really. I called the police out there. I will tell you what I did do. And you know, he was making his money, and he was spending his money any way that he wanted to spend it. And I didn't care cause I was the one paying the bills … uh, he had bought 3 knives … To me it was just knives in a holster that you wear on your sock. … And, you know, naturally you accuse somebody of something, and he was … he's always been afraid, I won't say more afraid of the police, okay, so, he put the knives on. And he was in his bedroom. … This was at, at, you know, the start. … So, I go into the bedroom, and I sit down on the bed, you know, and I don't picture Damien as hurting other people. … His self maybe. I would believe that more than I would him hurting other people.” Fogleman: “Have you ever seen him try to hurt himself?“ The typically self-contradicting answer: “No, nothing, you know. I've seen him beat his head on a wall. … Other than that, that's all I've seen. …  “So, I went in there, and I sat on his bed, and I just said, what you gonna do with them? He say, they're not gonna take me Daddy. They're not going to take me. I said who is gonna take you? The police. You called the police. I said son, I said I ain't trying to have you locked up. So, I talked to him for a minute there, and I asked him, I said I want to ask you, I said I want the knives. … Without any resistance whatsoever,  I got ‘em.  … But, the only altercation, like I said, that we had, was at the hospital. …” Fogleman continued to try to get an answer to the obvious question: “Uh huh. Why did you call the police?” Hutchison said: “ … I knew he had a case of mental imbalance. … I didn't want to take any chances. If he exploded then, I wanted to call the police.” Hutchison denied he had concerns about his own safety: “You know, Damien wouldn't hurt me.”  Hutchison explained again that Damien had offered no resistance and there was no knife taken from the drawer as the grandmother alleged.     Fogleman tried again: “Alright, well then why did you call the police?” Hutchison: “Because, you know. He does have a temper.  You know, he got a little … It was nothing that I couldn't handle, but I didn't want to take any chances. … He did not do anything. The only thing he said y'all don't believe nothing I say. You take her word over mine … You want to look at it, he was right … You know that he had bought knives, and I took them. At that point, after, before I took the knives, I did call the police. Before they got there, I went in and I took the knives myself.” In his 2000 declaration, Hutchison offered more details: “While we were in Oregon, Michael got really sad, like the time when we were driving up there. Finally he locked himself up in a closet and had taken something in there with him. His grandmom told me that Michael had a knife. I thought that this was really serious and Pam and I made him go to a hospital in Oregon. Michael got really upset with me and I lost my temper and, after I yelled at him, he got even more upset. I feel bad about this whole incident because what started it was when Michael's grandmother told me he had a knife. I do not know why I immediately trusted her, instead of checking it out, but what I found out later was that Michael may have just had a spoon with him.” Unlike in 1993, Hutchison said Echols had locked himself in a closet and he made no mention in 2000 of the three knives in a holster taken from Echols. Damien testified that he had several knives on him during this incident, including a boot knife.  Pam Hutchison told investigators the trip to the Oregon hospital “was basically for the same thing” as the trip to Charter in June. “He was real depressed. He cried a lot. He didn't want to come out of his room.” In a declaration on Sept. 4, 2000, she said: “Damien was very unhappy in Oregon. I was very worried about him because he would lock himself in a closet and talk about suicide. I finally decided that he had to be placed in a hospital so that he did not do anything to himself. He did not want to be admitted but I insisted because I was very concerned for him. Damien got really upset with me and Joe for putting him in there but I did not feel that I had a choice. After he was released from the hospital, we sent him back to West Memphis on a bus. I wanted him to stay in Oregon with us but I thought that if he really wanted to go back to Arkansas then instead of arguing with him to stay, I should just let him go.”  Pam made no mention of calling the police, the knives in a holster, the threats to cut her throat, the threats against Joe; in her version, she was the one who made the decision to have Damien hospitalized; she also claimed she wanted him to stay on with them while everyone else said the family wanted him out of the home.  “… He never threatened to kill me. … I'm sure about that. … In my opinion, sometimes he lets his temper get the best of him. And he said, well, I'm fixing to hit somebody, and I stopped him. I said no, you're not.” Echols later admitted he had been drinking that night.  At the hospital, he threatened to eat his father alive with a spoon.    The emergency room report said: “The patient … comes in by way of parents, concerned about his mental health. Apparently, the police were called to the house and after discussing with him his options, he comes voluntarily to St. Vincent Hospital for evaluation. Apparently, the parents were concerned about his thoughts of harming himself and possibly others.” Echols told the staff he had been feeling homesick after talking with friends in Arkansas and that his parents misinterpreted his tears as a sign of depression. The ER report said: “He apparently has had thoughts of harming himself by his report to the family members, even though he denies that. He has talked about drinking lye or some type of bleach that would kill himself, he has also apparently told his sister that he won't be around much longer. The parents are concerned that he is also into satanism or devil worship. He apparently has a number of items that relates to this. … “… He has apparently cut on his hands in the past …  “The patient denies suicidal or homicidal ideation at this time, however, in talking with the family members, they state that he made it quite clear that he had thoughts of harming other people, i.e. was going to cut the throat of his mother and has said so in the past and also apparently made some verbal threats to his father here at St. Vincent Hospital even.” In the ER, Echols was calm, responsive and lucid, denying hallucinations or delusions.  He denied most of the information given by his father, including that he wanted to harm himself or kill others.  He denied involvement in Satanism or cult activities. Echols told the doctors: “Everything is fine at home.” The admission diagnosis? “Suicidal/homicidal ideation. Adjustment disorder.” Echols was placed on suicide watch.  He apparently slept well that night. Notes for his treatment plan: “When seen … this morning, he continues to deny suicidal ideation, but acknowledges that he has been depressed for quite some time related to ongoing legal and family problems and most recently missing his friends in Arkansas.”  He was described as quietly compliant. Later, “Parents visited …. visit did not go well. he was tearful & would not discuss visit other than to say ‘I no longer have parents.''' Staffers heard Echols beg his parents to take him home. He showed little interest in complying with treatment after that.  Echols filled out a questionnaire of several pages for the patient database. The first question: “what do you do when you feel uptight or angry?” His answer: “nothing” He gave the same answer to “who do you turn to when things are not going well?” On personal qualities, he checked off “cold and not very emotional,”  “a leader,” “bored easily” and “quick tempered.”  He said it was “easy to make friends.” What he liked best about himself was his “determination” and that he wanted to change “nothing” about himself.  To questions about school, he scrawled, “I don't go to school.” He felt different from other kids: “Other kids are shallow.…” “Neither” parent was the easiest to get along with. He said his parents had no alcohol, drug or legal troubles and said there were no problems that his family argued about routinely. Asked “how do your parents discipline you?” he answered, “They don't.” He described his mother as having a number of positive traits, adding that she was “stupid.”  He said his father was “stupid” and bad-tempered.  He said his parents had a “warm and affectionate” relationship in which they “enjoy activities together” and “argue often.” He said he was allergic to “everything” and had used “marijuana, speed, acid, gas.”  A perceptive progress report noted: “He appears to be an individual who passively provokes anxiety in others including actual petty criminal behavior, now mixed up with suicidal threats entitling him to psychiatric treatment. … “He is not suicidal, but rather is in disagreement about living in Oregon and on this basis pines for Arkansas and his friends.” A discerning mental health professional had noted manipulative aspects of Damien's “mental health problem.” Echols told doctors: “I'm the only person who stands up to my Dad. My Mom just cries but I don't stand for him pushing me around. I won't want anything to do with either one of them. I just want to be on my own from here on out. I'm not suicidal, that's their way of trying to keep me in a hospital & away from my friends & girlfriend.”  Dr. Stanley Sturges in his Physician's Progress Report on Sept. 3 bolstered Echols' self-assessment: “…. There is no evidence of a thought disorder. He is not depressed and his efforts at self harm may be seen more as a manipulation to escape responsibility for a wide variety of behaviors which have got him into difficulty with the law. … Plans for emancipation and return to Arkansas seem reasonable to me.” A social services report noted that Pam and Joe showed up for the assessment, explaining they had recently reconciled after many years apart.  “Father maintains that he barely knows his son. … “Pam stated that she has had difficulty with Damien since he was 10 years old. He always tended to be an angry child and somewhat difficult to manage, particularly through his adolescent years. She is convinced that he is into activities, such as witchcraft and is very concerned about the quality of friends that he developed while living in Arkansas. For this reason, she felt that coming to Oregon would be a new beginning for him. … “Because of the circumstances that precipitated the hospitalization and Damien's threats, particularly toward his father and of course his mother, both parents do not feel that they wish to have him return to their home. They are frightened of him and what he can do, not only to them but to other children that reside in the home.” Damien described plans to go back to Arkansas, including making proper arrangements with his probation officer. Jerry Driver had continued to track Echols' whereabouts. An attending nurse noted that Echols' mother would be picking him up after his discharge and making arrangements for travel back to Arkansas by bus.  “Damien has been quiet, but cooperative. He shows little or no investment in treatment.” Echols said he was engaged to Domini, who was still living in Illinois with her father though Dian Teer, her mother, lived in Arkansas. According to Dian, Echols returned from Oregon “to be with Domini.”  Domini apparently left the home of her father about this time, because she could not get along with him, to live with her mom. She reunited with Echols soon after his return. They had been boyfriend and girlfriend prior to Echols' final breakup with Deanna.  Meanwhile, Echols' parents planned to remarry.  The discharge summary on Sept. 4 stated Echols had been admitted to the emergency room “because of alleged threats to his parents.”  It cited “considerable conflict between him and his parents through the years in which he has threatened to harm himself in the context of a host of legal difficulties.” Echols offered contradicting claims about his use of street drugs, at one point saying he had not used in four months, at another saying he had not used in a year and in the discharge summary, “He admits … using street drugs within the past year.”  In Glori Shettles' notes about the hospital stay prepared for his defense, she wrote: “Diagnosis — Suicidal ideation, Depression. Admitted through Emergency Room — parents called police — alleged threat to parents. Parents stated he has been abusing drugs. Threatening suicide. “Information was consistent from Michael. Parents expressed concern that he was involved in satanism. Felt family members were in danger.  Michael stirred chocolate with a spoon. Grandmother accused him of having knife, but wasn't true.  … “Probation officer made phone arrangements for Michael to return to Arkansas and check in with probation office upon arrival. Michael missed friends and parents thought it was best he return without them. Hospital agreed. Did not feel he was suicidal or a threat.” In still another description, Dr. George W. Woods said in his 2000 affidavit: “Mr. Echols' mental illness worsened after his release from Charter Hospital. Within two weeks of moving to Oregon with his family he was voluntarily admitted to St. Vincent Hospital in Portland after his parents observed extremely bizarre behavior that was unresponsive to outside influence. Mr. Echols and his family have different memories of the events surrounding Mr. Echols' admission to St. Vincent's Hospital. … “As had staff members at Charter Hospital, those at St. Vincent consistently described Mr. Echols as quiet, compliant and noncombative. The admitting diagnoses were psychotic disorder, not otherwise specified, dysthymia, depression, and suicidal ideation. However, within 48 hours these diagnoses were changed to adjustment disorder of adolescence with disturbance of conduct, whereupon Mr. Echols was discharged to his parents with instructions to continue taking daily doses of 150 mg. of Imipramine. Despite two psychiatric hospitalizations within six weeks, Mr. Echols' parents allowed the disturbed 17-year-old to return to Arkansas.”     The Case Against … with Gary Meece https://garymeece.podbean.com/feed.xml 1,891Downloads 11Episodes Following Share   Society & Culture The author of “The Case Against the West Memphis 3 Killers” follows new developments in the case, as well as other cases covered in various podcasts, televisions shows and documentaries, such as “Making a Murderer,” “Truth and Justice,” “The Staircase,” and related news coverage, with a heavy emphasis on detailing misinformation and propaganda designed to subvert the judicial process. Episode 11: “A bizarre and unusual manner” The Case Against with Gary Meece, #WM3 #DamienEchols #TrueCrime March 3, 2019 From "Blood on Black: The Case Against the West Memphis 3 Killers, Volume I" by Gary Meece:  "A Bizarre and Unusual Manner"       Damien Echols was first referred to family treatment from the Department of Human Services on May 5, 1992,  a year to the day before the murders.  The family was living in Lakeshore. The referral form, based on allegations from his sister Michelle, stated: “Child reported her step-father has been sexually abusing her for a long time. Her mother knows about it but has done nothing to stop it. Sexual abuse reportedly occurred periodically from age 7 until present. The abuse included fondling.” Charges were pending contingent on counseling. According to records from the East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center in West Memphis, the family was in deep disarray.  Gloria Stevenson, the family service worker, reported: “It appears that the Echols family has extreme problems related to an ongoing history of sexual abuse, suspected emotions problems and undefined interpersonal relationship disorders. Mr. Echols admits to being overly affectionate with Michelle and to have been charged for indecently exposing himself to an older daughter, however, Mrs. Echols states that she feels Michelle is lying as she has been skipping school and sexually acting out. Michelle alleges to have had several miscarriages though the mother denies it. Damien Echols on the other hand, holds his adopted father in low regard and feels the allegations are in fact true. Mrs. Echols states Damien is in need of counseling and evaluation as he feels he is ‘smarter than everyone else' and will verbalize this fact. He also reportedly has little regard for others and stated he feels people have no true feeling for each other; Their main purpose is to use and bring harm to others around them. Mrs. Echols reports that Damien has attempted to fight with her on occasion.” Beyond the lack of consensus on reality among the Echols family, Damien's mother described his persistent grandiosity and a view of reality typical of psychopathic personalities who have little empathy and view others as objects to be used.  His mother gave the lie to Damien's claim that he was not violent as a teenager. She later told caseworkers that she “was most concerned about son ‘not learning to deal with anger and rages.' {Mother} mentioned her belief that son may be responding to outside stimulation. Voiced fear ‘son may be crazy.'” Besides the family drama,  Damien's teenage love life took a histrionic turn. “By the age of sixteen Mr. Echols' depression and hopelessness was written all over his body,” wrote Dr. George Woods in his 2001 report. “He wore black clothes, hair and nails. His strange, often flat affect kept him out of step with mainstream life in a small Arkansas town. Yet he found one person, a young girl with problems of her own, whom he felt could understand him. They developed a relationship and became inseparable. Her parents strongly opposed their dating and tried to keep them apart. “Desperate to stay together, they planned to go to California. Mr. Echols' mother, overtaxed with her own problems, did not intervene to keep the troubled teenagers near their parents. Instead, she gave them no more than $10.00 to $15.00 - the only money she had - as a contribution toward expenses.” Echols and Deanna Holcomb, 15, had broken up earlier that spring at the insistence of her parents. Echols' violent reaction brought charges of terroristic threatening. Echols promptly found a new girlfriend, Domini Teer, but continued to pursue Deanna. Finally, Damien and Deanna decided to run away together to California. They didn't get far. The teens were reported as runaways on May 19, 1992. Police found them hiding in the closet of an abandoned mobile home in Lakeshore.  The teens were “partially nude from the waist down,” according to the arrest report. Damien and Deanna were both charged initially with burglary and sexual misconduct and taken to the county jail. Juvenile Officer Jerry Driver was contacted, and the teenage lovers were permanently separated. Echols shared a different, infinitely more romantic memory of his final encounter with Deanna in a May 14, 1996, letter to future wife Lorri Davis, as revealed in “Yours for Eternity”: “ … When I was 16, I was very much in love. Her name was Deanna. One day we skipped school together. We walked for miles until we found a place that was absolutely beautiful. There were hills, and the grass was so full and soft and green,  the sky was grey and overcast. We spent hours talking, telling each other things that we had never told another living soul, our worst fears, our most wished-for dreams, and we made love several times.  I never suspected that that would be the last time that I ever saw her. There's no way that words can ever do this memory justice, but it's a day that has returned to haunt me every day of my life.”  This pastoral interlude set amidst the nonexistent hills of Crittenden County was a far cry from the reality of a rainy night in a ramshackle trailer. As he was being held in a police car, Echols later told a psychiatrist, he witnessed his girlfriend's father coming toward her as she waited with officers.  Damien “states that he was able to work his fingers loose, moved over and was able to slip the safety off of the police officer's gun which had been left in the police vehicle. Damien freely admitted he had plans to shoot the girlfriend's father if he acted in an aggressive manner toward the girl.”  As part of his rich fantasy life,  Echols' thoughts often turned to homicide. Sheriff's Department investigators searched the Echols home and confiscated a number of items that would show up at his murder trial, including a dog skull that Echols explained was “a decoration for my room” as well as a “Book of Shadows” detailing his progress on the Wiccan path. “Mr. Echols was taken to a juvenile facility where he attempted to hang himself,” wrote Dr. Woods.  “Following their arrests and initial evaluations both youths were placed in psychiatric hospitals.” Echols was sent first to the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center  in Jonesboro and then, after the suicide threat, to East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center. On May 28, 1992, Echols was given a Millon Adolescent Personality (MAPI) test, designed especially for teenagers, which reported “The behavior of this youngster is characterized by impulsive hostility, an apprehensive distrust of others and an edgy defensiveness against criticism.  Fearing that others will dominate and possibly brutalize him, he puts forward a socially blunt and aggressive public posture. He fantasizes being all powerful so as to block others from possessing the means to be belittling and harmful. He believes that only alert vigilance and vigorous counteraction can prevent the malice of others. Closeness to others, displaying weakness and a willingness to compromise are seen as fatal concessions. “The desire to gain power and demean others springs from animosity and a wish to vindicate past grievances. Although frequently unsuccessful in these aims, this teenager believes that past degradations may be undone by provoking fear and intimidation in others. He often loses his temper, gets into fights and acts in a daring fashion. He avoids displaying warmth, gentleness and intimacy. Defiance and disobedience are rationalized into virtues.  … “Inadequacy and failure are intolerable to him, and blame is quickly projected outward. “Disposed to be headstrong and able to inspire discomfort and anger in others, he may use his position in the family to bully young sibs into submission. … He is rarely able to submerge the memories of past humiliations and this resentment may break though … in impulsive and irrational anger. … “Cool and distant,  this youth demonstrates little or no compassion for others, viewing their difficulties as the product of their own weaknesses.  He is likely to feel no compunction about ignoring their needs and sensitivities. This lack of empathy may lead this youngster to serve only himself regardless of the consequences for those around him.” Among the statements about himself that Echols designated as “true”: “It is easy for me to take advantage of people. … Punishment never stopped me from doing whatever I wanted. … I have a pretty hot temper.” He was diagnosed as “adjustment disorder with disturbances of conduct.” Among the therapeutic implications: “Teenager may relate to the clinician in a polite, though passive way. … Difficulties will be attributed to others who are claimed to be the source of problems…. Efforts to be what may be called a good and cooperative patient will be exhibited, even when restraining strong and angry feelings.” Dr. Woods reported: “Personnel at East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center described Mr. Echols as very disturbed. He was withdrawn, spoke little, and rarely had eye contact with anyone: ‘he stared at the wall or cast his eyes downward.' He appeared ‘confused,' and dressed strangely -- ‘all in black.' He was preoccupied with his fingernails, which he ‘filed to points.' Concerned about the nature and complexity of his problems Mental Health Center staff recommended that Mr. Echols immediately be involuntarily committed to Charter Hospital in Little Rock for more extensive evaluation and treatment.” A request for service dated June 1 recorded a threat “to hang himself while in custody.”  The intake sheet noted that Damien and Deanna had a pact to commit suicide if they could not be together and that Damien was continuing to express suicidal thoughts, voicing plans to use a sheet to hang himself.  Damien admitted to the suicide plan: “It would have been necessary if her parents would not have let us see each other.” Driver had Echols admitted to Charter Hospital in Little Rock for a monthlong stay.  Admission papers noted: “He has a history of extreme physical aggression toward others.” Criteria for the emergency admission included: “1. Fire setting behavior by history.” “2. Potential danger to property.” “3. Excessive irritability and anger that is potentially dangerous and persistent.” “4. Involvement in bizarre and unusual behavior.” A case file from June 1 reported that Echols “admits to having seen suspended 7X this past semester for inciting fights at school, starting small fires, cussing. States in one fight he almost gouged out the victim's eyes.” A report on June 2 stated: “He has been suspended x7 due to negative behaviors in the classroom. Information does suggest that Damien has set fire to his academic classroom on two occasions, that he has also been truant, engaged in physical confrontations while on school grounds and has, often times, threatened to put ‘hexes' on school instructors.” Echols admitted to being a “practicing warlock” while denying devil worship. He had a “blood brother” with whom he exchanged blood. Damien said he had one friend: “A friend is someone who would die for you — everyone else is only interested in themselves & what they want.” Deanna was also admitted for mental treatment, at Mid-South Mental Health; Echols had been scheduled to go there but because his girlfriend was there, he had been sent to Charter. Concerning allegations about abuse in his family,  Damien denied he had been abused, an assertion “strongly questioned.”  He denied feeling violent, saying he saw fighting as a release: “Sometimes I have to do this not because of feeling angry — sometimes I'm confused.” On the home front,  Jack Echols was gone, and Pam Echols had reunited with Joe Hutchison after little or no contact over the past seven years. Damien admitted to using drugs, including speed “over a month ago.” Glori Shettles' “attorney work project” for the Echols murder defense quoted the Charter records: “Information from detention center — Damien and girlfriend to have baby and sacrifice it. Damien denies this. Says he is involved in witchcraft, not satanism. Alleged to have chased younger child with ax and attempted to set house on fire. Damien denies this. States girlfriend's family wants him in trouble. Admits to violence … Suspensions and disruptive at school. Has heart problems, asthma, bronchitis and migraine headaches.” Damien underwent a psychological evaluation. He also explained his name change. He repeatedly has denied that “Damien” was inspired by the diabolical child in the 1970s hit movie “The Omen,” instead claiming he took the name from a Catholic priest who worked with lepers. The name was shared by one of the main characters in “The Exorcist.” A character in that book explains, “It was the name of a priest who devoted his life to taking care of lepers on the island of Molokai.  He finally caught the disease himself.” Among the books found in Echols' room at the time of arrest was a copy of “The Exorcist.” Echols later testified: “… I was very involved in the Catholic church, and we were going over the different names of the saints. St. Michael's was where I went to church at. And we heard about this guy from the Hawaiian Islands, Father Damian, that took care of lepers until he finally caught the disease himself and died.”  Echols said that was the reason he chose the name and it had “nothing whatsoever” to do with “horror movies, Satanism, cultism, anything of that nature.”     Progress notes at Charter indicated depression and bizarre behavior but that Echols was making progress. Echols was prescribed Imipramine at 50 mg on June 5, increased to 100 mg on June 12. Psychological testing by Lewis F. Bracy, PhD, on June 8 showed that Damien was depressed and did not trust others but was not psychotic. The  psychological report revealed Echols had a verbal IQ of 101, a thoroughly average score. Bracy's battery of tests found no evidence of psychosis but the possibility of a thought disorder. “The most prominent finding is that he has a rather strong depression process going on and has real difficulty making contact with people.” The diagnosis:  depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. The assessment of his art produced in the psychological testing could be applied to his current projects: “Damien's drawings reflect rather impoverished, empty appearing figures.  They lack enrichment, color, life and emotion. They appear to be primarily depressive, helpless and in poor contact with reality. … He appears to be a very concretistic person who is arrested in his imaginative function. He would be expected to see things in a rather simplistic, overly constrictive manner.” Based on a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Disorder (MMPI) exam, Echols was given preliminary diagnoses of schizophrenia, disorganized type (paranoid and catalytic types also possible) and bipolar disorder, manic. It was noted: “These persons spend much time in personal fantasy and daydreaming, often with themes of sex or power.” Dr. Woods' affidavit from 2001 described Echols' first trip to Charter in detail, much of which was echoed in trial records: “Mr. Echols was provisionally diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, single episode and medicated with Imipramine, an anti depressant drug.  ... The staff psychiatrist who conducted a mental status exam upon admission described the 17-year old as ‘cooperative and polite' with ‘an odd stare,' and flat affect. ... The psychiatrist had ‘major concerns that this young man was exhibiting disturbed, bizarre and unusual thinking.'” Dr. Woods continued: “Mr. Echols' delusional thinking was evident throughout his hospitalization. He explained that he had ‘no feelings about suicide' because he thought he could ‘be reincarnated.' He indicated to others he thought he possessed special powers. A social worker reported Mr. Echols ‘appeared to be sniffing the air around him as if he were responding to an external stimulus.' He smiled inappropriately and ‘cut his eyes in one direction or the other, as if he were hearing or thinking of something before he spoke.' The social worker concluded he was ‘responding to an outside stimulation' and ‘may have been experiencing auditory hallucinations.' Visual hallucinations also may have been present. Mr. Echols said he thought the furniture in the psychiatric unit ‘was causing blurred vision.' “Mr. Echols exhibited ‘a bizarre and unusual manner' of adjustment to the psychiatric unit that was also reflected in his ‘bizarre and unusual thinking pattern.' He was ‘preoccupied with witchcraft' but consistently denied any involvement with satanic worship. He was observed ‘meditating in his room in a bizarre and unusual fashion,' ‘wrote some very unusual poems,' and remained on ‘the peripheral of the group throughout' his hospitalization. He made unusual and bizarre sounds ‘with his mouth that sound[ed] like a cat purr.' He had ‘trouble making eye contact' and was ‘quite paranoid.' He told staff there were ‘survelance [sic] cameras behind his mirror and under his desk' and cautioned other adolescent patients that staff were ‘constantly watching them.' The hospital staff observed him sitting and ‘rocking methodically back and forth,' daydreaming, and staring into space. When interrupted, he appeared startled. He wanted to ‘calm down' and said he ‘was feeling “jittery'' internally.' Hospital staff noted he showed ‘no aggressive behavior' in the hospital. “Mr. Echols' behavior demonstrated ‘a pervasively depressed mood throughout most of his hospitalization.' He withdrew from family and friends, had a ‘sad facial expression' and ‘spent long intervals alone.' He lost interest in eating, had difficulty going to sleep, and planned ways to commit suicide. He repeatedly thought about wrapping the sheet from his bed around his neck and ‘trying to hang' himself. “Mr. Echols' psychiatric care was interrupted by his parents who removed him from the hospital June 25, 1992, and moved to Oregon. His discharge diagnosis was major depression, single episode, dysthymia and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. He was instructed to continue taking 150 mg. of Imipramine daily.” Driver was designated to monitor Echols. “Family indicated that they were moving to Denver, Colorado. Prosecuting Attorney was in agreement with Damien leaving State. Not felt to be a danger to himself or to others per doctor.” Echols apparently did not leave the state until weeks later as he was referred again to Charter on July 24 for a screening. That intake report noted: “Dresses all in black — T-shirt slacks & shoes, Wears small gold cross stud” earring in left ear. “Nails are clean & filed to points.”  Damien presented himself as  intelligent, generally honest, calm and coherent, expressing mostly his desire to be with his girlfriend.  He denied feeling angry or depressed, “but appears depressed — voices apathy — blunt affect.” Damien admitted to the suicide pact: “It can go either way now.” “Question of satanic involvement” still lingered. “Extremely dysfunctional family however.” With Damien diagnosed with major depression, dysthymia and a conduct disorder, the preliminary treatment plan was for a resumption of hospitalization due to suicidal thoughts and a range of other issues. But the case was closed because of his parents' plans to move. Woods described Damien's patterns of continued drug use: “Mr. Echols's mental illness did not improve after his hospitalization. He remained in excruciating emotional pain, betrayed by his mind and body. The world was an unsafe, unpredictable maze from which he desperately looked for an escape. He finally found relief in his own form of medication. He instinctively turned to inhalants and began ‘huffing' gasoline; he thought he ‘invented it.' Later he tried marijuana a few times before his arrest, but it did not become a habit. He also used the medication prescribed for his migraine headaches — Midrin — as a means of tolerating stress and fear of attending school. ... Unable to outrun his terror, he withdrew from school in the ninth grade and tried to insulate himself from the external pressures that contributed to his mental illness.” Moving to Oregon would provide no relief. Episode 11: “A bizarre and unusual manner” The Case Against with Gary Meece, #WM3 #DamienEchols #TrueCrime March 3, 2019 From "Blood on Black: The Case Against the West Memphis 3 Killers, Volume I" by Gary Meece:  "A Bizarre and Unusual Manner"       Damien Echols was first referred to family treatment from the Department of Human Services on May 5, 1992,  a year to the day before the murders.  The family was living in Lakeshore. The referral form, based on allegations from his sister Michelle, stated: “Child reported her step-father has been sexually abusing her for a long time. Her mother knows about it but has done nothing to stop it. Sexual abuse reportedly occurred periodically from age 7 until present. The abuse included fondling.” Charges were pending contingent on counseling. According to records from the East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center in West Memphis, the family was in deep disarray.  Gloria Stevenson, the family service worker, reported: “It appears that the Echols family has extreme problems related to an ongoing history of sexual abuse, suspected emotions problems and undefined interpersonal relationship disorders. Mr. Echols admits to being overly affectionate with Michelle and to have been charged for indecently exposing himself to an older daughter, however, Mrs. Echols states that she feels Michelle is lying as she has been skipping school and sexually acting out. Michelle alleges to have had several miscarriages though the mother denies it. Damien Echols on the other hand, holds his adopted father in low regard and feels the allegations are in fact true. Mrs. Echols states Damien is in need of counseling and evaluation as he feels he is ‘smarter than everyone else' and will verbalize this fact. He also reportedly has little regard for others and stated he feels people have no true feeling for each other; Their main purpose is to use and bring harm to others around them. Mrs. Echols reports that Damien has attempted to fight with her on occasion.” Beyond the lack of consensus on reality among the Echols family, Damien's mother described his persistent grandiosity and a view of reality typical of psychopathic personalities who have little empathy and view others as objects to be used.  His mother gave the lie to Damien's claim that he was not violent as a teenager. She later told caseworkers that she “was most concerned about son ‘not learning to deal with anger and rages.' {Mother} mentioned her belief that son may be responding to outside stimulation. Voiced fear ‘son may be crazy.'” Besides the family drama,  Damien's teenage love life took a histrionic turn. “By the age of sixteen Mr. Echols' depression and hopelessness was written all over his body,” wrote Dr. George Woods in his 2001 report. “He wore black clothes, hair and nails. His strange, often flat affect kept him out of step with mainstream life in a small Arkansas town. Yet he found one person, a young girl with problems of her own, whom he felt could understand him. They developed a relationship and became inseparable. Her parents strongly opposed their dating and tried to keep them apart. “Desperate to stay together, they planned to go to California. Mr. Echols' mother, overtaxed with her own problems, did not intervene to keep the troubled teenagers near their parents. Instead, she gave them no more than $10.00 to $15.00 - the only money she had - as a contribution toward expenses.” Echols and Deanna Holcomb, 15, had broken up earlier that spring at the insistence of her parents. Echols' violent reaction brought charges of terroristic threatening. Echols promptly found a new girlfriend, Domini Teer, but continued to pursue Deanna. Finally, Damien and Deanna decided to run away together to California. They didn't get far. The teens were reported as runaways on May 19, 1992. Police found them hiding in the closet of an abandoned mobile home in Lakeshore.  The teens were “partially nude from the waist down,” according to the arrest report. Damien and Deanna were both charged initially with burglary and sexual misconduct and taken to the county jail. Juvenile Officer Jerry Driver was contacted, and the teenage lovers were permanently separated. Echols shared a different, infinitely more romantic memory of his final encounter with Deanna in a May 14, 1996, letter to future wife Lorri Davis, as revealed in “Yours for Eternity”: “ … When I was 16, I was very much in love. Her name was Deanna. One day we skipped school together. We walked for miles until we found a place that was absolutely beautiful. There were hills, and the grass was so full and soft and green,  the sky was grey and overcast. We spent hours talking, telling each other things that we had never told another living soul, our worst fears, our most wished-for dreams, and we made love several times.  I never suspected that that would be the last time that I ever saw her. There's no way that words can ever do this memory justice, but it's a day that has returned to haunt me every day of my life.”  This pastoral interlude set amidst the nonexistent hills of Crittenden County was a far cry from the reality of a rainy night in a ramshackle trailer. As he was being held in a police car, Echols later told a psychiatrist, he witnessed his girlfriend's father coming toward her as she waited with officers.  Damien “states that he was able to work his fingers loose, moved over and was able to slip the safety off of the police officer's gun which had been left in the police vehicle. Damien freely admitted he had plans to shoot the girlfriend's father if he acted in an aggressive manner toward the girl.”  As part of his rich fantasy life,  Echols' thoughts often turned to homicide. Sheriff's Department investigators searched the Echols home and confiscated a number of items that would show up at his murder trial, including a dog skull that Echols explained was “a decoration for my room” as well as a “Book of Shadows” detailing his progress on the Wiccan path. “Mr. Echols was taken to a juvenile facility where he attempted to hang himself,” wrote Dr. Woods.  “Following their arrests and initial evaluations both youths were placed in psychiatric hospitals.” Echols was sent first to the Craighead County Juvenile Detention Center  in Jonesboro and then, after the suicide threat, to East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center. On May 28, 1992, Echols was given a Millon Adolescent Personality (MAPI) test, designed especially for teenagers, which reported “The behavior of this youngster is characterized by impulsive hostility, an apprehensive distrust of others and an edgy defensiveness against criticism.  Fearing that others will dominate and possibly brutalize him, he puts forward a socially blunt and aggressive public posture. He fantasizes being all powerful so as to block others from possessing the means to be belittling and harmful. He believes that only alert vigilance and vigorous counteraction can prevent the malice of others. Closeness to others, displaying weakness and a willingness to compromise are seen as fatal concessions. “The desire to gain power and demean others springs from animosity and a wish to vindicate past grievances. Although frequently unsuccessful in these aims, this teenager believes that past degradations may be undone by provoking fear and intimidation in others. He often loses his temper, gets into fights and acts in a daring fashion. He avoids displaying warmth, gentleness and intimacy. Defiance and disobedience are rationalized into virtues.  … “Inadequacy and failure are intolerable to him, and blame is quickly projected outward. “Disposed to be headstrong and able to inspire discomfort and anger in others, he may use his position in the family to bully young sibs into submission. … He is rarely able to submerge the memories of past humiliations and this resentment may break though … in impulsive and irrational anger. … “Cool and distant,  this youth demonstrates little or no compassion for others, viewing their difficulties as the product of their own weaknesses.  He is likely to feel no compunction about ignoring their needs and sensitivities. This lack of empathy may lead this youngster to serve only himself regardless of the consequences for those around him.” Among the statements about himself that Echols designated as “true”: “It is easy for me to take advantage of people. … Punishment never stopped me from doing whatever I wanted. … I have a pretty hot temper.” He was diagnosed as “adjustment disorder with disturbances of conduct.” Among the therapeutic implications: “Teenager may relate to the clinician in a polite, though passive way. … Difficulties will be attributed to others who are claimed to be the source of problems…. Efforts to be what may be called a good and cooperative patient will be exhibited, even when restraining strong and angry feelings.” Dr. Woods reported: “Personnel at East Arkansas Regional Mental Health Center described Mr. Echols as very disturbed. He was withdrawn, spoke little, and rarely had eye contact with anyone: ‘he stared at the wall or cast his eyes downward.' He appeared ‘confused,' and dressed strangely -- ‘all in black.' He was preoccupied with his fingernails, which he ‘filed to points.' Concerned about the nature and complexity of his problems Mental Health Center staff recommended that Mr. Echols immediately be involuntarily committed to Charter Hospital in Little Rock for more extensive evaluation and treatment.” A request for service dated June 1 recorded a threat “to hang himself while in custody.”  The intake sheet noted that Damien and Deanna had a pact to commit suicide if they could not be together and that Damien was continuing to express suicidal thoughts, voicing plans to use a sheet to hang himself.  Damien admitted to the suicide plan: “It would have been necessary if her parents would not have let us see each other.” Driver had Echols admitted to Charter Hospital in Little Rock for a monthlong stay.  Admission papers noted: “He has a history of extreme physical aggression toward others.” Criteria for the emergency admission included: “1. Fire setting behavior by history.” “2. Potential danger to property.” “3. Excessive irritability and anger that is potentially dangerous and persistent.” “4. Involvement in bizarre and unusual behavior.” A case file from June 1 reported that Echols “admits to having seen suspended 7X this past semester for inciting fights at school, starting small fires, cussing. States in one fight he almost gouged out the victim's eyes.” A report on June 2 stated: “He has been suspended x7 due to negative behaviors in the classroom. Information does suggest that Damien has set fire to his academic classroom on two occasions, that he has also been truant, engaged in physical confrontations while on school grounds and has, often times, threatened to put ‘hexes' on school instructors.” Echols admitted to being a “practicing warlock” while denying devil worship. He had a “blood brother” with whom he exchanged blood. Damien said he had one friend: “A friend is someone who would die for you — everyone else is only interested in themselves & what they want.” Deanna was also admitted for mental treatment, at Mid-South Mental Health; Echols had been scheduled to go there but because his girlfriend was there, he had been sent to Charter. Concerning allegations about abuse in his family,  Damien denied he had been abused, an assertion “strongly questioned.”  He denied feeling violent, saying he saw fighting as a release: “Sometimes I have to do this not because of feeling angry — sometimes I'm confused.” On the home front,  Jack Echols was gone, and Pam Echols had reunited with Joe Hutchison after little or no contact over the past seven years. Damien admitted to using drugs, including speed “over a month ago.” Glori Shettles' “attorney work project” for the Echols murder defense quoted the Charter records: “Information from detention center — Damien and girlfriend to have baby and sacrifice it. Damien denies this. Says he is involved in witchcraft, not satanism. Alleged to have chased younger child with ax and attempted to set house on fire. Damien denies this. States girlfriend's family wants him in trouble. Admits to violence … Suspensions and disruptive at school. Has heart problems, asthma, bronchitis and migraine headaches.” Damien underwent a psychological evaluation. He also explained his name change. He repeatedly has denied that “Damien” was inspired by the diabolical child in the 1970s hit movie “The Omen,” instead claiming he took the name from a Catholic priest who worked with lepers. The name was shared by one of the main characters in “The Exorcist.” A character in that book explains, “It was the name of a priest who devoted his life to taking care of lepers on the island of Molokai.  He finally caught the disease himself.” Among the books found in Echols' room at the time of arrest was a copy of “The Exorcist.” Echols later testified: “… I was very involved in the Catholic church, and we were going over the different names of the saints. St. Michael's was where I went to church at. And we heard about this guy from the Hawaiian Islands, Father Damian, that took care of lepers until he finally caught the disease himself and died.”  Echols said that was the reason he chose the name and it had “nothing whatsoever” to do with “horror movies, Satanism, cultism, anything of that nature.”     Progress notes at Charter indicated depression and bizarre behavior but that Echols was making progress. Echols was prescribed Imipramine at 50 mg on June 5, increased to 100 mg on June 12. Psychological testing by Lewis F. Bracy, PhD, on June 8 showed that Damien was depressed and did not trust others but was not psychotic. The  psychological report revealed Echols had a verbal IQ of 101, a thoroughly average score. Bracy's battery of tests found no evidence of psychosis but the possibility of a thought disorder. “The most prominent finding is that he has a rather strong depression process going on and has real difficulty making contact with people.” The diagnosis:  depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. The assessment of his art produced in the psychological testing could be applied to his current projects: “Damien's drawings reflect rather impoverished, empty appearing figures.  They lack enrichment, color, life and emotion. They appear to be primarily depressive, helpless and in poor contact with reality. … He appears to be a very concretistic person who is arrested in his imaginative function. He would be expected to see things in a rather simplistic, overly constrictive manner.” Based on a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Disorder (MMPI) exam, Echols was given preliminary diagnoses of schizophrenia, disorganized type (paranoid and catalytic types also possible) and bipolar disorder, manic. It was noted: “These persons spend much time in personal fantasy and daydreaming, often with themes of sex or power.” Dr. Woods' affidavit from 2001 described Echols' first trip to Charter in detail, much of which was echoed in trial records: “Mr. Echols was provisionally diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, single episode and medicated with Imipramine, an anti depressant drug.  ... The staff psychiatrist who conducted a mental status exam upon admission described the 17-year old as ‘cooperative and polite' with ‘an odd stare,' and flat affect. ... The psychiatrist had ‘major concerns that this young man was exhibiting disturbed, bizarre and unusual thinking.'” Dr. Woods continued: “Mr. Echols' delusional thinking was evident throughout his hospitalization. He explained that he had ‘no feelings about suicide' because he thought he could ‘be reincarnated.' He indicated to others he thought he possessed special powers. A social worker reported Mr. Echols ‘appeared to be sniffing the air around him as if he were responding to an external stimulus.' He smiled inappropriately and ‘cut his eyes in one direction or the other, as if he were hearing or thinking of something before he spoke.' The social worker concluded he was ‘responding to an outside stimulation' and ‘may have been experiencing auditory hallucinations.' Visual hallucinations also may have been present. Mr. Echols said he thought the furniture in the psychiatric unit ‘was causing blurred vision.' “Mr. Echols exhibited ‘a bizarre and unusual manner' of adjustment to the psychiatric unit that was also reflected in his ‘bizarre and unusual thinking pattern.' He was ‘preoccupied with witchcraft' but consistently denied any involvement with satanic worship. He was observed ‘meditating in his room in a bizarre and unusual fashion,' ‘wrote some very unusual poems,' and remained on ‘the peripheral of the group throughout' his hospitalization. He made unusual and bizarre sounds ‘with his mouth that sound[ed] like a cat purr.' He had ‘trouble making eye contact' and was ‘quite paranoid.' He told staff there were ‘survelance [sic] cameras behind his mirror and under his desk' and cautioned other adolescent patients that staff were ‘constantly watching them.' The hospital staff observed him sitting and ‘rocking methodically back and forth,' daydreaming, and staring into space. When interrupted, he appeared startled. He wanted to ‘calm down' and said he ‘was feeling “jittery'' internally.' Hospital staff noted he showed ‘no aggressive behavior' in the hospital. “Mr. Echols' behavior demonstrated ‘a pervasively depressed mood throughout most of his hospitalization.' He withdrew from family and friends, had a ‘sad facial expression' and ‘spent long intervals alone.' He lost interest in eating, had difficulty going to sleep, and planned ways to commit suicide. He repeatedly thought about wrapping the sheet from his bed around his neck and ‘trying to hang' himself. “Mr. Echols' psychiatric care was interrupted by his parents who removed him from the hospital June 25, 1992, and moved to Oregon. His discharge diagnosis was major depression, single episode, dysthymia and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. He was instructed to continue taking 150 mg. of Imipramine daily.” Driver was designated to monitor Echols. “Family indicated that they were moving to Denver, Colorado. Prosecuting Attorney was in agreement with Damien leaving State. Not felt to be a danger to himself or to others per doctor.” Echols apparently did not leave the state until weeks later as he was referred again to Charter on July 24 for a screening. That intake report noted: “Dresses all in black — T-shirt slacks & shoes, Wears small gold cross stud” earring in left ear. “Nails are clean & filed to points.”  Damien presented himself as  intelligent, generally honest, calm and coherent, expressing mostly his desire to be with his girlfriend.  He denied feeling angry or depressed, “but appears depressed — voices apathy — blunt affect.” Damien admitted to the suicide pact: “It can go either way now.” “Question of satanic involvement” still lingered. “Extremely dysfunctional family however.” With Damien diagnosed with major depression, dysthymia and a conduct disorder, the preliminary treatment plan was for a resumption of hospitalization due to suicidal thoughts and a range of other issues. But the case was closed because of his parents' plans to move. Woods described Damien's patterns of continued drug use: “Mr. Echols's mental illness did not improve after his hospitalization. He remained in excruciating emotional pain, betrayed by his mind and body. The world was an unsafe, unpredictable maze from which he desperately looked for an escape. He finally found relief in his own form of medication. He instinctively turned to inhalants and began ‘huffing' gasoline; he thought he ‘invented it.' Later he tried marijuana a few times before his arrest, but it did not become a habit. He also used the medication prescribed for his migraine headaches — Midrin — as a means of tolerating stress and fear of attending school. ... Unable to outrun his terror, he withdrew from school in the ninth grade and tried to insulate himself from the external pressures that contributed to his mental illness.” Moving to Oregon would provide no relief.       https://eastofwestmemphis.wordpress.com   https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphis3Killers/?epa=SEARCH_BOX https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers/dp/0692802843/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B06XVT2976/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Where-Monsters-Go-Against-Memphis-ebook/dp/B06XVNXCJV/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-3-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B07C7C4DCH/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_4?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-4-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers/dp/B071K8VNBM/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_6?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-6-fkmrnull       https://eastofwestmemphis.wordpress.com   https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphis3Killers/?epa=SEARCH_BOX https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers/dp/0692802843/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B06XVT2976/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Where-Monsters-Go-Against-Memphis-ebook/dp/B06XVNXCJV/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-3-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B07C7C4DCH/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_4?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-4-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers/dp/B071K8VNBM/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_6?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-6-fkmrnull    

SHOW TITLE: Should We Abandon Use of Lie Detector Tests As Junk Science? An Interview With Morton Tavel, M.D. Bio: Now retired, Dr. Tavel MD, FACC, is a physician specialist in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases. In addition to managing patients for many years, he held a teaching position (Clinical Professor) at Indiana University School of Medicine. He was consulting cardiologist for the Care Group, Inc., a division of St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis and was the director of the cardiac rehabilitation program. His civic activities include, among others, having been past president of the local and Indiana state divisions of the American Heart Association. He has presented numerous speeches and lectures before national audiences. His medical research includes over 125 publications, editorials, and book reviews that have appeared in peer-reviewed national medical journals. Dr. Tavel authored a book on cardiology (Clinical Phonocardiography) that persisted through four editions over a period of approximately 20 years, and has been a contributor to several other multi-authored textbooks. He has served on the editorial boards of several national medical journals.

A genetic mutation in the DNA of people with Lynch Syndrome gives them as much as an 80% chance of getting colon cancer, along with an increased risk of several other types of cancers. Learn more about this syndrome, the genetic testing that is done for it and tips for managing it. In this informative episode, Kim Thiboldeaux is joined by Stephanie Cohen and Dawn McIlvried, two board-certified and licensed genetic counselors from St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis as well as Kate Murphy, Director of Research Communication at Fight Colorectal Cancer.

A genetic mutation in the DNA of people with Lynch Syndrome gives them as much as an 80% chance of getting colon cancer, along with an increased risk of several other types of cancers. Learn more about this syndrome, the genetic testing that is done for it and tips for managing it. In this informative episode, Kim Thiboldeaux is joined by Stephanie Cohen and Dawn McIlvried, two board-certified and licensed genetic counselors from St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis as well as Kate Murphy, Director of Research Communication at Fight Colorectal Cancer.

Guest: Eric Prystowsky, MD Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH Can we reduce cardiovascular deaths by preventing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation? Dr. Eric Prystowsky, Director of Electrophysiology at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, will discuss the results of the ATHENA trial; a study using dronedarone, an amiodarone-like medication, that was shown to significantly reduce cardiovascular deaths and hospitalizations due to atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndromes. Join host Dr. Matthew Sorrentino.

Guest: Eric Prystowsky, MD Host: Matthew J. Sorrentino, MD, FACC, FASH How do we decide which patients to convert atrial fibrillation to normal sinus rhythm and which antiarrhythmic medications should we use? Dr. Eric Prystowsky, director of electrophysiology at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, talks with host, Dr. Matthew Sorrentino about a treatment approach to patients with atrial fibrillation.

On this week's 51%, we discuss the growing burnout among healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic, and why some are leaving the profession. We also visit a new vacation spot for families and children battling serious illness, and speak with the new chief of surgery at a major hospital in New York state. Guests: Candie St. Jean, nurse case manager at Cooley Dickinson Hospital; Dr. KMarie King, chief of surgery at Albany Medical Center Follow Along You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for giving us a listen, I'm Jesse King. We're bringing you a trio of healthcare stories today — starting, of course, with the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, we're all familiar with tales of the nurses and doctors battling the virus on the front lines, but what does the battle look and feel like now that the vaccine is out, and the country is straining for some version of normalcy?  Well, in some ways, it's not all that different. COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise due to the Delta variant. Hospitals across the country are once again struggling to make room for new patients, only this time many of them rejected the vaccine that was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. So many healthcare workers are burning out. Some are quitting, exacerbating staffing shortages and wait times nationwide. In March, Beacon Research in Boston surveyed 500 nurses across Massachusetts, and 37 percent said they see themselves leaving the profession sooner than they had planned. The Massachusetts Nursing Association is calling for a number of reforms, including better transparency from hospital administrators, decreased mental health boarding in emergency rooms, and the presumption that any healthcare staff diagnosed with COVID-19 caught it while on the job. A nurses' strike at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester has stretched on for over six months over disputed working conditions. I recently spoke with Candie St. Jean, a nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. What is it like, being a nurse right now? The talk is, you know, healthcare workers experiencing burnout, which is very, very real. But I want to stress, number one, burnout doesn't just happen because of a pandemic. Many of the things, if not all of the things that we're experiencing right now, were happening before COVID even hit in 2020. You know, not having adequate staff, etc. But the past few months, the people that are hospitalized are some of the most complex [cases] that we've ever seen. We've had patients come in that didn't seek care during most of 2020, so they're understandably much more complex. Also, socially, emotionally, people that didn't have enough support before this – many of the supports and resources were cut during the pandemic – and it just contributes to the complexity of patients. We're seeing more mental health admissions, we're seeing more addictions, alcohol intoxications, things like that, because of resources that have been cut. So we've been taking care of these types of patients in recent months, and now we've got COVID ramping up again. It doesn't seem that the proactive planning has been happening this time around, either. You know, last year, elective procedures were cancelled. There were things put in place to not only save beds, but provide more adequate staffing. Those things are not in place right now. And yeah, there have been a number of healthcare workers that have left the profession, because they just can't do it anymore. I have had many of my nurses reach out to me in recent weeks and months that they feel their licenses are in jeopardy, because of the assignments they have. They have too many patients. We don't have enough ancillary staff. You know, there's one unit in particular that never has a secretary to answer the phone. And as a case manager – we coordinate with others outside, whether it's homecare services, whether we're trying to get somebody into a skilled nursing facility, we do coordination with all of those folks – and just staffing everywhere is suffering. Now, I've heard some reports of some health care workers not getting the vaccine. I know in New York, a federal judge temporarily blocked the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers because of opposition to it. The mandate didn't allow for religious exemptions. Is vaccine hesitancy something that you're seeing as well? Absolutely. Yes. As a union rep, I have had some nurse colleagues come to me in terms of you know, how to support them in their desire not to get vaccinated. Our Hospital Corporation, they have mandated that everyone needs to get the vaccine by October 15. How does that complicate things, then? Does that result in any kind of tension among staff? It's become so political. Exactly. And that's, you know, that's why it is a tough subject. Because, yes, unfortunately, I think with this particular vaccine, politics has outweighed the science for many people. I have my own personal feelings about it, you know, I don't understand how people can decide not to get the vaccine given what is happening, given what is happening with the Delta variant. But I blame that on misinformation. So it's a lot of educating people – but it's really hard, because, you know, even in my personal life and talking to people, it's very frustrating when I say, “But I work in a hospital, like, how are you not hearing what I'm saying?” It's like, people don't want to believe the truth, because they're too busy listening to the misinformation that's out there. We've had people that are in [the hospital] with COVID, we've had a couple that don't believe that they have it, or, you know, are still hesitant to get the vaccine themselves. So [we] just try to educate people as best as we can, without judgment. Just to clarify, did you say that some people have been in the hospital with COVID, but then don't believe that they have it? Yes. Or a family member hasn't believed that they've had it, and they react with anger towards people at the hospital. And I will say, that's something in general, that's not just happening in the hospital. And I've talked about it with colleagues and with people in my personal life, that people just in general…tensions seem to be high. There seems to be less tolerance and compassion and empathy. And those of us inside the hospital in particular, people just seem to be angrier and more demanding. So there's multiple reasons of why health care workers are feeling stress and burnout. I mean, I've been to the doctor a couple of times over the past couple of months, and I've noticed that tension just in waiting rooms myself, yeah. If there was something that you could tell people about what it's like on your side, what would you like them to know? People who are coming into the doctor's office, or coming into the hospital. Thank you so much for that question, because that is something that myself and colleagues have talked about a lot recently. So last year, healthcare workers were the heroes, and that was kind of the focus. And while the majority of people that I know have never really felt comfortable with that, this year, it feels drastically different. This is more for our leadership and management, but also the public – we want the public to know that we are absolutely 100 percent doing the best that we can. Nurses and healthcare workers in general, our nurses, our physicians, who also in many instances have more patients than they should to take care of – we're a profession that rises to the occasion and does what we have to do. We just need people to understand that we don't have the resources that we had last year, we don't have enough staff. So just asking for, I guess, a level of compassion and understanding and patience our way. And what are some ways that you think employers or legislators can support health care workers right now? Well, number one, they need to work on retaining the staff that we have. They need to have better incentives to also get people to work in this profession. Here in Massachusetts, we had a ballot question in 2018 that would have given us safe patient ratios – “a nurse should only have X number of patients to care for” – to make it safe. Unfortunately, that ballot question did not pass because the “no” campaign spent millions of dollars giving people misinformation. I wonder that, if the pandemic happened before the ballot question, if the outcome would have been very different. I believe in my heart that it would have, because I've had emergency room nurses that have had eight patients. And when you learn what is going on with the eight patients – someone is seizing, someone is not breathing, someone is having an anaplastic reaction. You know, it's just very unsafe. So management needs to recruit and retain staff. They also need to protect healthcare workers from violence. That's something that I haven't said before now, is there's been a serious uptick in violence towards health care workers. I think, if anything, this pandemic has shown that people that are depended upon in the hospitals, like our support staff, like security, on the outside, our ambulance personnel, EMTs paramedics – they are not paid what they are worth. That is something else that's happening out there, is our ambulance companies are also short on staff. And it's not just about the money. We have a hospital-wide bonus at our hospital that we as a union committee negotiated with the hospital, to try to get people to cover shifts that are not covered. And we're to the point now where people are saying to me, “Candie, it's not about the money anymore. I just I can't do it. I need my time off to recharge.” Which is completely understandable. So those are some things that they can do. The main thing to stress is, a lot of the articles I read – not just in my area, but nationally – you know, burnout is being blamed on the pandemic. And I think I just want to stress that the pandemic heightened and brought to light for the public things that were already happening in the hospitals, and it just exacerbated these things. Now, the pandemic has been hard on everyone — nurses aren't the only ones facing burnout. But for caretakers, particularly those nursing sick children, the pandemic compounded a level of stress that was already there. Since 1974, Ronald McDonald House Charities has tried to alleviate that stress by providing housing and supplies for children and families battling serious illness. The organization has more than 375 homes worldwide located near major hospitals, so families can focus on treatment rather than transportation, or whether they'll have a roof over their head. One of its latest offerings, however, is far from a hospital bed. The “Family Retreat at Krantz Cottage'' is smack dab in the middle of Lake George, New York, a popular family vacation spot in the foothills of the Adirondacks. After two years of renovations, the charity's Capital Region chapter officially cut the ribbon in July, with more than 100 supporters, donors, and families in attendance. "I'd like to have all the kids come up and hold on to the ribbon," said CEO David Jacobsen, as supporters crammed behind a ribbon along the cottage's porch. The “cottage” is a two-unit home at 161 Ottawa Street — formerly the law office of Howard Krantz, a longtime attorney for the village who died of cancer in 2015. It's handicap accessible, newly refurbished, and lovingly decorated, with intricately-painted landscapes and hand-crafted furniture. Families will find it stocked with books, board games, food, and even some gift cards to Lake George's local attractions.  Jacobsen says he hopes to see kids hitting the beach, playing games, and generally just being kids — rather than worrying about their next hospital visit. "In a few days, the first guest family will arrive. Here, they will be able to do what matters most: spend time together," he says. Resident House Director Debbie Ross is the brains behind the project, and came up with the idea while loaning out her summer home to Ronald McDonald House families several years ago. She says she saw first-hand how crucial the memories made in those summer months could be. For families with children experiencing terminal illness, that vacation could be their last as a family. So when her summer home tragically burned down, she brought the idea to Lake George Mayor Robert Blais.  "We've had our challenges," she says. "When, in March, global said we could move back into the house, we had a gutted building, and we couldn't find any contractors. We called everybody. One of our Amish families stepped up and put the siding on this building. I know a lot of you on Ottawa Street have gotten desperate calls from me, I'm sorry about that. I met a contractor recently, and I introduced myself, and he said to me, 'Oh you're the beggar.' And I said, 'What?' And he said, 'My boss said that you beg for sick children and their families.' So I wear that hat very proudly. We know that medicine heals, but we also know being together, as a family, and with joy and togetherness, and making lasting memories — that is healing too." The Ronald McDonald Family Retreat at Krantz Cottage is open year-round. Families in need can apply for a five-day, four-night stay running from Saturday to Wednesday at the chapter's website, rmhcofalbany.org. Our last segment today is also in upstate New York. Albany Medical Center welcomed Dr. KMarie King as its new chief of surgery and chair for the department of surgery at the start of the month. She replaces Dr. Steven Stain, who previously led the department for 15 years, and her appointment makes her the first Black female chair of surgery at an academic health science center in the U.S. She came to New York from Atlanta, where she was a professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine and chief of surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital. I got the chance to speak with her on just her second day on the job. King says she knew she wanted to work in medicine at just 8 years old, and her focus narrowed to surgery once she got to medical school.  What made you want to become a surgeon? A female surgeon and plastic surgeon, Susan McKinnon, came into the classroom and shared with us her before-and-after cranial facial surgery photos. I was like, “Wow, this is amazing. Look, she can really transform the life [of children].” This is at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And at that point, I decided as a second year, I want to do surgery. And so I started following the plastic surgeons around every time, every chance I got, and then once it was my time officially to go into my surgical rotation, I saw the liver and intestines and said, “I know what I want to do. I want to be a liver and pancreas surgeon.” I thought it was beautiful. I'll be honest, I thought the liver and pancreas is beautiful – but they're also very complicated organs. And I watched these expert surgeons manipulate these organs that don't like to be touched, don't like to be manipulated. They also have some of the worst diseases that a human can get in the abdomen. And I like challenges. So it was very appealing all the way around. Would you say that's the area that you specialize in? Yes, I treat patients who have pancreas cancer, who have liver cancer that comes from somewhere else, like the colon, that has spread to the liver. I looked at genetic risk factors for pancreas cancer, and also did what we call cohort studies looking at how patients responded to surgical interventions with pancreas cancer and colon cancer that has spread to the liver. That was mainly my focus while I was at Mayo Clinic. And a lot of that research I have continued. But now I do a lot of work in the area of quality and how to improve the patient experience and their outcomes. So what would you say are some ways that the patient experience can be improved? Well, first is really training your doctors to listen to a patient. We understand now that many providers can have biases – just like they have biases in regular society, it's brought into the workplace. And how do you care for patients who don't look like you, who don't speak like you, who don't have insurance, perhaps, or who have different point of view than you, and deliver the same kind of treatment that's at the top of my mind right now. What are some of your goals as the new chair Albany Med? The people are important to me. And who are these people? The patients that we serve, really improving what we offer from a research component, from a clinical component, working with the community to help meet their needs. The faculty, we have a large department in many specialties that work hard to deliver the care for the Capital Region. And then our trainees, our residents, our medical students, investing in them. Being the only academic center in the region, it's really important to strengthen our academic deliverables. So making sure that we are on the national front of performing research studies, whether it be looking at new technologies or looking at new ways to perform surgeries, to looking at our outcomes and saying, “How can we get better?” And while we do that, it allows us to give our patients the best and the cutting edge technologies that's available for their disease treatment. How is the surgery field changing? What you say are some of the biggest issues and debates in the field right now? You know, one of the biggest issues is recognizing the surgeon is human, recognizing the surgeon that can be burnt out. One of the highest suicide rates in occupations are among surgeons and anesthesiologists, and women are the more predominant group in terms of sex. And so understanding that the workforce does have needs, whether it's physical disabilities that come from operating for a long time, or the stress of operating, especially in the time that we're in with COVID. The workload is different, it's more intense, and we have to take care of the human being. Do you know that more than 50% of Americans don't take vacation? Not at all. And so it's so critical that we have time off, and companies are now moving to mandating time off. Where I was at Morehouse, we moved to that – that you had to take your vacation, you have to take time off. And before I started, I took some time off to reflect and journal and think about what my next steps were. And I think everyone needs to do that. And then from a clinical standpoint, how to do things more novelty, how do we use robots to treat? How do we do heart surgery without making a big incision on the chest? And can we extend the ways in which we do surgery with smaller incisions and more advanced technologies? What we're seeing is COVID has advanced a lot of those technologies, or allowed them to come into the clinical space. Telemedicine, seeing a physician from your home on a computer, because we couldn't see people in person – we had to deploy all those technologies quite rapidly so that we could still take care of people. And what we learned is a lot of folks loved this. It allowed them not to pay for parking, or not to take time off, or to be at home with their children, to not have to get a babysitter. So now we're thinking, how do we continue the use of this remarkable technology as surgeons, where we like to see and touch? How do we incorporate that into our clinical space? It's the gamut from new technologies, new techniques to realizing some of the challenges we face as humans being surgeons. You're the first black female chair of surgery at an academic health services center in the US. What does that mean to you? Well, it is exciting, it's exciting to have that distinction. But you know, initially, it made me upset, to be honest, that it would be 2021, and that I am indeed the first person to sit in this role in an academic institution. I'm glad to say that one of my dear friends, Dr. Andrea Hayes, has just been appointed the chair of surgery at Howard University. So there's a second. So this is what we want to see. We want to see people who look differently, have opportunities, and more importantly, be prepared to have those opportunities by having a competitive experience that allows them to lead. And so it is exciting that I get to have that distinction here at Albany Med, because I feel so in tune with this organization. And I'm so excited about being here. And so it's wonderful that I get to come back to New York, and participate in this role. For women hoping to get into the healthcare field or hoping to get into surgery, what advice do you have for them? Just do it. I think many of our medical students are afraid of doing surgery because they think it will take time away from them having families and having a life, so to speak. But the more of us that are in the field of surgery, the more we can change the field so that it can adopt to having children, and raising children, and having the time to do that. I will say that my male colleagues want that as well. They want the time, to have paternity time when their children are born, and they want to see the high school recitals. So it's not really that men don't want that, it's just historically that's how it's been in the field. So I would say do it, and if you're passionate about it, get a great mentor, get a great sponsor to help you navigate some of the challenges you might face. What's a good place to start if you're looking to try to get into that field? I think a good place to start is talking to your own physician, ask them if they know of any surgeons that they can go and observe, an office visit, and see if they like it. Some people see the sight of blood and they fall out. Your heart may be there, but you know, you can't do that field. So that may be an easy way to figure out whether or not you can do that field. Well, that was all the questions that I had for you. But is there anything that I'm missing that you'd like me to know? Well, I am very hopeful that in my role, that I get to really engage with the community here in Albany, and that we make sure with that engagement that we have ability to have dialogue around some of the community needs, and how we as surgeons can meet some of those needs. Some of the areas that come to mind is the rates of prostate cancer, especially in Black men, the rates of pancreatic cancer, and the high rates of colon cancer. And the great news is some of these cancer rates are going down. But we also still need to educate our population about the importance of a colonoscopy every year, so we don't see these late cancers, and they don't have to see me when it spreads to their liver. Or the need for a mammogram every year for women after 40. I think it's very important for me that we have great community engagement. And while we're doing our academic work, not taking sight off the people in our community. Do you think some of the higher rates have to do with access, or just getting the information out there? Great question. A lot of what we call inequities within healthcare is due to access. People are under-insured, meaning they don't have a robust insurance plan, or they have no insurance. And so it's important that we have, as hospital systems, ability to care for those patients. And sometimes hospital systems use charity care, where if you don't have insurance, you can ask the hospital for help paying for the healthcare. Other times, you may need to go on like the Obamacare plan and get hospital care. But what I see in my field a lot of is a delay in the diagnosis, either from the patient side or the physician side, which is why I'm stressing the fact that you do need to do these preventative steps as frequent as is recommended. How frequently are they recommended? Yes, great question. So now, for breast cancer mammograms are recommended starting at the age of 40. So is colon cancer detection, because what we're seeing is we're seeing higher rates of colon cancer in younger people. And so we're recommending at the age of 40 to start getting your colonoscopies. 40 is the magic number. When you hit 40, please start going and seeing your primary care physician, get that blood pressure checked, get the blood work done, look at your liver and whether or not you have diabetes, get your colonoscopy, get your mammogram, and stay on that regimen every year, so that we can detect cancers earlier, rather than when they're in their endpoints and we can't treat them. You've been listening to 51%. 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Our story editor is Ian Pickus, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and that theme underneath me right now is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. A big thanks to Candie St. Jean and Dr. KMarie King for taking the time to speak with me — and thank you for tuning in! If you like what you're hearing, check us out on Facebook and Instagram @51percentradio. Next week, we put on our dancing shoes, but until then, I'm Jesse King for 51%. 

On this week's 51%, we discuss the growing burnout among healthcare workers during the coronavirus pandemic, and why some are leaving the profession. We also visit a new vacation spot for families and children battling serious illness, and speak with the new chief of surgery at a major hospital in New York state. Guests: Candie St. Jean, nurse case manager at Cooley Dickinson Hospital; Dr. KMarie King, chief of surgery at Albany Medical Center Follow Along You're listening to 51%, a WAMC production dedicated to women's issues and experiences. Thanks for giving us a listen, I'm Jesse King. We're bringing you a trio of healthcare stories today — starting, of course, with the coronavirus pandemic. At this point, we're all familiar with tales of the nurses and doctors battling the virus on the front lines, but what does the battle look and feel like now that the vaccine is out, and the country is straining for some version of normalcy?  Well, in some ways, it's not all that different. COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise due to the Delta variant. Hospitals across the country are once again struggling to make room for new patients, only this time many of them rejected the vaccine that was supposed to be the light at the end of the tunnel. So many healthcare workers are burning out. Some are quitting, exacerbating staffing shortages and wait times nationwide. In March, Beacon Research in Boston surveyed 500 nurses across Massachusetts, and 37 percent said they see themselves leaving the profession sooner than they had planned. The Massachusetts Nursing Association is calling for a number of reforms, including better transparency from hospital administrators, decreased mental health boarding in emergency rooms, and the presumption that any healthcare staff diagnosed with COVID-19 caught it while on the job. A nurses' strike at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester has stretched on for over six months over disputed working conditions. I recently spoke with Candie St. Jean, a nurse at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts. What is it like, being a nurse right now? The talk is, you know, healthcare workers experiencing burnout, which is very, very real. But I want to stress, number one, burnout doesn't just happen because of a pandemic. Many of the things, if not all of the things that we're experiencing right now, were happening before COVID even hit in 2020. You know, not having adequate staff, etc. But the past few months, the people that are hospitalized are some of the most complex [cases] that we've ever seen. We've had patients come in that didn't seek care during most of 2020, so they're understandably much more complex. Also, socially, emotionally, people that didn't have enough support before this – many of the supports and resources were cut during the pandemic – and it just contributes to the complexity of patients. We're seeing more mental health admissions, we're seeing more addictions, alcohol intoxications, things like that, because of resources that have been cut. So we've been taking care of these types of patients in recent months, and now we've got COVID ramping up again. It doesn't seem that the proactive planning has been happening this time around, either. You know, last year, elective procedures were cancelled. There were things put in place to not only save beds, but provide more adequate staffing. Those things are not in place right now. And yeah, there have been a number of healthcare workers that have left the profession, because they just can't do it anymore. I have had many of my nurses reach out to me in recent weeks and months that they feel their licenses are in jeopardy, because of the assignments they have. They have too many patients. We don't have enough ancillary staff. You know, there's one unit in particular that never has a secretary to answer the phone. And as a case manager – we coordinate with others outside, whether it's homecare services, whether we're trying to get somebody into a skilled nursing facility, we do coordination with all of those folks – and just staffing everywhere is suffering. Now, I've heard some reports of some health care workers not getting the vaccine. I know in New York, a federal judge temporarily blocked the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers because of opposition to it. The mandate didn't allow for religious exemptions. Is vaccine hesitancy something that you're seeing as well? Absolutely. Yes. As a union rep, I have had some nurse colleagues come to me in terms of you know, how to support them in their desire not to get vaccinated. Our Hospital Corporation, they have mandated that everyone needs to get the vaccine by October 15. How does that complicate things, then? Does that result in any kind of tension among staff? It's become so political. Exactly. And that's, you know, that's why it is a tough subject. Because, yes, unfortunately, I think with this particular vaccine, politics has outweighed the science for many people. I have my own personal feelings about it, you know, I don't understand how people can decide not to get the vaccine given what is happening, given what is happening with the Delta variant. But I blame that on misinformation. So it's a lot of educating people – but it's really hard, because, you know, even in my personal life and talking to people, it's very frustrating when I say, “But I work in a hospital, like, how are you not hearing what I'm saying?” It's like, people don't want to believe the truth, because they're too busy listening to the misinformation that's out there. We've had people that are in [the hospital] with COVID, we've had a couple that don't believe that they have it, or, you know, are still hesitant to get the vaccine themselves. So [we] just try to educate people as best as we can, without judgment. Just to clarify, did you say that some people have been in the hospital with COVID, but then don't believe that they have it? Yes. Or a family member hasn't believed that they've had it, and they react with anger towards people at the hospital. And I will say, that's something in general, that's not just happening in the hospital. And I've talked about it with colleagues and with people in my personal life, that people just in general…tensions seem to be high. There seems to be less tolerance and compassion and empathy. And those of us inside the hospital in particular, people just seem to be angrier and more demanding. So there's multiple reasons of why health care workers are feeling stress and burnout. I mean, I've been to the doctor a couple of times over the past couple of months, and I've noticed that tension just in waiting rooms myself, yeah. If there was something that you could tell people about what it's like on your side, what would you like them to know? People who are coming into the doctor's office, or coming into the hospital. Thank you so much for that question, because that is something that myself and colleagues have talked about a lot recently. So last year, healthcare workers were the heroes, and that was kind of the focus. And while the majority of people that I know have never really felt comfortable with that, this year, it feels drastically different. This is more for our leadership and management, but also the public – we want the public to know that we are absolutely 100 percent doing the best that we can. Nurses and healthcare workers in general, our nurses, our physicians, who also in many instances have more patients than they should to take care of – we're a profession that rises to the occasion and does what we have to do. We just need people to understand that we don't have the resources that we had last year, we don't have enough staff. So just asking for, I guess, a level of compassion and understanding and patience our way. And what are some ways that you think employers or legislators can support health care workers right now? Well, number one, they need to work on retaining the staff that we have. They need to have better incentives to also get people to work in this profession. Here in Massachusetts, we had a ballot question in 2018 that would have given us safe patient ratios – “a nurse should only have X number of patients to care for” – to make it safe. Unfortunately, that ballot question did not pass because the “no” campaign spent millions of dollars giving people misinformation. I wonder that, if the pandemic happened before the ballot question, if the outcome would have been very different. I believe in my heart that it would have, because I've had emergency room nurses that have had eight patients. And when you learn what is going on with the eight patients – someone is seizing, someone is not breathing, someone is having an anaplastic reaction. You know, it's just very unsafe. So management needs to recruit and retain staff. They also need to protect healthcare workers from violence. That's something that I haven't said before now, is there's been a serious uptick in violence towards health care workers. I think, if anything, this pandemic has shown that people that are depended upon in the hospitals, like our support staff, like security, on the outside, our ambulance personnel, EMTs paramedics – they are not paid what they are worth. That is something else that's happening out there, is our ambulance companies are also short on staff. And it's not just about the money. We have a hospital-wide bonus at our hospital that we as a union committee negotiated with the hospital, to try to get people to cover shifts that are not covered. And we're to the point now where people are saying to me, “Candie, it's not about the money anymore. I just I can't do it. I need my time off to recharge.” Which is completely understandable. So those are some things that they can do. The main thing to stress is, a lot of the articles I read – not just in my area, but nationally – you know, burnout is being blamed on the pandemic. And I think I just want to stress that the pandemic heightened and brought to light for the public things that were already happening in the hospitals, and it just exacerbated these things. Now, the pandemic has been hard on everyone — nurses aren't the only ones facing burnout. But for caretakers, particularly those nursing sick children, the pandemic compounded a level of stress that was already there. Since 1974, Ronald McDonald House Charities has tried to alleviate that stress by providing housing and supplies for children and families battling serious illness. The organization has more than 375 homes worldwide located near major hospitals, so families can focus on treatment rather than transportation, or whether they'll have a roof over their head. One of its latest offerings, however, is far from a hospital bed. The “Family Retreat at Krantz Cottage'' is smack dab in the middle of Lake George, New York, a popular family vacation spot in the foothills of the Adirondacks. After two years of renovations, the charity's Capital Region chapter officially cut the ribbon in July, with more than 100 supporters, donors, and families in attendance. "I'd like to have all the kids come up and hold on to the ribbon," said CEO David Jacobsen, as supporters crammed behind a ribbon along the cottage's porch. The “cottage” is a two-unit home at 161 Ottawa Street — formerly the law office of Howard Krantz, a longtime attorney for the village who died of cancer in 2015. It's handicap accessible, newly refurbished, and lovingly decorated, with intricately-painted landscapes and hand-crafted furniture. Families will find it stocked with books, board games, food, and even some gift cards to Lake George's local attractions.  Jacobsen says he hopes to see kids hitting the beach, playing games, and generally just being kids — rather than worrying about their next hospital visit. "In a few days, the first guest family will arrive. Here, they will be able to do what matters most: spend time together," he says. Resident House Director Debbie Ross is the brains behind the project, and came up with the idea while loaning out her summer home to Ronald McDonald House families several years ago. She says she saw first-hand how crucial the memories made in those summer months could be. For families with children experiencing terminal illness, that vacation could be their last as a family. So when her summer home tragically burned down, she brought the idea to Lake George Mayor Robert Blais.  "We've had our challenges," she says. "When, in March, global said we could move back into the house, we had a gutted building, and we couldn't find any contractors. We called everybody. One of our Amish families stepped up and put the siding on this building. I know a lot of you on Ottawa Street have gotten desperate calls from me, I'm sorry about that. I met a contractor recently, and I introduced myself, and he said to me, 'Oh you're the beggar.' And I said, 'What?' And he said, 'My boss said that you beg for sick children and their families.' So I wear that hat very proudly. We know that medicine heals, but we also know being together, as a family, and with joy and togetherness, and making lasting memories — that is healing too." The Ronald McDonald Family Retreat at Krantz Cottage is open year-round. Families in need can apply for a five-day, four-night stay running from Saturday to Wednesday at the chapter's website, rmhcofalbany.org. Our last segment today is also in upstate New York. Albany Medical Center welcomed Dr. KMarie King as its new chief of surgery and chair for the department of surgery at the start of the month. She replaces Dr. Steven Stain, who previously led the department for 15 years, and her appointment makes her the first Black female chair of surgery at an academic health science center in the U.S. She came to New York from Atlanta, where she was a professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine and chief of surgery at Grady Memorial Hospital. I got the chance to speak with her on just her second day on the job. King says she knew she wanted to work in medicine at just 8 years old, and her focus narrowed to surgery once she got to medical school.  What made you want to become a surgeon? A female surgeon and plastic surgeon, Susan McKinnon, came into the classroom and shared with us her before-and-after cranial facial surgery photos. I was like, “Wow, this is amazing. Look, she can really transform the life [of children].” This is at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. And at that point, I decided as a second year, I want to do surgery. And so I started following the plastic surgeons around every time, every chance I got, and then once it was my time officially to go into my surgical rotation, I saw the liver and intestines and said, “I know what I want to do. I want to be a liver and pancreas surgeon.” I thought it was beautiful. I'll be honest, I thought the liver and pancreas is beautiful – but they're also very complicated organs. And I watched these expert surgeons manipulate these organs that don't like to be touched, don't like to be manipulated. They also have some of the worst diseases that a human can get in the abdomen. And I like challenges. So it was very appealing all the way around. Would you say that's the area that you specialize in? Yes, I treat patients who have pancreas cancer, who have liver cancer that comes from somewhere else, like the colon, that has spread to the liver. I looked at genetic risk factors for pancreas cancer, and also did what we call cohort studies looking at how patients responded to surgical interventions with pancreas cancer and colon cancer that has spread to the liver. That was mainly my focus while I was at Mayo Clinic. And a lot of that research I have continued. But now I do a lot of work in the area of quality and how to improve the patient experience and their outcomes. So what would you say are some ways that the patient experience can be improved? Well, first is really training your doctors to listen to a patient. We understand now that many providers can have biases – just like they have biases in regular society, it's brought into the workplace. And how do you care for patients who don't look like you, who don't speak like you, who don't have insurance, perhaps, or who have different point of view than you, and deliver the same kind of treatment that's at the top of my mind right now. What are some of your goals as the new chair Albany Med? The people are important to me. And who are these people? The patients that we serve, really improving what we offer from a research component, from a clinical component, working with the community to help meet their needs. The faculty, we have a large department in many specialties that work hard to deliver the care for the Capital Region. And then our trainees, our residents, our medical students, investing in them. Being the only academic center in the region, it's really important to strengthen our academic deliverables. So making sure that we are on the national front of performing research studies, whether it be looking at new technologies or looking at new ways to perform surgeries, to looking at our outcomes and saying, “How can we get better?” And while we do that, it allows us to give our patients the best and the cutting edge technologies that's available for their disease treatment. How is the surgery field changing? What you say are some of the biggest issues and debates in the field right now? You know, one of the biggest issues is recognizing the surgeon is human, recognizing the surgeon that can be burnt out. One of the highest suicide rates in occupations are among surgeons and anesthesiologists, and women are the more predominant group in terms of sex. And so understanding that the workforce does have needs, whether it's physical disabilities that come from operating for a long time, or the stress of operating, especially in the time that we're in with COVID. The workload is different, it's more intense, and we have to take care of the human being. Do you know that more than 50% of Americans don't take vacation? Not at all. And so it's so critical that we have time off, and companies are now moving to mandating time off. Where I was at Morehouse, we moved to that – that you had to take your vacation, you have to take time off. And before I started, I took some time off to reflect and journal and think about what my next steps were. And I think everyone needs to do that. And then from a clinical standpoint, how to do things more novelty, how do we use robots to treat? How do we do heart surgery without making a big incision on the chest? And can we extend the ways in which we do surgery with smaller incisions and more advanced technologies? What we're seeing is COVID has advanced a lot of those technologies, or allowed them to come into the clinical space. Telemedicine, seeing a physician from your home on a computer, because we couldn't see people in person – we had to deploy all those technologies quite rapidly so that we could still take care of people. And what we learned is a lot of folks loved this. It allowed them not to pay for parking, or not to take time off, or to be at home with their children, to not have to get a babysitter. So now we're thinking, how do we continue the use of this remarkable technology as surgeons, where we like to see and touch? How do we incorporate that into our clinical space? It's the gamut from new technologies, new techniques to realizing some of the challenges we face as humans being surgeons. You're the first black female chair of surgery at an academic health services center in the US. What does that mean to you? Well, it is exciting, it's exciting to have that distinction. But you know, initially, it made me upset, to be honest, that it would be 2021, and that I am indeed the first person to sit in this role in an academic institution. I'm glad to say that one of my dear friends, Dr. Andrea Hayes, has just been appointed the chair of surgery at Howard University. So there's a second. So this is what we want to see. We want to see people who look differently, have opportunities, and more importantly, be prepared to have those opportunities by having a competitive experience that allows them to lead. And so it is exciting that I get to have that distinction here at Albany Med, because I feel so in tune with this organization. And I'm so excited about being here. And so it's wonderful that I get to come back to New York, and participate in this role. For women hoping to get into the healthcare field or hoping to get into surgery, what advice do you have for them? Just do it. I think many of our medical students are afraid of doing surgery because they think it will take time away from them having families and having a life, so to speak. But the more of us that are in the field of surgery, the more we can change the field so that it can adopt to having children, and raising children, and having the time to do that. I will say that my male colleagues want that as well. They want the time, to have paternity time when their children are born, and they want to see the high school recitals. So it's not really that men don't want that, it's just historically that's how it's been in the field. So I would say do it, and if you're passionate about it, get a great mentor, get a great sponsor to help you navigate some of the challenges you might face. What's a good place to start if you're looking to try to get into that field? I think a good place to start is talking to your own physician, ask them if they know of any surgeons that they can go and observe, an office visit, and see if they like it. Some people see the sight of blood and they fall out. Your heart may be there, but you know, you can't do that field. So that may be an easy way to figure out whether or not you can do that field. Well, that was all the questions that I had for you. But is there anything that I'm missing that you'd like me to know? Well, I am very hopeful that in my role, that I get to really engage with the community here in Albany, and that we make sure with that engagement that we have ability to have dialogue around some of the community needs, and how we as surgeons can meet some of those needs. Some of the areas that come to mind is the rates of prostate cancer, especially in Black men, the rates of pancreatic cancer, and the high rates of colon cancer. And the great news is some of these cancer rates are going down. But we also still need to educate our population about the importance of a colonoscopy every year, so we don't see these late cancers, and they don't have to see me when it spreads to their liver. Or the need for a mammogram every year for women after 40. I think it's very important for me that we have great community engagement. And while we're doing our academic work, not taking sight off the people in our community. Do you think some of the higher rates have to do with access, or just getting the information out there? Great question. A lot of what we call inequities within healthcare is due to access. People are under-insured, meaning they don't have a robust insurance plan, or they have no insurance. And so it's important that we have, as hospital systems, ability to care for those patients. And sometimes hospital systems use charity care, where if you don't have insurance, you can ask the hospital for help paying for the healthcare. Other times, you may need to go on like the Obamacare plan and get hospital care. But what I see in my field a lot of is a delay in the diagnosis, either from the patient side or the physician side, which is why I'm stressing the fact that you do need to do these preventative steps as frequent as is recommended. How frequently are they recommended? Yes, great question. So now, for breast cancer mammograms are recommended starting at the age of 40. So is colon cancer detection, because what we're seeing is we're seeing higher rates of colon cancer in younger people. And so we're recommending at the age of 40 to start getting your colonoscopies. 40 is the magic number. When you hit 40, please start going and seeing your primary care physician, get that blood pressure checked, get the blood work done, look at your liver and whether or not you have diabetes, get your colonoscopy, get your mammogram, and stay on that regimen every year, so that we can detect cancers earlier, rather than when they're in their endpoints and we can't treat them. You've been listening to 51%. 51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Our story editor is Ian Pickus, our executive producer is Dr. Alan Chartock, and that theme underneath me right now is “Lolita” by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. A big thanks to Candie St. Jean and Dr. KMarie King for taking the time to speak with me — and thank you for tuning in! If you like what you're hearing, check us out on Facebook and Instagram @51percentradio. Next week, we put on our dancing shoes, but until then, I'm Jesse King for 51%.