Step into the world of Certified Anesthesiologist Assistants with Yulanda Greene as she shares her remarkable PROCESS to become a prominent CAA educator and leader. As the 2025 president of the Georgia Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants, Yulanda passionately advocates for the profession while offering insight into the challenges and rewards of her career path. In this PROCESS interview, Yulanda shares the little nudges and whispers life gave her to keep advancing her career while remaining closely connected to patient care and education. If you're curious about your own next steps as a CAA or are considering venturing into the profession, Yulanda’s PROCESS is sure to expand your idea of what's possible.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Email Yulanda @ yulanda.greene@emoryhealthcare.org
- Yulanda IG
- Learn More NSU's Doctorate of Health Sciences with a Concentration in Education in Healthcare Professionals
- Join GAAA and on IG
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It wasn't until I started working as a respiratory
therapist.
I would see anesthesia at thehead of the bed, especially when
we go to like the ORs, or ifthey were coming to the ICU to
help us intubate and whatnot,and I would always see at least
two people, but I never realizedthat it was an anesthesiologist
and then a middle provider.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles, I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA.
(00:40):
At one of my lowest points, Idecided to turn my passion for
storytelling and my belief thatthe CAA profession is uniquely
able to create a life by designinto a podcast.
If you are a practicing CAA,current AA student or someone
who hopes to be one, I encourageyou to stick around and
(01:00):
experience the power of being ina community filled with voices
who sound like yours, sharingexperiences you never believed
possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
podcast.
Welcome in.
Welcome back to the AwakenedAnesthetist podcast and the
(01:21):
beloved process interview seriespodcast and the beloved process
interview series.
Again, I'm your host, mary Jean, and I just love doing these
process episodes because theynot only expand my idea for
myself of what's possible, butI'm so proud to share these CAA
stories with all of you.
I know there are working CAAswho are listening, there are
(01:43):
student AAs and there areprospective AA students all
listening as well as, I'm sure,people sort of on the periphery,
wondering what the heck a CAAis.
So I'm just so proud to offerthese process interviews as
little glimpses at what it meansto be a CAA, and today I am
especially excited to beinterviewing Yolanda Green.
(02:06):
Yolanda is a 2012 graduate ofthe Emory AA program.
She became a CAA after gettingher undergraduate degree in
respiratory therapy and workingas a respiratory therapist for
five years.
During the time she was workingas an RT, she completed all her
necessary prereqs for AA schooland took the GRE, and then, of
course, got into Emory and aftershe graduated in 2012, she
(02:30):
began working as a CAA at alarge academic hospital in
Atlanta that's Emory UniversityHospital.
She currently is still employedby that same hospital, but
splits her full-time workbetween her clinical
responsibilities and being thedirector of clinical rotations
for the Emory AA program.
Yolanda has a truly inspiringstory, as you will soon hear,
(02:55):
and what's unique to Yolanda isthat she consistently followed
those little whispers that herlife was offering her, and she's
gone on to continue hereducation after her AA degree
and recently graduated with herdoctorate of professional health
sciences, and is the current2025 president of the Georgia
(03:17):
AAA, that's the Georgia StateComponent Society under the Quad
A and if that's not impressiveenough, yolanda was one of the
most down-to-earth andapproachable interviewees that
I've had on the pod.
She was so generous with herstory, sharing all the ups and
downs and even part of thefinancial journey and burden of
(03:37):
going to AA school and thenfollowing it up with a doctorate
degree.
Yolanda's process is a storyabout mentorship, and I call
those people expanders, peoplewho help you, see, to believe
what's possible for yourself,because you're seeing someone
who's just close enough to youthat you relate to them and
think, if they can do it, I cando it.
(03:59):
And that's really been a themein Yolanda's journey, and I know
that Yolanda is going to offerthat same expansion to any CAAs
who are out there and wanting tofeel more satisfied and
fulfilled in their profession.
They are wanting to stay opento growth and learning.
Maybe you're consideringlooking at an advanced degree
(04:21):
after finishing AA school oryou're juggling full-time work
and parenthood.
Yolanda's process is truly agame changer.
I can't wait for you all to getto know Yolanda.
So, without further ado, welcomeYolanda to the Awakened
Anesthetist.
All right, let's do the rapidfire.
My most favorite favorite part.
(04:43):
Okay, let me see what I want mymost favorite favorite part.
Okay, let me see what I want toknow about you, yolanda.
What did you want to be whenyou were a kid?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, I wanted to do African-American history.
I was going to be like aprofessor in a university, so
like in seventh grade.
I don't remember what we weredoing, I don't know if it was
like African American historymonth or whatever, but I
remember we had to like memorizethis poem by Langston Hughes
called Mother to the Son.
And like learning that poem andlike having to memorize it and
(05:16):
we learned some other poems byother African Americans.
It just kind of intrigued me tolearn more about that.
So I kind of went down thatpath and I thought it would be
kind of cool to like teach otherpeople the things that I
learned.
So then when I started workingat a hospital and was exposed to
like the healthcare side andseeing what they were doing, I
was like, oh well, I want to dothat as well.
So in my mind I was going tolike major in nursing and then
(05:40):
do a minor in African Americanhistory.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, you're not too far off.
You're still teaching, yeah,which we'll get into.
What is the best show you'vewatched lately?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Hmm, let me think we watch.
We tend to binge watch a lot ofthings.
I think I would say Night Agent2.
I don't know if you've heardabout that, but have not.
It's basically about like, ohwell, well, you got to watch
both one and two, okay.
So one, he is like I don't knowif he's a cia agent, but he's
(06:13):
stuck into a room with a phoneand nothing ever happens.
But then when other agents thatare undercover like something
happens, they call and they haveto get like extracted and get
help.
So, and my agent too, now he'sone of those undercover agents
and starts to get blamed forsome kind of like chemical
weapon that's being built, andso he has to figure out who's
(06:35):
actually doing it and how heneeds to stop it.
It's like a 10 episode series.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Okay, it's got like a born identity flair.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It feels like yeah, okay, yes, cool, except for he
knows he's an Asian.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, would you consider yourself an extrovert
or an introvert, yolanda?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Let's see here I would say primarily extrovert
because I like to talk and kindof stand out there, but I mean
an introvert.
Like you know, we kind of sithere and we think about a lot of
things.
So I feel like when I'm in theOR and I am thinking about my
patient and how I can managethem, I tend to be quiet that
(07:15):
way, just thinking about likeall the small details.
But again an extrovert, like ifI'm working as a team and I
need to be out focused in the OR.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I can do that as well .
And last one what would you dodifferently if money was no
object, time was no object?
What would you do?
How would you spend your time?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I think I would travel a lot.
You know, my dad was in themilitary and so we traveled all
the time.
We moved around probably everytwo to three years.
And so we traveled all the time.
We moved around like probablyevery two to three years.
And now that I'm like on my own, I don't travel that much,
which I kind of miss.
So I think I would just do that, especially like because when I
(07:55):
was younger I didn't have topay for anything, obviously, but
now I have to pay foreverything.
So, yeah, money with no objectand I can do whatever, I will
just pay for whatever trips andwe would just pack up and just
travel.
Yeah, cool.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
All right, let's get into the meat of things.
And why don't you start us offwith just kind of telling the
listeners you know, yourupbringing, your cultural
background, maybe how you feel,like that shaped you as a person
today?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Well, my parents are from the Caribbean, my father is
from Trinidad and my mom's fromjamaica and I guess, like you
can really think about, I guessI'm the first generation
caribbean american and we alwayskind of joke because I'm
referred to as a trench american, because it's a little bit of
all three.
Um, I'm the only child but I dohave a huge family.
(08:41):
Like my dad has 11 siblings andmy mom has four, so I have a
lot of aunts, uncles and cousins.
So, even though, like, I'm theonly child, when I grew up we
tend to be like facing theirfamily members, so I always had
people to, like you know, playwith me as if they were my
brothers and sisters.
Like I said, my dad was in the Uus army for over 20 years and
(09:06):
my upbringing would beconsidered like an army ran
again, we moved a lot, wetraveled a lot every two to
three years, so my lifeconsisted of meeting a lot of
new, different, like differentpeople, um, being exposed to
different cultures, and at anearly age I had to learn how to
meet new people and be kind ofself-sufficient, right?
(09:26):
I guess that would help ifyou're an extrovert because,
like, when you go to a newschool.
You have to kind of be willingto just be like hey, my name is
such and such.
You know, sometimes people willcome and talk to like the new
kid.
But I was a new kid all thetime so I kind of forced myself
to like be out there.
You know, was a new kid all thetime, so I kind of forced myself
(09:46):
to like be out there.
You know, and my parents taughtme, like you know, be very
independent and kind of, youknow, just be open, make new
friends and just to be a hardworker.
So I feel like it shaped meinto like being a go-getter,
like if I want something, I knowI have to work hard for it.
Right, it's not just going tocome to me passively.
So I feel like that just kindof helped me reach like and
achieve all the goals that I caneven think of.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
The makings of a CAA.
I hear some threads offamiliarity here.
Why don't you share your firstexposure?
So it sounds like you weren'tthinking CAA and you know you
kind of came from this educationpath and then found out about
medicine.
So maybe take us to when youfirst heard or learned about the
(10:31):
CAA profession and like whatabout?
It caught your eye, I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I think for most of us when we think of like health
care, it's either a doctor or anurse.
So when I was first exposed tothe hospital setting when I was
in high school, I did see otherprofessionals I mean like other
fields and stuff like that, butnot anesthesia related.
It wasn't until I startedworking as a respiratory
therapist.
I would see anesthesia at thehead of the bed, especially when
(10:57):
we go to like the ORs or ifthey were coming to the ICU to
help us intubate and whatnot,and I would always see at least
two people.
But I never realized that itwas an anesthesiologist and a
midline provider.
I just assumed that, like theyjust worked in Paris, they
always had backup or whatever.
So you know, when I was birthcare therapist, I was like it's
going to be Archie for life, I'mnot going back to school, good.
(11:18):
And then one of my good friends, he had just started the
Emory's PA program and he waslike you know, you really should
go back to school, maybe foryour career.
And I was like no, I'm fine.
He's like you know, you don'thave any kids, you're not
married, like you don't reallyhave anything that's holding you
back, like this is free timealmost for you, like, just
consider it.
I said okay, so went on theinternet, looked at different PA
(11:42):
professions and like thedifferent fields that we can do,
and I was like, okay, and Icame across cardiology, surgical
and then anesthesia PA came inand I also thought about
pulmonary as well too, because Iwas like that makes sense.
I'm already a respiratorytherapist, just transitioned to
pulmonary.
We're all doing the same airwaystuff.
(12:10):
But when the anesthesia came up,I was like, well, what is that?
And that's when I startedreading about it.
And then I started rememberingwhen I would see those two
people at the head of the bed.
I'm like, oh, so one's theanesthesiologist, one's the
anesthetist.
I said, okay, I like that and Ijust like the different things
that we can do, primarilybecause we do the airway.
And I was like, well, I'malready good at that, so that
would be fantastic.
And when I started to shadow, Isaw that, like people are super
(12:30):
nervous to have surgery andrealizing that an antidepressant
provider is probably going tobe the last person that has a
chance to calm them down andthen wake them back up and let
them know everything was fine,that really resonated with me
because I want to be there totake care of the patient, and
knowing that I'm there to calmyou down whether it's just
talking, holding your hand,maybe giving a little meditation
(12:51):
, and being able to take care ofyou through the procedure wake
you up and you're like oh, I'mdone, we've had surgery already.
I feel fantastic and that'sjust really sat with me.
So that's why I decided tobecome a CAA.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Do you think you would have been happy like now
that you have the comparison ofgoing through everything,
becoming a CAA and we'll talkabout getting your doctorate as
well that you could have beenhappy as an RT?
Because so many people, I think, find out about this profession
a little bit later Maybethey've had a different career
and then they find out about CAAand they're like is it worth it
?
Like oh gee, I'm already 10years into doing this, whatever.
(13:27):
Is it worth it to switch Likenow?
What would you say to thosepeople?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I would say it's definitely worth the switch.
I mean, if I knew about thisfirst, I would have went to
become a CDN before I was arespiratory therapist.
To be honest with you, I likedthe way I did the steps.
But I will just do this Likewe're one of the few people that
(13:52):
can give whatever kind of drugwe want without having like a
handwritten order.
We can just give whatever wewant.
We don't have to be like, oh,can you write me an order for
time or an order for a fed room.
You know, and I will say like,as a menstrual therapist, the
hospital that I was at we had alot of autonomy.
So and I worked overnight.
So if I had to do something ormake a change, you know, on the
(14:14):
vent, or do a blood gas draw anddo different things like that I
could do that I would just tellthe doctor like, hey, like I
may have to call them or send mypatient and say, hey, this is
what's going on.
I did a blood gas, I saw this,this is what I think needs to
happen.
Or I've already done X, y, Z.
So usually, you know, it's finebecause again, we have that
huge autonomy.
But I just feel like withanesthesia it's just completely
different.
(14:34):
And also too, going back to whatI was saying, like I like the
fact that I can calm a patientdown as an RT, but the most part
they're already intubated andif they're not intubated already
they're freaking out Right, andI have to do it Like I don't
have a chance to like hold theirhand and stuff like that,
(14:55):
because maybe their steps aregoing down, their habitual
breathing and they're panicking.
I just don't get thatone-on-one time to just let them
relax.
Yeah, you know, calm them down,do the procedure and wait them
out yeah, so I think it'sdefinitely working, do you think
?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
well, take us to finding Emory.
That's where you found what yousaid was like the anesthesia PA
, which was the CAA program, andyou were already working in
Georgia as an RT, correct?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And found out about the Emory Master's of Science in
Anesthesia program the AAschool there.
Talk us about being an RTpreviously before going to AA
school and how that helped orhurt you or what your experience
was like in AA school.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I think being an RT helped me in the sense that,
like I knew how to run aventilator machine, I knew how
to intubate and do like artlines and blood gases and things
of that nature.
So I feel like it helped methere.
But as a student, I will tellyou that I have some preceptors.
(15:59):
Be like, what are you doing?
You don't know how to intubate.
And I'm like, okay, you knowI'm going to be humble, I'm not
going to argue with you, tell mehow you like to do it.
And it's funny because onething that I realized was that
as an RT, when I go to intubatesomebody, I am rushing, right,
because they are in distress.
Again, they may have lowsaturation, they're having some
(16:23):
type of obstruction or they'recoded and we need to get it
aired.
So we're not as gentle as weare with anesthesia.
I will say and so that's what Ithink they were saying was like
you don't know what you'redoing, I'm just rushing, I'm
putting it in there, versus withanesthesia, most of the things
that we do are elected.
We do have our emergency stuff,but for the most part it's
elected.
So I can take that time, I canoptimize my patient, I can make
(16:46):
sure that I am doing everythingI need to do and minimize any
kind of error in my phone.
So I thought that that was veryhelpful and I was able to help
my other classmates who werestruggling with maybe, you know,
using a machine or doing artlines and reading blogging
offices and things of thatnature.
It also helped me because I wasalready exposed to like the
(17:08):
hospital and like working as ateam and seeing the different
type of professions yes, whichyou know can be very
intimidating.
You have all the differentpeople in the OR and they're all
looking at you and you're likeI don't know what I'm supposed
to be doing.
So I think that helps.
And you know, talking to apatient, I can talk to somebody.
I know that and I know thatsounds like very simple and
(17:29):
you're like anybody can talk toanybody.
But it's different when you'retaking care of them and you're
like, okay, I have to stick youwith this, you know, and show
you that I'm competent, eventhough it's my day one.
You know clinical like how do Ibring that all together?
So I think in that aspect itdid help.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yes, I completely agree.
I think the AA profession iskind of like at this juncture
where hospital or medicalexperience, while not required,
is starting to become like youhave to have it in order to now
push your application up to thetop.
And, you know, interestingbecause our CRNA counterpoint,
(18:08):
you know, have said oh well, youhave to be a nurse first in
order to be able to understandanesthesia and you know all of
those nuances to it.
And it's just an interestingwhere we're like it absolutely
helps, but it doesn't have to beable to understand anesthesia
and you know all of thosenuances to it.
And it's just an interestingwhere we're like it absolutely
helps, it doesn't have to benursing, it could be RT, it
could be engineering, it couldbe being a teacher, like there's
so many other skills from otherarenas that will help you in
(18:29):
different ways and, as you said,hurt you in different ways,
like your intubation techniquewas mastered on a situation that
you know we don't usuallyprioritize absolute speed above
everything.
So, yeah, it's just that'sreally interesting, I think, as
our profession evolves.
Just to hear your perspective,share your first job out of
(18:50):
school, like was it when did yougraduate?
Was it real easy to get a job,and where did you go?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So my first job was at Emory.
Once I graduated in 2012, Istarted working at Emory Midtown
and I just stayed there eversince.
That's one of the reasons why Iactually chose Emory's CAA
program is because I was lookingat their stats.
They had a high first pass forthe certification board exam and
(19:16):
job placement was pretty much100%.
It's not that they help you geta job, but I think because we
have so many different rotationsthat you get an opportunity to
go to so many different placesand everybody pretty much finds
their little niche and they'reable to find a job.
I feel like most of our seniorstudents, when they graduate,
(19:36):
probably maybe halfway throughtheir little niche and they're
able to find a job.
I feel like most of our seniorstudents when they graduate,
probably like maybe halfwaythrough their senior year, they
already have a job.
They already know what they'redoing.
The people who may not have ajob closer to graduation it's
not because they can't find one,it's because they don't know
which one they want to pick.
They have like five differentjob opportunities and they're
just like I don't know.
So everybody finds a place towork.
So that's why, like I said, Iwent to Emory and then I just
(19:59):
stayed at Midtown.
It's funny because as I went todifferent places, I didn't
really see myself staying inGeorgia At the time.
The market was kind ofsaturated down here.
So I was like, again, comingfrom a military background, I
have no problem picking up andgoing somewhere else.
So I did do a lot of traveling.
And then my husband, who was myboyfriend at the time, I was
(20:20):
like, well, you come with me tothese different places and I can
kind of see myself, you know,moving to and see what you think
.
And he didn't want to leaveAtlanta.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
So I was like, ok, you know Meaning on your
rotations, like on your clinicalyear, you went to a lot of
different places to check themout.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, okay.
So yeah, with MRE, we want youto do at least two rotations
away from the Atlanta area, sothat you can see one, how
anesthesia is done in differentplaces, and two, just see what
else is out there.
Yeah totally, you know.
So I think I went to fourdifferent places and I was like
oh, we'll just see how our thingis.
(20:58):
And I mean all rotations werereally, really good.
And I love Midtown.
I was there actually my firstyear and it was like you should
come and work with me.
I'm like all right, we'll signme a contract and here we go,
you know.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And something about the CAA profession that, if
you're new to the profession orconsidering the profession, you
might not realize, is that a lotof the education like the
hands-on and affiliated.
I'm assuming you were teachinga lot right away.
Tell us about that experience.
Did you love it?
Did you hate it?
What was being an early gradteaching like for you?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So I did love it a lot and I was very surprised
that I liked it so much.
I remember when we were stillin school, some of my classmates
they were thinking like, oh, Iwant to teach this class, I want
to be a preceptor and I'm justlike.
You know, that's cool.
You know I don't necessarilywant to like get in front of
everybody, like 30, 40 students,and teach a whole lecture, but
(22:06):
I can probably do like lab or asmaller set.
And I think, like in the Emorysystem, they don't usually give
you a student right when yougraduate, right, Because we know
what we know.
But we still got to get ourfeet wet.
We have to feel comfortablebeing by ourselves, right.
So some people say, like thatfirst year out is like your
third year school.
You're just kind of figuringout like, all right, now I'm by
(22:28):
myself, I don't have somebody inthe corner who's going to like
jump and tell me what to do, soI just got to figure out by
myself.
So I think like that transitionof just being by myself and
then have students helped a lot,yeah, but I mean I loved it and
I just like to see studentscome in.
They don't know anything and Ican teach them something.
(22:49):
It doesn't have to beeverything, but there's even one
little thing Like if we talkabout just anti-emetics and the
different receptors that we canuse, meaning different drugs
that we can give to make theperson feel better amazing.
And then, like, as I would seemore and more students you know
I would see them when they'retheir first year and then it's
time to get to their senior year, and then when they graduate
(23:09):
and just seeing like theprogress was amazing for me I
was like okay, so, like you know, let me give back, when I was a
student I had preceptors likethat, but not always.
And sometimes, you know, you'reat a rotation by yourself and
you may not really feelcomfortable asking different
people.
So, just knowing that, like Iwould want someone to like kind
(23:29):
of look out for me, pull me tothe side and say, okay, well,
what can we work on today?
Or how can we improve you knowyour skills I said let me just
take that with me, as I'm apreceptor myself.
So I see my students, I say, allright, what do you want to work
on today?
What's your plan If they dosomething that's completely
(23:51):
different from me?
Because, as you know,anesthesia can be done a million
one different ways.
I always ask them, like okay,well, tell me your thought
process.
Like, does it make sense?
To me?
And for the most part, liketheir thought process, it makes
sense, it's right.
It's just something differentfrom what I do.
So I'll just say, okay, I likethat idea, but this is how I do
it.
Let's try my way, and that wayyou can kind of see which way
works best for you.
(24:11):
Or this is another tool to gointo your box in case your way
doesn't work.
Now you can pull out my way.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yes, just that humility that you're talking
about, of being open as theinstructor, as the practicing
CAA, being open to the fact thatyour way is not the only way,
even though it's the way you doit and works out great, is a
really hard lesson to learn.
As a first year clinicalinstructor, I have a lot of
(24:38):
thoughts on exactly that,because first year clinical
instructors are so critical tothe development of the AA
student.
I mean it is just an absoluteturning point in their you know
matriculation to have a really,as you said, instructor who's
like let's learn together, let's, you know, come to me.
(25:00):
I want you to feel comfortable,like that is a gift to students
.
So it sounds like you reallyembraced teaching.
And then in COVID, when COVIDhit Emory, how did that change
what you were doing at thehospital, or maybe what you
thought your future of yourcareer would be?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
So in 2020, when COVID started that August,
that's when I actually startedworking at Emory's Masters of
Medical Science program inanesthesiology.
I was a faculty member at thetime and I was hired to
primarily do lab exercises andthen I started to give a couple
(25:39):
of airway lectures and likelittle things here and there.
All of that, all the lectureswere on Zoom but obviously, like
our labs, we were in person.
When, you know, the School ofMedicine said it was okay, but
we had to wear masks and weusually couldn't hear each other
and we couldn't do a lot of thelab exercise, especially like
(26:03):
with the airway lecture, becausewe had to wear masks, and those
are very important.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, crazy, crazy time.
I just it's a wow.
That that's your indoctrinationinto teaching was to teach
anesthesia on Zoom and then inthe lab with, like you know, the
crazy mask and the whole setup.
You can actually hear eachother.
Yeah, wow, exactly.
And then you took this big stepwhere you're, I assume,
(26:29):
realized that, like, teaching isgoing to be a big part of my
future career and you decided toget your doctorate.
I would love for you to sharethe conversation you had with Dr
Monroe and just who she is andhow that conversation really
changed your trajectory to makeyou, you know, choose a
doctorate of professional healthscience.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So Dr Monroe is our program director and you know,
as I mentioned before, I'm adoctor, I'm a doctor, I'm a
doctor, I'm a doctor, I'm adoctor, I'm a doctor, I'm a.
I didn't have any formaltraining into teaching, so I
relied on my colleagues thatwere around me who had been
doing it for a while to figureout, like what, like what can I
do to become better?
And I can't.
I can't remember what we saidexactly or what the conversation
(27:12):
was between Dr Moreau and Ithat day, or even how it got
started, but I know weeventually started talking about
her journey into pursuing herdoctorate, about her journey
into pursuing her doctorate, andwhenever I thought about
doctorate I was like, oh, if Iget my doctorate, like my only
option would be to become aprogram director, which I'm like
I don't really know if that'swhat I want to do quite yet, but
then she was telling me that,like, having your doctorate, you
(27:34):
can do much more stuff thanjust being a program director.
Like if I wanted to be a dean orassociate dean or anything like
that, you know the size ofliving and being a new teacher
like, again, I didn't reallyhave a desire at that time to
say okay, I want to take thosebig roles like that quite yet,
but I figured I might as wellget my doctorate now, when I had
(27:55):
time and I say that in airquotes because you know, did we
really have time in COVID?
I want to ask you about that,but go on.
But I say, you know, let mejust go ahead and get my
doctorate degree.
So that way, if the positioncomes up that I want to pursue,
I already have it.
So that's why I said, I'm goingto go ahead and do it.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Wow, you are the go-getter energy like poster
child, get our energy likeposter child, because what we
haven't said is that you wereworking and teaching full-time.
So you were teaching at themaster's, you know the aa
program at emory.
You were working clinically.
You have two children, correct,and at the time they were
little um, and then you thought,you know what would be a great
(28:39):
idea?
Yeah, let me go get mydoctorate.
Yeah, how did you find the bestfit program?
Like I think, as you know,personally as a CAA, I have
absolutely thought about gettingfurther education and how
having those other lettersbehind my name would help me,
you know, depending on mydifferent career paths and
choices, and it just seems sooverwhelming to know where to go
(29:02):
, what to pick, what's whatwould help Like.
How did you make that decision?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know the CIA community is like
amazing because you have so manyresources.
So, you know, I said I talkedto Dr Moreau about you know the
school that she went to and thedoctorate path that she took and
honestly, I was like talking toher, it worked just fine for
her.
So let me just follow herfootsteps, go to the school she
(29:27):
went to and, you know, get thesame degree.
We're all good.
But when I researched it, theproblem was is that they did a
lot of in-person classes and Ifeel like it was downtown, like
South Atlanta, and I live northof Atlanta.
So I'm like I don't know if I'mgoing to be able to like drive
down there, balance my schedulewith school, work and my family.
(29:49):
So I was like maybe I can't dothat, maybe I need to look for
something that's more online orit has less in-person class.
So I ended up reaching out toanother former professor and she
also got her doctorate and Isaw that she did a different
path.
So, dr Monroe, she got her PhDand the other person I talked to
, they got their EDD, which islike an education.
(30:11):
So obviously I looked it up.
I was like, all right, well,what's the PhD, what's the EDD,
and you know, on top of that,it's kind of funny because, like
in college, I had threeroommates and one got a PhD, two
got EDDs, and I never knew itwas different, I just knew that
they got the doctorate degrees.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, right, like I was like, oh wow, there's like
difference.
So I realized that the maindifference between the two is
that, like, the EDD is designedfor practitioners practitioners
while your PhD is more designedfor researchers, which I could
still do either one, right?
So I just kind of keptresearching, looking at
different schools I think Ilooked at one at John Hopkins,
(30:51):
nova, and just a whole bunch ofthem, right.
And I kept thinking like, whatdo I really want to get out of
my degree?
Like, when I get it, what do Iwant to do with it?
And you know, I knew that, likethe journey would be hard and I
wanted to make sure that if I'mgoing to do something like this
, I want to at least enjoy it,right?
So, whatever the degree is,like the subject matter, it
(31:12):
needs to be something that Iwant to really do and focus on.
So I ended up looking at NOVA,because that program or that
school, I'm sorry offers bothprograms like a PhD and a
doctorate in health science.
So I saw that health science islike OK, health science is for
me because that's what I'm doingalready, versus just saying I'm
(31:35):
going to do a EDD which is justprimarily in teaching, like I
wanted to do health sciences andon top of that, their doctorate
in health science has like adifferent, like three different
concentrations that you can pick, and one of them was the
education health.
So I talked to the admissionoffice and I was like, all right
, I know there's a differencebetween PhD and a doctorate in
(31:55):
health science, but, like youhave to, what is like the big
difference?
You know, um, are they seeingthe same as far as like
doctorate level?
And they said yes, and theybasically asked me well, what do
you want to do with it?
Do you want to practice stuffthat you like, apply what you
learned to your practice, or doyou want to do a lot of research
?
I'm like, well, I don't reallywant to do a lot of research.
(32:16):
I really want to learn what I'mbeing taught and then apply it
to what I'm actually physicallydoing, because I'm still a
practicing TA.
So that's why I ended up pickingthe Doctorate of Health Science
at NOVA and then, once Istarted my concentrations, I
picked the Education andHealthcare, because I was like,
all right, everything like thestars aligned at the time.
So I found a degree that Icould apply to my practice, that
(32:38):
had a concentration in what Iwas doing already as a teacher
to my practice.
That had a concentration inwhat I was doing already as a
teacher, and then, on top ofthat, most of the stuff was
online.
So I was like, okay, that'sfantastic.
They actually only required twoclasses to be in person, but
because of COVID, they decidedto keep those classes online as
(32:59):
well.
We just had to like do moreZoom sessions.
So I was like win-win.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Well, we just had to like do more Zoom sessions.
So I was like win-win.
Everything is fantastic, right,meant to be.
Do you mind sharing?
Because I feel like we just allstarted talking about money as
CAAs.
Like we finally started liketalking about salaries and stuff
.
Was it more expensive to getyour doctorate than it was to go
to CAA school?
Or you know what was thefinancial investment like?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You know, frankly, it wasn't more to get my doctorate
than to actually go to CAAschool.
I forgot how much it was.
It might have been like 50grand or something like that to
get the doctorate.
But as far as finance, yeah,yeah.
So another thing right, itwasn't like crazy expensive
because Emory does not reimbursefor a doctorate outside of a
(33:46):
doctorate in nursing, so I hadto pay for all this stuff out of
pocket.
Wow, right, yeah, exactly.
So, again, working family andthe little kids, because you
know they're expensive, that's alot.
So I ended up just like lookingat different credit cards, like
through Chase, um, and I thinkI did one through Navy Fed, but
(34:07):
I looked for ones that had likea interest, like free for 15 or
18 months.
I would just charge eachsemester on there and then go
back and pay for it later.
Wow.
So I looked out that way.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You are so resourceful, I'm just so
inspired.
I looked out that way, gosh.
You are so resourceful, I'mjust so inspired.
You know you got to do what yougot to do.
Can you give us just like a dayin your life?
What did it look like to be youcirca 2022?
Working, going to school,taking care?
Can you remember that?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah.
So I remember before I startedI was like this is fantastic,
this is a good idea.
And then when I started I waslike what am I doing?
This is stressful Because, youknow, depending on if I was at
the Emory program or I was atthe hospital, like I'm up in the
morning and I'm doing that work, right, yeah, teaching or
(35:02):
taking care of patients Then Igot to come home and, depending
on what time I get off, I try tohave like dinner with my kids,
but sometimes, like they mayhave already had dinner so
they're in the bed.
So I kind of relax with them,spend time there, try to get
them off to sleep and thenafterwards like 10, 11 o'clock
at night.
Now I'm studying and doing allof my schoolwork and I think
(35:23):
that worked for like the mostpart, because my mom was very
helpful.
Like she would always make surethat she's there to get them
from school when they went backto school and then when my
husband got off of work, theywould kind of switch off and he
would take care of them, makingsure they you know, if they
hadn't had dinner ready, hewould feed them, he would make
sure they went to bed and gottheir stuff ready for school the
next day.
But I mean, I tried to like dosome things, but if I had an
(35:45):
exam or I had to study forsomething, then I'd say, ok, I
can't like play with y'all rightnow, let me just study.
But I spent a lot of nightslike doing all my work.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I can only imagine.
I mean, all you had was nice,there wasn't any other time.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Goodness.
And so just, it sounds like afamily mutual decision of, like
mom's going to do this.
It's going to be hard for acouple of years and we're going
to get through that, yes, wow,ok.
Well, after all that, and youhave this fabulous education
that really very few CAAprofessors have.
Very few of us have anadditional degree, and
(36:23):
especially professors.
A lot of it is on the jobtraining.
Like, as you said, a lot ofthem aren't getting doctorates
or masters of education.
So how did this change the wayyou teach, or what did you
incorporate that you didn't have, like the tools that you didn't
have prior to teaching at theMREA program?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I feel like it really gave me the tools to teach
right.
Many of my classes we hadprojects that focus on creating
something that needed to betaught to students and because
you know it's health science andwe're teaching healthcare
professions like it was alwaysgeared around there.
So we talked about differenttechniques that could be used to
(37:03):
teach a concept.
We learned how to like build aprogram and talked about how
budgeting would affect it andwhat kind of classes do we want
to teach.
What kind of credits would beinvolved?
Who did you need as far asfaculty stakeholders be involved
?
Who did you need as far asfaculty stakeholders?
(37:24):
You know all those things likethat.
I feel like the biggest thingthat I took from most of these
classes is that you know you'reteaching students and they don't
grasp the task, like everybodydoesn't learn the same way, and
I feel like you know if youdon't know how to change your
teaching concept, like they justwon't get it.
And I feel like you know maybeback in the day you had a
(37:45):
teacher and they're like I'mgoing to teach it this way and
you either get it or you don't.
But learning through mydoctorate degree, I learned that
okay, I say something and I'lllook into a crowd.
I see I have half the peoplewho understand it and then the
other half was like a deer inthe headlight.
Then I say, all right, let'sswitch it up, let me kind of
teach you from this concept.
Or maybe instead of just doinga lecture, we're going to do
(38:07):
hands-on stuff, or we may do asmall group thing where I say,
okay, here's a question.
I want you to break off intopairs, let's talk about it.
We can come back Right, so youjust learn those kind of things,
and I feel like it just helpedme engage with the student
better.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Oh my gosh, I just I wish what's in your brain could
go into every CAA's brain.
Just because of clinicallyteaching you know like meaning
in the operating room and infront of a classroom there's a
lot of skills that would help usbe better teachers and I don't
think that's shameful to say.
I think a lot of medicaleducation is built on the backs
(38:41):
of lay people teaching students,and my wheels are spinning,
like how can we take thatknowledge that you have and
other people I mean, you're notthe only CAA, of course I don't
mean to say that no one else hasdone this extra education but
and get it into the hands offirst year clinical instructors
really Interesting, yolanda.
(39:03):
Okay, my wheels are turning.
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's a good thought process, right?
Because one thing we learnedabout was cognitive overload and
we were always constantlytalking about like don't give
too much information at once ordon't put too much stuff on the
side.
And it was funny because lastyear at the Quad A conference
that came up about cognitivelearning for the students and
(39:27):
for the preceptors.
So I was like, okay, soeverybody now is thinking about
this stuff and that's somethingthat I didn't think about when I
became a teacher.
I was like, oh my gosh, howmany times did I kind of
overload them with too muchinformation and they just kind
of got that little glass overtheir eyes and it was like I'm
glazed out.
I don't know anymore, I'moverloaded.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Totally Well.
I would love to just like sitand learn more from you, but,
okay, everyone who's listening,you're not going to believe that
Yolanda is doing more thingsthan just what she just
mentioned, Because you justrecently accepted the presidency
for the Georgia Academy ofAnesthesiologists Assistance.
So the state component societyfor the Quad A.
(40:09):
You know every state that AA'swork in.
We have one and Georgia has, Iassume, probably one of the
biggest and oldest, you know, asGeorgia's the first AA state.
But you are now, MadamPresident and how did this
happen?
Now, Yolanda, Well.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
So I was on social media one night and I saw a post
and it was like you know, theGAA needs your help.
We need volunteers.
Obviously, at the time I had noidea that the presidency was
going to be you know what theyneeded, but I looked into it.
I said, ok, well, let me justtalk to some of my colleagues
(40:49):
that are part of the G2LA andsee, like, well, what do you
need, right?
So I worked with at the time itwas the current president and
the immediate past president andI was like, hey, I saw the post
, like you know, what is it thaty'all really need help with?
I'm thinking like you knowstuff behind the scenes or
something.
They both laughed and I shouldhave realized then that it was
(41:10):
something more right.
Yes, you're getting ripped in,right, exactly.
So it was like, well, you know,we actually need a president.
I was like, hmm.
So at first in my mind I said no, nope, that's not my thing.
I don't do like in front of thescene and behind the scene.
But then I said theorganization that supports my
(41:31):
profession needs help.
So I was like you know what,I'll do it.
And it helped that, like theysaid, they would help me along
the way, and they were veryconfident that I could do it.
So like again.
Resources right.
So if they see something in methat gives them confidence to
say I can do it and they'rewilling to help me.
Why not Granted?
It's scary, right, because thisis something that's big, but
(41:53):
again, I have the resources andI know I can do it.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
The blessing and the curse of being a CAA and, you
know, a high performing personjust in general is that you
could do things, and so thingsare offered to you, and in the
CAA profession we need everyonedoing things like there are so
few of us.
We need people doing things andyou just happen to have some
major major things come your way, which says a lot about you.
(42:21):
I mean, I think you know youare clearly a very capable,
empowered, high energy personand you know what a wonderful
person to have as a lead CAA.
So thank you so much for sayingyes, but also tell us how it's
going juggling all of this.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It's going we actually have the GSA, which is
the State Department ofFinancial Advisors, their winter
forum.
So I'm getting all my reportstogether so that I can, you know
, get ready to tell them, like,how the GAA is working.
But you know, it's really anhonor and a blessing to actually
have this opportunity.
(42:58):
I have a platform to advocatefor CAs in Georgia and
strengthen the profession.
You know we need mentors and itjust helps make our profession
grow and it gains therecognition for all the goals
that we have.
So I love it.
It's going well so far.
Again, it's only my secondmonth in, so we'll talk at the
(43:19):
end of the year, but it will bejust fine, my second month in,
so we'll talk at the end of theyear, but it will be just fine,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, you have so many people there it sounds like
willing to support, and Ipresume the Georgia AAA is a
very well-organized oilingmachine since it's been around
for a while.
But yeah, it's not nothing.
It is certainly a hugecommitment to your profession to
be that president's, which isthat the CAA profession is
uniquely like uniquely able tohelp someone live their life by
(44:07):
design and what you think aboutthat.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
I would agree with you on that.
So, like the CAA profession, itoffers me and everybody like a
unique balance of flexibility,financial security and
professional fulfillment.
You know, it allows me andothers to tailor our own
personal and professional liveswith like whatever goal we want.
And these goals could beachieving like a healthy
(44:34):
work-life balance, pursuingleadership positions such as
involvement in the GAA, making abig impact on patient care, or
like even some kind ofcombination, because because,
like, clearly I'm doing a littlebit of everything but, yeah,
I'm able to take care of mypatients, teach students the art
of anesthesia and still be amother and wife all at the same
(44:55):
time.
And you know, you have like,like, actually doing anesthesia,
I can do hospital stuff, I cando outpatient things, you know.
So you just have a good varietyof flexibility, doing whatever
you want.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Mm, hmm, yes, and you're just such I like to use
the word expanders like evenalong your journey I can hear
how, oh well, I saw someone doit who's a CAA and kind of close
enough to me that it seems likeif they did it I can do it.
And your story is that foreveryone listening right now,
including myself.
So I just really want to thankyou for sharing the whole
(45:33):
breadth of your story and I wantto wish you luck.
As the Georgia Academy ofAnesthesiologists Assistant
President, everything about usis a mouthful.
Everything, yes, everything.
Are you open to peoplecontacting you?
There's a lot of prospectiveAAs here who have a lot of
questions and just really wantresources.
(45:56):
If you're open to that, what'sthe best way for people to
contact you?
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yes, I am very open to that, you know.
Like I've said before, you know, I feel like we cannot, we
can't forget our journey tobecoming a CEA and we have to
mentor so that we can make surethat our profession thrives and
it grows.
So, like I said, I'm very opento people contacting me.
I think the best way to do itis that they email me.
Okay, and that would be YolandaGreen at emoryhealthcareorg.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I know it's a mouthful.
Well, of course it is, becauseit's us.
I'll put that all in the shownotes too, just so people can
have an easy way to contact you.
Yeah, I just I'm soappreciative of you coming on
here and sharing your story.
I know your time is preciousand valuable, yeah, so I just I
really thank you and I wish youall the luck this year.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Thank you and I'm so grateful for you allowing me to
be a part of your podcast.
This was really good.
It was fun, awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
I had fun, it was good, awesome.
All right, thanks, yolanda.
Thank you, I hope you lovedthat episode as much as I did.
If you were as inspired byYolanda as I was, the best thing
you can do is to directly sharethis episode with a friend, a
CAA colleague, a prospective AAstudent in your life.
(47:13):
Tell them why this processinterview meant so much to you
and why you think they wouldlove it.
That's really the best way tospread Yolanda's process story
and the mission of this podcast,which is to expand what's
possible for all CAAs listeningand anyone who wants to become
one.
I have loved doing this podcast.
(47:35):
This season four run with allof you.
We are nearing the end ofseason four.
The season four finale willtake place live at the 2025
annual Quad A conference inCharlotte, north Carolina.
If you're planning on attendingthat conference, I would love
to see you on Thursday, march27th at 1 pm.
(47:55):
You can check the app or theonline brochure to see exactly
the date, time and room, becausewe know how these things change
.
I am currently laying plans forseason five, seeing where my
life takes me, you all probablyhave heard me talk about CAA
Matters, the wellness curriculumI designed for first-year
(48:16):
students, and that will bestarting during the 2025
academic calendar.
So I have a few things up inthe air.
I will not be stepping awayfrom this podcast totally.
I will be back for season five.
I just don't know exactly whatseason five will look like.
So if you want to stay the mostup to date, you can follow me
on Instagram at AwakenedAnesthetist or join my
(48:39):
newsletter.
I will be communicating withyou all there first and we'll
let you know when I know.
But before the end of seasonfour, we do have a couple more
episodes to get excited about.
So again, I hope you enjoyedlistening to Yolanda's process
and now go out and share thisepisode.
Let's talk soon, y'all.
Episode.
(49:09):
Let's talk soon, y'all.
Okay.
Yay, great job, that was so fun.
Okay, I'm going to press stoprecord.
It just takes us.
It wasn't until I started working as a respiratory
therapist.
I would see anesthesia at thehead of the bed, especially when
we go to like the ORs, or ifthey were coming to the ICU to
help us intubate and whatnot,and I would always see at least
two people, but I never realizedthat it was an anesthesiologist
and then a middle provider.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles, I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA.
(00:40):
At one of my lowest points, Idecided to turn my passion for
storytelling and my belief thatthe CAA profession is uniquely
able to create a life by designinto a podcast.
If you are a practicing CAA,current AA student or someone
who hopes to be one, I encourageyou to stick around and
(01:00):
experience the power of being ina community filled with voices
who sound like yours, sharingexperiences you never believed
possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
podcast.
Welcome in.
Welcome back to the AwakenedAnesthetist podcast and the
(01:21):
beloved process interview seriespodcast and the beloved process
interview series.
Again, I'm your host, mary Jean, and I just love doing these
process episodes because theynot only expand my idea for
myself of what's possible, butI'm so proud to share these CAA
stories with all of you.
I know there are working CAAswho are listening, there are
(01:43):
student AAs and there areprospective AA students all
listening as well as, I'm sure,people sort of on the periphery,
wondering what the heck a CAAis.
So I'm just so proud to offerthese process interviews as
little glimpses at what it meansto be a CAA, and today I am
especially excited to beinterviewing Yolanda Green.
(02:06):
Yolanda is a 2012 graduate ofthe Emory AA program.
She became a CAA after gettingher undergraduate degree in
respiratory therapy and workingas a respiratory therapist for
five years.
During the time she was workingas an RT, she completed all her
necessary prereqs for AA schooland took the GRE, and then, of
course, got into Emory and aftershe graduated in 2012, she
(02:30):
began working as a CAA at alarge academic hospital in
Atlanta that's Emory UniversityHospital.
She currently is still employedby that same hospital, but
splits her full-time workbetween her clinical
responsibilities and being thedirector of clinical rotations
for the Emory AA program.
Yolanda has a truly inspiringstory, as you will soon hear,
(02:55):
and what's unique to Yolanda isthat she consistently followed
those little whispers that herlife was offering her, and she's
gone on to continue hereducation after her AA degree
and recently graduated with herdoctorate of professional health
sciences, and is the current2025 president of the Georgia
(03:17):
AAA, that's the Georgia StateComponent Society under the Quad
A and if that's not impressiveenough, yolanda was one of the
most down-to-earth andapproachable interviewees that
I've had on the pod.
She was so generous with herstory, sharing all the ups and
downs and even part of thefinancial journey and burden of
(03:37):
going to AA school and thenfollowing it up with a doctorate
degree.
Yolanda's process is a storyabout mentorship, and I call
those people expanders, peoplewho help you, see, to believe
what's possible for yourself,because you're seeing someone
who's just close enough to youthat you relate to them and
think, if they can do it, I cando it.
(03:59):
And that's really been a themein Yolanda's journey, and I know
that Yolanda is going to offerthat same expansion to any CAAs
who are out there and wanting tofeel more satisfied and
fulfilled in their profession.
They are wanting to stay opento growth and learning.
Maybe you're consideringlooking at an advanced degree
(04:21):
after finishing AA school oryou're juggling full-time work
and parenthood.
Yolanda's process is truly agame changer.
I can't wait for you all to getto know Yolanda.
So, without further ado, welcomeYolanda to the Awakened
Anesthetist.
All right, let's do the rapidfire.
My most favorite favorite part.
(04:43):
Okay, let me see what I want mymost favorite favorite part.
Okay, let me see what I want toknow about you, yolanda.
What did you want to be whenyou were a kid?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Well, I wanted to do African-American history.
I was going to be like aprofessor in a university, so
like in seventh grade.
I don't remember what we weredoing, I don't know if it was
like African American historymonth or whatever, but I
remember we had to like memorizethis poem by Langston Hughes
called Mother to the Son.
And like learning that poem andlike having to memorize it and
(05:16):
we learned some other poems byother African Americans.
It just kind of intrigued me tolearn more about that.
So I kind of went down thatpath and I thought it would be
kind of cool to like teach otherpeople the things that I
learned.
So then when I started workingat a hospital and was exposed to
like the healthcare side andseeing what they were doing, I
was like, oh well, I want to dothat as well.
So in my mind I was going tolike major in nursing and then
(05:40):
do a minor in African Americanhistory.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, you're not too far off.
You're still teaching, yeah,which we'll get into.
What is the best show you'vewatched lately?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Hmm, let me think we watch.
We tend to binge watch a lot ofthings.
I think I would say Night Agent2.
I don't know if you've heardabout that, but have not.
It's basically about like, ohwell, well, you got to watch
both one and two, okay.
So one, he is like I don't knowif he's a cia agent, but he's
(06:13):
stuck into a room with a phoneand nothing ever happens.
But then when other agents thatare undercover like something
happens, they call and they haveto get like extracted and get
help.
So, and my agent too, now he'sone of those undercover agents
and starts to get blamed forsome kind of like chemical
weapon that's being built, andso he has to figure out who's
(06:35):
actually doing it and how heneeds to stop it.
It's like a 10 episode series.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Okay, it's got like a born identity flair.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It feels like yeah, okay, yes, cool, except for he
knows he's an Asian.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yeah, would you consider yourself an extrovert
or an introvert, yolanda?
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Let's see here I would say primarily extrovert
because I like to talk and kindof stand out there, but I mean
an introvert.
Like you know, we kind of sithere and we think about a lot of
things.
So I feel like when I'm in theOR and I am thinking about my
patient and how I can managethem, I tend to be quiet that
(07:15):
way, just thinking about likeall the small details.
But again an extrovert, like ifI'm working as a team and I
need to be out focused in the OR.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
I can do that as well .
And last one what would you dodifferently if money was no
object, time was no object?
What would you do?
How would you spend your time?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I think I would travel a lot.
You know, my dad was in themilitary and so we traveled all
the time.
We moved around probably everytwo to three years.
And so we traveled all the time.
We moved around like probablyevery two to three years.
And now that I'm like on my own, I don't travel that much,
which I kind of miss.
So I think I would just do that, especially like because when I
(07:55):
was younger I didn't have topay for anything, obviously, but
now I have to pay foreverything.
So, yeah, money with no objectand I can do whatever, I will
just pay for whatever trips andwe would just pack up and just
travel.
Yeah, cool.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
All right, let's get into the meat of things.
And why don't you start us offwith just kind of telling the
listeners you know, yourupbringing, your cultural
background, maybe how you feel,like that shaped you as a person
today?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Well, my parents are from the Caribbean, my father is
from Trinidad and my mom's fromjamaica and I guess, like you
can really think about, I guessI'm the first generation
caribbean american and we alwayskind of joke because I'm
referred to as a trench american, because it's a little bit of
all three.
Um, I'm the only child but I dohave a huge family.
(08:41):
Like my dad has 11 siblings andmy mom has four, so I have a
lot of aunts, uncles and cousins.
So, even though, like, I'm theonly child, when I grew up we
tend to be like facing theirfamily members, so I always had
people to, like you know, playwith me as if they were my
brothers and sisters.
Like I said, my dad was in the Uus army for over 20 years and
(09:06):
my upbringing would beconsidered like an army ran
again, we moved a lot, wetraveled a lot every two to
three years, so my lifeconsisted of meeting a lot of
new, different, like differentpeople, um, being exposed to
different cultures, and at anearly age I had to learn how to
meet new people and be kind ofself-sufficient, right?
(09:26):
I guess that would help ifyou're an extrovert because,
like, when you go to a newschool.
You have to kind of be willingto just be like hey, my name is
such and such.
You know, sometimes people willcome and talk to like the new
kid.
But I was a new kid all thetime so I kind of forced myself
to like be out there.
You know, was a new kid all thetime, so I kind of forced myself
(09:46):
to like be out there.
You know, and my parents taughtme, like you know, be very
independent and kind of, youknow, just be open, make new
friends and just to be a hardworker.
So I feel like it shaped meinto like being a go-getter,
like if I want something, I knowI have to work hard for it.
Right, it's not just going tocome to me passively.
So I feel like that just kindof helped me reach like and
achieve all the goals that I caneven think of.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
The makings of a CAA.
I hear some threads offamiliarity here.
Why don't you share your firstexposure?
So it sounds like you weren'tthinking CAA and you know you
kind of came from this educationpath and then found out about
medicine.
So maybe take us to when youfirst heard or learned about the
(10:31):
CAA profession and like whatabout?
It caught your eye, I mean.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
I think for most of us when we think of like health
care, it's either a doctor or anurse.
So when I was first exposed tothe hospital setting when I was
in high school, I did see otherprofessionals I mean like other
fields and stuff like that, butnot anesthesia related.
It wasn't until I startedworking as a respiratory
therapist.
I would see anesthesia at thehead of the bed, especially when
(10:57):
we go to like the ORs or ifthey were coming to the ICU to
help us intubate and whatnot,and I would always see at least
two people.
But I never realized that itwas an anesthesiologist and a
midline provider.
I just assumed that, like theyjust worked in Paris, they
always had backup or whatever.
So you know, when I was birthcare therapist, I was like it's
going to be Archie for life, I'mnot going back to school, good.
(11:18):
And then one of my good friends, he had just started the
Emory's PA program and he waslike you know, you really should
go back to school, maybe foryour career.
And I was like no, I'm fine.
He's like you know, you don'thave any kids, you're not
married, like you don't reallyhave anything that's holding you
back, like this is free timealmost for you, like, just
consider it.
I said okay, so went on theinternet, looked at different PA
(11:42):
professions and like thedifferent fields that we can do,
and I was like, okay, and Icame across cardiology, surgical
and then anesthesia PA came inand I also thought about
pulmonary as well too, because Iwas like that makes sense.
I'm already a respiratorytherapist, just transitioned to
pulmonary.
We're all doing the same airwaystuff.
(12:10):
But when the anesthesia came up,I was like, well, what is that?
And that's when I startedreading about it.
And then I started rememberingwhen I would see those two
people at the head of the bed.
I'm like, oh, so one's theanesthesiologist, one's the
anesthetist.
I said, okay, I like that and Ijust like the different things
that we can do, primarilybecause we do the airway.
And I was like, well, I'malready good at that, so that
would be fantastic.
And when I started to shadow, Isaw that, like people are super
(12:30):
nervous to have surgery andrealizing that an antidepressant
provider is probably going tobe the last person that has a
chance to calm them down andthen wake them back up and let
them know everything was fine,that really resonated with me
because I want to be there totake care of the patient, and
knowing that I'm there to calmyou down whether it's just
talking, holding your hand,maybe giving a little meditation
(12:51):
, and being able to take care ofyou through the procedure wake
you up and you're like oh, I'mdone, we've had surgery already.
I feel fantastic and that'sjust really sat with me.
So that's why I decided tobecome a CAA.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Do you think you would have been happy like now
that you have the comparison ofgoing through everything,
becoming a CAA and we'll talkabout getting your doctorate as
well that you could have beenhappy as an RT?
Because so many people, I think, find out about this profession
a little bit later Maybethey've had a different career
and then they find out about CAAand they're like is it worth it
?
Like oh gee, I'm already 10years into doing this, whatever.
(13:27):
Is it worth it to switch Likenow?
What would you say to thosepeople?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
I would say it's definitely worth the switch.
I mean, if I knew about thisfirst, I would have went to
become a CDN before I was arespiratory therapist.
To be honest with you, I likedthe way I did the steps.
But I will just do this Likewe're one of the few people that
(13:52):
can give whatever kind of drugwe want without having like a
handwritten order.
We can just give whatever wewant.
We don't have to be like, oh,can you write me an order for
time or an order for a fed room.
You know, and I will say like,as a menstrual therapist, the
hospital that I was at we had alot of autonomy.
So and I worked overnight.
So if I had to do something ormake a change, you know, on the
(14:14):
vent, or do a blood gas draw anddo different things like that I
could do that I would just tellthe doctor like, hey, like I
may have to call them or send mypatient and say, hey, this is
what's going on.
I did a blood gas, I saw this,this is what I think needs to
happen.
Or I've already done X, y, Z.
So usually, you know, it's finebecause again, we have that
huge autonomy.
But I just feel like withanesthesia it's just completely
different.
(14:34):
And also too, going back to whatI was saying, like I like the
fact that I can calm a patientdown as an RT, but the most part
they're already intubated andif they're not intubated already
they're freaking out Right, andI have to do it Like I don't
have a chance to like hold theirhand and stuff like that,
(14:55):
because maybe their steps aregoing down, their habitual
breathing and they're panicking.
I just don't get thatone-on-one time to just let them
relax.
Yeah, you know, calm them down,do the procedure and wait them
out yeah, so I think it'sdefinitely working, do you think
?
Speaker 2 (15:10):
well, take us to finding Emory.
That's where you found what yousaid was like the anesthesia PA
, which was the CAA program, andyou were already working in
Georgia as an RT, correct?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
And found out about the Emory Master's of Science in
Anesthesia program the AAschool there.
Talk us about being an RTpreviously before going to AA
school and how that helped orhurt you or what your experience
was like in AA school.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
I think being an RT helped me in the sense that,
like I knew how to run aventilator machine, I knew how
to intubate and do like artlines and blood gases and things
of that nature.
So I feel like it helped methere.
But as a student, I will tellyou that I have some preceptors.
(15:59):
Be like, what are you doing?
You don't know how to intubate.
And I'm like, okay, you knowI'm going to be humble, I'm not
going to argue with you, tell mehow you like to do it.
And it's funny because onething that I realized was that
as an RT, when I go to intubatesomebody, I am rushing, right,
because they are in distress.
Again, they may have lowsaturation, they're having some
(16:23):
type of obstruction or they'recoded and we need to get it
aired.
So we're not as gentle as weare with anesthesia.
I will say and so that's what Ithink they were saying was like
you don't know what you'redoing, I'm just rushing, I'm
putting it in there, versus withanesthesia, most of the things
that we do are elected.
We do have our emergency stuff,but for the most part it's
elected.
So I can take that time, I canoptimize my patient, I can make
(16:46):
sure that I am doing everythingI need to do and minimize any
kind of error in my phone.
So I thought that that was veryhelpful and I was able to help
my other classmates who werestruggling with maybe, you know,
using a machine or doing artlines and reading blogging
offices and things of thatnature.
It also helped me because I wasalready exposed to like the
(17:08):
hospital and like working as ateam and seeing the different
type of professions yes, whichyou know can be very
intimidating.
You have all the differentpeople in the OR and they're all
looking at you and you're likeI don't know what I'm supposed
to be doing.
So I think that helps.
And you know, talking to apatient, I can talk to somebody.
I know that and I know thatsounds like very simple and
(17:29):
you're like anybody can talk toanybody.
But it's different when you'retaking care of them and you're
like, okay, I have to stick youwith this, you know, and show
you that I'm competent, eventhough it's my day one.
You know clinical like how do Ibring that all together?
So I think in that aspect itdid help.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yes, I completely agree.
I think the AA profession iskind of like at this juncture
where hospital or medicalexperience, while not required,
is starting to become like youhave to have it in order to now
push your application up to thetop.
And, you know, interestingbecause our CRNA counterpoint,
(18:08):
you know, have said oh well, youhave to be a nurse first in
order to be able to understandanesthesia and you know all of
those nuances to it.
And it's just an interestingwhere we're like it absolutely
helps, but it doesn't have to beable to understand anesthesia
and you know all of thosenuances to it.
And it's just an interestingwhere we're like it absolutely
helps, it doesn't have to benursing, it could be RT, it
could be engineering, it couldbe being a teacher, like there's
so many other skills from otherarenas that will help you in
(18:29):
different ways and, as you said,hurt you in different ways,
like your intubation techniquewas mastered on a situation that
you know we don't usuallyprioritize absolute speed above
everything.
So, yeah, it's just that'sreally interesting, I think, as
our profession evolves.
Just to hear your perspective,share your first job out of
(18:50):
school, like was it when did yougraduate?
Was it real easy to get a job,and where did you go?
Speaker 1 (18:55):
So my first job was at Emory.
Once I graduated in 2012, Istarted working at Emory Midtown
and I just stayed there eversince.
That's one of the reasons why Iactually chose Emory's CAA
program is because I was lookingat their stats.
They had a high first pass forthe certification board exam and
(19:16):
job placement was pretty much100%.
It's not that they help you geta job, but I think because we
have so many different rotationsthat you get an opportunity to
go to so many different placesand everybody pretty much finds
their little niche and they'reable to find a job.
I feel like most of our seniorstudents, when they graduate,
(19:36):
probably maybe halfway throughtheir little niche and they're
able to find a job.
I feel like most of our seniorstudents when they graduate,
probably like maybe halfwaythrough their senior year, they
already have a job.
They already know what they'redoing.
The people who may not have ajob closer to graduation it's
not because they can't find one,it's because they don't know
which one they want to pick.
They have like five differentjob opportunities and they're
just like I don't know.
So everybody finds a place towork.
So that's why, like I said, Iwent to Emory and then I just
(19:59):
stayed at Midtown.
It's funny because as I went todifferent places, I didn't
really see myself staying inGeorgia At the time.
The market was kind ofsaturated down here.
So I was like, again, comingfrom a military background, I
have no problem picking up andgoing somewhere else.
So I did do a lot of traveling.
And then my husband, who was myboyfriend at the time, I was
(20:20):
like, well, you come with me tothese different places and I can
kind of see myself, you know,moving to and see what you think
.
And he didn't want to leaveAtlanta.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
So I was like, ok, you know Meaning on your
rotations, like on your clinicalyear, you went to a lot of
different places to check themout.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, okay.
So yeah, with MRE, we want youto do at least two rotations
away from the Atlanta area, sothat you can see one, how
anesthesia is done in differentplaces, and two, just see what
else is out there.
Yeah totally, you know.
So I think I went to fourdifferent places and I was like
oh, we'll just see how our thingis.
(20:58):
And I mean all rotations werereally, really good.
And I love Midtown.
I was there actually my firstyear and it was like you should
come and work with me.
I'm like all right, we'll signme a contract and here we go,
you know.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And something about the CAA profession that, if
you're new to the profession orconsidering the profession, you
might not realize, is that a lotof the education like the
hands-on and affiliated.
I'm assuming you were teachinga lot right away.
Tell us about that experience.
Did you love it?
Did you hate it?
What was being an early gradteaching like for you?
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So I did love it a lot and I was very surprised
that I liked it so much.
I remember when we were stillin school, some of my classmates
they were thinking like, oh, Iwant to teach this class, I want
to be a preceptor and I'm justlike.
You know, that's cool.
You know I don't necessarilywant to like get in front of
everybody, like 30, 40 students,and teach a whole lecture, but
(22:06):
I can probably do like lab or asmaller set.
And I think, like in the Emorysystem, they don't usually give
you a student right when yougraduate, right, Because we know
what we know.
But we still got to get ourfeet wet.
We have to feel comfortablebeing by ourselves, right.
So some people say, like thatfirst year out is like your
third year school.
You're just kind of figuringout like, all right, now I'm by
(22:28):
myself, I don't have somebody inthe corner who's going to like
jump and tell me what to do, soI just got to figure out by
myself.
So I think like that transitionof just being by myself and
then have students helped a lot,yeah, but I mean I loved it and
I just like to see studentscome in.
They don't know anything and Ican teach them something.
(22:49):
It doesn't have to beeverything, but there's even one
little thing Like if we talkabout just anti-emetics and the
different receptors that we canuse, meaning different drugs
that we can give to make theperson feel better amazing.
And then, like, as I would seemore and more students you know
I would see them when they'retheir first year and then it's
time to get to their senior year, and then when they graduate
(23:09):
and just seeing like theprogress was amazing for me I
was like okay, so, like you know, let me give back, when I was a
student I had preceptors likethat, but not always.
And sometimes, you know, you'reat a rotation by yourself and
you may not really feelcomfortable asking different
people.
So, just knowing that, like Iwould want someone to like kind
(23:29):
of look out for me, pull me tothe side and say, okay, well,
what can we work on today?
Or how can we improve you knowyour skills I said let me just
take that with me, as I'm apreceptor myself.
So I see my students, I say, allright, what do you want to work
on today?
What's your plan If they dosomething that's completely
(23:51):
different from me?
Because, as you know,anesthesia can be done a million
one different ways.
I always ask them, like okay,well, tell me your thought
process.
Like, does it make sense?
To me?
And for the most part, liketheir thought process, it makes
sense, it's right.
It's just something differentfrom what I do.
So I'll just say, okay, I likethat idea, but this is how I do
it.
Let's try my way, and that wayyou can kind of see which way
works best for you.
(24:11):
Or this is another tool to gointo your box in case your way
doesn't work.
Now you can pull out my way.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yes, just that humility that you're talking
about, of being open as theinstructor, as the practicing
CAA, being open to the fact thatyour way is not the only way,
even though it's the way you doit and works out great, is a
really hard lesson to learn.
As a first year clinicalinstructor, I have a lot of
(24:38):
thoughts on exactly that,because first year clinical
instructors are so critical tothe development of the AA
student.
I mean it is just an absoluteturning point in their you know
matriculation to have a really,as you said, instructor who's
like let's learn together, let's, you know, come to me.
(25:00):
I want you to feel comfortable,like that is a gift to students
.
So it sounds like you reallyembraced teaching.
And then in COVID, when COVIDhit Emory, how did that change
what you were doing at thehospital, or maybe what you
thought your future of yourcareer would be?
Speaker 1 (25:18):
So in 2020, when COVID started that August,
that's when I actually startedworking at Emory's Masters of
Medical Science program inanesthesiology.
I was a faculty member at thetime and I was hired to
primarily do lab exercises andthen I started to give a couple
(25:39):
of airway lectures and likelittle things here and there.
All of that, all the lectureswere on Zoom but obviously, like
our labs, we were in person.
When, you know, the School ofMedicine said it was okay, but
we had to wear masks and weusually couldn't hear each other
and we couldn't do a lot of thelab exercise, especially like
(26:03):
with the airway lecture, becausewe had to wear masks, and those
are very important.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, crazy, crazy time.
I just it's a wow.
That that's your indoctrinationinto teaching was to teach
anesthesia on Zoom and then inthe lab with, like you know, the
crazy mask and the whole setup.
You can actually hear eachother.
Yeah, wow, exactly.
And then you took this big stepwhere you're, I assume,
(26:29):
realized that, like, teaching isgoing to be a big part of my
future career and you decided toget your doctorate.
I would love for you to sharethe conversation you had with Dr
Monroe and just who she is andhow that conversation really
changed your trajectory to makeyou, you know, choose a
doctorate of professional healthscience.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So Dr Monroe is our program director and you know,
as I mentioned before, I'm adoctor, I'm a doctor, I'm a
doctor, I'm a doctor, I'm adoctor, I'm a doctor, I'm a.
I didn't have any formaltraining into teaching, so I
relied on my colleagues thatwere around me who had been
doing it for a while to figureout, like what, like what can I
do to become better?
And I can't.
I can't remember what we saidexactly or what the conversation
(27:12):
was between Dr Moreau and Ithat day, or even how it got
started, but I know weeventually started talking about
her journey into pursuing herdoctorate, about her journey
into pursuing her doctorate, andwhenever I thought about
doctorate I was like, oh, if Iget my doctorate, like my only
option would be to become aprogram director, which I'm like
I don't really know if that'swhat I want to do quite yet, but
then she was telling me that,like, having your doctorate, you
(27:34):
can do much more stuff thanjust being a program director.
Like if I wanted to be a dean orassociate dean or anything like
that, you know the size ofliving and being a new teacher
like, again, I didn't reallyhave a desire at that time to
say okay, I want to take thosebig roles like that quite yet,
but I figured I might as wellget my doctorate now, when I had
(27:55):
time and I say that in airquotes because you know, did we
really have time in COVID?
I want to ask you about that,but go on.
But I say, you know, let mejust go ahead and get my
doctorate degree.
So that way, if the positioncomes up that I want to pursue,
I already have it.
So that's why I said, I'm goingto go ahead and do it.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Wow, you are the go-getter energy like poster
child, get our energy likeposter child, because what we
haven't said is that you wereworking and teaching full-time.
So you were teaching at themaster's, you know the aa
program at emory.
You were working clinically.
You have two children, correct,and at the time they were
little um, and then you thought,you know what would be a great
(28:39):
idea?
Yeah, let me go get mydoctorate.
Yeah, how did you find the bestfit program?
Like I think, as you know,personally as a CAA, I have
absolutely thought about gettingfurther education and how
having those other lettersbehind my name would help me,
you know, depending on mydifferent career paths and
choices, and it just seems sooverwhelming to know where to go
(29:02):
, what to pick, what's whatwould help Like.
How did you make that decision?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Yeah, I mean, you know the CIA community is like
amazing because you have so manyresources.
So, you know, I said I talkedto Dr Moreau about you know the
school that she went to and thedoctorate path that she took and
honestly, I was like talking toher, it worked just fine for
her.
So let me just follow herfootsteps, go to the school she
(29:27):
went to and, you know, get thesame degree.
We're all good.
But when I researched it, theproblem was is that they did a
lot of in-person classes and Ifeel like it was downtown, like
South Atlanta, and I live northof Atlanta.
So I'm like I don't know if I'mgoing to be able to like drive
down there, balance my schedulewith school, work and my family.
(29:49):
So I was like maybe I can't dothat, maybe I need to look for
something that's more online orit has less in-person class.
So I ended up reaching out toanother former professor and she
also got her doctorate and Isaw that she did a different
path.
So, dr Monroe, she got her PhDand the other person I talked to
, they got their EDD, which islike an education.
(30:11):
So obviously I looked it up.
I was like, all right, well,what's the PhD, what's the EDD,
and you know, on top of that,it's kind of funny because, like
in college, I had threeroommates and one got a PhD, two
got EDDs, and I never knew itwas different, I just knew that
they got the doctorate degrees.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Yeah, I had no idea.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, right, like I was like, oh wow, there's like
difference.
So I realized that the maindifference between the two is
that, like, the EDD is designedfor practitioners practitioners
while your PhD is more designedfor researchers, which I could
still do either one, right?
So I just kind of keptresearching, looking at
different schools I think Ilooked at one at John Hopkins,
(30:51):
nova, and just a whole bunch ofthem, right.
And I kept thinking like, whatdo I really want to get out of
my degree?
Like, when I get it, what do Iwant to do with it?
And you know, I knew that, likethe journey would be hard and I
wanted to make sure that if I'mgoing to do something like this
, I want to at least enjoy it,right?
So, whatever the degree is,like the subject matter, it
(31:12):
needs to be something that Iwant to really do and focus on.
So I ended up looking at NOVA,because that program or that
school, I'm sorry offers bothprograms like a PhD and a
doctorate in health science.
So I saw that health science islike OK, health science is for
me because that's what I'm doingalready, versus just saying I'm
(31:35):
going to do a EDD which is justprimarily in teaching, like I
wanted to do health sciences andon top of that, their doctorate
in health science has like adifferent, like three different
concentrations that you can pick, and one of them was the
education health.
So I talked to the admissionoffice and I was like, all right
, I know there's a differencebetween PhD and a doctorate in
(31:55):
health science, but, like youhave to, what is like the big
difference?
You know, um, are they seeingthe same as far as like
doctorate level?
And they said yes, and theybasically asked me well, what do
you want to do with it?
Do you want to practice stuffthat you like, apply what you
learned to your practice, or doyou want to do a lot of research
?
I'm like, well, I don't reallywant to do a lot of research.
(32:16):
I really want to learn what I'mbeing taught and then apply it
to what I'm actually physicallydoing, because I'm still a
practicing TA.
So that's why I ended up pickingthe Doctorate of Health Science
at NOVA and then, once Istarted my concentrations, I
picked the Education andHealthcare, because I was like,
all right, everything like thestars aligned at the time.
So I found a degree that Icould apply to my practice, that
(32:38):
had a concentration in what Iwas doing already as a teacher
to my practice.
That had a concentration inwhat I was doing already as a
teacher, and then, on top ofthat, most of the stuff was
online.
So I was like, okay, that'sfantastic.
They actually only required twoclasses to be in person, but
because of COVID, they decidedto keep those classes online as
(32:59):
well.
We just had to like do moreZoom sessions.
So I was like win-win.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Well, we just had to like do more Zoom sessions.
So I was like win-win.
Everything is fantastic, right,meant to be.
Do you mind sharing?
Because I feel like we just allstarted talking about money as
CAAs.
Like we finally started liketalking about salaries and stuff
.
Was it more expensive to getyour doctorate than it was to go
to CAA school?
Or you know what was thefinancial investment like?
Speaker 1 (33:22):
You know, frankly, it wasn't more to get my doctorate
than to actually go to CAAschool.
I forgot how much it was.
It might have been like 50grand or something like that to
get the doctorate.
But as far as finance, yeah,yeah.
So another thing right, itwasn't like crazy expensive
because Emory does not reimbursefor a doctorate outside of a
(33:46):
doctorate in nursing, so I hadto pay for all this stuff out of
pocket.
Wow, right, yeah, exactly.
So, again, working family andthe little kids, because you
know they're expensive, that's alot.
So I ended up just like lookingat different credit cards, like
through Chase, um, and I thinkI did one through Navy Fed, but
(34:07):
I looked for ones that had likea interest, like free for 15 or
18 months.
I would just charge eachsemester on there and then go
back and pay for it later.
Wow.
So I looked out that way.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
You are so resourceful, I'm just so
inspired.
I looked out that way, gosh.
You are so resourceful, I'mjust so inspired.
You know you got to do what yougot to do.
Can you give us just like a dayin your life?
What did it look like to be youcirca 2022?
Working, going to school,taking care?
Can you remember that?
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Yeah.
So I remember before I startedI was like this is fantastic,
this is a good idea.
And then when I started I waslike what am I doing?
This is stressful Because, youknow, depending on if I was at
the Emory program or I was atthe hospital, like I'm up in the
morning and I'm doing that work, right, yeah, teaching or
(35:02):
taking care of patients Then Igot to come home and, depending
on what time I get off, I try tohave like dinner with my kids,
but sometimes, like they mayhave already had dinner so
they're in the bed.
So I kind of relax with them,spend time there, try to get
them off to sleep and thenafterwards like 10, 11 o'clock
at night.
Now I'm studying and doing allof my schoolwork and I think
(35:23):
that worked for like the mostpart, because my mom was very
helpful.
Like she would always make surethat she's there to get them
from school when they went backto school and then when my
husband got off of work, theywould kind of switch off and he
would take care of them, makingsure they you know, if they
hadn't had dinner ready, hewould feed them, he would make
sure they went to bed and gottheir stuff ready for school the
next day.
But I mean, I tried to like dosome things, but if I had an
(35:45):
exam or I had to study forsomething, then I'd say, ok, I
can't like play with y'all rightnow, let me just study.
But I spent a lot of nightslike doing all my work.
Speaker 2 (35:55):
Yeah, I can only imagine.
I mean, all you had was nice,there wasn't any other time.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
Goodness.
And so just, it sounds like afamily mutual decision of, like
mom's going to do this.
It's going to be hard for acouple of years and we're going
to get through that, yes, wow,ok.
Well, after all that, and youhave this fabulous education
that really very few CAAprofessors have.
Very few of us have anadditional degree, and
(36:23):
especially professors.
A lot of it is on the jobtraining.
Like, as you said, a lot ofthem aren't getting doctorates
or masters of education.
So how did this change the wayyou teach, or what did you
incorporate that you didn't have, like the tools that you didn't
have prior to teaching at theMREA program?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
I feel like it really gave me the tools to teach
right.
Many of my classes we hadprojects that focus on creating
something that needed to betaught to students and because
you know it's health science andwe're teaching healthcare
professions like it was alwaysgeared around there.
So we talked about differenttechniques that could be used to
(37:03):
teach a concept.
We learned how to like build aprogram and talked about how
budgeting would affect it andwhat kind of classes do we want
to teach.
What kind of credits would beinvolved?
Who did you need as far asfaculty stakeholders be involved
?
Who did you need as far asfaculty stakeholders?
(37:24):
You know all those things likethat.
I feel like the biggest thingthat I took from most of these
classes is that you know you'reteaching students and they don't
grasp the task, like everybodydoesn't learn the same way, and
I feel like you know if youdon't know how to change your
teaching concept, like they justwon't get it.
And I feel like you know maybeback in the day you had a
(37:45):
teacher and they're like I'mgoing to teach it this way and
you either get it or you don't.
But learning through mydoctorate degree, I learned that
okay, I say something and I'lllook into a crowd.
I see I have half the peoplewho understand it and then the
other half was like a deer inthe headlight.
Then I say, all right, let'sswitch it up, let me kind of
teach you from this concept.
Or maybe instead of just doinga lecture, we're going to do
(38:07):
hands-on stuff, or we may do asmall group thing where I say,
okay, here's a question.
I want you to break off intopairs, let's talk about it.
We can come back Right, so youjust learn those kind of things,
and I feel like it just helpedme engage with the student
better.
Speaker 2 (38:20):
Oh my gosh, I just I wish what's in your brain could
go into every CAA's brain.
Just because of clinicallyteaching you know like meaning
in the operating room and infront of a classroom there's a
lot of skills that would help usbe better teachers and I don't
think that's shameful to say.
I think a lot of medicaleducation is built on the backs
(38:41):
of lay people teaching students,and my wheels are spinning,
like how can we take thatknowledge that you have and
other people I mean, you're notthe only CAA, of course I don't
mean to say that no one else hasdone this extra education but
and get it into the hands offirst year clinical instructors
really Interesting, yolanda.
(39:03):
Okay, my wheels are turning.
I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
It's a good thought process, right?
Because one thing we learnedabout was cognitive overload and
we were always constantlytalking about like don't give
too much information at once ordon't put too much stuff on the
side.
And it was funny because lastyear at the Quad A conference
that came up about cognitivelearning for the students and
(39:27):
for the preceptors.
So I was like, okay, soeverybody now is thinking about
this stuff and that's somethingthat I didn't think about when I
became a teacher.
I was like, oh my gosh, howmany times did I kind of
overload them with too muchinformation and they just kind
of got that little glass overtheir eyes and it was like I'm
glazed out.
I don't know anymore, I'moverloaded.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Totally Well.
I would love to just like sitand learn more from you, but,
okay, everyone who's listening,you're not going to believe that
Yolanda is doing more thingsthan just what she just
mentioned, Because you justrecently accepted the presidency
for the Georgia Academy ofAnesthesiologists Assistance.
So the state component societyfor the Quad A.
(40:09):
You know every state that AA'swork in.
We have one and Georgia has, Iassume, probably one of the
biggest and oldest, you know, asGeorgia's the first AA state.
But you are now, MadamPresident and how did this
happen?
Now, Yolanda, Well.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
So I was on social media one night and I saw a post
and it was like you know, theGAA needs your help.
We need volunteers.
Obviously, at the time I had noidea that the presidency was
going to be you know what theyneeded, but I looked into it.
I said, ok, well, let me justtalk to some of my colleagues
(40:49):
that are part of the G2LA andsee, like, well, what do you
need, right?
So I worked with at the time itwas the current president and
the immediate past president andI was like, hey, I saw the post
, like you know, what is it thaty'all really need help with?
I'm thinking like you knowstuff behind the scenes or
something.
They both laughed and I shouldhave realized then that it was
(41:10):
something more right.
Yes, you're getting ripped in,right, exactly.
So it was like, well, you know,we actually need a president.
I was like, hmm.
So at first in my mind I said no, nope, that's not my thing.
I don't do like in front of thescene and behind the scene.
But then I said theorganization that supports my
(41:31):
profession needs help.
So I was like you know what,I'll do it.
And it helped that, like theysaid, they would help me along
the way, and they were veryconfident that I could do it.
So like again.
Resources right.
So if they see something in methat gives them confidence to
say I can do it and they'rewilling to help me.
Why not Granted?
It's scary, right, because thisis something that's big, but
(41:53):
again, I have the resources andI know I can do it.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
The blessing and the curse of being a CAA and, you
know, a high performing personjust in general is that you
could do things, and so thingsare offered to you, and in the
CAA profession we need everyonedoing things like there are so
few of us.
We need people doing things andyou just happen to have some
major major things come your way, which says a lot about you.
(42:21):
I mean, I think you know youare clearly a very capable,
empowered, high energy personand you know what a wonderful
person to have as a lead CAA.
So thank you so much for sayingyes, but also tell us how it's
going juggling all of this.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
It's going we actually have the GSA, which is
the State Department ofFinancial Advisors, their winter
forum.
So I'm getting all my reportstogether so that I can, you know
, get ready to tell them, like,how the GAA is working.
But you know, it's really anhonor and a blessing to actually
have this opportunity.
(42:58):
I have a platform to advocatefor CAs in Georgia and
strengthen the profession.
You know we need mentors and itjust helps make our profession
grow and it gains therecognition for all the goals
that we have.
So I love it.
It's going well so far.
Again, it's only my secondmonth in, so we'll talk at the
(43:19):
end of the year, but it will bejust fine, my second month in,
so we'll talk at the end of theyear, but it will be just fine,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:28):
Yeah, you have so many people there it sounds like
willing to support, and Ipresume the Georgia AAA is a
very well-organized oilingmachine since it's been around
for a while.
But yeah, it's not nothing.
It is certainly a hugecommitment to your profession to
be that president's, which isthat the CAA profession is
uniquely like uniquely able tohelp someone live their life by
(44:07):
design and what you think aboutthat.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
I would agree with you on that.
So, like the CAA profession, itoffers me and everybody like a
unique balance of flexibility,financial security and
professional fulfillment.
You know, it allows me andothers to tailor our own
personal and professional liveswith like whatever goal we want.
And these goals could beachieving like a healthy
(44:34):
work-life balance, pursuingleadership positions such as
involvement in the GAA, making abig impact on patient care, or
like even some kind ofcombination, because because,
like, clearly I'm doing a littlebit of everything but, yeah,
I'm able to take care of mypatients, teach students the art
of anesthesia and still be amother and wife all at the same
(44:55):
time.
And you know, you have like,like, actually doing anesthesia,
I can do hospital stuff, I cando outpatient things, you know.
So you just have a good varietyof flexibility, doing whatever
you want.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Mm, hmm, yes, and you're just such I like to use
the word expanders like evenalong your journey I can hear
how, oh well, I saw someone doit who's a CAA and kind of close
enough to me that it seems likeif they did it I can do it.
And your story is that foreveryone listening right now,
including myself.
So I just really want to thankyou for sharing the whole
(45:33):
breadth of your story and I wantto wish you luck.
As the Georgia Academy ofAnesthesiologists Assistant
President, everything about usis a mouthful.
Everything, yes, everything.
Are you open to peoplecontacting you?
There's a lot of prospectiveAAs here who have a lot of
questions and just really wantresources.
(45:56):
If you're open to that, what'sthe best way for people to
contact you?
Speaker 1 (46:00):
Yes, I am very open to that, you know.
Like I've said before, you know, I feel like we cannot, we
can't forget our journey tobecoming a CEA and we have to
mentor so that we can make surethat our profession thrives and
it grows.
So, like I said, I'm very opento people contacting me.
I think the best way to do itis that they email me.
Okay, and that would be YolandaGreen at emoryhealthcareorg.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I know it's a mouthful.
Well, of course it is, becauseit's us.
I'll put that all in the shownotes too, just so people can
have an easy way to contact you.
Yeah, I just I'm soappreciative of you coming on
here and sharing your story.
I know your time is preciousand valuable, yeah, so I just I
really thank you and I wish youall the luck this year.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
Thank you and I'm so grateful for you allowing me to
be a part of your podcast.
This was really good.
It was fun, awesome.
Speaker 2 (46:51):
I had fun, it was good, awesome.
All right, thanks, yolanda.
Thank you, I hope you lovedthat episode as much as I did.
If you were as inspired byYolanda as I was, the best thing
you can do is to directly sharethis episode with a friend, a
CAA colleague, a prospective AAstudent in your life.
(47:13):
Tell them why this processinterview meant so much to you
and why you think they wouldlove it.
That's really the best way tospread Yolanda's process story
and the mission of this podcast,which is to expand what's
possible for all CAAs listeningand anyone who wants to become
one.
I have loved doing this podcast.
(47:35):
This season four run with allof you.
We are nearing the end ofseason four.
The season four finale willtake place live at the 2025
annual Quad A conference inCharlotte, north Carolina.
If you're planning on attendingthat conference, I would love
to see you on Thursday, march27th at 1 pm.
(47:55):
You can check the app or theonline brochure to see exactly
the date, time and room, becausewe know how these things change
.
I am currently laying plans forseason five, seeing where my
life takes me, you all probablyhave heard me talk about CAA
Matters, the wellness curriculumI designed for first-year
(48:16):
students, and that will bestarting during the 2025
academic calendar.
So I have a few things up inthe air.
I will not be stepping awayfrom this podcast totally.
I will be back for season five.
I just don't know exactly whatseason five will look like.
So if you want to stay the mostup to date, you can follow me
on Instagram at AwakenedAnesthetist or join my
(48:39):
newsletter.
I will be communicating withyou all there first and we'll
let you know when I know.
But before the end of seasonfour, we do have a couple more
episodes to get excited about.
So again, I hope you enjoyedlistening to Yolanda's process
and now go out and share thisepisode.
Let's talk soon, y'all.
Episode.
(49:09):
Let's talk soon, y'all.
Okay.
Yay, great job, that was so fun.
Okay, I'm going to press stoprecord.
It just takes us.
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