January 28, 2025 • 31 mins
Ep. 44: In this episode, Dr. Lendra discusses the recent executive order signed by President Trump to remove Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the government. She expresses her concerns about the implications of this decision, labeling it as a form of discrimination and racism. Dr. Lendra emphasizes the need for community support and empowerment through education and business initiatives, urging listeners to take action and build a movement that supports diversity and inclusion in all sectors, especially healthcare. She also highlights the importance of bridging gaps in leadership and advocating for change at the legislative level.
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Takeaways
The removal of DEI initiatives is a form of discrimination.
Community support is essential in times of political change.
Education and business empowerment are crucial for progress.
Diversity in leadership is necessary for effective governance.
Healthcare professionals face bias and exclusion in their fields.
We must educate the next generation on financial literacy.
Supporting local businesses strengthens community ties.
The government’s actions directly impact healthcare quality.
A movement for change must be grassroots and community-driven.
Real estate and entrepreneurship can change lives.
Further Reading
If you haven’t already, grab your e-copy of Dr. Lendra’s book, Confessions of a Nurse Executive : Conscious & Unconsciuos Bias In Healthcare. It’s an essential guide to understanding and addressing systemic bias in healthcare.
We understand the unique challenges nurses and healthcare professionals face, and we’re here to help you thrive. Download your FREE Nurse Beat Burnout Guide—a powerful resource crafted to empower you with actionable strategies to reclaim your energy and purpose.
Sound Bites
"This is who we voted for."
"I want to start a movement."
"We need to bridge those gaps."
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Current Events in Government
04:08 Racism and Discrimination in Society
09:18 The Importance of Education and Empowerment
13:06 The Need for Diversity in Leadership
16:43 The Future of Healthcare and Global Relations
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Nurses with voices. I'm Dr. Lendra and
I want to talk about what's going on in the government right now. Now,
I woke up this morning and the first thing I
heard was that the removal of DEI has been signed as an
executive order. And I'm going to read you because it's all over the news today.
President Donald Trump has ordered that all US Government staffing
(00:23):
working on diversity, equity and inclusion schemes
be put on immediate, paid administratively. What is
happening? Please, I really want to know your thoughts
with this and I want to know what you think about this. I want to
know what do you think about the removal of dei
and I want to know what it means to you. I know what it means
to me, but listen, it means something different to everyone. So maybe
(00:46):
there's a reason that this has been
allowed. Now, I know just because he signs it, it still has to go
through Congress. And then people talk about how. Well, some things at the
federal level doesn't necessarily affect state level.
Listen, at the end of the day, have to,
you have to start thinking and considering
(01:09):
the strategy behind what's going on. What's
happening right now is nothing short. And, and
I'm, I'm just going to be blunt, right? And I try to sugarcoat. We
say things like burnout. No, don't say burnout. Same world distress.
Right? Or we say, we say incivility.
You know, we use those terms. No. Or we say diversity, equity
(01:32):
and inclusion. We don't say no. I'm going to call
it what it is. It's discrimination, it's prejudice. It's
prejudice, it's discrimination, and it's flat out racism.
That's what's happening right now. And I know I get myself in a lot of
trouble because sometimes I don't have a filter. And this
is why I am a business owner, is one of the reasons
(01:54):
why. Because what I'm seeing right now,
I can't stomach it. And I hear my pastor, and Pastor quick,
I know you say, listen, yes, I am a woman of faith,
but I do feel that I'm called to speak out and say
the things that someone else won't say. And I
know some people say you have to move in silence, move in silence. Well,
(02:17):
yeah, I know that, too. There's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.
And right now, what, what's happening
is flat out racism. That's what it is. The fact that you
have. And this is who, this is who we voted for.
So. And to you black men who Voted for this man
because you felt like your, your lives were
(02:39):
so much better when he was a president or because of
your misogyny or whatever it was. This is
who your president is now. He's showing you who he
is. Now what do you have to say when your kid
won't be able to get into. They have to go on their merit,
right? Or anyone who gets anywhere has to go in their merit. You already
(03:02):
have Mark Zuckerberg, right? Facebook CEO, perfect example.
Pulling out a dei. Walmart pulling out a dei.
So now you have people who are mentally challenged, disabled, who they can't get
jobs. You know, they were the greeters at the door, right? It gave them something
to do. It gave them a job. It gave them a sense of purpose. You're
taking that away from people. Not to say, you know,
(03:23):
the, the hundreds of thousands of children who
are not going to get access to schools, because
guess what? It's going to be given to someone who wants to pad the pockets
of these people who are at these Ivy League schools. So now the people
who. Yeah, and we'll say, yeah, they have to
do their merit. We have our merit system, but we know it's a reason
(03:46):
why the government had to be held accountable to have
these diversity, equity and inclusion programs. So whether the
person has merit or not, we know we're still going to get
looked over. And again, we call it
bias, right? Conscious and unconscious bias. No, what's happening
right now will spat out racial discrimination. That's what's happening
(04:09):
right now. And it saddens me.
It saddens me that this is the world we live in. It saddens me
that people are not being held accountable for the riots that
took place on the. What's supposed to be sacred ground. This is
the capital of Washington, D.C. and you mean to tell me
the people climbing walls, you have people
(04:31):
climbing walls, you have police officers. And I'm sorry,
sometimes I laugh when I'm just. When I'm
trying to hold back things that I'm trying to say, because none of what I'm
saying is really funny right now. None of it is really comical. You guys know
that Nurses with Voices is not a political podcast at all, but I
also feel like this is. This aligns with what I
(04:53):
stand for when I talk about the situations and the things that I dealt
with in my book, right? In my subtitle, the conscious and
unconscious bias in healthcare. What's happening in the
government right now truly, truly aligns with the
bias that healthcare professionals deal with, with the bias with
Being overlooked for certain positions, with the bias that comes
(05:15):
along with what we have to deal with, with being excluded from
emails, being excluded from lunches, being
excluded and then being told like, oh, oh, I'm sorry, oh, I forgot. Oh, you
wasn't on that email. No, I wasn't on the email. And you know, I wasn't
on that email. And again, I'm just using an example, but this
is, this truly saddens me what I see happening right
(05:36):
now. And for those of you who are clutching your pearls, who are saying
like, oh, I really didn't think that he was going to do that. You knew
because he said he was going to do it. So for those of you who
are clutching your pearls and saying like, oh, I didn't really think he was going
to do that. You knew because he said he was going to do
it. He's doing exactly, exactly what he said he was going to
(05:58):
do. But you would rather see this man in office as
opposed to a very, very, very
well, a black woman who is well
qualified to run office. You would rather see this man in
office than see a well qualified woman of
color in that seat. And it saddens me
(06:19):
that the Democrats couldn't stand together
long enough to make this not to so that this, something like
this wouldn't happen. You turned on Biden in the face
of, in front of everyone, in front of the world, you
guys turned on Biden. And it saddens
me that they had to see and they took that weakness and they ran with
(06:42):
it. So you position vice president. She's still my
vice president. You positioned Kamala Harris to
fail. Your party did this. The
Democratic Party did this. This is who I look to.
You are a large part of the reason. So for everyone who
was clutching their pearls, can't believe what he's doing. Why, and
(07:05):
especially, and you know, and it particularly saddens me for our
black men who voted for him, knowing what he was going to
do and knowing what he stood for. Oh, well, I have more money in the
bank. When he was president, you know what I remember? I remember a whole
pandemic. That's what I remember. I
remember patients coming in to the hospital and
(07:27):
1, 1, 1 minute they're fine and by 5 o'clock that evening
they're dead. That's what I remember. I remember
United States needing Covid tests and this president sending them to
Russia. That's what I remember. I
remember a man telling other people to inject bleach
into their veins. And Lysol. That's what I remember.
(07:49):
So for those of you who are saying you really didn't think that this was
going to happen, it's happening. But my big question
is, I want to know who's going to stand with me? Who's going
to stand with me and build a community and a
movement. Listen, the only thing we can do is. Is we have
to start our own movement. So now more than ever, we have to support our
(08:11):
own businesses. We have to be one another's support.
Think about how they boycotted the bus system right now. Listen, I'm
not trying to start any riots. I'm not trying to start
and say, oh, don't support this business or don't support. No, no, no, no, no,
no, no. Don't. Don't get me wrong. That's not what I'm saying at all. But
what I'm saying is, as a people, we really have to stay together and we
(08:33):
really have to support one another and support one another's businesses and support one
another's ventures and whether they're educational ventures. We need to be
starting foundations. We need to buying purchasing real estate.
We need to be encouraging our children to
know what the stock market looks like. We need to be educating them on
investing, on home buying, what they need to do to get into
(08:55):
colleges, get into multiple colleges. We really need to be
encouraging our historical black colleges, encouraging our
black kids to go to those historical black colleges. Now, listen, some people
may listen to this and may say, like, oh, my gosh, I didn't know that.
Dr. Lindra. No, Dr. Lindra is just. Just had it up to
here with the bias. When you start trying to
(09:15):
erase history, These things were put in
place for a reason. And the fact that
this is being allowed to happen, it speaks volumes about
our country. It speaks volumes about being an American.
And I try not to watch too much news, but this morning, I was. It
captured me, right? I mean, I'm getting ready for an A away
(09:37):
event. And I went. It was a beautiful. It was a nice event.
And. And I was listening to Michael Fanon this morning.
I was listening to him share his story and for
him to speak to how he feels so betrayed.
And don't you get it? Wouldn't you feel betrayed if
you were defending the Capitol? You're defending your
(10:00):
company. You're defending the grounds of the sacred grounds of the White
House and to get beaten by
rioters and to get hospitalized and to
then receive threats on your family. You were just doing your job.
Go ahead. How do you. How do we think about it? As
nurses we don't like when family
(10:22):
members come in and they become violent. Think about that. Think about how families come
in and they get, they become violent, they get upset. And nurses have, nurses have
lost their job. Nurses had had to go out on disability because
they've been hurt and had to lose their job. Same situation.
Now you have someone, a civil servant, who, his
attacker was actually sent to jail, and now they were let
(10:44):
free because the president feels like that was
a peaceful protest and this is who you voted for. So
now we're going to undo the birthright. If you were born in
the U.S. but your parents are foreigners,
you're. No, you're no longer, you're no longer
a citizen. Isn't that like the 14th amendment? What is happening
(11:07):
in this country? I
truly, truly, truly want to know what is happening in this country right now and
why are we allowing this to happen. But I'll tell you what,
I tell you what, I am going, I, you know, I am going to get
on fan base. I'm going to get on fan base. I'm going to get
on. What's the other one? Willow, we have to start supporting each
(11:28):
other's movements. And again, I know people say move inside, but I have this
podcast and I have this platform for a reason. And for the
listeners, you have to, yes, move in silence. But
I feel obligated to share my thoughts and
listen. These are my thoughts. They don't have to be your thoughts. These are my
thoughts, and this is my podcast platform. And I thank you for tuning
(11:49):
in. I thank you for tuning in to Nurses With Voices, because
I am a nurse, and I am, and I do have a voice. And one
of the things that I always say, if we want to change something, we have
to change it at the legislative level. But we want to make the right changes,
and we want to make sure that the right changes are being put in place.
And how we do that is we stick together. So I'm calling on
(12:09):
all resources, I'm calling on anyone who is in
support of a movement that is going to support
diversity. And I get it. Listen, I'm not telling anyone to break
any laws, right? But we need diversity. We have diversity
for a reason. And it's not just about, you know, making sure there's a
percentage of this and a sprinkle of that here and this position in that
(12:31):
position. I'm talking about there, where there needs to be
diversity in. And I said this on last week's episode. I said
this on a previous episode. There needs to be
diversity, especially in Positions of
leadership. If you have. Just like how we now have all
Republicans, right? And again, I don't want to be political, but
(12:53):
just like now, how we all have, you know, what is it? The far
right and how did they get to be determined as the
right? Like, how did they be?
And why. And why do Democrats have to be the left, Right? You know, I
say all this to say we need people in the positions of. And this
is why there needs to be diversity in the
(13:14):
leadership realm. There needs to be diversity from the top
down. And if we don't have that diversity, these are the type of
things that occur, and these are the type of things that happen. And again, I
must say I am very, very for the men, black
men who voted for this man. I am so disappointed in you.
You come from a black woman. And the
(13:36):
fact that you know the history. You know what I'm sure you know
what your mother endured. I'm sure you know what your father endured.
And for the men who come from black women who voted for this man.
And now this is who we voted for. He's making good
on all his promises. And again, let's not clutch our pearls.
But one thing that we can do is we can stand together and
(13:58):
we can start a movement. And listen, I'm calling on all my
ladies. I'm calling on all my women. And I know women, we're tired
of trying to. After with Kamala, we all got tired. And I
get it. I get it. But what we do have to do, we do have
to recognize that now is not the time to just throw up your hands. Now
more than ever, we need to be doing exactly the things that I said. We
(14:19):
need to be keeping our circles tight, expanding our
networks, and being strategic and intentional about
who we bring into our network so that we can grow and
blossom and do it. Yes. Listen, our predecessors did it. Our family
members, they did it, right? We can, too.
We can. We need to really start a movement that's going to support one
(14:41):
another now with technology. Like, we got more things now than they
ever did during Martin Luther King Jr. S time, right? We got social
media. We got. And again, doesn't mean Facebook or Instagram, right?
Like, we don't have to use those platforms. There are other platforms that we can
be looking at and we should be. It's time for us
to have a voice. It's time for us to take a stance. It's time for
(15:04):
us to start a movement and really stick together. Nurses. We need
to stick together. Listen, my, my women of color,
we definitely need to stick together. We need to really
stick together so that we can come up with solutions in efforts
to move forward. And if anyone wants to contact
me
(15:24):
infourseswithvoicespodcast.com There will
be more details to come. And again, these are the type of things that I
talk about in my book. And listen, if you haven't grabbed yourself
a copy, make sure you grab a copy copy of Confessions of a Nursing
Executive. So in a previous episode I talked about a chapter
in a previous episode, I talked about a chapter in my book that I
(15:46):
referred to as constructive discharge. And I
gave you examples of what I mean by constructive
discharge and how the comment that was made,
how it impacts our diversity
and our trust. Right? It impacts our
leadership, leadership positions, and it impacts the trust
(16:08):
of our community with their healthcare providers. This is what we talk about,
bias, instability and bias in health care and just in it. And it's really
relatable to everything that's happening now in the country. So
I was watching something and I was watching, I think it was on
LinkedIn and someone posted that now we're no longer
with the World Health Organization. The United States has pulled out of that. Why
(16:31):
would we pull out of the World Health Organization? So what was the thoughts behind
that? And I'm, and I'm curious to know your thoughts on being
a part and being in pulling out of the World Health Organization. I'm curious to
know your thoughts on that. And as we, so as we wrap up
and as we talk about people mentioning that
they have more money in their pocket when, you know, when Trump
(16:53):
was in office and you know, and I, and I
mentioned to you that what I remember, I remember a pandemic.
That's what I remember. And I want to share with you what I
mean. This is chapter seven in my book and the chapter is called COVID
19. Medical staff work tirelessly to care
for the sick, often putting their health at
(17:15):
risk. Despite implementing protocols such as personal
protective equipment, frequent hand washing and isolating
isolating infected patients, the virus continued to
spread. The hospital resembled a war
zone, with patients admitted one day and dead the next.
Numerous cold blues and rapid responses were called throughout the day,
(17:37):
leaving staff emotionally and physically drained. The
morgue's limited capacity necessitated the use of a
trailer outside of the hospital to store the deceased.
A considerable number of healthcare workers fell victim to the virus, and
one major factor exacerbating this was the
severe deficiency in ppe.
(17:59):
The hospital, like many others across the country, faced acute shortages of
ventilators and essentially protective gear. Such as masks,
gowns and face shields, healthcare workers, driven by their dedication and
commitment, continued to serve on the front
lines even when their lives were at risk. Due to
inadequate protection, healthcare workers were forced
(18:21):
to reuse gowns and masks.
Now, this was actually something that the Department of Health,
if they had seen you do that prior to Covid, you would probably be
fired. And I say all this to say
that's what I remember. That's what I remember about
that particular time. I remember, and
(18:44):
I'll say this again, a president who sent COVID 19
testing supplies to Russia
when we needed them here in America. So that's what I
remember. Right. Again, I say all this to say
there is a level of betrayal that you feel. And I know during the
election people were just sad and no one really
(19:07):
wanted to talk about why they were sad. People knew why they were sad because
it was just almost like a gloom and doom, like all over the country, right?
People knew why we were sad, but no one was really talking about it. You
know, there, I mean, there were. People were talking about it, but it just tells
you that the fact that again, you would
rather see someone like him in office
(19:29):
as opposed to seeing a well qualified woman of color in
office, it truly, truly speaks volumes about our
country. And some people may not agree with me and you don't have to.
And so the people who voted for him, and now he's taking away
your birthright because your parents weren't born here. That's who you voted
for. To the people who are in support of this,
(19:53):
okay, I want to hear from the people
who are not in support of this, because I want
to not only be a voice for what
is happening right now, I, I want to start a
movement. And that part
of that movement is just what I said, some
(20:15):
of the things that you can do, educate yourself,
make sure that you're getting your education, whether you're getting education
in or out of school. And what I mean
is maybe your education is you starting a trade. Maybe you have a high school
diploma. You want to start a trade. Well, guess what? Everyone needs a plumber.
Everyone needs an electrician. Right? You need to make sure that
(20:37):
you are positioning yourself so that you are not falling victim
to the lack of education. Because we are. We are
we. Contrary to what some people may believe,
we are very smart. We are very smart individuals.
And when I say we, I mean Americans, because I,
I, and if I'm saying it right, apparently Americans aren't too bright.
(21:00):
And that's why we want to give jobs to Other people,
what I see, I see a very smart country. I myself have
a doctorate degree and I am just, you know,
I'm humbled. When I sit at tables with people with
PhDs and DNPs, whether they look like me or not,
it's very humbling to know because everyone
(21:22):
works. You, you worked for it and you achieved it, right? Some
people things are, you know, some
people's success is a scribe. And some people achieve. I was one
of the people who achieved. And you too can
achieve along with your family. And for those of you with small ones who
have younger children and yes, listen,
(21:45):
taking away DEI is at the end of the world, but it is an
end of a movement. And what do we need to do? We need to shift
a lot of things that I tell my mentees when I talk about shifting your
mindset, cultivating a mindset, a growth mindset. That's
what we need to do. It's time to cultivate a growth mindset. And if you
don't know what that means, I need you to make sure that you look it
(22:05):
up. You need to cultivate a growth
mindset. And why this is fitting for me, because
these are the type of topics that I speak about. I have a whole speaker
page, doctoringerspeaks.com and it'll go through the topics that
I talk about. And a lot of the topics that I talk about is
diversity and inclusion, bias in health care,
(22:27):
how to overcome it. And we need to really bridge those
gaps, even if it's just at the local level, we
need to bridge those gaps. Right now we see what's going on in the federal
government. Let's see what happens, right? Let's see how far this, you know, this
actually goes. But in the meantime,
I encourage you to start really positioning
(22:48):
yourself for success, for your own success, and
not depend on anyone else to give you any type of
accolades. You need to start patting yourself on the back. You need to start looking
at your small wins. Whether your small win is graduating
high school, whether your small win is graduating college, whether your small win
is getting that position that you need, whether your small win is starting a
(23:11):
business. You need to start looking at those
small wins and build on them.
And that's something that we're going to be talking about at the Health
and Wealth Expo. The Health and Wealth Expo Virtual Summit is going to be taking
place on February 22, 2025. And that's going to
be all about starting a business, how to start a legal nurse consulting business, how
(23:33):
to start an IV hydration business. How to start a mental health nurse practitioner
business. And right now mental health is such a hot topic
and it's reasons like this why mental health is so
needed. So you nurse practitioners, you are so needed right
now for mental health reasons. And
listen, be encouraged to start your own practice and we can work
(23:56):
together as a community, as a nurse community, we can
work together and do this. The other thing we're going to be
talking about, you know, government contracting, we're going to be talking about
how to fund your business grants. Take advantage of these things because you don't
know what might be taken away. So taking advantage of them why you
can. But you know what, position yourself so that you won't have to
(24:18):
worry about a grant. You don't have to worry about that position. Position
yourself. Start now. Start now. In, in our expo in
May, it's going to be talking about similar, similar things. Nurse, you know, nurse business
startup, we're going to be talking about that. We're going to be talking about real
estate. Real estate will change your life. And some of
us just, we just need one opportunity so that we can change
(24:40):
our lives. Real estate will change your life. And like I said, one of us,
some of us, we just need one opportunity. So listen, I say all this to
say thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for
really listening and allowing me to share with you
my thoughts. And I'm sure over the next few weeks I'm going to
have more thoughts because I'm sure more is going to unfold.
(25:02):
And as you know, as it continue to unfold, I will definitely be
back and talk more about how all of this is, you know, really how
what's going on in the country, how it affects us, because guess what?
Oh, and I think this is one of the things I was talking about before
the World Health Organization we pulled out of
there. That affects what does that mean for our
(25:23):
vaccines? What does that mean for our
maternal health? What does, what does any of this mean?
And I'll read that to you. And this is A story from
January 21, 2025 from the World Health
Organization
and the w. The World Health Organization commented on
(25:45):
the United States announcement with the for their intent
to withdraw now. The World Health Organization regrets to
announce that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the
organization. Who The World
Health Organization plays a crucial role in protecting the health and
security of the world's people, including Americans, by addressing
(26:08):
the root causes of diseases, building stronger health systems
and detecting, preventing and responding to health
emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often
in dangerous Places where others cannot go. The United
States was a founding member
of the World health organization in 1948
(26:30):
and has participated in shaping and
governing the World Health Organization's work
ever since. Alongside 193 other member
states, including through its active participation
and the World Health assembly, the WHO and the
United States have saved countless lives and protected
(26:52):
Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we
ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio
to the brink of eradication. American institutions have
contributed to and benefited from memberships of the World Health
Organization. Ld
withdraw from the World Health Organization.
(27:19):
We have withdrawn from the world Organization.
Someone please share with me what is happening
right now. And I want to know who stands with me.
Who's. Who's willing to speak. Comment,
listen, Comment. I want to know. I want to hear your thoughts.
Share your thoughts. Tell me what you know, what else you want to know, because
(27:40):
I will bring it to you. I will bring more
information to you. Because what's happening, you see how
it affects health care, and this is why I'm talking about this
today. What's happening right now in the government completely affects
health care. When we're pulling out of major, major,
major relationships and for what,
(28:03):
what scientific reason? What data
is this data driven? Please help me to
understand, why are we pulling out of this? Because
someone told you that they're not there. Like,
why are we deciding to pull out of the World Health Organization? And if
you try to look up anything about dei, don't even worry about it because it
(28:25):
looks like it's been pulled down from the government website, so
you can't even find. You're not going to even be going to be able to
find it because those people have now been placed on paid leave
that was announced today. So listen, by the time you hear this
recording, you, you'll probably already hear about this. And again, I
want to hear your thoughts. I want to know what you think and you
(28:49):
see how it affects healthcare. Melissa and you and
are definitely welcome to log into Health and Wealth
Expos with an S.com so that you can join
us for the virtual summit taking place on February
22nd. Thank you guys so much. Until next time, make
sure that you stay inspired, stay educated, and stay empath.
Welcome back to another episode of Nurses with voices. I'm Dr. Lendra and
I want to talk about what's going on in the government right now. Now,
I woke up this morning and the first thing I
heard was that the removal of DEI has been signed as an
executive order. And I'm going to read you because it's all over the news today.
President Donald Trump has ordered that all US Government staffing
(00:23):
working on diversity, equity and inclusion schemes
be put on immediate, paid administratively. What is
happening? Please, I really want to know your thoughts
with this and I want to know what you think about this. I want to
know what do you think about the removal of dei
and I want to know what it means to you. I know what it means
to me, but listen, it means something different to everyone. So maybe
(00:46):
there's a reason that this has been
allowed. Now, I know just because he signs it, it still has to go
through Congress. And then people talk about how. Well, some things at the
federal level doesn't necessarily affect state level.
Listen, at the end of the day, have to,
you have to start thinking and considering
(01:09):
the strategy behind what's going on. What's
happening right now is nothing short. And, and
I'm, I'm just going to be blunt, right? And I try to sugarcoat. We
say things like burnout. No, don't say burnout. Same world distress.
Right? Or we say, we say incivility.
You know, we use those terms. No. Or we say diversity, equity
(01:32):
and inclusion. We don't say no. I'm going to call
it what it is. It's discrimination, it's prejudice. It's
prejudice, it's discrimination, and it's flat out racism.
That's what's happening right now. And I know I get myself in a lot of
trouble because sometimes I don't have a filter. And this
is why I am a business owner, is one of the reasons
(01:54):
why. Because what I'm seeing right now,
I can't stomach it. And I hear my pastor, and Pastor quick,
I know you say, listen, yes, I am a woman of faith,
but I do feel that I'm called to speak out and say
the things that someone else won't say. And I
know some people say you have to move in silence, move in silence. Well,
(02:17):
yeah, I know that, too. There's nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.
And right now, what, what's happening
is flat out racism. That's what it is. The fact that you
have. And this is who, this is who we voted for.
So. And to you black men who Voted for this man
because you felt like your, your lives were
(02:39):
so much better when he was a president or because of
your misogyny or whatever it was. This is
who your president is now. He's showing you who he
is. Now what do you have to say when your kid
won't be able to get into. They have to go on their merit,
right? Or anyone who gets anywhere has to go in their merit. You already
(03:02):
have Mark Zuckerberg, right? Facebook CEO, perfect example.
Pulling out a dei. Walmart pulling out a dei.
So now you have people who are mentally challenged, disabled, who they can't get
jobs. You know, they were the greeters at the door, right? It gave them something
to do. It gave them a job. It gave them a sense of purpose. You're
taking that away from people. Not to say, you know,
(03:23):
the, the hundreds of thousands of children who
are not going to get access to schools, because
guess what? It's going to be given to someone who wants to pad the pockets
of these people who are at these Ivy League schools. So now the people
who. Yeah, and we'll say, yeah, they have to
do their merit. We have our merit system, but we know it's a reason
(03:46):
why the government had to be held accountable to have
these diversity, equity and inclusion programs. So whether the
person has merit or not, we know we're still going to get
looked over. And again, we call it
bias, right? Conscious and unconscious bias. No, what's happening
right now will spat out racial discrimination. That's what's happening
(04:09):
right now. And it saddens me.
It saddens me that this is the world we live in. It saddens me
that people are not being held accountable for the riots that
took place on the. What's supposed to be sacred ground. This is
the capital of Washington, D.C. and you mean to tell me
the people climbing walls, you have people
(04:31):
climbing walls, you have police officers. And I'm sorry,
sometimes I laugh when I'm just. When I'm
trying to hold back things that I'm trying to say, because none of what I'm
saying is really funny right now. None of it is really comical. You guys know
that Nurses with Voices is not a political podcast at all, but I
also feel like this is. This aligns with what I
(04:53):
stand for when I talk about the situations and the things that I dealt
with in my book, right? In my subtitle, the conscious and
unconscious bias in healthcare. What's happening in the
government right now truly, truly aligns with the
bias that healthcare professionals deal with, with the bias with
Being overlooked for certain positions, with the bias that comes
(05:15):
along with what we have to deal with, with being excluded from
emails, being excluded from lunches, being
excluded and then being told like, oh, oh, I'm sorry, oh, I forgot. Oh, you
wasn't on that email. No, I wasn't on the email. And you know, I wasn't
on that email. And again, I'm just using an example, but this
is, this truly saddens me what I see happening right
(05:36):
now. And for those of you who are clutching your pearls, who are saying
like, oh, I really didn't think that he was going to do that. You knew
because he said he was going to do it. So for those of you who
are clutching your pearls and saying like, oh, I didn't really think he was going
to do that. You knew because he said he was going to do
it. He's doing exactly, exactly what he said he was going to
(05:58):
do. But you would rather see this man in office as
opposed to a very, very, very
well, a black woman who is well
qualified to run office. You would rather see this man in
office than see a well qualified woman of
color in that seat. And it saddens me
(06:19):
that the Democrats couldn't stand together
long enough to make this not to so that this, something like
this wouldn't happen. You turned on Biden in the face
of, in front of everyone, in front of the world, you
guys turned on Biden. And it saddens
me that they had to see and they took that weakness and they ran with
(06:42):
it. So you position vice president. She's still my
vice president. You positioned Kamala Harris to
fail. Your party did this. The
Democratic Party did this. This is who I look to.
You are a large part of the reason. So for everyone who
was clutching their pearls, can't believe what he's doing. Why, and
(07:05):
especially, and you know, and it particularly saddens me for our
black men who voted for him, knowing what he was going to
do and knowing what he stood for. Oh, well, I have more money in the
bank. When he was president, you know what I remember? I remember a whole
pandemic. That's what I remember. I
remember patients coming in to the hospital and
(07:27):
1, 1, 1 minute they're fine and by 5 o'clock that evening
they're dead. That's what I remember. I remember
United States needing Covid tests and this president sending them to
Russia. That's what I remember. I
remember a man telling other people to inject bleach
into their veins. And Lysol. That's what I remember.
(07:49):
So for those of you who are saying you really didn't think that this was
going to happen, it's happening. But my big question
is, I want to know who's going to stand with me? Who's going
to stand with me and build a community and a
movement. Listen, the only thing we can do is. Is we have
to start our own movement. So now more than ever, we have to support our
(08:11):
own businesses. We have to be one another's support.
Think about how they boycotted the bus system right now. Listen, I'm
not trying to start any riots. I'm not trying to start
and say, oh, don't support this business or don't support. No, no, no, no, no,
no, no. Don't. Don't get me wrong. That's not what I'm saying at all. But
what I'm saying is, as a people, we really have to stay together and we
(08:33):
really have to support one another and support one another's businesses and support one
another's ventures and whether they're educational ventures. We need to be
starting foundations. We need to buying purchasing real estate.
We need to be encouraging our children to
know what the stock market looks like. We need to be educating them on
investing, on home buying, what they need to do to get into
(08:55):
colleges, get into multiple colleges. We really need to be
encouraging our historical black colleges, encouraging our
black kids to go to those historical black colleges. Now, listen, some people
may listen to this and may say, like, oh, my gosh, I didn't know that.
Dr. Lindra. No, Dr. Lindra is just. Just had it up to
here with the bias. When you start trying to
(09:15):
erase history, These things were put in
place for a reason. And the fact that
this is being allowed to happen, it speaks volumes about
our country. It speaks volumes about being an American.
And I try not to watch too much news, but this morning, I was. It
captured me, right? I mean, I'm getting ready for an A away
(09:37):
event. And I went. It was a beautiful. It was a nice event.
And. And I was listening to Michael Fanon this morning.
I was listening to him share his story and for
him to speak to how he feels so betrayed.
And don't you get it? Wouldn't you feel betrayed if
you were defending the Capitol? You're defending your
(10:00):
company. You're defending the grounds of the sacred grounds of the White
House and to get beaten by
rioters and to get hospitalized and to
then receive threats on your family. You were just doing your job.
Go ahead. How do you. How do we think about it? As
nurses we don't like when family
(10:22):
members come in and they become violent. Think about that. Think about how families come
in and they get, they become violent, they get upset. And nurses have, nurses have
lost their job. Nurses had had to go out on disability because
they've been hurt and had to lose their job. Same situation.
Now you have someone, a civil servant, who, his
attacker was actually sent to jail, and now they were let
(10:44):
free because the president feels like that was
a peaceful protest and this is who you voted for. So
now we're going to undo the birthright. If you were born in
the U.S. but your parents are foreigners,
you're. No, you're no longer, you're no longer
a citizen. Isn't that like the 14th amendment? What is happening
(11:07):
in this country? I
truly, truly, truly want to know what is happening in this country right now and
why are we allowing this to happen. But I'll tell you what,
I tell you what, I am going, I, you know, I am going to get
on fan base. I'm going to get on fan base. I'm going to get
on. What's the other one? Willow, we have to start supporting each
(11:28):
other's movements. And again, I know people say move inside, but I have this
podcast and I have this platform for a reason. And for the
listeners, you have to, yes, move in silence. But
I feel obligated to share my thoughts and
listen. These are my thoughts. They don't have to be your thoughts. These are my
thoughts, and this is my podcast platform. And I thank you for tuning
(11:49):
in. I thank you for tuning in to Nurses With Voices, because
I am a nurse, and I am, and I do have a voice. And one
of the things that I always say, if we want to change something, we have
to change it at the legislative level. But we want to make the right changes,
and we want to make sure that the right changes are being put in place.
And how we do that is we stick together. So I'm calling on
(12:09):
all resources, I'm calling on anyone who is in
support of a movement that is going to support
diversity. And I get it. Listen, I'm not telling anyone to break
any laws, right? But we need diversity. We have diversity
for a reason. And it's not just about, you know, making sure there's a
percentage of this and a sprinkle of that here and this position in that
(12:31):
position. I'm talking about there, where there needs to be
diversity in. And I said this on last week's episode. I said
this on a previous episode. There needs to be
diversity, especially in Positions of
leadership. If you have. Just like how we now have all
Republicans, right? And again, I don't want to be political, but
(12:53):
just like now, how we all have, you know, what is it? The far
right and how did they get to be determined as the
right? Like, how did they be?
And why. And why do Democrats have to be the left, Right? You know, I
say all this to say we need people in the positions of. And this
is why there needs to be diversity in the
(13:14):
leadership realm. There needs to be diversity from the top
down. And if we don't have that diversity, these are the type of
things that occur, and these are the type of things that happen. And again, I
must say I am very, very for the men, black
men who voted for this man. I am so disappointed in you.
You come from a black woman. And the
(13:36):
fact that you know the history. You know what I'm sure you know
what your mother endured. I'm sure you know what your father endured.
And for the men who come from black women who voted for this man.
And now this is who we voted for. He's making good
on all his promises. And again, let's not clutch our pearls.
But one thing that we can do is we can stand together and
(13:58):
we can start a movement. And listen, I'm calling on all my
ladies. I'm calling on all my women. And I know women, we're tired
of trying to. After with Kamala, we all got tired. And I
get it. I get it. But what we do have to do, we do have
to recognize that now is not the time to just throw up your hands. Now
more than ever, we need to be doing exactly the things that I said. We
(14:19):
need to be keeping our circles tight, expanding our
networks, and being strategic and intentional about
who we bring into our network so that we can grow and
blossom and do it. Yes. Listen, our predecessors did it. Our family
members, they did it, right? We can, too.
We can. We need to really start a movement that's going to support one
(14:41):
another now with technology. Like, we got more things now than they
ever did during Martin Luther King Jr. S time, right? We got social
media. We got. And again, doesn't mean Facebook or Instagram, right?
Like, we don't have to use those platforms. There are other platforms that we can
be looking at and we should be. It's time for us
to have a voice. It's time for us to take a stance. It's time for
(15:04):
us to start a movement and really stick together. Nurses. We need
to stick together. Listen, my, my women of color,
we definitely need to stick together. We need to really
stick together so that we can come up with solutions in efforts
to move forward. And if anyone wants to contact
me
(15:24):
infourseswithvoicespodcast.com There will
be more details to come. And again, these are the type of things that I
talk about in my book. And listen, if you haven't grabbed yourself
a copy, make sure you grab a copy copy of Confessions of a Nursing
Executive. So in a previous episode I talked about a chapter
in a previous episode, I talked about a chapter in my book that I
(15:46):
referred to as constructive discharge. And I
gave you examples of what I mean by constructive
discharge and how the comment that was made,
how it impacts our diversity
and our trust. Right? It impacts our
leadership, leadership positions, and it impacts the trust
(16:08):
of our community with their healthcare providers. This is what we talk about,
bias, instability and bias in health care and just in it. And it's really
relatable to everything that's happening now in the country. So
I was watching something and I was watching, I think it was on
LinkedIn and someone posted that now we're no longer
with the World Health Organization. The United States has pulled out of that. Why
(16:31):
would we pull out of the World Health Organization? So what was the thoughts behind
that? And I'm, and I'm curious to know your thoughts on being
a part and being in pulling out of the World Health Organization. I'm curious to
know your thoughts on that. And as we, so as we wrap up
and as we talk about people mentioning that
they have more money in their pocket when, you know, when Trump
(16:53):
was in office and you know, and I, and I
mentioned to you that what I remember, I remember a pandemic.
That's what I remember. And I want to share with you what I
mean. This is chapter seven in my book and the chapter is called COVID
19. Medical staff work tirelessly to care
for the sick, often putting their health at
(17:15):
risk. Despite implementing protocols such as personal
protective equipment, frequent hand washing and isolating
isolating infected patients, the virus continued to
spread. The hospital resembled a war
zone, with patients admitted one day and dead the next.
Numerous cold blues and rapid responses were called throughout the day,
(17:37):
leaving staff emotionally and physically drained. The
morgue's limited capacity necessitated the use of a
trailer outside of the hospital to store the deceased.
A considerable number of healthcare workers fell victim to the virus, and
one major factor exacerbating this was the
severe deficiency in ppe.
(17:59):
The hospital, like many others across the country, faced acute shortages of
ventilators and essentially protective gear. Such as masks,
gowns and face shields, healthcare workers, driven by their dedication and
commitment, continued to serve on the front
lines even when their lives were at risk. Due to
inadequate protection, healthcare workers were forced
(18:21):
to reuse gowns and masks.
Now, this was actually something that the Department of Health,
if they had seen you do that prior to Covid, you would probably be
fired. And I say all this to say
that's what I remember. That's what I remember about
that particular time. I remember, and
(18:44):
I'll say this again, a president who sent COVID 19
testing supplies to Russia
when we needed them here in America. So that's what I
remember. Right. Again, I say all this to say
there is a level of betrayal that you feel. And I know during the
election people were just sad and no one really
(19:07):
wanted to talk about why they were sad. People knew why they were sad because
it was just almost like a gloom and doom, like all over the country, right?
People knew why we were sad, but no one was really talking about it. You
know, there, I mean, there were. People were talking about it, but it just tells
you that the fact that again, you would
rather see someone like him in office
(19:29):
as opposed to seeing a well qualified woman of color in
office, it truly, truly speaks volumes about our
country. And some people may not agree with me and you don't have to.
And so the people who voted for him, and now he's taking away
your birthright because your parents weren't born here. That's who you voted
for. To the people who are in support of this,
(19:53):
okay, I want to hear from the people
who are not in support of this, because I want
to not only be a voice for what
is happening right now, I, I want to start a
movement. And that part
of that movement is just what I said, some
(20:15):
of the things that you can do, educate yourself,
make sure that you're getting your education, whether you're getting education
in or out of school. And what I mean
is maybe your education is you starting a trade. Maybe you have a high school
diploma. You want to start a trade. Well, guess what? Everyone needs a plumber.
Everyone needs an electrician. Right? You need to make sure that
(20:37):
you are positioning yourself so that you are not falling victim
to the lack of education. Because we are. We are
we. Contrary to what some people may believe,
we are very smart. We are very smart individuals.
And when I say we, I mean Americans, because I,
I, and if I'm saying it right, apparently Americans aren't too bright.
(21:00):
And that's why we want to give jobs to Other people,
what I see, I see a very smart country. I myself have
a doctorate degree and I am just, you know,
I'm humbled. When I sit at tables with people with
PhDs and DNPs, whether they look like me or not,
it's very humbling to know because everyone
(21:22):
works. You, you worked for it and you achieved it, right? Some
people things are, you know, some
people's success is a scribe. And some people achieve. I was one
of the people who achieved. And you too can
achieve along with your family. And for those of you with small ones who
have younger children and yes, listen,
(21:45):
taking away DEI is at the end of the world, but it is an
end of a movement. And what do we need to do? We need to shift
a lot of things that I tell my mentees when I talk about shifting your
mindset, cultivating a mindset, a growth mindset. That's
what we need to do. It's time to cultivate a growth mindset. And if you
don't know what that means, I need you to make sure that you look it
(22:05):
up. You need to cultivate a growth
mindset. And why this is fitting for me, because
these are the type of topics that I speak about. I have a whole speaker
page, doctoringerspeaks.com and it'll go through the topics that
I talk about. And a lot of the topics that I talk about is
diversity and inclusion, bias in health care,
(22:27):
how to overcome it. And we need to really bridge those
gaps, even if it's just at the local level, we
need to bridge those gaps. Right now we see what's going on in the federal
government. Let's see what happens, right? Let's see how far this, you know, this
actually goes. But in the meantime,
I encourage you to start really positioning
(22:48):
yourself for success, for your own success, and
not depend on anyone else to give you any type of
accolades. You need to start patting yourself on the back. You need to start looking
at your small wins. Whether your small win is graduating
high school, whether your small win is graduating college, whether your small win
is getting that position that you need, whether your small win is starting a
(23:11):
business. You need to start looking at those
small wins and build on them.
And that's something that we're going to be talking about at the Health
and Wealth Expo. The Health and Wealth Expo Virtual Summit is going to be taking
place on February 22, 2025. And that's going to
be all about starting a business, how to start a legal nurse consulting business, how
(23:33):
to start an IV hydration business. How to start a mental health nurse practitioner
business. And right now mental health is such a hot topic
and it's reasons like this why mental health is so
needed. So you nurse practitioners, you are so needed right
now for mental health reasons. And
listen, be encouraged to start your own practice and we can work
(23:56):
together as a community, as a nurse community, we can
work together and do this. The other thing we're going to be
talking about, you know, government contracting, we're going to be talking about
how to fund your business grants. Take advantage of these things because you don't
know what might be taken away. So taking advantage of them why you
can. But you know what, position yourself so that you won't have to
(24:18):
worry about a grant. You don't have to worry about that position. Position
yourself. Start now. Start now. In, in our expo in
May, it's going to be talking about similar, similar things. Nurse, you know, nurse business
startup, we're going to be talking about that. We're going to be talking about real
estate. Real estate will change your life. And some of
us just, we just need one opportunity so that we can change
(24:40):
our lives. Real estate will change your life. And like I said, one of us,
some of us, we just need one opportunity. So listen, I say all this to
say thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for
really listening and allowing me to share with you
my thoughts. And I'm sure over the next few weeks I'm going to
have more thoughts because I'm sure more is going to unfold.
(25:02):
And as you know, as it continue to unfold, I will definitely be
back and talk more about how all of this is, you know, really how
what's going on in the country, how it affects us, because guess what?
Oh, and I think this is one of the things I was talking about before
the World Health Organization we pulled out of
there. That affects what does that mean for our
(25:23):
vaccines? What does that mean for our
maternal health? What does, what does any of this mean?
And I'll read that to you. And this is A story from
January 21, 2025 from the World Health
Organization
and the w. The World Health Organization commented on
(25:45):
the United States announcement with the for their intent
to withdraw now. The World Health Organization regrets to
announce that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the
organization. Who The World
Health Organization plays a crucial role in protecting the health and
security of the world's people, including Americans, by addressing
(26:08):
the root causes of diseases, building stronger health systems
and detecting, preventing and responding to health
emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often
in dangerous Places where others cannot go. The United
States was a founding member
of the World health organization in 1948
(26:30):
and has participated in shaping and
governing the World Health Organization's work
ever since. Alongside 193 other member
states, including through its active participation
and the World Health assembly, the WHO and the
United States have saved countless lives and protected
(26:52):
Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we
ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio
to the brink of eradication. American institutions have
contributed to and benefited from memberships of the World Health
Organization. Ld
withdraw from the World Health Organization.
(27:19):
We have withdrawn from the world Organization.
Someone please share with me what is happening
right now. And I want to know who stands with me.
Who's. Who's willing to speak. Comment,
listen, Comment. I want to know. I want to hear your thoughts.
Share your thoughts. Tell me what you know, what else you want to know, because
(27:40):
I will bring it to you. I will bring more
information to you. Because what's happening, you see how
it affects health care, and this is why I'm talking about this
today. What's happening right now in the government completely affects
health care. When we're pulling out of major, major,
major relationships and for what,
(28:03):
what scientific reason? What data
is this data driven? Please help me to
understand, why are we pulling out of this? Because
someone told you that they're not there. Like,
why are we deciding to pull out of the World Health Organization? And if
you try to look up anything about dei, don't even worry about it because it
(28:25):
looks like it's been pulled down from the government website, so
you can't even find. You're not going to even be going to be able to
find it because those people have now been placed on paid leave
that was announced today. So listen, by the time you hear this
recording, you, you'll probably already hear about this. And again, I
want to hear your thoughts. I want to know what you think and you
(28:49):
see how it affects healthcare. Melissa and you and
are definitely welcome to log into Health and Wealth
Expos with an S.com so that you can join
us for the virtual summit taking place on February
22nd. Thank you guys so much. Until next time, make
sure that you stay inspired, stay educated, and stay empath.
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.