August 25, 2025 • 64 mins
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
What happens when nurses take healthcare into their own hands? The answer might just revolutionize medicine as we know it.
Leanne Meier has spent nearly five decades as a nurse, witnessing firsthand how our profit-driven healthcare system continues to fail both patients and providers. Rather than accepting this broken reality, she's pioneered two groundbreaking organizations that are creating tangible alternatives to traditional healthcare delivery.
Through Nurses Transforming Healthcare, Leanne and her colleagues have developed a community-based model inspired by public utilities. Instead of treating symptoms after they've become severe, this approach focuses on prevention, education, and holistic wellbeing tailored to each community's specific needs. The results speak for themselves – in pilot programs across the country, nurse practitioners are dramatically reducing hospital readmissions while improving patient satisfaction and outcomes.
Meanwhile, with Power Up Nursing, Leanne is tackling another critical aspect of healthcare transformation: the wellbeing of nurses themselves. "We determine what we're going to educate nurses on. We determine what work nurses are going to do," she explains, highlighting how nurses must reclaim control of their profession. This initiative is already making waves, with major hospital systems implementing innovative approaches to nurse self-care, including health-tracking technology that helps nurses monitor and improve their own wellbeing.
Perhaps most exciting is how these concepts are already working in the real world. Her Self Help clinics in Minnesota embody this patient-centered approach, offering 90-minute consultations focused on understanding the whole person. With five locations already operating and exponential growth of 400 new clients monthly, the hunger for this alternative model is undeniable.
For nurses feeling burnt out or disillusioned, Leanne offers both hope and practical advice. Through connecting with like-minded colleagues and prioritizing self-nurture, nurses can rediscover their purpose and power. As she powerfully states, "Imagine if nurses could infect the entire world" with their compassion and care-focused approach.
Ready to be part of healthcare's transformation? Visit powerupnursing.com to learn how you can join this growing movement of nurses creating the future of healthcare.
Currently connecting and influencing nurses and healthcare providers to collaborate on creating a Nurse-Led Integrative Medicine Model to revolutionize healthcare by focusing on creating and maintaining patient Holistic health from cradle to grave. Check out https://NursesTransformingHealthcare.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to Empowered Ease.
Today.
I am beyond excited tointroduce you to a woman I
deeply admire Leanne Meyer.
Leanne is quite simply who Iaspire to be a true force for
good in the nursing communityand beyond.
Leanne's dedication totransforming healthcare and
supporting nurses around theglobe is nothing short of
(00:24):
inspiring.
She is a powerhouse in theworld of nursing and a true
advocate for holistic healthcare.
As the host of Once a Nurse,always a Nurse podcast and a
driving force behind nursestransforming healthcare, leanne
is connecting and empoweringnurses worldwide to
revolutionize patient care.
Join us as we explore herdecades of experience, her
(00:54):
vision for the future ofhealthcare and the impact work
she's doing to make a differencein the lives of so many.
Get ready to be motivated andenlightened as we dive into her
journey and learn from herincredible wisdom.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, so, yeah.
So, leanne Meyer, I grew up inMinnesota.
I backed into nursing in 1973because it was the middle of the
Vietnam War.
I had two brothers that wereconscientious objectors.
I thought that going to collegehad, you know, warped their
minds or something.
(01:26):
My dad, it was like.
Our household was sort of like awar zone, with my brothers on
one side, my parents on theother, and I was sort of the
messenger behind enemy lines,trying to communicate to each
side.
And it took me years to figureout I wasn't helping, I was
making it worse.
They just needed to, you know,figure out how to talk to each
(01:49):
other.
And once I got out of therethey worked it out.
So, at any rate, I backed intonursing, thinking that it was a
more protected environment, andI went there thinking there's no
way I'm ever going to be ableto make it through this.
So I bought the cheapest ofeverything shoes, stethoscope,
(02:09):
scissor, everything and then Idiscovered, hey, you know, this
is kind of really interesting tome and it's sort of a good
match with who I am and mypersonality, and so I have now
been a nurse for almost 50 years.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I love that the peacekeeper you sound like
you're the peacekeeper, the onethat wants to always help out.
I can relate to that Alwaystrying to fix things and help
everyone out.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's always been it , and now I understand its
personality, with Myers-BriggsENFJ Feeling very, very high, so
yeah, so it was almost like Ican't take credit for it,
because it's sort of you know inmy genes.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I love, I love taking those personnel.
I haven't taken that test inprobably 15 years but mine was
ENFT, if I remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I have to retake it and see if it's still the same.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I have to remember that I thought it was T.
Maybe it was P, then if the Tis coming out, I'll have to look
at it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
F and T are on the same scale.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Okay, I'll have to look it up again and then see.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay, interesting.
I love that.
I love taking those tests andunderstanding a little bit more
about it.
It helps me operate in theworld.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I just took what was it called the disc assessment?
And have you taken that onebefore?
Yeah, I just took it recently.
I had taken it years ago andthen I did it in connection with
emotional what is it?
Eq, emotional quantification orwhatever, and that was with oh,
(03:46):
I've forgotten her name, butthat's basically what she's
doing now is stuff like thatEmotional quotient?
I guess it is IQ, eq, and itwas very interesting.
It came out exactly how most ofthe you know the tests that I
take come out, because I'm very,very clear about those things
(04:07):
and I found out in training forMyers-Briggs myself.
I found out that I am prettyunique.
Only 3% of women and 1% of menhave my type.
Really, yeah, so we, you knowmy whole life I felt like I was
this odd duck out and you know,my brothers thought I was nuts.
(04:27):
And you know where'd you comefrom?
You know, milkman mailmancouldn't have been from our dad.
So I, until I really started tostudy personality assessments,
I was like, oh my goodness, nowI get it my goodness, now I get
(04:48):
it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I love that.
I love that Mine was.
I came out the.
The disc one was inspirational,but I loved reading about it
because I was like, oh, thatdoesn't sound like me.
But then, when you dig deeper,it's like this is about control.
Like you want everyone to behappy, so you're trying to
control everyone, how everyonefeels, by helping them change to
feel better.
And I was like, oh, becauseeverything has a good and a bad.
But I was like, oh, yep, allthat's true.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I came out inspirational on that one too,
and previously, when I had takenit like 20, 30 years ago, it
was um director oh, that was mysecond.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That was like a little below it, but the eye was
real high, which my all myco-workers fell on the bottom of
that scale.
They were nowhere near that.
They're all on that.
I think it's c and yeah,they're all C and S.
So I was like that's so weird.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I'm the old BDI.
That's more of the sensing andthe doers.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Well, I know you are highly involved in some
organizations now that Idefinitely want to talk about
because I try to.
So you're you're involved inpower up nursing, which you're
going to have to educate me alittle.
Well, you have to educate meabout all this, but you're also
involved in nurses transforminghealthcare, um, and, and many
other things.
Not to at all cut you short, oryeah, so, but I try to explain
(05:57):
nurses transforming to healthhealthcare to people a lot,
because I know, you know, as aworking with so many nurses and
in healthcare people we'realways talking about the
healthcare system is failing.
I think it's known by mostpeople out there.
We've talked about this on thisshow and this is an alternative
because you know, there's thisview that it's not going to get
fixed from the inside.
It's a system that is full oncourse and there's not a whole
(06:20):
lot of redirecting.
We're going to be able to do so.
Nurses, transforming Healthcareis an alternative, kind of
side-by-side idea for healthcare.
That's different and I'm notskilled enough to explain it, so
would you tell us a little bitabout it?
I think it's amazing and I justwish more people knew about it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, nurses, transforming Healthcare came out
of my talk show internationaltalk show for nurses that I
started in 2017.
Actually, I got pushed intothat too.
I had no idea that I could doanything to do with something as
technological as you know doingan international podcast.
So, at any rate, I did that fora number of years, and so I was
(07:04):
talking to people all over theworld and I just started
learning so much about what washappening in healthcare around
the world, but also what washappening in nursing, and I was
amazed how much the similaritiesare to both of them, to those
things.
So one of the first people thatI had interviewed was Dr John
(07:27):
Silver, and he came on.
He's a very low key, laid backkind of guy, but he spent about
20 years, went through hospitalsby starting out as a
respiratory tech, and then likedwhat nurses were doing, did the
AD and the BSN, msn, and thenstarted asking why is healthcare
(07:50):
so screwed up and why arenurses not in charge of their
own profession?
And those were his twoquestions.
He thought, okay, I'll do anindependent PhD and I'll answer
that question and maybe come upwith an economic plan that could
change how all of this isrunning.
So in the meantime he thoughtoh boy, you know I don't know
much about economics.
(08:10):
I probably should get an MBAalso so that I can speak to
people.
So he did all of that and inthe course of it he came up with
a plan.
In the 1930s they had the sameproblem with electricity that
we've had with things like theinternet and you know other
(08:30):
aspects like that.
It's like those big companieswere happy to bring it to the
cities you know lots of moneythere but they didn't want to
bring them to the rural areasand individual farms.
So my grandfather was actuallya recipient of electricity
through the Rural ElectricAssociation, which was a public
utility model we know it now inthe United States probably most
(08:54):
closely by sewer and water andin some places electricity.
And so what he started to thinkis could this model fit with
health care?
And with some you know varioustweaks he was able to get it to
match exactly the seven goalsthat he had started out with,
(09:15):
and so he spent 20 yearstweaking it, working on it,
talking to everybody he couldtalk to doctors, economists,
nurses, you know anybody andeverybody and was getting
nowhere.
And so when I had him on, itwas like these light bulbs are
going off in my head andthinking, oh my gosh, why aren't
people knocking down your door?
(09:36):
So I started trying to promotehim and realized how difficult
it was to do.
And then, a couple of yearslater, in 2020, I interviewed
Kim Evans, who had been in anICU.
She was sick and tired ofseeing all these chronic people
coming back and back and backagain and feeling like all of
(09:59):
these things could have beenprevented.
Things could have beenprevented and she decided to go
off on her own, got an APRN, shetrained with some amazing
people on nutrition and allkinds of things and opened up
her own integrative medicineclinic about 22 years ago or so.
She's been running it herself,has had great success with it,
(10:24):
has had opportunities againtalking to people, listening to
people and working with whatworked for them to be able to
get people so that they were nothaving problems with diabetes
and they were not having to takemedications and were doing very
much better by changing thefoods they were eating and
(10:45):
things like that.
So she at some point decidedthat health care was a mess and
she wanted to see what she coulddo to contribute to making it
better.
She wrote a book calledTransforming Health Care Healing
you, me and Our Broken DiseaseCare System.
I found the book had her on andI was like yes, yes, yes.
(11:07):
So again, my secret power, I'vedecided, is connecting people.
And so I connected John and Kimand then I was like gee, I'd
like to be in the room, a fly onthe wall while they're talking.
So one was in Florida, one wasin Kentucky and I'm in Minnesota
(11:27):
.
And so we started meeting everySaturday and we're just talking
about.
You know how this could cometogether and what could it mean
and what could we call it.
And in the meantime, in Januaryof 2021, I interviewed Kathleen
Bartholomew, who was most knownfor lecturing and talking about
(11:49):
nurse-to-nurse hostility, poorcommunication between nurses and
doctors, all of that kind ofstuff, and just really had done
very well, a very successfulcareer doing that.
And then COVID hit in March of2020, or at least hit here in
the United States, and she forabout nine months until 2021,
(12:11):
she had been knocked out of thelecture circuit and she started
thinking so what have Iaccomplished?
I've done a lot of training, Ihave talked all over the country
and in many places around theworld.
What has changed and she gotreally depressed, feeling like
nothing's changed.
Nothing has changed.
All of this talking for 20-someyears and nothing has changed.
(12:34):
So I introduced her to Kim andJohn and she was the same way.
She was like, yes, this is whatI want to do with the rest of
my life.
And so the four of us startedmeeting every Saturday and just
talking and connecting withother people, and it grew in
2022.
We incorporated as anorganization, a nonprofit, and
(12:58):
what we began to, and then oneof the first things that
happened was Kathleen let's seenow it actually goes through me
again a nurse practitioner whowas just finishing her training
had to do a community serviceand she had connected with a
church in the area, kind ofSpicewood and she got together
(13:24):
with them.
She said you know, would you bewilling to let me grow a garden
here and have people come inthat need food?
We'll have a food bank one daya week.
And so that started happeningand as people were coming in,
she realized, oh my goodness,these people need a lot more
than food.
(13:44):
And it turned out Spicewood waskind of a community of very,
very wealthy and very, very poor, and that particular summer was
when I know they're having itagain now and it's sort of
becoming a common thing.
But 120 degree days, and some ofthese people were homeless, or
if they had, you know, maybethey're living in a trailer that
(14:05):
had maybe electricity but norunning water, just things like
that.
They were in and out ofhospitals, some of them having
to stay as long as you know, acouple months, so you can
imagine the bill on that.
Then they would discharge themand give them 32 pages of
post-discharge notes which theydidn't understand any of, and
(14:28):
maybe three or four veryimportant medications stuck in
the middle which they had noplace to go and no money to buy
them.
So anyway, she started workingwith them and the church was
gracious enough to pay her to doassessments nurse practitioner
assessments on these people andto come up with care plan,
individualized care plan.
(14:49):
And then they did hire an RNwho had three months to be able
to work with them and try andmeet all the things on the care
plan.
Well, the outcome of that injust three months was
mind-boggling and she evenfigured out how much money she
had saved you know, the countyand the hospitals by helping
(15:09):
these people not to have to goback into the system.
It was just so exciting, it'sso interesting.
(15:37):
So we decided that what if wetook, like a zip code, this was
a small little community ofactually it was a fairly large
area, but it was the Zip.
What if we took a small zipcode of, say, 3,000 to 5,000
people and we did an assessmentbased on what they think they
want in their community and whatthey see as the needs, go back
(16:00):
and work with the people who areinterested in working with a
nurse practitioner, be able toshow to Medicare and Medicaid
how much we can save and howsatisfied, you know, the clients
can be.
(16:21):
And so that's what we'vestarted in New Hampshire,
university of New Hampshire.
Our current president is EmilySpensky and she works at the
University of New Hampshire.
Our current president is EmilySpensky and she works at the
University of New Hampshire andshe was teaching, nursing and
working with the public healthdepartment, and that woman who
was in the public healthdepartment teaching knew a
community that she was connectedand was working with that she
(16:44):
thought would be perfect for it.
So that's what we're doing.
The assessment was put togetherpartly by John and then
combining some of what JeanWatson had come up with.
We ran it by her to get herpermission and approval, and
that happened last fall.
(17:04):
Excuse me, I start talking andI start coughing.
And then, the spring, they wentthrough the data to see what
they had found.
They went back to the communityand said here's what we learned
.
What would you like us to do?
And now in the fall this fallthe nurse practitioners and
(17:28):
public health students will bedoing that work.
Public health students will bedoing that work.
So I don't know if I answeredyour question or not but that's
no.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You added so much depth to it and I want to
simplify what I understand fromthe program to be, which is kind
of how I try to explain topeople and then you correct me
if I'm wrong a little bit.
But what it sounds like to startwith is kind of where we have
this huge lack of care in ruralareas and smaller communities,
of just family health, like justprimary care we're lacking in
(18:06):
small communities.
So this is like acommunity-based program that
would be like a utility, likepeople pay, like a utility bill
to their area.
So it would be like your waterbill or something like that that
people pay into and thisservice would kind of assess the
(18:28):
area, assess the community forthe community's needs and then
allow the community to decidehow to spend that money.
So from what I remember when wetalked about this before, it
could be as simple as like apark or or a place for for the
elderly.
There's not like elderly carefor people to go to work or
childcare, or it could be ridesto a medication drop-offs or
(18:51):
rides to doctor's appointmentsor whatever the community's need
is not.
Those are the limited thingsthat I can think of that
communities need, but it wouldbe.
What the community needs iswhat they would decide to invest
their money and which ispreventative type care, which is
what our health care system isreally lacking, and we touch on
this in this podcast a lot, butwe, we spend a lot treating
(19:14):
symptoms and investing in careand how to treat all these new
things and new medications, butwe spend very little time
educating people on how toprevent and turn around what's
going on with them.
We just treat what it is andkeep rolling.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
There's so many basic things too.
You assume you go into yourgrocery store and the food
that's there is good for you,and it turns out, surprise,
surprise, it's.
You know, the whole center partof it is probably not only not
good for you but bad for you anddesigned that way.
And so you know teaching peoplewhat else can they do?
(19:50):
Maybe if they do realize thatwhat they're eating or what
they're doing is not working forthem, they don't know what else
to do.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah, education, which is a free thing, a part of
this.
Yeah, I forgot about that, evenmentioning that, how big that
is.
Yeah, having someone to educateeach person on their specific
needs.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, so essentially it's holistic.
Is holistic care from a nursepractice, nurse theory, preface
or you know a model and the ideathat this could be expanded if
we could.
Instead of you know we see, theproblem with healthcare as it
is now over the last 30 years isthat it was designed to make
(20:29):
money off of sick people.
That's how it was designed.
It is working perfectly well inthat manner.
The problem is it is notsustainable.
They know it's not sustainable.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Infinite growth is not a sustainable healthcare
model.
Right which?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
is business growth, yeah, so I mean, you know
they're just wanting to take asmuch out of it as they can until
it collapses, and then, I don'tknow, they go to Mars, I guess.
So what we're realizing is thatthere needs to be something
that isn't just trying to movethe deck chairs on the Titanic.
(21:09):
This health care that we haveas it is is going to collapse.
It's just a matter of what aregoing to be the factors that you
know are the final blow, butultimately it will collapse
because it's not designed tocontinue.
So we started thinking in termsof okay, let's think ahead.
(21:29):
What could be?
You know, let's just take offwhere we are now and what we
have known for the last 30, 40years.
Let's think about, completelyout of the box, what could it be
From a nursing point of view,from doctor's points of view,
where would be the kind ofhealthcare we would want to work
(21:49):
within?
Speaker 1 (21:51):
So I'm assuming that your organization is looking for
people who think like thisright now to help you with that
correct Like looking, becauseI'm not an outside the box
thinker but I am.
I'll do what you tell me to do.
So but I'm sure you guys arelooking for people to like help
you with these like outside thebox how to implement this stuff
too.
I wanted to put that in therebecause if you're interested in
getting involved, they arelooking for people to help.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And this is really a ground zero.
I mean, we are really startingfrom the basement and working
our way up.
So when we first startedtalking about this, people would
tell us it's impossible.
Healthcare is too big, youcan't take on healthcare.
And we said we're not trying totake on healthcare.
We want to start something thatcan show what it could be, and
(22:35):
that's what we're trying to dois creating little communities
where we can create data, wherewe can show what it could be and
how much people love it, and sothat's kind of what we've been
working toward.
Let's see, where was I so?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
yeah, are there places that this oh go ahead?
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So what we were, you know, recognizing is that it
doesn't really matter what otherpeople are saying.
You know, some people said,well, it could take 25 years to
get this going, and I said, suremight, but what if we don't
start trying to do something?
Then you're another few.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Where will we be?
Nowhere.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah.
So we just said, okay, well,we're going to play around with
it.
And now those same people thatwere naysaying are coming back
and saying go for it.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I love that I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
So as far as is this already out there?
That was a miracle I just foundout recently.
In the last year or so.
It turns out that at exactlythe same time we were saying
what could we do, what couldhealth care look like, Another
group of people who had moneywere thinking the same thing in
2020 and 2021.
(23:48):
And in the winter of 2022, theyactually started the first
clinic in Minnesota, where Ilive in the Twin Cities, called
Herself Help, and it's based onbasically the nursing theory,
but using doctors, nurses, PAs,so nurse practitioners and
(24:09):
nurses, I guess, techs andvarious other people in the
thing, and it's women, 60 yearsold and older, and it is pretty
much what we wanted.
So you go in for your very firstmeeting with a provider.
It's 90 minutes long and it'sonly to find out who you are,
(24:34):
what you are looking for, all ofyour background, all of your
history, your emotional, mental,emotional, physical, spiritual
and then, if you decide you wantto continue, you would have
your first physical, which isanother 90 minutes long, where
they actually go througheverything with you.
They do the lab test, they, youknow, look at what has worked,
(24:58):
what hasn't worked, where haveyou been.
What have you done?
And then determine from thereokay, here are the issues, which
of these you want to work onfirst and then going forward.
I absolutely am in love with it.
I mean, it's like this is mydream and it's already here.
They now have since the winterof 2022, they now have five
(25:20):
clinics in Minnesota, with threemore planned next year.
Oh, I love it.
They are getting I just heardthis last week.
They're getting 400 new clientsevery month, and so every one
of the clinics are growingexponentially.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So it's very encouraging and it uses this
model, this, like they pay, kindof like a.
That's.
The only difference is it's notthe public utility model.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
So they are using Medicare and Medicaid and now
people are asking them to takesome of the other insurances too
.
So they're looking at how theycan make that happen.
But essentially, whoever isyour clinician is your clinician
.
You can go back to that sameperson you know, time after time
after time.
You can go back to that sameperson you know, time after time
after time.
(26:13):
If you need something more,they will help you find who is
that next person, the specialist, and they're not bonded to any
one group of people as far asany specialty.
So it's sort of a combination ofwhat have you used before?
(26:34):
What did you like, what did younot?
Or people that they have beenworking with that they felt
worked under the same kind ofsystem, that are similar to the
thinking, anyway, of herself-help.
And then you come back to themand get a complete in-context
(26:56):
understanding of what were thetesting that was done.
What did they find?
How did that fit in with othertesting you might have had done?
Where do we go from here?
And the plan is done with thepatient.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
That's like the kind of appointments you have when
something very serious happens,and so I love like cause I've
sat in that, like with familymembers, you know with like it's
like cancer diagnosis is, youknow, kidney failure, you know
you sit in these, you go for allday and you sit in these long
appointments where they overload, where they educate you and but
if we can, start that when youbefore you have the problem
right, like if you could go tothe beginning spend that time.
(27:35):
Yeah, I just love that Because Ithink how much I learned in all
those like you're talking about.
I'm like man, you know I havegood friends.
They record them for me becauseI'm a nurse you know they're
like.
What do you think about this?
You know we go to specialtycenters.
I have a good friend that hascancer and she flies to Texas
and records all of the longmeetings and we listen.
And you know I had an ex gothrough kidney transplant.
We sat through these longeducational things and there's
(27:55):
so much you take away from that.
And the one on one time withthe doctor is so invaluable,
also for building trust too.
Because that's another thing Ithink as a nurse I've
experienced is it's hard forpeople to open up and be honest
when they don't necessarily havetrust.
So that time is so valuable.
So to put that to, to startthere, like you matter right now
(28:15):
as you are, how can we help you?
Just what difference that wouldmake going forward.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So at this point, we are about to, in the fall, start
forward.
We have set up a business, wehave committees, we have a new
board.
We're looking for people whowould be excited to be able to
take this forward into fruition.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, so what kind of people are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Well, we're looking for people with academic
backgrounds that could help usunderstand the education portion
of it, even educating thepeople who are coming into it,
even educating the people whoare coming into it.
We are looking for marketing,which is something that I don't
know if it's just being a nurse,or I've always had a really
hard time asking people formoney.
(29:02):
I'm just used to going in andworking my ass off and doing
whatever I can and then in twoweeks somebody gives me a
paycheck for what they think I'mworth.
Yeah, so asking people formoney has just really been
horrendously difficult.
So, people who can do thatwonderful People who can do
marketing, who can help us getout to the we think, the public
(29:24):
to say you don't have to beputting up with what you're
putting up with.
You know there could besomething else and here's what
it could look like.
What do you think about that?
So it may come to the pointwhere it's pressure from the
public to whether that would bepoliticians or other people who
are trying to make money to beable to say this is a better
(29:50):
product, this actually works.
It costs less to keep peoplewell than it does to try and fix
them after they're desperatelyill.
All the things we as nurses anddoctors and the rest of us in
healthcare already know, and ina very healthy environment.
I love walking into this clinicbecause everybody is all smiles
(30:13):
, they're happy to see you, theyknow who you are, they offer
you something to drink.
Would you like some water?
Would you like some snacks?
It's just a completelydifferent atmosphere from stand
back here.
Don't talk to me until I tellyou to.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, your quick 15 minutes.
Get it out before I have to gobecause there's so many patients
and nothing more than oneproblem.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Don't bring up any more than one problem, because
right.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
I recently my friend told me she took her son.
Oh no, no, no, it was her sorryshe went to her OBG.
I think she had to get.
She had two different thingsgoing on.
I think she had to get, like,her IUD removed and then
something else, and they toldher she had to make separate
appointments for both.
They would not address both inthe same issue because of
billing issues, which you'rebacked up for three months to
get an appointment and then, no,you have to come for a second
(31:03):
one which you know that's theirway of pregnant and intended
thing you wanted.
Right, which I'm like you.
Like you know, I I'm notblaming these individuals.
That's the regulations theyhave, but what a sick system
that.
That's where what we're doingto people.
I hate it.
Okay, I love that, um, so arethere any other?
(31:25):
So we're looking for peoplepretty much with all skills that
can be applicable to this, likemarketing nurses, people to put
it into practice.
Are you looking for people withcommunities to try to like kind
of yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
People who feel like they've got a community, that
maybe they've tried variousdifferent things.
We have come up with a playbook.
Here's how you can do it.
The other thing is theUniversity of New Hampshire.
As they're doing this, they'realso creating a template for it,
so that any other school in thecountry could, you know,
replicate that template.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Oh, I love that.
I love that, okay, awesome, um,what else?
We could talk forever aboutthis, really honestly, and I
feel like at some point, I'llprobably have to have you back
on and talk more in depth aboutthese things, especially as
people ask me more questions andas you grow and have more
successes.
So is there anything I want tomake sure we touch on more than
(32:17):
just this issue?
Well, I've got you here.
There's more than just thisthing you're in into.
So what anything else you wantto leave us with about nurses,
transforming health care, beforeI ask you about power up
nursing, I think we've coveredthat pretty well.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
But yeah, I would like to get to the power of
nursing, which started in asnowstorm in Minneapolis in
January of 2020.
We were at a conference and theperson who was putting on the
conference and her friend whohappens to be the doctor of
(32:54):
neuro research.
We met there and, because itwas a snowstorm, some people
hadn't come and some people wereleaving early because they were
afraid they wouldn't be able toget out of the airport.
And we were just talking andTanya Abreu said to me so if
there was any message you couldgive to nurses, what would it be
(33:15):
?
And after having you know,seven years of doing my
international talk show, I saidI want nurses to know that they
have much more power than theythink they do.
And so Power Up Nursing wasborn, weren't?
We know that in March of 2020,covid hit and everything came to
(33:35):
a standstill in healthcare,especially with coming up with
new ideas or whatever.
Everybody was floundering, sojust trying to maintain.
So we kind of put everythingnot on hold.
We were still trying to reachout to people and talk to people
, but it was the usual startupthing very difficult to get
things off the ground.
And then we had our firstconference in June of 2023.
(33:58):
We had, I think we had about 75people nurses, cnos, various
different people who wereselling products in the room,
people who were selling productsin the room and it was such a
high atmosphere of joy and, oh,this is so different.
(34:19):
This could, you know, really besomething amazing.
And so we worked with one ofthe major CNOs, dr Carol oh,
lost her name here for a second.
Well, let's just not have hername.
We're working with a CNO, carolBiggs.
Dr Carol Biggs, who is runningthe seven hospitals for the
(34:44):
Miami-Jackson hospital system,and you know them.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
No, yeah, you were telling me about this earlier.
I was getting excited, Sorry.
I was like yes, this is whatwe're getting to.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
So after that conference, tanya and Alba were
overwhelmed and and burned out.
Is that we allow other peopleto decide what we're going to do
(35:22):
, when we're going to do it andhow much, how long, etc.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
So it comes up on the show a lot is how nurses are
actually one of the hardestpeople to help and treat.
Because I also think somewhatwe have like a victim mentality
and then we feel a little owedby the system.
And it's like when I talk tonurses like yeah, you are, but
the truth is you're the only onethat is going to be able to
(35:46):
show up for yourself and makethe difference, because nobody's
coming.
You are, oh, you're amazing,but you have to make the
difference.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
We keep waiting for the knight in shining armor and
they're not coming Right, ifanything, covid convinced me of
that that, yeah, I thought thatwould be the thing that would
open everybody's eyes.
Oh my gosh, look what nurses do.
Look how incredible they are.
Look how we, how many people wesave.
You know, just because of whatnurses were willing to do.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
And you know, keep doing so we're going to be the
ones that have to save it.
I think, think it's going tohave to be the nurses.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
But look at this in healthcare, you know, healthcare
is probably has maybe I don'tknow for sure, but I would think
it would be right near the topof how many employees that are
nurses or nurse related, andjust in our country we think
it's between 4.6 million and 5million.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
I would think we're the majority, wouldn't you think
we're the majority?
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Oh yeah, I don't know that 100%, but I think that is
true and it would make sense soif even we could bring together
just this group of people to beworking together.
When we started this, werealized there are 800 different
organizations for nurses inthis country that do not talk to
(37:02):
each other If you're looking atmain organizations, because 800
includes the 50 states for eachorganization.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, the boards and all that.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They don't even talk to each other Rarely.
I mean, it's, you know, verylittle connection with each
other.
They all have their own littlefiefdom, and so that's my trade
of that.
So anyway, if you're justtalking about the main ones,
(37:33):
it's probably Kathleen has beensaying now about 250 different
organizations.
But what if we came togetherwith the idea that nurses are
now going to be in charge oftheir own profession?
So we determine what Like thedoctors have taken right, how
about that?
So we determine what we'regoing to educate nurses on.
(37:55):
We determine what the work isthat nurses are going to do.
We determined, say, in ahospital setting.
I think that nurses should bein charge of anything that has
to do with patient management,which is just about everything.
So that takes out all of theissues of, you know,
nurse-patient ratios we've beenyelling about for 20, 30 years.
(38:17):
It puts it into the hands ofthe nurses who are on that unit
with those patients on that day,that shift, that whatever.
Looking at what is the acuity ofthe patients we have here, what
is the experience and abilitiesof the different nurses?
Do we have what we need?
(38:38):
And you go from there, youdevelop the support of that
based on that.
Not, you've got five nurses,you know, work with it.
If they're the wrong nurses, ifthey, you know, are in
orientation, it doesn't matter.
You're going to take, you know,a new patient.
You discharge somebody, you'regoing to get a new patient and
immediately, probably, somebodythat was much higher acuity than
(39:01):
the one you just discharged.
So those are the things.
Nurses have to be the ones thatare making that decision,
because we're the only ones thatare with the patient, 24-7, 365
.
It makes sense.
Yeah, agreed.
So, at any rate, that's kind ofwhat we're working on.
(39:22):
The newest thing is, um, I'm notmuch into tech at all.
Um, since we've been doing thispower up nursing, uh, tanya
abrayo is loves any kind of tech, so she's been trying to have
me try all these things out andI'm like they don't work.
I don't like them.
No, you know, not going to doit.
And then she sent me this ultrahuman ring Okay, kind of like
(39:46):
the R and some of the other onesthere's a bunch of them out
there but for me it is fantasticbecause it not only tells me
the normal things that theothers tell you about how is
your sleep and you know, thatkind of thing but it also tells
you what can you do to improveit.
Here are some things to try,and it's all very positive.
(40:08):
It's like it doesn't say well,you didn't sleep again last
night and now you're you low andwhatever.
I'm going to take another off,drop here, yeah, but it will
tell you.
Here are some suggestions, hereare some things.
Here's what you're doing better.
(40:32):
We're not doing very well onthis, and now that is
consistently better,congratulations.
You get lots of kudos, and whatdo nurses love but kudos, right
.
And then now they're starting anew pilot.
I guess it would be with thesenurses.
That will include lab work.
(40:53):
So I don't know exactly all ofthe different things, but quite
a few different things that canbe tested right through the ring
and we'll tell us.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So nurses are wearing the ring.
Right now, nurses are wearingthe ring.
They're doing this on nurses,oh cool.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
So every nurse in the Jackson hospitals in Miami are
wearing these rings.
Really, they are so excitedabout it.
What kind of data are theylooking to pull from these?
Like, where are they tryingrings?
Really, they are so excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
What kind of data are they looking to pull from these
, Like?
Where are they trying to findit?
Or is this a focus on nursehealth and nurse wellbeing.
Oh how cool.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Taking care of themselves, feeling empowered
themselves, feeling like, oh, Ihaven't slept in three days.
I probably shouldn't take anextra shift.
I maybe have to tell my friendsthat I can't go out partying or
whatever, because I really needto work on whatever it is
(41:48):
walking more or sleeping more oreating better or whatever it is
that I need to do.
It gives them permission to saythis is important, that I am
taking care of myself.
And so many times you know weput ourselves last.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
We've been trained.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
That's the socialization that we've had, as
women is women, give their allWomen, you know, our mothers and
women, you know, do everythingthat is requested from anybody
in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, our role is to make them read the room and make
everyone happy and content.
Yeah, I love that.
And nurses, I think, are peoplethat take that a little further
.
In my experience, even themales that do it, they're
caretakers, they're givers.
They're guilt.
Usually they're guilt Likethey're the kind of person that
(42:41):
feels guilty for things theydidn't do.
For the most part, you know,these are people that genuinely
care and I feel like they'remore apt Well, I think
healthcare actuallyintentionally praise on this
about them.
Is there people that don't wantto see people suffer, including
their health, their co workers,so they'll pick up extra?
They'll what I mean?
I think we can't health carekind of push uses that like that
personality type to get a lotdone that necessarily about
(43:02):
creating a health system.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
That was about, um, a healthy environment.
What if we thought aboutstarting with patients or, even
better yet, starting with makingsure nurses are doing well?
If the nurses are doing well,everybody else will be also.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I wonder how you can say you're a healthcare
organization and that you careabout people and that you,
because where I work, I work fora large healthcare system, so
we are their patients as well.
We don't have anywhere else.
Most of us are getting carethere.
So if you don't care about thepeople that work for you, how
can you convince anyone that youcare about the ones you take
(43:41):
care of that you're making moneyfrom?
To me, that is really hard forme in my head, because you have
to care about the people thatwork for you.
That's partly why I'm back inhealthcare is I'm trying to
convince all these brand newnurses like you have to take
care of you or this will makeyou miserable, unfortunately
that's the reality.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
That's the new word in a lot of nurses' vocabulary
and it starts in nursing schools.
We need to change that too, Iagree.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I wish there was more education in nursing school
from the get-go of the toll thatthis job can take on your
nervous system.
I mean there's a lot of waysthis job can affect you, but
just in general, if you takeaway all the trauma and all that
, the nature of the job is hardon your nervous system in the
most ideal conditions and thereality is we're never in the
most ideal conditions.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And what are the things you can do?
You know, we never knew thatthere was something you could do
to deal with it other thanmedication, which a lot of us
ended up taking.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that's kind of what that isabout, and that's.
I believe that we have a largenumber of hospitals who are
(44:49):
hearing about this now and arelike you know, we want to be on
the wait list, you know, as soonas you're, we want to see if
this can be something that canreally happen.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
That is so cool.
So if people want to getinvolved in Power Up Nursing or
learn more about it or is PowerUp Nursing looking for people or
what Sure powerupnursingcom andwe are sponsoring a number of
conferences.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
We just did one in June that was a nurse think tank
.
A number of conferences we justdid one in June.
That was a nurse think tank.
We had about 50 people, Ibelieve that came from not just
nursing but from all differentareas and also people who are
looking to innovate in healthcare, and so we had some of
those people there and again theenergy in that room was just
(45:35):
like electric.
And again the energy in thatroom was just like electric.
Everybody was so happy to bethere and just taking everything
in, and from the minute we meteach other, people were
immediately excited and talking.
And here's what I'm doing andhere's.
Then we're having another onelike that in October, the end of
(46:07):
October.
I don't have the dates right infront of me, but it is on the
website.
So powerupnursingcom and go tosee what the events are.
It's going to be a similar typething a nurse think tank in
Arizona, in um.
That will be in October, theend of October, and then in
November they're going to dolike um, um, a dude ranch in
Florida, wow, with you knowliving, uh, staying in um, uh,
(46:32):
railroad cars and uh, I thinkthere's some glam tents and
there's a lodge, that all kindsof different places and then
just having opportunities totalk, brainstorm with other
nurses, have some fun, kick upthe heels, wear some cowboy
stuff and just have a really funtime.
And that's going to be thebeginning of November.
(46:55):
I think it's like the 5th tothe 7th or something.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Are you going?
Yeah, yeah, that's exciting.
Yay, I love that you mentionedthis and I want to kind of like
put a little shout out to thisto any nurses that are listening
that may be burnt out, becauseLeanne and I talked about this a
little bit before we started.
Recording is like how muchinspiration that each of us have
gotten just from connectingwith other people who care, who
are involved in things like this.
(47:19):
And if you're feeling burnt out,you're feeling very
disconnected or just overwhelmedby, like, what's happening in
healthcare and the world,getting involved in
organizations like this, or evenjust getting involved in
LinkedIn, which is where I metLeanne there's so many positive
nurse voices on there looking,trying to change all different
kinds of things about healthcare.
There's so many nurses outthere that care.
(47:40):
They're taking this proactivelook.
And if you're feeling reallyburnt out or really just like
disenchanted, just disheartenedby the healthcare system,
getting involved in anorganization like this, seeing
people working with people likeLeanne who care, is so
reinvigorating and it's so likefor me, it like I need to see
people that care like that toyou know for me to be like, okay
(48:01):
, we're still here, we're stillout.
There's still people out therelooking for the good, making
real change, and it's just hardto see when you're in the system
sometimes that there is goodgoing on around you Exactly, and
people who have ideas.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
You know four o'clock in the morning and if first
time you put your feet up andyou know you just start talking,
you're saying you know I'vebeen thinking about this and
what if that happened, but whodo I talk to about it?
These are the places wherepeople talk about this.
Where do I take these ideas to?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yes, I love that.
I love that.
It's great.
Well, Leanne, you're okay.
So your podcast is no longer.
You're no longer filming yourpodcast, correct?
But is it still somewhere to befound?
Speaker 2 (48:43):
Yeah, it is on.
Many people are finding it onthe usual podcast site.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Anywhere you find it, I guess Right, and it's called
Once a Nurse, always a Nurse.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Once a nurse, always a nurse.
Yeah, it's once a nurse, alwaysa nurse, exploring the world of
nursing, but I think mostplaces just list it as once a
nurse, always a nurse and thatseems to really resonate for
nurses.
So I had a marketing group workwith me when I was first trying
to come up with a name and Isaid, well, I think I want to
call it once a nurse, always anurse.
And they said that's thedumbest name you could come up
(49:15):
with.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And it doesn't indicate who your real audience
is and it's too broad and theymust not know nurses and know
how much pride we take in being.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
At the peak I had 120,000 listeners in 70 plus
countries, so I think it caughton.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
I think it did too.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I ended up having to stop, partly because of the cost
, but also I was taking care ofmy mother in the final years of
her life and that was somethingI'd always promised her I would
do, and I was determined that Iwould do that.
So it got to a point where itwasn't really possible to do
both.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
But look what was beautifully born of it.
I love it.
Yeah, so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
It really is.
I absolutely love doing it andnever dreamed I could.
Oh, one other thing that kindof has happened since then.
I never think that anything I'mdoing is all that you know.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
I was just going to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Thank you, I was just , I was like.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
Okay, we've talked a lot about what you're doing,
what you're into, but let's talkabout you.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
This is where I was going to go Tell us about this
award you recently won thisaward is called America's one of
I'm America, one of America'stop nurses from nursing today,
the non-line magazine, and I wascompletely flummoxed by it.
When they sent it to me I waslike you must have the wrong
person.
You know, I don't see myselfanywhere in that.
(50:41):
I do.
And it's kind of funny.
You say that too, becauseshortly after that I got some of
you may know Jennifer Johnsonand she wrote this book called
Nursing Intuition and had askedif she could send me the book,
wrote this book called NursingIntuition and had asked if she
could send me the book, and thenwhen I got it, the front she
(51:01):
wrote inside words can't expressmy gratitude for your support
and, well, everything you'vedone for nursing.
In case you don't know,everyone refers to you as the OG
, the original nurse for nurses.
Thank you for everything and,as always, trust your gut for
nurses.
Thank you for everything and,as always, trust your gut.
(51:21):
You know.
Again I was like really I just,you know, I don't think we ever
see ourselves.
I'm just putting one foot infront of the other and doing the
best I can with the person infront of me, and that's kind of
my philosophy is how can I helpyou feel good about yourself and
recognize that you have uniqueideas and abilities and
(51:41):
capability that no one else has,and somebody helped me to learn
that and I'm just trying toconnect people that have the
same kinds of things.
I love that.
It made me so happy.
I love that it made me so happyEven in this really difficult
time.
I feel like I'm creating thejoy that wouldn't be there.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Otherwise I love it.
I think it's a true inspiration.
I really have goals to connectpeople the way you do, to have a
successful show.
That means something Really.
You are my ultimate mentor inthe nursing world, so I
absolutely love that you came onmy show, but I want to ask you
some things about you Like.
So who inspires you nowadays orwho has inspired you in the
past?
Your biggest inspirations.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
That's a good question.
I started practicing Buddhismwith the Soka Gakkai
International about 43 years agoand that has changed my life
because it taught me a wholedifferent way of looking at the
world and interacting.
I kind of saw myself as theperpetual victim.
(52:47):
Everybody was picking on me andnothing was going my way and et
cetera, and this practicereally helps me to understand.
I'm in charge.
I will create.
Back to the we talked beforeabout.
The perception is reality.
Yes, the perception I choose isthe one that I'm going to work
(53:12):
off of, and if my perception is,everything is screwed, there's
no good here, it's all going tobe a disaster.
That's what I will probablywork toward.
I mean, I'll make that happen.
But if my belief is, well, thatmay be true around me.
But what can I do right here inmy little puddle, to see what I
(53:34):
can do?
That's maybe positive.
And then I start getting theseresponses from people that blow
me away and make me feel like,well, maybe I'm on the right
track.
Maybe I should keep going andjust keep encouraging other
people to do the same.
On the right track, maybe Ishould keep going and just keep
encouraging other people to dothe same.
That's beautiful, very exciting, and it encourages me to
(53:54):
realize how many differentpeople from different cultures
and different parts of ourcountry and the world are also
doing something similar.
Yeah, we all hear about thosepeople.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Yeah, that's kind of my show.
I'm trying to just highlightthat there are people out there
like in the smallest ways makinga difference in big ways,
making a difference in thesmallest communities.
And you know people who live insome tiny I think the last girl
, the woman I had on rightbefore you, she lives in a
little itty bitty village in theUK but she gets on, her, she
reaches people all over theworld, over zoom and helps
(54:29):
people with a specific thing.
So I just think it's beautiful.
There's people out there.
You know, if you're looking,there's people out there trying
to help, and so to me that's sopowerful.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
Do you?
Okay.
So what is your I refer to DrLori laws is all about?
Instead of saying self care,saying self nurture.
What isnurture practices thatkeep you sane?
Speaker 2 (54:52):
Again, the ring has been very good because I knew
what to teach other people forself-nurturing.
I just didn't do it myself, andone of the things that happened
for me was in taking care of mymom.
I put everything into her and Iwas really, really sick when
(55:14):
she finally died last year, andso I spent the whole last year
trying to get myself healthyagain, and I have been able to
do that, and then, just when Ifelt like I was really getting
my feet under me, I had sevenpeople die in six weeks that
were significant to me.
Oh my gosh.
And it was also the anniversaryof my mom's death, and so I was
(55:38):
prepared for that.
I just wasn't prepared for allthese others, and some of them
were mentors in variousdifferent ways to me.
They were, you know, friends.
They were be careful because Imay start to cry.
But I realized that I needed todo something to get out of the
(56:03):
depths of grief that I was in,and I knew that I needed to feel
it and express it and live itfor a certain period of time.
And then I needed to do what Iknew and through my practice, I
know to.
You know, go back to my mandalasthat called the Gohonzon, and I
strove to get back to chantingevery day, to get back to
(56:32):
chanting every dayNam-myoho-renge-kyo, and that
has, day by day by day, liftedme up again and started to feel
healthier, find myselfexperiencing positive things in
my environment again, and nowI'm back to that feeling of you
know, what can we not do, if wecan just imagine it?
And so that's really what mymain self-care is to really make
(56:55):
sure that I get in front ofthat every day, twice a day, in
the morning, to look at what arethe challenges I'm going to
face and how can I bring my bestself to it, knowing that I
can't change any other person,but I do have control over
myself.
Whether I think I do or not, Ireally do and I can choose a
(57:19):
different way.
Speaker 1 (57:21):
I love that.
That's beautiful.
I think a lot of us holdourselves back from our biggest
limitation and they're all likemental barriers, mental blocks,
subconscious beliefs that we canreprogram if we take the time
to look at them and spend timewith them and tell ourselves
differently.
So it's powerful words.
What would you give me or anyof our listeners, any advice?
(57:44):
Any nurses listening now?
I love.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
I love that really connect to nurses.
I love nurses.
I have always loved nurses andI find that the happiest days I
have are days when I get to dolike this talk to a nurse.
I was able to have lunch with acouple of nurses and I just
walked out of there feeling onair, you know know, just hearing
(58:08):
what nurses bring to the world.
And as long as we're reallytaking care of ourselves, we can
do that in positive ways.
Speaker 1 (58:20):
Yeah, Some of the best people I've met, like
people I.
You know that maybe we don'thave the relationship to hang
out outside of work, but I've,you know, I traveled for five
years and I just have met somany powerful, amazing
personalities that have stuckwith me over the years and
they're mostly just nursing alot of nurses out.
There's so many good people outthere who care so much, so I
(58:40):
love that.
Speaker 2 (58:41):
I think we talked about this earlier too that you
know there's somewhere around 5million nurses in the United
States and they's, you know,large numbers in every other
country.
Even if they're not officialnurses, they're nursing capacity
and each of them come to itwith that idea of wanting to
give up themselves to helpsomeone else.
(59:01):
That alone.
Just imagine if nurses couldinfect the entire world with
that thought, if nurses couldinfect the entire world with
that thought.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
Yeah, I tell the nurses that work for me all the
time I'm like it's not the normto care so much about other
people.
We need you, so you need totake care of yourself, because
the world needs people, morepeople like you who care about
other people.
And I think I stole that fromNurse Jackie way back in the day
she said that one of the firstepisodes.
She was very right, it's true.
(59:30):
It's like there's not.
Not everybody has the capacityto do what we do, and so we have
to take care of each other andourselves so that there's people
like us left.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
And we have to get better about telling people what
we do.
Until recently, you know,partly because Kathleen
Bartholomew thinks of us as anoppressed group and it's almost
like you know abused women oryou know racial barriers and
things like that that nurseshave, almost like we got into
(01:00:05):
this group and now we're almostkeeping ourselves down.
We started to believe what'sbeen told to us.
It's not true.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Yeah, Like healthcare has really made us a number,
you know, instead of aprofession to them.
We're like part of the budgetthese days, unfortunately,
instead of like this what wereally are, which is a very
vital piece of healthcare.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
If I would argue like you couldn't have healthcare
without us, yeah, I absolutelyfeel like healthcare would have
gone down in COVID had it notbeen for the efforts of nursing
and certainly other people too.
But nurses are who I know andwho I admire and who I want to
support.
Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Me too.
Me too.
That's why I'm still in thefield.
I almost left, but I just lovenurses so much that I'm like I
can't, because I know we careand you know it.
What we do makes a difference,regardless of if other people
are seeing that.
It makes a huge difference.
And yeah, I love that connectwith other nurses.
Is there anything else you wantto leave?
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
us with.
I just love talking to you somuch.
Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
I could talk forever.
I'm like we're getting close toan hour, but I feel like you're
going to have to come back andjust keep us updated, leanne.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
What just came to mind was my brother, for my
birthday I think it was lastyear or the year before gave me
this plaque that said shebelieved she could do it, so she
did.
I love that.
That just I had no idea he hadnoticed and so it just meant so
(01:01:41):
much coming from him.
And sometimes I've had toremind myself when I'm low
places and I'm thinking, andsometimes I've had to remind
myself when I'm low places andI'm thinking, well, she doesn't
think she can do it now.
So it helps, you know,reminding myself that okay, if
I'm sick enough that I'm notseeing it right now, then I need
to take care of whatever needsto happen to get back to that
(01:02:03):
place again.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
That's beautiful advice.
Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Well, thank you so much.
You can call me anytime youwant to, jen, I don't, hey,
don't.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
I might don't even.
Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
I love it Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.
I'm going to put links to likeall these, to Leanne's
organizations, the power ofnursing and nurses transforming
healthcare in the show notes,and I can put your podcast in
there too, so people can catchold episodes if they want.
Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
If anybody has questions about the Buddhist
group of Soka GakkaiInternational, I love to talk
about that too, because it'smade all the difference in my.
I'm alive because of that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
We should do a different episode where you come
on and talk about that.
I would love that.
That would be wonderful, I'dlove it.
Okay, let's plan on doing that,all right, take care.
Yeah, thank you so much.
Welcome back to Empowered Ease.
Today.
I am beyond excited tointroduce you to a woman I
deeply admire Leanne Meyer.
Leanne is quite simply who Iaspire to be a true force for
good in the nursing communityand beyond.
Leanne's dedication totransforming healthcare and
supporting nurses around theglobe is nothing short of
(00:24):
inspiring.
She is a powerhouse in theworld of nursing and a true
advocate for holistic healthcare.
As the host of Once a Nurse,always a Nurse podcast and a
driving force behind nursestransforming healthcare, leanne
is connecting and empoweringnurses worldwide to
revolutionize patient care.
Join us as we explore herdecades of experience, her
(00:54):
vision for the future ofhealthcare and the impact work
she's doing to make a differencein the lives of so many.
Get ready to be motivated andenlightened as we dive into her
journey and learn from herincredible wisdom.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, so, yeah.
So, leanne Meyer, I grew up inMinnesota.
I backed into nursing in 1973because it was the middle of the
Vietnam War.
I had two brothers that wereconscientious objectors.
I thought that going to collegehad, you know, warped their
minds or something.
(01:26):
My dad, it was like.
Our household was sort of like awar zone, with my brothers on
one side, my parents on theother, and I was sort of the
messenger behind enemy lines,trying to communicate to each
side.
And it took me years to figureout I wasn't helping, I was
making it worse.
They just needed to, you know,figure out how to talk to each
(01:49):
other.
And once I got out of therethey worked it out.
So, at any rate, I backed intonursing, thinking that it was a
more protected environment, andI went there thinking there's no
way I'm ever going to be ableto make it through this.
So I bought the cheapest ofeverything shoes, stethoscope,
(02:09):
scissor, everything and then Idiscovered, hey, you know, this
is kind of really interesting tome and it's sort of a good
match with who I am and mypersonality, and so I have now
been a nurse for almost 50 years.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I love that the peacekeeper you sound like
you're the peacekeeper, the onethat wants to always help out.
I can relate to that Alwaystrying to fix things and help
everyone out.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's always been it , and now I understand its
personality, with Myers-BriggsENFJ Feeling very, very high, so
yeah, so it was almost like Ican't take credit for it,
because it's sort of you know inmy genes.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I love, I love taking those personnel.
I haven't taken that test inprobably 15 years but mine was
ENFT, if I remember correctly.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I have to retake it and see if it's still the same.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
I have to remember that I thought it was T.
Maybe it was P, then if the Tis coming out, I'll have to look
at it.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
F and T are on the same scale.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Okay, I'll have to look it up again and then see.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Okay, interesting.
I love that.
I love taking those tests andunderstanding a little bit more
about it.
It helps me operate in theworld.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
I just took what was it called the disc assessment?
And have you taken that onebefore?
Yeah, I just took it recently.
I had taken it years ago andthen I did it in connection with
emotional what is it?
Eq, emotional quantification orwhatever, and that was with oh,
(03:46):
I've forgotten her name, butthat's basically what she's
doing now is stuff like thatEmotional quotient?
I guess it is IQ, eq, and itwas very interesting.
It came out exactly how most ofthe you know the tests that I
take come out, because I'm very,very clear about those things
(04:07):
and I found out in training forMyers-Briggs myself.
I found out that I am prettyunique.
Only 3% of women and 1% of menhave my type.
Really, yeah, so we, you knowmy whole life I felt like I was
this odd duck out and you know,my brothers thought I was nuts.
(04:27):
And you know where'd you comefrom?
You know, milkman mailmancouldn't have been from our dad.
So I, until I really started tostudy personality assessments,
I was like, oh my goodness, nowI get it my goodness, now I get
(04:48):
it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I love that.
I love that Mine was.
I came out the.
The disc one was inspirational,but I loved reading about it
because I was like, oh, thatdoesn't sound like me.
But then, when you dig deeper,it's like this is about control.
Like you want everyone to behappy, so you're trying to
control everyone, how everyonefeels, by helping them change to
feel better.
And I was like, oh, becauseeverything has a good and a bad.
But I was like, oh, yep, allthat's true.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I came out inspirational on that one too,
and previously, when I had takenit like 20, 30 years ago, it
was um director oh, that was mysecond.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
That was like a little below it, but the eye was
real high, which my all myco-workers fell on the bottom of
that scale.
They were nowhere near that.
They're all on that.
I think it's c and yeah,they're all C and S.
So I was like that's so weird.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
I'm the old BDI.
That's more of the sensing andthe doers.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Well, I know you are highly involved in some
organizations now that Idefinitely want to talk about
because I try to.
So you're you're involved inpower up nursing, which you're
going to have to educate me alittle.
Well, you have to educate meabout all this, but you're also
involved in nurses transforminghealthcare, um, and, and many
other things.
Not to at all cut you short, oryeah, so, but I try to explain
(05:57):
nurses transforming to healthhealthcare to people a lot,
because I know, you know, as aworking with so many nurses and
in healthcare people we'realways talking about the
healthcare system is failing.
I think it's known by mostpeople out there.
We've talked about this on thisshow and this is an alternative
because you know, there's thisview that it's not going to get
fixed from the inside.
It's a system that is full oncourse and there's not a whole
(06:20):
lot of redirecting.
We're going to be able to do so.
Nurses, transforming Healthcareis an alternative, kind of
side-by-side idea for healthcare.
That's different and I'm notskilled enough to explain it, so
would you tell us a little bitabout it?
I think it's amazing and I justwish more people knew about it.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So, nurses, transforming Healthcare came out
of my talk show internationaltalk show for nurses that I
started in 2017.
Actually, I got pushed intothat too.
I had no idea that I could doanything to do with something as
technological as you know doingan international podcast.
So, at any rate, I did that fora number of years, and so I was
(07:04):
talking to people all over theworld and I just started
learning so much about what washappening in healthcare around
the world, but also what washappening in nursing, and I was
amazed how much the similaritiesare to both of them, to those
things.
So one of the first people thatI had interviewed was Dr John
(07:27):
Silver, and he came on.
He's a very low key, laid backkind of guy, but he spent about
20 years, went through hospitalsby starting out as a
respiratory tech, and then likedwhat nurses were doing, did the
AD and the BSN, msn, and thenstarted asking why is healthcare
(07:50):
so screwed up and why arenurses not in charge of their
own profession?
And those were his twoquestions.
He thought, okay, I'll do anindependent PhD and I'll answer
that question and maybe come upwith an economic plan that could
change how all of this isrunning.
So in the meantime he thoughtoh boy, you know I don't know
much about economics.
(08:10):
I probably should get an MBAalso so that I can speak to
people.
So he did all of that and inthe course of it he came up with
a plan.
In the 1930s they had the sameproblem with electricity that
we've had with things like theinternet and you know other
(08:30):
aspects like that.
It's like those big companieswere happy to bring it to the
cities you know lots of moneythere but they didn't want to
bring them to the rural areasand individual farms.
So my grandfather was actuallya recipient of electricity
through the Rural ElectricAssociation, which was a public
utility model we know it now inthe United States probably most
(08:54):
closely by sewer and water andin some places electricity.
And so what he started to thinkis could this model fit with
health care?
And with some you know varioustweaks he was able to get it to
match exactly the seven goalsthat he had started out with,
(09:15):
and so he spent 20 yearstweaking it, working on it,
talking to everybody he couldtalk to doctors, economists,
nurses, you know anybody andeverybody and was getting
nowhere.
And so when I had him on, itwas like these light bulbs are
going off in my head andthinking, oh my gosh, why aren't
people knocking down your door?
(09:36):
So I started trying to promotehim and realized how difficult
it was to do.
And then, a couple of yearslater, in 2020, I interviewed
Kim Evans, who had been in anICU.
She was sick and tired ofseeing all these chronic people
coming back and back and backagain and feeling like all of
(09:59):
these things could have beenprevented.
Things could have beenprevented and she decided to go
off on her own, got an APRN, shetrained with some amazing
people on nutrition and allkinds of things and opened up
her own integrative medicineclinic about 22 years ago or so.
She's been running it herself,has had great success with it,
(10:24):
has had opportunities againtalking to people, listening to
people and working with whatworked for them to be able to
get people so that they were nothaving problems with diabetes
and they were not having to takemedications and were doing very
much better by changing thefoods they were eating and
(10:45):
things like that.
So she at some point decidedthat health care was a mess and
she wanted to see what she coulddo to contribute to making it
better.
She wrote a book calledTransforming Health Care Healing
you, me and Our Broken DiseaseCare System.
I found the book had her on andI was like yes, yes, yes.
(11:07):
So again, my secret power, I'vedecided, is connecting people.
And so I connected John and Kimand then I was like gee, I'd
like to be in the room, a fly onthe wall while they're talking.
So one was in Florida, one wasin Kentucky and I'm in Minnesota
(11:27):
.
And so we started meeting everySaturday and we're just talking
about.
You know how this could cometogether and what could it mean
and what could we call it.
And in the meantime, in Januaryof 2021, I interviewed Kathleen
Bartholomew, who was most knownfor lecturing and talking about
(11:49):
nurse-to-nurse hostility, poorcommunication between nurses and
doctors, all of that kind ofstuff, and just really had done
very well, a very successfulcareer doing that.
And then COVID hit in March of2020, or at least hit here in
the United States, and she forabout nine months until 2021,
(12:11):
she had been knocked out of thelecture circuit and she started
thinking so what have Iaccomplished?
I've done a lot of training, Ihave talked all over the country
and in many places around theworld.
What has changed and she gotreally depressed, feeling like
nothing's changed.
Nothing has changed.
All of this talking for 20-someyears and nothing has changed.
(12:34):
So I introduced her to Kim andJohn and she was the same way.
She was like, yes, this is whatI want to do with the rest of
my life.
And so the four of us startedmeeting every Saturday and just
talking and connecting withother people, and it grew in
2022.
We incorporated as anorganization, a nonprofit, and
(12:58):
what we began to, and then oneof the first things that
happened was Kathleen let's seenow it actually goes through me
again a nurse practitioner whowas just finishing her training
had to do a community serviceand she had connected with a
church in the area, kind ofSpicewood and she got together
(13:24):
with them.
She said you know, would you bewilling to let me grow a garden
here and have people come inthat need food?
We'll have a food bank one daya week.
And so that started happeningand as people were coming in,
she realized, oh my goodness,these people need a lot more
than food.
(13:44):
And it turned out Spicewood waskind of a community of very,
very wealthy and very, very poor, and that particular summer was
when I know they're having itagain now and it's sort of
becoming a common thing.
But 120 degree days, and some ofthese people were homeless, or
if they had, you know, maybethey're living in a trailer that
(14:05):
had maybe electricity but norunning water, just things like
that.
They were in and out ofhospitals, some of them having
to stay as long as you know, acouple months, so you can
imagine the bill on that.
Then they would discharge themand give them 32 pages of
post-discharge notes which theydidn't understand any of, and
(14:28):
maybe three or four veryimportant medications stuck in
the middle which they had noplace to go and no money to buy
them.
So anyway, she started workingwith them and the church was
gracious enough to pay her to doassessments nurse practitioner
assessments on these people andto come up with care plan,
individualized care plan.
(14:49):
And then they did hire an RNwho had three months to be able
to work with them and try andmeet all the things on the care
plan.
Well, the outcome of that injust three months was
mind-boggling and she evenfigured out how much money she
had saved you know, the countyand the hospitals by helping
(15:09):
these people not to have to goback into the system.
It was just so exciting, it'sso interesting.
(15:37):
So we decided that what if wetook, like a zip code, this was
a small little community ofactually it was a fairly large
area, but it was the Zip.
What if we took a small zipcode of, say, 3,000 to 5,000
people and we did an assessmentbased on what they think they
want in their community and whatthey see as the needs, go back
(16:00):
and work with the people who areinterested in working with a
nurse practitioner, be able toshow to Medicare and Medicaid
how much we can save and howsatisfied, you know, the clients
can be.
(16:21):
And so that's what we'vestarted in New Hampshire,
university of New Hampshire.
Our current president is EmilySpensky and she works at the
University of New Hampshire.
Our current president is EmilySpensky and she works at the
University of New Hampshire andshe was teaching, nursing and
working with the public healthdepartment, and that woman who
was in the public healthdepartment teaching knew a
community that she was connectedand was working with that she
(16:44):
thought would be perfect for it.
So that's what we're doing.
The assessment was put togetherpartly by John and then
combining some of what JeanWatson had come up with.
We ran it by her to get herpermission and approval, and
that happened last fall.
(17:04):
Excuse me, I start talking andI start coughing.
And then, the spring, they wentthrough the data to see what
they had found.
They went back to the communityand said here's what we learned
.
What would you like us to do?
And now in the fall this fallthe nurse practitioners and
(17:28):
public health students will bedoing that work.
Public health students will bedoing that work.
So I don't know if I answeredyour question or not but that's
no.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
You added so much depth to it and I want to
simplify what I understand fromthe program to be, which is kind
of how I try to explain topeople and then you correct me
if I'm wrong a little bit.
But what it sounds like to startwith is kind of where we have
this huge lack of care in ruralareas and smaller communities,
of just family health, like justprimary care we're lacking in
(18:06):
small communities.
So this is like acommunity-based program that
would be like a utility, likepeople pay, like a utility bill
to their area.
So it would be like your waterbill or something like that that
people pay into and thisservice would kind of assess the
(18:28):
area, assess the community forthe community's needs and then
allow the community to decidehow to spend that money.
So from what I remember when wetalked about this before, it
could be as simple as like apark or or a place for for the
elderly.
There's not like elderly carefor people to go to work or
childcare, or it could be ridesto a medication drop-offs or
(18:51):
rides to doctor's appointmentsor whatever the community's need
is not.
Those are the limited thingsthat I can think of that
communities need, but it wouldbe.
What the community needs iswhat they would decide to invest
their money and which ispreventative type care, which is
what our health care system isreally lacking, and we touch on
this in this podcast a lot, butwe, we spend a lot treating
(19:14):
symptoms and investing in careand how to treat all these new
things and new medications, butwe spend very little time
educating people on how toprevent and turn around what's
going on with them.
We just treat what it is andkeep rolling.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
There's so many basic things too.
You assume you go into yourgrocery store and the food
that's there is good for you,and it turns out, surprise,
surprise, it's.
You know, the whole center partof it is probably not only not
good for you but bad for you anddesigned that way.
And so you know teaching peoplewhat else can they do?
(19:50):
Maybe if they do realize thatwhat they're eating or what
they're doing is not working forthem, they don't know what else
to do.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah, education, which is a free thing, a part of
this.
Yeah, I forgot about that, evenmentioning that, how big that
is.
Yeah, having someone to educateeach person on their specific
needs.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Yeah, so essentially it's holistic.
Is holistic care from a nursepractice, nurse theory, preface
or you know a model and the ideathat this could be expanded if
we could.
Instead of you know we see, theproblem with healthcare as it
is now over the last 30 years isthat it was designed to make
(20:29):
money off of sick people.
That's how it was designed.
It is working perfectly well inthat manner.
The problem is it is notsustainable.
They know it's not sustainable.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Infinite growth is not a sustainable healthcare
model.
Right which?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
is business growth, yeah, so I mean, you know
they're just wanting to take asmuch out of it as they can until
it collapses, and then, I don'tknow, they go to Mars, I guess.
So what we're realizing is thatthere needs to be something
that isn't just trying to movethe deck chairs on the Titanic.
(21:09):
This health care that we haveas it is is going to collapse.
It's just a matter of what aregoing to be the factors that you
know are the final blow, butultimately it will collapse
because it's not designed tocontinue.
So we started thinking in termsof okay, let's think ahead.
(21:29):
What could be?
You know, let's just take offwhere we are now and what we
have known for the last 30, 40years.
Let's think about, completelyout of the box, what could it be
From a nursing point of view,from doctor's points of view,
where would be the kind ofhealthcare we would want to work
(21:49):
within?
Speaker 1 (21:51):
So I'm assuming that your organization is looking for
people who think like thisright now to help you with that
correct Like looking, becauseI'm not an outside the box
thinker but I am.
I'll do what you tell me to do.
So but I'm sure you guys arelooking for people to like help
you with these like outside thebox how to implement this stuff
too.
I wanted to put that in therebecause if you're interested in
getting involved, they arelooking for people to help.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
And this is really a ground zero.
I mean, we are really startingfrom the basement and working
our way up.
So when we first startedtalking about this, people would
tell us it's impossible.
Healthcare is too big, youcan't take on healthcare.
And we said we're not trying totake on healthcare.
We want to start something thatcan show what it could be, and
(22:35):
that's what we're trying to dois creating little communities
where we can create data, wherewe can show what it could be and
how much people love it, and sothat's kind of what we've been
working toward.
Let's see, where was I so?
Speaker 1 (22:55):
yeah, are there places that this oh go ahead?
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
So what we were, you know, recognizing is that it
doesn't really matter what otherpeople are saying.
You know, some people said,well, it could take 25 years to
get this going, and I said, suremight, but what if we don't
start trying to do something?
Then you're another few.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Where will we be?
Nowhere.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Yeah.
So we just said, okay, well,we're going to play around with
it.
And now those same people thatwere naysaying are coming back
and saying go for it.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I love that I love that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
So as far as is this already out there?
That was a miracle I just foundout recently.
In the last year or so.
It turns out that at exactlythe same time we were saying
what could we do, what couldhealth care look like, Another
group of people who had moneywere thinking the same thing in
2020 and 2021.
(23:48):
And in the winter of 2022, theyactually started the first
clinic in Minnesota, where Ilive in the Twin Cities, called
Herself Help, and it's based onbasically the nursing theory,
but using doctors, nurses, PAs,so nurse practitioners and
(24:09):
nurses, I guess, techs andvarious other people in the
thing, and it's women, 60 yearsold and older, and it is pretty
much what we wanted.
So you go in for your very firstmeeting with a provider.
It's 90 minutes long and it'sonly to find out who you are,
(24:34):
what you are looking for, all ofyour background, all of your
history, your emotional, mental,emotional, physical, spiritual
and then, if you decide you wantto continue, you would have
your first physical, which isanother 90 minutes long, where
they actually go througheverything with you.
They do the lab test, they, youknow, look at what has worked,
(24:58):
what hasn't worked, where haveyou been.
What have you done?
And then determine from thereokay, here are the issues, which
of these you want to work onfirst and then going forward.
I absolutely am in love with it.
I mean, it's like this is mydream and it's already here.
They now have since the winterof 2022, they now have five
(25:20):
clinics in Minnesota, with threemore planned next year.
Oh, I love it.
They are getting I just heardthis last week.
They're getting 400 new clientsevery month, and so every one
of the clinics are growingexponentially.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
So it's very encouraging and it uses this
model, this, like they pay, kindof like a.
That's.
The only difference is it's notthe public utility model.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
So they are using Medicare and Medicaid and now
people are asking them to takesome of the other insurances too
.
So they're looking at how theycan make that happen.
But essentially, whoever isyour clinician is your clinician
.
You can go back to that sameperson you know, time after time
after time.
You can go back to that sameperson you know, time after time
after time.
(26:13):
If you need something more,they will help you find who is
that next person, the specialist, and they're not bonded to any
one group of people as far asany specialty.
So it's sort of a combination ofwhat have you used before?
(26:34):
What did you like, what did younot?
Or people that they have beenworking with that they felt
worked under the same kind ofsystem, that are similar to the
thinking, anyway, of herself-help.
And then you come back to themand get a complete in-context
(26:56):
understanding of what were thetesting that was done.
What did they find?
How did that fit in with othertesting you might have had done?
Where do we go from here?
And the plan is done with thepatient.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
That's like the kind of appointments you have when
something very serious happens,and so I love like cause I've
sat in that, like with familymembers, you know with like it's
like cancer diagnosis is, youknow, kidney failure, you know
you sit in these, you go for allday and you sit in these long
appointments where they overload, where they educate you and but
if we can, start that when youbefore you have the problem
right, like if you could go tothe beginning spend that time.
(27:35):
Yeah, I just love that Because Ithink how much I learned in all
those like you're talking about.
I'm like man, you know I havegood friends.
They record them for me becauseI'm a nurse you know they're
like.
What do you think about this?
You know we go to specialtycenters.
I have a good friend that hascancer and she flies to Texas
and records all of the longmeetings and we listen.
And you know I had an ex gothrough kidney transplant.
We sat through these longeducational things and there's
(27:55):
so much you take away from that.
And the one on one time withthe doctor is so invaluable,
also for building trust too.
Because that's another thing Ithink as a nurse I've
experienced is it's hard forpeople to open up and be honest
when they don't necessarily havetrust.
So that time is so valuable.
So to put that to, to startthere, like you matter right now
(28:15):
as you are, how can we help you?
Just what difference that wouldmake going forward.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
So at this point, we are about to, in the fall, start
forward.
We have set up a business, wehave committees, we have a new
board.
We're looking for people whowould be excited to be able to
take this forward into fruition.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, so what kind of people are you looking for?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Well, we're looking for people with academic
backgrounds that could help usunderstand the education portion
of it, even educating thepeople who are coming into it,
even educating the people whoare coming into it.
We are looking for marketing,which is something that I don't
know if it's just being a nurse,or I've always had a really
hard time asking people formoney.
(29:02):
I'm just used to going in andworking my ass off and doing
whatever I can and then in twoweeks somebody gives me a
paycheck for what they think I'mworth.
Yeah, so asking people formoney has just really been
horrendously difficult.
So, people who can do thatwonderful People who can do
marketing, who can help us getout to the we think, the public
(29:24):
to say you don't have to beputting up with what you're
putting up with.
You know there could besomething else and here's what
it could look like.
What do you think about that?
So it may come to the pointwhere it's pressure from the
public to whether that would bepoliticians or other people who
are trying to make money to beable to say this is a better
(29:50):
product, this actually works.
It costs less to keep peoplewell than it does to try and fix
them after they're desperatelyill.
All the things we as nurses anddoctors and the rest of us in
healthcare already know, and ina very healthy environment.
I love walking into this clinicbecause everybody is all smiles
(30:13):
, they're happy to see you, theyknow who you are, they offer
you something to drink.
Would you like some water?
Would you like some snacks?
It's just a completelydifferent atmosphere from stand
back here.
Don't talk to me until I tellyou to.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, your quick 15 minutes.
Get it out before I have to gobecause there's so many patients
and nothing more than oneproblem.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Don't bring up any more than one problem, because
right.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
I recently my friend told me she took her son.
Oh no, no, no, it was her sorryshe went to her OBG.
I think she had to get.
She had two different thingsgoing on.
I think she had to get, like,her IUD removed and then
something else, and they toldher she had to make separate
appointments for both.
They would not address both inthe same issue because of
billing issues, which you'rebacked up for three months to
get an appointment and then, no,you have to come for a second
(31:03):
one which you know that's theirway of pregnant and intended
thing you wanted.
Right, which I'm like you.
Like you know, I I'm notblaming these individuals.
That's the regulations theyhave, but what a sick system
that.
That's where what we're doingto people.
I hate it.
Okay, I love that, um, so arethere any other?
(31:25):
So we're looking for peoplepretty much with all skills that
can be applicable to this, likemarketing nurses, people to put
it into practice.
Are you looking for people withcommunities to try to like kind
of yeah?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
People who feel like they've got a community, that
maybe they've tried variousdifferent things.
We have come up with a playbook.
Here's how you can do it.
The other thing is theUniversity of New Hampshire.
As they're doing this, they'realso creating a template for it,
so that any other school in thecountry could, you know,
replicate that template.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Oh, I love that.
I love that, okay, awesome, um,what else?
We could talk forever aboutthis, really honestly, and I
feel like at some point, I'llprobably have to have you back
on and talk more in depth aboutthese things, especially as
people ask me more questions andas you grow and have more
successes.
So is there anything I want tomake sure we touch on more than
(32:17):
just this issue?
Well, I've got you here.
There's more than just thisthing you're in into.
So what anything else you wantto leave us with about nurses,
transforming health care, beforeI ask you about power up
nursing, I think we've coveredthat pretty well.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
But yeah, I would like to get to the power of
nursing, which started in asnowstorm in Minneapolis in
January of 2020.
We were at a conference and theperson who was putting on the
conference and her friend whohappens to be the doctor of
(32:54):
neuro research.
We met there and, because itwas a snowstorm, some people
hadn't come and some people wereleaving early because they were
afraid they wouldn't be able toget out of the airport.
And we were just talking andTanya Abreu said to me so if
there was any message you couldgive to nurses, what would it be
(33:15):
?
And after having you know,seven years of doing my
international talk show, I saidI want nurses to know that they
have much more power than theythink they do.
And so Power Up Nursing wasborn, weren't?
We know that in March of 2020,covid hit and everything came to
(33:35):
a standstill in healthcare,especially with coming up with
new ideas or whatever.
Everybody was floundering, sojust trying to maintain.
So we kind of put everythingnot on hold.
We were still trying to reachout to people and talk to people
, but it was the usual startupthing very difficult to get
things off the ground.
And then we had our firstconference in June of 2023.
(33:58):
We had, I think we had about 75people nurses, cnos, various
different people who wereselling products in the room,
people who were selling productsin the room and it was such a
high atmosphere of joy and, oh,this is so different.
(34:19):
This could, you know, really besomething amazing.
And so we worked with one ofthe major CNOs, dr Carol oh,
lost her name here for a second.
Well, let's just not have hername.
We're working with a CNO, carolBiggs.
Dr Carol Biggs, who is runningthe seven hospitals for the
(34:44):
Miami-Jackson hospital system,and you know them.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
No, yeah, you were telling me about this earlier.
I was getting excited, Sorry.
I was like yes, this is whatwe're getting to.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
So after that conference, tanya and Alba were
overwhelmed and and burned out.
Is that we allow other peopleto decide what we're going to do
(35:22):
, when we're going to do it andhow much, how long, etc.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
So it comes up on the show a lot is how nurses are
actually one of the hardestpeople to help and treat.
Because I also think somewhatwe have like a victim mentality
and then we feel a little owedby the system.
And it's like when I talk tonurses like yeah, you are, but
the truth is you're the only onethat is going to be able to
(35:46):
show up for yourself and makethe difference, because nobody's
coming.
You are, oh, you're amazing,but you have to make the
difference.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
We keep waiting for the knight in shining armor and
they're not coming Right, ifanything, covid convinced me of
that that, yeah, I thought thatwould be the thing that would
open everybody's eyes.
Oh my gosh, look what nurses do.
Look how incredible they are.
Look how we, how many people wesave.
You know, just because of whatnurses were willing to do.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
And you know, keep doing so we're going to be the
ones that have to save it.
I think, think it's going tohave to be the nurses.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
But look at this in healthcare, you know, healthcare
is probably has maybe I don'tknow for sure, but I would think
it would be right near the topof how many employees that are
nurses or nurse related, andjust in our country we think
it's between 4.6 million and 5million.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
I would think we're the majority, wouldn't you think
we're the majority?
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Oh yeah, I don't know that 100%, but I think that is
true and it would make sense soif even we could bring together
just this group of people to beworking together.
When we started this, werealized there are 800 different
organizations for nurses inthis country that do not talk to
(37:02):
each other If you're looking atmain organizations, because 800
includes the 50 states for eachorganization.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, the boards and all that.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
They don't even talk to each other Rarely.
I mean, it's, you know, verylittle connection with each
other.
They all have their own littlefiefdom, and so that's my trade
of that.
So anyway, if you're justtalking about the main ones,
(37:33):
it's probably Kathleen has beensaying now about 250 different
organizations.
But what if we came togetherwith the idea that nurses are
now going to be in charge oftheir own profession?
So we determine what Like thedoctors have taken right, how
about that?
So we determine what we'regoing to educate nurses on.
(37:55):
We determine what the work isthat nurses are going to do.
We determined, say, in ahospital setting.
I think that nurses should bein charge of anything that has
to do with patient management,which is just about everything.
So that takes out all of theissues of, you know,
nurse-patient ratios we've beenyelling about for 20, 30 years.
(38:17):
It puts it into the hands ofthe nurses who are on that unit
with those patients on that day,that shift, that whatever.
Looking at what is the acuity ofthe patients we have here, what
is the experience and abilitiesof the different nurses?
Do we have what we need?
(38:38):
And you go from there, youdevelop the support of that
based on that.
Not, you've got five nurses,you know, work with it.
If they're the wrong nurses, ifthey, you know, are in
orientation, it doesn't matter.
You're going to take, you know,a new patient.
You discharge somebody, you'regoing to get a new patient and
immediately, probably, somebodythat was much higher acuity than
(39:01):
the one you just discharged.
So those are the things.
Nurses have to be the ones thatare making that decision,
because we're the only ones thatare with the patient, 24-7, 365
.
It makes sense.
Yeah, agreed.
So, at any rate, that's kind ofwhat we're working on.
(39:22):
The newest thing is, um, I'm notmuch into tech at all.
Um, since we've been doing thispower up nursing, uh, tanya
abrayo is loves any kind of tech, so she's been trying to have
me try all these things out andI'm like they don't work.
I don't like them.
No, you know, not going to doit.
And then she sent me this ultrahuman ring Okay, kind of like
(39:46):
the R and some of the other onesthere's a bunch of them out
there but for me it is fantasticbecause it not only tells me
the normal things that theothers tell you about how is
your sleep and you know, thatkind of thing but it also tells
you what can you do to improveit.
Here are some things to try,and it's all very positive.
(40:08):
It's like it doesn't say well,you didn't sleep again last
night and now you're you low andwhatever.
I'm going to take another off,drop here, yeah, but it will
tell you.
Here are some suggestions, hereare some things.
Here's what you're doing better.
(40:32):
We're not doing very well onthis, and now that is
consistently better,congratulations.
You get lots of kudos, and whatdo nurses love but kudos, right
.
And then now they're starting anew pilot.
I guess it would be with thesenurses.
That will include lab work.
(40:53):
So I don't know exactly all ofthe different things, but quite
a few different things that canbe tested right through the ring
and we'll tell us.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
So nurses are wearing the ring.
Right now, nurses are wearingthe ring.
They're doing this on nurses,oh cool.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
So every nurse in the Jackson hospitals in Miami are
wearing these rings.
Really, they are so excitedabout it.
What kind of data are theylooking to pull from these?
Like, where are they tryingrings?
Really, they are so excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
What kind of data are they looking to pull from these
, Like?
Where are they trying to findit?
Or is this a focus on nursehealth and nurse wellbeing.
Oh how cool.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
Taking care of themselves, feeling empowered
themselves, feeling like, oh, Ihaven't slept in three days.
I probably shouldn't take anextra shift.
I maybe have to tell my friendsthat I can't go out partying or
whatever, because I really needto work on whatever it is
(41:48):
walking more or sleeping more oreating better or whatever it is
that I need to do.
It gives them permission to saythis is important, that I am
taking care of myself.
And so many times you know weput ourselves last.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
We've been trained.
Speaker 2 (42:06):
That's the socialization that we've had, as
women is women, give their allWomen, you know, our mothers and
women, you know, do everythingthat is requested from anybody
in the neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
Yeah, our role is to make them read the room and make
everyone happy and content.
Yeah, I love that.
And nurses, I think, are peoplethat take that a little further
.
In my experience, even themales that do it, they're
caretakers, they're givers.
They're guilt.
Usually they're guilt Likethey're the kind of person that
(42:41):
feels guilty for things theydidn't do.
For the most part, you know,these are people that genuinely
care and I feel like they'remore apt Well, I think
healthcare actuallyintentionally praise on this
about them.
Is there people that don't wantto see people suffer, including
their health, their co workers,so they'll pick up extra?
They'll what I mean?
I think we can't health carekind of push uses that like that
personality type to get a lotdone that necessarily about
(43:02):
creating a health system.
Speaker 2 (43:04):
That was about, um, a healthy environment.
What if we thought aboutstarting with patients or, even
better yet, starting with makingsure nurses are doing well?
If the nurses are doing well,everybody else will be also.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I wonder how you can say you're a healthcare
organization and that you careabout people and that you,
because where I work, I work fora large healthcare system, so
we are their patients as well.
We don't have anywhere else.
Most of us are getting carethere.
So if you don't care about thepeople that work for you, how
can you convince anyone that youcare about the ones you take
(43:41):
care of that you're making moneyfrom?
To me, that is really hard forme in my head, because you have
to care about the people thatwork for you.
That's partly why I'm back inhealthcare is I'm trying to
convince all these brand newnurses like you have to take
care of you or this will makeyou miserable, unfortunately
that's the reality.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
That's the new word in a lot of nurses' vocabulary
and it starts in nursing schools.
We need to change that too, Iagree.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
I wish there was more education in nursing school
from the get-go of the toll thatthis job can take on your
nervous system.
I mean there's a lot of waysthis job can affect you, but
just in general, if you takeaway all the trauma and all that
, the nature of the job is hardon your nervous system in the
most ideal conditions and thereality is we're never in the
most ideal conditions.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
And what are the things you can do?
You know, we never knew thatthere was something you could do
to deal with it other thanmedication, which a lot of us
ended up taking.
Yeah, so, yeah.
So that's kind of what that isabout, and that's.
I believe that we have a largenumber of hospitals who are
(44:49):
hearing about this now and arelike you know, we want to be on
the wait list, you know, as soonas you're, we want to see if
this can be something that canreally happen.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
That is so cool.
So if people want to getinvolved in Power Up Nursing or
learn more about it or is PowerUp Nursing looking for people or
what Sure powerupnursingcom andwe are sponsoring a number of
conferences.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
We just did one in June that was a nurse think tank
.
A number of conferences we justdid one in June.
That was a nurse think tank.
We had about 50 people, Ibelieve that came from not just
nursing but from all differentareas and also people who are
looking to innovate in healthcare, and so we had some of
those people there and again theenergy in that room was just
(45:35):
like electric.
And again the energy in thatroom was just like electric.
Everybody was so happy to bethere and just taking everything
in, and from the minute we meteach other, people were
immediately excited and talking.
And here's what I'm doing andhere's.
Then we're having another onelike that in October, the end of
(46:07):
October.
I don't have the dates right infront of me, but it is on the
website.
So powerupnursingcom and go tosee what the events are.
It's going to be a similar typething a nurse think tank in
Arizona, in um.
That will be in October, theend of October, and then in
November they're going to dolike um, um, a dude ranch in
Florida, wow, with you knowliving, uh, staying in um, uh,
(46:32):
railroad cars and uh, I thinkthere's some glam tents and
there's a lodge, that all kindsof different places and then
just having opportunities totalk, brainstorm with other
nurses, have some fun, kick upthe heels, wear some cowboy
stuff and just have a really funtime.
And that's going to be thebeginning of November.
(46:55):
I think it's like the 5th tothe 7th or something.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Are you going?
Yeah, yeah, that's exciting.
Yay, I love that you mentionedthis and I want to kind of like
put a little shout out to thisto any nurses that are listening
that may be burnt out, becauseLeanne and I talked about this a
little bit before we started.
Recording is like how muchinspiration that each of us have
gotten just from connectingwith other people who care, who
are involved in things like this.
(47:19):
And if you're feeling burnt out,you're feeling very
disconnected or just overwhelmedby, like, what's happening in
healthcare and the world,getting involved in
organizations like this, or evenjust getting involved in
LinkedIn, which is where I metLeanne there's so many positive
nurse voices on there looking,trying to change all different
kinds of things about healthcare.
There's so many nurses outthere that care.
(47:40):
They're taking this proactivelook.
And if you're feeling reallyburnt out or really just like
disenchanted, just disheartenedby the healthcare system,
getting involved in anorganization like this, seeing
people working with people likeLeanne who care, is so
reinvigorating and it's so likefor me, it like I need to see
people that care like that toyou know for me to be like, okay
(48:01):
, we're still here, we're stillout.
There's still people out therelooking for the good, making
real change, and it's just hardto see when you're in the system
sometimes that there is goodgoing on around you Exactly, and
people who have ideas.
Speaker 2 (48:15):
You know four o'clock in the morning and if first
time you put your feet up andyou know you just start talking,
you're saying you know I'vebeen thinking about this and
what if that happened, but whodo I talk to about it?
These are the places wherepeople talk about this.
Where do I take these ideas to?
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Yes, I love that.
I love that.
It's great.
Well, Leanne, you're okay.
So your podcast is no longer.
You're no longer filming yourpodcast, correct?
But is it still somewhere to befound?
Speaker 2 (48:43):
Yeah, it is on.
Many people are finding it onthe usual podcast site.
Speaker 1 (48:48):
Anywhere you find it, I guess Right, and it's called
Once a Nurse, always a Nurse.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Once a nurse, always a nurse.
Yeah, it's once a nurse, alwaysa nurse, exploring the world of
nursing, but I think mostplaces just list it as once a
nurse, always a nurse and thatseems to really resonate for
nurses.
So I had a marketing group workwith me when I was first trying
to come up with a name and Isaid, well, I think I want to
call it once a nurse, always anurse.
And they said that's thedumbest name you could come up
(49:15):
with.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
And it doesn't indicate who your real audience
is and it's too broad and theymust not know nurses and know
how much pride we take in being.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
At the peak I had 120,000 listeners in 70 plus
countries, so I think it caughton.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
I think it did too.
Speaker 2 (49:34):
I ended up having to stop, partly because of the cost
, but also I was taking care ofmy mother in the final years of
her life and that was somethingI'd always promised her I would
do, and I was determined that Iwould do that.
So it got to a point where itwasn't really possible to do
both.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
But look what was beautifully born of it.
I love it.
Yeah, so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (49:57):
It really is.
I absolutely love doing it andnever dreamed I could.
Oh, one other thing that kindof has happened since then.
I never think that anything I'mdoing is all that you know.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
I was just going to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Thank you, I was just , I was like.
Speaker 1 (50:13):
Okay, we've talked a lot about what you're doing,
what you're into, but let's talkabout you.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
This is where I was going to go Tell us about this
award you recently won thisaward is called America's one of
I'm America, one of America'stop nurses from nursing today,
the non-line magazine, and I wascompletely flummoxed by it.
When they sent it to me I waslike you must have the wrong
person.
You know, I don't see myselfanywhere in that.
(50:41):
I do.
And it's kind of funny.
You say that too, becauseshortly after that I got some of
you may know Jennifer Johnsonand she wrote this book called
Nursing Intuition and had askedif she could send me the book,
wrote this book called NursingIntuition and had asked if she
could send me the book, and thenwhen I got it, the front she
(51:01):
wrote inside words can't expressmy gratitude for your support
and, well, everything you'vedone for nursing.
In case you don't know,everyone refers to you as the OG
, the original nurse for nurses.
Thank you for everything and,as always, trust your gut for
nurses.
Thank you for everything and,as always, trust your gut.
(51:21):
You know.
Again I was like really I just,you know, I don't think we ever
see ourselves.
I'm just putting one foot infront of the other and doing the
best I can with the person infront of me, and that's kind of
my philosophy is how can I helpyou feel good about yourself and
recognize that you have uniqueideas and abilities and
(51:41):
capability that no one else has,and somebody helped me to learn
that and I'm just trying toconnect people that have the
same kinds of things.
I love that.
It made me so happy.
I love that it made me so happyEven in this really difficult
time.
I feel like I'm creating thejoy that wouldn't be there.
Speaker 1 (52:03):
Otherwise I love it.
I think it's a true inspiration.
I really have goals to connectpeople the way you do, to have a
successful show.
That means something Really.
You are my ultimate mentor inthe nursing world, so I
absolutely love that you came onmy show, but I want to ask you
some things about you Like.
So who inspires you nowadays orwho has inspired you in the
past?
Your biggest inspirations.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
That's a good question.
I started practicing Buddhismwith the Soka Gakkai
International about 43 years agoand that has changed my life
because it taught me a wholedifferent way of looking at the
world and interacting.
I kind of saw myself as theperpetual victim.
(52:47):
Everybody was picking on me andnothing was going my way and et
cetera, and this practicereally helps me to understand.
I'm in charge.
I will create.
Back to the we talked beforeabout.
The perception is reality.
Yes, the perception I choose isthe one that I'm going to work
(53:12):
off of, and if my perception is,everything is screwed, there's
no good here, it's all going tobe a disaster.
That's what I will probablywork toward.
I mean, I'll make that happen.
But if my belief is, well, thatmay be true around me.
But what can I do right here inmy little puddle, to see what I
(53:34):
can do?
That's maybe positive.
And then I start getting theseresponses from people that blow
me away and make me feel like,well, maybe I'm on the right
track.
Maybe I should keep going andjust keep encouraging other
people to do the same.
On the right track, maybe Ishould keep going and just keep
encouraging other people to dothe same.
That's beautiful, very exciting, and it encourages me to
(53:54):
realize how many differentpeople from different cultures
and different parts of ourcountry and the world are also
doing something similar.
Yeah, we all hear about thosepeople.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Yeah, that's kind of my show.
I'm trying to just highlightthat there are people out there
like in the smallest ways makinga difference in big ways,
making a difference in thesmallest communities.
And you know people who live insome tiny I think the last girl
, the woman I had on rightbefore you, she lives in a
little itty bitty village in theUK but she gets on, her, she
reaches people all over theworld, over zoom and helps
(54:29):
people with a specific thing.
So I just think it's beautiful.
There's people out there.
You know, if you're looking,there's people out there trying
to help, and so to me that's sopowerful.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (54:39):
Do you?
Okay.
So what is your I refer to DrLori laws is all about?
Instead of saying self care,saying self nurture.
What isnurture practices thatkeep you sane?
Speaker 2 (54:52):
Again, the ring has been very good because I knew
what to teach other people forself-nurturing.
I just didn't do it myself, andone of the things that happened
for me was in taking care of mymom.
I put everything into her and Iwas really, really sick when
(55:14):
she finally died last year, andso I spent the whole last year
trying to get myself healthyagain, and I have been able to
do that, and then, just when Ifelt like I was really getting
my feet under me, I had sevenpeople die in six weeks that
were significant to me.
Oh my gosh.
And it was also the anniversaryof my mom's death, and so I was
(55:38):
prepared for that.
I just wasn't prepared for allthese others, and some of them
were mentors in variousdifferent ways to me.
They were, you know, friends.
They were be careful because Imay start to cry.
But I realized that I needed todo something to get out of the
(56:03):
depths of grief that I was in,and I knew that I needed to feel
it and express it and live itfor a certain period of time.
And then I needed to do what Iknew and through my practice, I
know to.
You know, go back to my mandalasthat called the Gohonzon, and I
strove to get back to chantingevery day, to get back to
(56:32):
chanting every dayNam-myoho-renge-kyo, and that
has, day by day by day, liftedme up again and started to feel
healthier, find myselfexperiencing positive things in
my environment again, and nowI'm back to that feeling of you
know, what can we not do, if wecan just imagine it?
And so that's really what mymain self-care is to really make
(56:55):
sure that I get in front ofthat every day, twice a day, in
the morning, to look at what arethe challenges I'm going to
face and how can I bring my bestself to it, knowing that I
can't change any other person,but I do have control over
myself.
Whether I think I do or not, Ireally do and I can choose a
(57:19):
different way.
Speaker 1 (57:21):
I love that.
That's beautiful.
I think a lot of us holdourselves back from our biggest
limitation and they're all likemental barriers, mental blocks,
subconscious beliefs that we canreprogram if we take the time
to look at them and spend timewith them and tell ourselves
differently.
So it's powerful words.
What would you give me or anyof our listeners, any advice?
(57:44):
Any nurses listening now?
I love.
Speaker 2 (57:48):
I love that really connect to nurses.
I love nurses.
I have always loved nurses andI find that the happiest days I
have are days when I get to dolike this talk to a nurse.
I was able to have lunch with acouple of nurses and I just
walked out of there feeling onair, you know know, just hearing
(58:08):
what nurses bring to the world.
And as long as we're reallytaking care of ourselves, we can
do that in positive ways.
Speaker 1 (58:20):
Yeah, Some of the best people I've met, like
people I.
You know that maybe we don'thave the relationship to hang
out outside of work, but I've,you know, I traveled for five
years and I just have met somany powerful, amazing
personalities that have stuckwith me over the years and
they're mostly just nursing alot of nurses out.
There's so many good people outthere who care so much, so I
(58:40):
love that.
Speaker 2 (58:41):
I think we talked about this earlier too that you
know there's somewhere around 5million nurses in the United
States and they's, you know,large numbers in every other
country.
Even if they're not officialnurses, they're nursing capacity
and each of them come to itwith that idea of wanting to
give up themselves to helpsomeone else.
(59:01):
That alone.
Just imagine if nurses couldinfect the entire world with
that thought, if nurses couldinfect the entire world with
that thought.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
Yeah, I tell the nurses that work for me all the
time I'm like it's not the normto care so much about other
people.
We need you, so you need totake care of yourself, because
the world needs people, morepeople like you who care about
other people.
And I think I stole that fromNurse Jackie way back in the day
she said that one of the firstepisodes.
She was very right, it's true.
(59:30):
It's like there's not.
Not everybody has the capacityto do what we do, and so we have
to take care of each other andourselves so that there's people
like us left.
Speaker 2 (59:41):
And we have to get better about telling people what
we do.
Until recently, you know,partly because Kathleen
Bartholomew thinks of us as anoppressed group and it's almost
like you know abused women oryou know racial barriers and
things like that that nurseshave, almost like we got into
(01:00:05):
this group and now we're almostkeeping ourselves down.
We started to believe what'sbeen told to us.
It's not true.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Yeah, Like healthcare has really made us a number,
you know, instead of aprofession to them.
We're like part of the budgetthese days, unfortunately,
instead of like this what wereally are, which is a very
vital piece of healthcare.
Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
If I would argue like you couldn't have healthcare
without us, yeah, I absolutelyfeel like healthcare would have
gone down in COVID had it notbeen for the efforts of nursing
and certainly other people too.
But nurses are who I know andwho I admire and who I want to
support.
Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
Me too.
Me too.
That's why I'm still in thefield.
I almost left, but I just lovenurses so much that I'm like I
can't, because I know we careand you know it.
What we do makes a difference,regardless of if other people
are seeing that.
It makes a huge difference.
And yeah, I love that connectwith other nurses.
Is there anything else you wantto leave?
Speaker 2 (01:01:10):
us with.
I just love talking to you somuch.
Speaker 1 (01:01:13):
I could talk forever.
I'm like we're getting close toan hour, but I feel like you're
going to have to come back andjust keep us updated, leanne.
Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
What just came to mind was my brother, for my
birthday I think it was lastyear or the year before gave me
this plaque that said shebelieved she could do it, so she
did.
I love that.
That just I had no idea he hadnoticed and so it just meant so
(01:01:41):
much coming from him.
And sometimes I've had toremind myself when I'm low
places and I'm thinking, andsometimes I've had to remind
myself when I'm low places andI'm thinking, well, she doesn't
think she can do it now.
So it helps, you know,reminding myself that okay, if
I'm sick enough that I'm notseeing it right now, then I need
to take care of whatever needsto happen to get back to that
(01:02:03):
place again.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
That's beautiful advice.
Speaker 2 (01:02:09):
Well, thank you so much.
You can call me anytime youwant to, jen, I don't, hey,
don't.
Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
I might don't even.
Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
I love it Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
Well, thank you so much for coming on the show.
I'm going to put links to likeall these, to Leanne's
organizations, the power ofnursing and nurses transforming
healthcare in the show notes,and I can put your podcast in
there too, so people can catchold episodes if they want.
Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
If anybody has questions about the Buddhist
group of Soka GakkaiInternational, I love to talk
about that too, because it'smade all the difference in my.
I'm alive because of that.
Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
We should do a different episode where you come
on and talk about that.
I would love that.
That would be wonderful, I'dlove it.
Okay, let's plan on doing that,all right, take care.
Yeah, thank you so much.
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