October 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Regions Hospital Trauma Department faces incredibly difficult cases every day. We visit with an important member of that team.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Sorry.
It's a fact that there is such athing as manners, a way of
treating people.
These fish have manners, infact.
They're coming with me.
Oh boy, that's a great movie.
Welcome to The KindnessChronicles.
That's a great movie where onceagain, we hope to inject the
world with a dose of theMinnesota Kindness.
(00:31):
That it desperately needs.
Was that from Jerry McGuire?
Yes.
Oh, that's fantastic.
J Dina, we haven't gotten to youyet.
Sorry.
I tease it.
Tease.
That's up my job.
Tell her to be quiet.
Tell our guests to be quiet.
Tell our guests to be quiet.
Be quiet.
Speak.
Pretend like you're not on yet,Dina.
Speak when spoken to in acorner, nobody.
Oh, she starts out strong.
(00:52):
There you go.
That's the right way to start.
We're gonna get right into this,I guess.
I guess.
So.
Real quick, KG, how are you?
KG ISS on the road.
Where are you at?
KG.
I'm out running some errands inMinne Talke, uh, uh, the travel
schedule officially startstomorrow for the, uh, the
Minnesota Wild and the newseason.
That's a us so yeah.
Excited that this worked out.
Uh, nurse Dean is gonna be anawesome guest and, uh, some good
(01:14):
topics tonight.
So, real quick, uh, how do youfeel about the Carri contract?
It was needed.
We were, uh, kind of trainingcamp there that black cloud
over, uh.
Waiting for something to happen.
Surprise, it hadn't happened.
Uh, but he's a top 10 player inthe league.
(01:35):
Uh, the wild know thatsuperstars are the ones that win
Stanley Cup.
So if they have any intentionsof doing that, they had to find
a way to keep'em.
They probably overpaid forCarole, but they probably have
underpaid for some of theirother players.
Bold, who's only making 7million a year.
Oh.
Oh no.
How will he make it?
Uh, they'll all be okay.
(01:56):
But that's the landscape thatthey're in and, um, a little
extra kindness for, uh, for isokay by me because he's a great
kid.
Absolutely.
Let's just get right into this.
Yeah.
I have, uh, secured a, uh, aguest for us this evening.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, this person is someone thatI knew a long, long time ago.
She was a, uh.
(02:17):
A neighborhood friend of mysister's and all the boys had a
twinkle for her.
Mm.
Of course.
Um, Dina, it used to be DinaTolleson.
Now she is Dina.
Oh boy.
Zeep, isn't it Dina Tolleson?
Did I get that right?
It used to be.
Yeah.
It used to be.
Yes.
Well, here's how we re uh,connected with d.
(02:38):
Uh, right after my dad wa andthis is gonna be the last show
where we talk about the dad.
Why?
Because we, because we justdon't wanna overdo it.
No, we love to talk about dad.
We do love talking about thedad.
Yeah.
I have a couple of things to, toreal quick.
So, Ben figures out that he hasall of the voicemails from
grandpa that he had ever senthim.
Oh, wow.
And he goes and reeves thesethings and he starts sending
(03:00):
them to me.
I'm like, why are you do.
I'm trying to drive, man.
Right.
A break.
Right.
But we'll get into that in asecond.
Anyways, Grandpa was, on the11th floor, the trauma center
at, Regents Hospital, level OneTrauma Center, and couple of
staff walk in and all of asudden this familiar face pops
around the corner and we'relike, no way.
(03:22):
Oh my gosh.
I used the word God too often.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
That's Dina and my sister breaksout into tears.
I mean, it was just thisbeautiful reunion.
Kate and Dina were the bestpals.
Dina went to Harding, Kate wentto Hill and you know how you
just kind of go your separateways.
Life happens.
(03:42):
Yeah, life happens.
Welcome Dina.
Hi, Dina.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi.
Thank you for having me.
So, so Dina, um, tell us alittle bit about your journey to
becoming a nurse.
How was it that you decided, atwhat point in your life did you
decide that you wanted to becomea nurse?
Ooh.
Well, first starters, welldescribe to us who you are and
what you do at the RegionsHospital.
You know, Steve, if you want meto do, do, what am I doing?
(04:03):
I'm just sitting here.
You're giving the look.
I just, you're giving me thelook.
Let's listen to Dina.
So I was there, a labor partnerfor a girlfriend of mine who was
having a baby because herhusband did not wanna be in the
room because he would've savedit.
And the experience that Iwitnessed of, first of all, a
(04:24):
baby being born was absolutelybeautiful.
But the nurse that took care ofmy friend.
Took my breath away in everyway, shape, or form.
She had the greatest bedsidemanner.
She was funny, she was serious,she was empathetic.
Like she was the coolest ladyI've ever seen.
And I was like, I wanna be thatlady.
I wanna do what she's doing.
(04:45):
And that's kind of where itstarted.
Wow.
D Dina, this is Michael.
It doesn't sound like you madethe decision to do nursing when
you were 16.
And then you went to a nursingschool and you did all of those
things.
How old were you when you werein that room and you had that
epiphany?
Well, first of all, I went toschool to be a police officer.
(05:05):
That's what I wanted to do.
Oh, that's what I started outbeing.
but with that, I think I was,uh, 22.
Oh, early twenties, fifth.
Oh wow.
It's relatively young, but tohave the, that experience and
have that epiphany and go, okay,now this is what I want to do.
Yeah.
Is, um, that's unique.
How do you really know what youwanna do, right?
(05:26):
When you're a young kid, right?
You have no idea, right?
And it took an experience likethat to say, that's what I wanna
do.
So then what happens?
So you have that experience andyou say, oh my goodness, I wanna
be that person.
then what happened?
What's the next step?
What's the journey?
Then the journey is you applyfor colleges that, uh, will
accept me because I didn't havea great GPA.
(05:49):
Um.
Not you.
So I mean, I like to passletters and talk in school a
lot.
So academics was not a priorityunfortunately, but I ended up
getting into St.
Kate's and got my degree andwent to work at, A nursing home.
(06:10):
That was my first job.
I worked with Alzheimer dementiapatients.
Oh, wow.
And then I went into hospicenursing.
for a year or so.
And then I went to the bigregions hospital.
I have been there ever since.
You said that you'd originallygone to school to become a
police officer.
How far along were you in thatjourney before you, uh, decided
(06:31):
to switch?
Five minutes.
Five minutes.
Okay.
Okay.
So it, it didn't last long.
Okay.
Yeah.
One of the things that I justhave to, acknowledge is when we
first spent our time at RegionsHospital, we were mm-hmm.
Overwhelmed by how attractiveall of the nurses and the
doctors were.
It was No, and I mean thissincerely.
(06:53):
It was like a, it was like aChicago med or a Grey's Anatomy
sort of situation.
Geez.
And my son Ben, has a friendnamed Jesse Flores who works on
the seventh floor, I believe.
Is that like a step up or stepdown?
I don't remember how hedescribed it, but Jesse's just
this really handsome lad and he,he made the comment, you should
(07:16):
see the overnight crew.
Very attractive people.
And I said, well, was he beingserious or no?
He was, he was being veryserious.
Oh.
Because they're all usually newgrads and Exactly.
They all still, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I gotcha.
Uhhuh Their skin is where it'ssupposed to be, all that stuff.
Yeah.
so Dini, you end up at RegionsHospital.
(07:36):
where were you first, assignedwhen you're at Regions?
my first job I was medicalprogressive care, working with
dialysis patients, and, I lasteda year there and I had a couple
of girlfriends that I actuallywent to college with that went,
they worked at the unit rightnext to me, the trauma unit, and
(07:57):
I'm like, I gotta get outta thisunit.
I can't stand it.
I, I just, this is not for me.
And they're like, come work withus.
They set up an interview withher boss and I transferred over,
and it was awesome.
It's been awesome all theseyears.
Well, of all of the places thata nurse could find themselves, I
would imagine that being atrauma nurse has to be one of
(08:19):
the more stressful, you know,every, can you describe just
some of the things that a traumanurse will experience throughout
the course of their, uh, of aweek, for example?
I can, yes.
So we see anything from a falloff of a ladder Mind.
You don't get on ladders ifyou're over 25.
(08:42):
Oh, geez.
Except stool.
That's it.
No ladders.
Wow.
Don't do that.
Not the first, uh, medicalprofessional that's ever said
that to me, by the way.
Yeah.
Stay off the ladder.
Yeah.
Stay off ladders.
Okay.
Stay off the ladder.
Yeah.
Hire out.
Do that.
Car crashes, motorcycle crashes,assault stabs.
The big thing nowadays is thee-bikes and the kids and wearing
(09:02):
the crocs and the no helmetsand, people like to have a
couple beverages and falldownstairs.
That's another big thing that wesee.
see it's a lot of falls.
Do you see, do you see likegunshot wounds and those kind of
things?
All the time.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Dina, you said you, did thedialysis piece for about a year,
(09:22):
and you said,, I gotta move in adifferent direction.
there is so many differentavenues in this field that you
can work in.
And, the patient population is abig thing like.
Sick Medical patients are notwhere I get my pleasure from.
but I like surgical traumapatients.
what I figured out was when myfriend recruited me, kind of,
(09:45):
you know, it's like, okay, we'llgive it a shot.
You're kind of supposed to shoparound a little bit for the
first few years of nursing soyou can see what you like.
And I just never left.
I loved it.
Huh.
So I have a question.
On the, the day that John's dadcame in, did you know that they
were there?
Did you see his name come in andyou were curious, or did you
(10:06):
just happen upon them?
Or how did that work?
And then how did you feel whenyou saw, uh, John's sister yes,
it was actually my weekend towork and we come in for the day
and we get our patient lift, andI saw John's name on it and my
heart sank, and it wasbittersweet.
(10:28):
It was like, oh boy, because itdidn't sound good from what I
was reading before I went to seehim.
But then knowing that I've knownthis family for most of my whole
entire life, who I love andadore, it was bittersweet.
When I saw Kate and we hugged,it was like we had not missed a
(10:52):
day.
Yeah, that's exactly, for 30years.
That's what Kate was like.
She, that's cool.
She's like.
Yeah, I haven't seen this gal inso long, but instantly that
connection was made.
And so, just so everybody knows,my dad's name is also John.
Yeah.
He went by Jack.
Um, did you know it was him ordid you think it was me?
No, I saw the age and I knew itwas definitely not the age.
You, that's right.
(11:12):
I'm much younger.
John, how did you, how did youfeel?
We were much, much younger.
I just had a question for John.
How did you feel when you sawthat it was.
That was, Deena being there andlike, did you feel like, oh,
comforted.
So it's, it's really funny'causeI immediately recognized her and
you would think that, right?
I was the first one thatrecognized you.
Let's just get that on therecord.
(11:33):
You did.
Let's say it.
Yep.
And, and I mean.
Not to be creepy, but she lookspretty good.
Oh, looks pretty good.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Oh Jesus.
Dina.
Sorry.
Sorry, Dina, sorry.
She fit in with all the rest ofthe Chicago me people that were
there, but she looked in and Ithought, is she visiting or, it
was super weird.
(11:54):
Yeah, it's like, it's kind ofodd that she would just pop her
head and, oh wait, she's got aname badge on.
She works here.
I that that whole trauma team,their bedside manner was
outrageously kind.
It was soft spoken.
Um, but you know, one of thereasons I wanted to have Dina on
is obviously when you areworking with Level One trauma
(12:16):
patients.
You are going to be experiencingpeople that have very, in many
cases, very little chance ofmaking it.
Yeah.
And you know, my dad's futuredid not look real good, but just
the way that they handled it wasjust so, I can't even, I don't
even know how to describe how,how discomforting it was.
(12:36):
Patients are great, right?
Like, and you are meeting themin their most stressful,
traumatic time of their liveswhen they're with us.
But your dad, who he is, who hewas, the personality, the
sincerity, the kindness, the,the gratitude that he showed
(12:59):
everybody like that is whatmakes us want to do our job.
And then we go above and beyondbecause Wow.
It's hard not to fall for peoplelike your dad and your family.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's like you wanna doall the things, any little bit
of help that you can possiblydo.
(13:19):
You do.
And I think, like, I remembertexting John, like I left one
day and I was like, oh gosh, Iforgot.
Maybe we should ask for, whatwas it, like a cardiology
consult or something?
I can't remember what it was.
Because we haven't touched thatyet.
You know, like thinking outsidethe box to see what else that we
(13:40):
can do, and you're like, it'salready done.
Sitting here next to SteveBrown, he asked me a few months
ago if I'd seen the series, thePit.
That was my next question.
And, and I, and I just watchedit.
And I'm just listening to youand I, I, I thought the show was
amazing, but I'm not a traumanurse or a doctor.
(14:02):
Have you seen Yeah.
The, uh, the series and if so,how close to real life is it?
I have not seen that show.
Yeah.
In particular.
Yeah.
Um, but medical shows.
It's more about the drama.
Yeah.
You know, like you see peoplewho have oxygen on and they,
(14:24):
it's on wrong.
Or the prongs are in upsidedown.
Yeah.
You know, things like that.
Yeah.
I always wondered why they neverconsulted a regular medical
doctor to make it look morereal.
So Dina that, but yeah, you, youwant stuff like that and you're
like, oh, that is the thingabout the show.
No, that's not, that's done.
That's the thing about the show,Dina, it, the pit, um, they
consulted doctors and doctors.
(14:45):
Are amazed how it's really,there's so much more medical
stuff in more medical than it isdrama as far as Yeah, really.
It's so, it's so amazing.
Yeah.
Sorry, I don't wanna, I don'thave to, we're not here to
promote the show, but it's, no,I have to watch it.
It's really, really good.
And another nurse that I talkedto said, he said it's exact,
it's amazing how exact it is.
And it's, um, it's really, it'squite amazing.
Anyway.
Yeah, it's, well, and some ofthe nurses up on, on that floor,
(15:08):
uh, you know, just making smalltalk with them.
Had mentioned that the pit isshockingly realistic.
Um, KG is, huh?
This is, this is the longestyou've ever gone without saying
anything, do you, any questionsover there?
Kg?
I do.
I, I gotta start by saying my,my, uh, my aunt who's like my
second mom was a nurse for 42years at, at Children's in St.
(15:30):
Paul.
And so I have the utmost respectfor the profession and how
giving.
She has been in our lives.
She's like a human saint.
I mean, she's just the mostselfless person.
And I think there has to be alot of that to what you do.
I hear the catch phrase worklife balance all the time in all
walks of life.
But for you specifically being anurse, having to have that
(15:53):
connection with families, andthis is what you know, this one
was a little extra specialbecause you have the background
of being friends with the SCHfamily, but taking that aside.
If you're gonna do your job,you've gotta connect with these
patients knowing that thesituation is dire.
Um, there's emotion involvedwith that.
Dina, how do you separate whatyou do and you know, you're
(16:15):
there for 8, 10, 11, 12 hourssometimes, and then being able
to go home and unplug and nothave some of those emotions
bubble back up.
great question, and I, oh, ofcourse, it was a great question.
Professional, whatever.
(16:37):
here's the real deal, is this islife and death.
We're all gonna die someday.
You know, some of us end uphaving tragic accidents where
it.
Speeds that process up and theconversations are real.
They're tough, they're hard,they're emotional.
Um, talking with families is aspecialty all on its own.
(17:01):
Um, you have to meet peoplewhere they are.
You have to not take thingspersonal, right?
Like you're gonna get lashed outon by family members because
their loved ones are sick,dying.
Side, you know, we're the, we'rethe punching bag sometimes.
Wow.
Um, and over the years you dolearn how to navigate that and
(17:26):
not take it personal.
Um, but I think being ahealthcare professional, we, we
probably as a whole, don't takethe best care of ourselves
because you are giving a lot.
And at the end of the day, youknow.
I didn't learn what self carewas until I was 50 years old,
(17:47):
honestly.
So I believe it, it, it's true.
Um, but having friends that youtalk to, being out in nature,
going for walks, like if youneed to journal, I love
acupuncture.
You know, there's, there's toolsand things that you do to
(18:08):
release the stress of work.
But you do come, become verygood at decom compartmentalizing
things.
Um, and just separating it.
I don't know how it's a gift ora curse.
I don't, I don't know.
Yeah, Dina, you know, greatanswer.
Yeah.
The, um, thank you.
It seemed like we weresurrounded by, by people that
(18:30):
were just, you know,compassionate, just caring
folks.
I would imagine that in over thecourse of your career, there are
people that have inspired you tooperate the way that you do.
Who are some of those people andwhat kinda lessons did you learn
from them?
Oh, goodness.
I'm gonna start with, lemme justtell you those, those, uh,
palliative care docs, Dr.
(18:53):
Ruiz, Dr.
The French guy, um, I mean Dr.
Blando.
Yeah.
Blando, I mean, my goodness,what lovely human beings they
are.
I knew Dr.
Ruiz a long, long, long, longtime ago.
Um, I don't work on the flooranymore.
I'm not a bedside nurse anymore.
Um, so I haven't seen him forquite a while, but they are
(19:16):
amazing people and it's a wholedifferent philosophy, you know,
the palliative and hospiceapproach.
and you, you have to have thetough conversations with people
and try to help guide familiesinto a different thought
process, right?
Like, there's nothing more thatwe can do.
(19:38):
So here's our option.
those are tough conversations tohave.
And one thing that I will say,with your dad, he was so, the
hard thing, I think probably foryou guys, but for healthcare
people too.
Like he had his wits about himto the whole time.
Yeah, right.
He knew exactly what was goingon.
(20:00):
He knew, he knew.
I remember, I'll never forget,he looked at me and he's like,
this is gonna be so hard forKate.
Mm-hmm.
Because I think he was kind ofcoming to the point where things
weren't progressing, he wasn'tfeeling better.
You know, like, what do we do?
And you know, like the last daythat I saw him and I held his
(20:25):
hand and he's like, well, whatdid he say, John?
We've made the choice.
I forgot what, how he worded it,but I just looked at him and I
saw a little tear down the sideof his face and I just squeezed
his hand.
And, you know, it's like, I getit.
You're stuck between a rock anda hard place.
You know?
(20:46):
What do you, what do you do?
Let me tell you what he did.
And he just kept, let me tellyou what he did.
Um, just, I just listened toyou.
He, he exuded the kindness thatI've heard, uh, about him on
last, the last podcast.
And this the fact that.
The thing out of his mouth was,this is gonna be hard for my
daughter.
(21:06):
Yes.
It just says it all.
Right.
I mean, that's, that's what hedid.
What, what he did.
He was worried about her.
Exactly.
Yep.
And that, and that speaksvolumes about the kind of man
that he was.
And you know, the kind of humanbeings that, you know, he raised
and surrounded himself with.
That's, that's right.
Let's talk more about that.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Besides John, besides his son.
(21:29):
Right.
That can just ale that ales.
All of the nurses that walk in.
I mean, besides his son, I mean,everybody else.
Yeah.
I'm a.
I'm a pig, although I learnedthat, uh, the, is this a long
story actually came from theelder, so Yes.
Yes.
Is this a long story?
Yes.
That's something that my dadwould, uh, would drop on me
every once in a while.
(21:49):
after the first day that she wasthere, I'm like, how do I
connect with Dina?
I don't know what her last nameis.
So I start trying to track herdown, uh, through LinkedIn and I
find her on LinkedIn, so I sendher a LinkedIn connection
because I wanted to be able totext her.
About, you know, I didn't gether phone number'cause that
would've been super creepy, buthere's what's, here's what's
(22:13):
super funny.
Yeah.
My wife probably would've said,well, wait a second.
You know, she was here.
She was a big girl.
She probably wouldn't have caredso much.
But anyway.
Oh my genius.
Okay.
I'm keeping it real.
I'm keeping it real.
So anyways, she, John, John, Iknow where you're going with
this.
Is this the story that you'regonna tell?
(22:33):
Yes.
Is this a long story?
Yes.
It's not a long story.
It's a crazy story.
It's not, it's crazy.
Look, she accepts my, myLinkedIn thing.
Yeah.
And she says, oh my God, do youremember my cousin Jason
Bergdoll?
And I said, oh, I remember JasonBergal.
Not the, not the Jason Bergdoll.
That was Uncle Chunk.
It was a cousin of that.
(22:54):
That was Joe.
That was Joe Bergal.
This is Jason, and Jason was twoyears behind me.
He went to Harding.
I said, yeah, people used tothink that we used to look
alike, so she sends me ascreenshot of his LinkedIn
profile, what it looks, what didI call it?
Doppelganger Doppelganger.
(23:14):
That's like a cartoon.
Exactly right.
It's a caricature of you, John,with glasses.
So here's what I see when I lookat this.
This is an AI generated.
Cleaned up, thinned out versionof me.
Yes.
Jason Bergdahl don't look thisgood.
No, there's no way Kind lookslike Clark contact.
Does he sell cars?
What does he do?
But, but he has the sameglasses, the same jacket I'm
(23:37):
wearing.
Yes.
I wonder if he sweats like you.
Like there's nobody sweats likeme.
It was like the same person.
It it is.
It was crazy.
So what's super funny is, andDina you haven't even heard this
story.
There was a story about Jason inthe Star Tribune about, you
know, professionals on the go orsomething like that.
Sure.
And this picture was in thenewspaper.
(23:57):
My uncle Harry sends me ascreenshot.
He goes, look at how much thisguy looks like you.
I'm like, I know that guy.
Oh, that was since, are youserious?
Since, I am not kidding you.
Wow.
And I thought that maybe I hadshowed him this, and he's like,
wait a second, this is just toofricking weird.
But yeah, it is weird.
So those of you that arelisteners, go to the LinkedIn,
(24:18):
uh, and look up Jason Bergal andthen look up John Schitz.
And the pictures are almostidentical.
He for sure had his teethwhitened.
There's no question about that.
And he's got a filter.
'cause nobody's skin can be thatperfect.
You need to have him on theshow.
Yeah, no.
Yeah, he looks slick.
No, he looks slick.
Right?
He looks like a slick guy.
He looks like a slick, thinnerversion of me.
(24:39):
Yeah, whatever.
You guys are identical.
It's.
Crazy.
So go ahead.
D this is Jeff.
My, uh, daughter Kimmy is in herlast semester at Winona State
for nursing.
Yeah.
And, uh, do you have any jobsavailable in preparation for
this episode?
I was just asking her, you know,what would you ask?
And so what advice would yougive a new nursing student who's
(25:02):
thinking about going into traumacare?
I would highly recommend thatyou start out doing a med surg,
job, which means you work withmedical surgical patients, so
people who have diabetes, heartproblems, gout, uh, whatever,
whatever the issue is.
(25:23):
Um, who also also has surgery.
So you get a well-rounded.
Wealth of knowledge from dealingwith both patient populations
and that way you can decide whatyou like to do.
Do you like med sick medicalpatients or do you like surgical
patients or do you like both?
you know what I do is absolutelynot for all nurses for sure.
(25:47):
I hate vomit, like I don't knowhow.
I have always said, if you'regonna throw up patient, please
tell me because I, I'll bethrowing up with you.
So we, we can't do that.
Like, I don't want, I don't likethat.
Smart.
But, um, so I, I think that isthe best way to kind of start
out.
But I know, you know, thingshave changed a lot in the past
(26:09):
25 years since I've been anurse.
Like to work in the emergencydepartment, you've had to have
years and years and years andyears of experience.
Now they hire new grads, whichis kind of scary.
same with like ICU positions,but she'll figure it out.
So she just has to try.
(26:29):
I would, I would definitely trya few different units if she
works at a hospital to see whatshe likes, that's great.
And she'll, she'll, she'll findher, her niche.
Is there a case that sticks withyou, uh, one that maybe changed
the way you approach your jobthat you can think of?
I asked, what's the craziestthing that you've seen on the
(26:52):
trauma unit?
Yeah, and maybe it wasn't you,Dina, but they, they mentioned
that like, this guy's stomachbecame so distended that he like
blew up.
Oh my god.
Burst open.
That, that happened to me,honestly.
Was he, it burst open, brother.
You know, actually it was a pa.
I didn't tell you that.
No, I didn't tell you that itwas a pa, that there was no
(27:14):
names.
So there's no HIPAA violationhere.
Keep going.
that did happen to me.
Um, that's when I first startedon the trauma unit, and this guy
had an abdominal surgery and hewas super, super, super, super
distended to where like thestaples that were holding his
stomach closed, were ready topop out.
(27:34):
Well, we had to insert a tubeinto his nose to decompress the
stomach so it would go down sothe staples wouldn't.
Oh boy.
Well, the tube went in and thestomach came open.
Oh my God.
I felt that way after Foggo deChow one time.
(27:55):
This is like an episode of thePit man.
I know.
Not good.
So we have to have a littlelevity with this, right?
No, you're, you're right, you'reright.
We do, we do.
That's gross.
It's gross.
But it's Halloween too, too.
It it's kind Halloweenish.
It's Halloweenish.
Dina, I have a question.
So.
Um, relating to your experienceand you know, obviously in your
position where you are rightnow, just how you were with the,
(28:18):
uh, the Schitz family.
Do they give you a lot oftraining on how to talk with
people, how to get them intothat frame of mind?
Or is that just come with timeand learning how to do it and
working with people?
Or are you just a naturally goodwith people and you just chimed
into that of the above?
Yes.
Okay.
All of the above.
I mean.
(28:41):
As you age, as you experiencedifferent scenarios with
different people, differentfamilies, different health
situations, life experiences,personal death, personal
injuries, like you learn how tobecome more empathetic, um, and
again, learn how to take.
(29:07):
They get yelled at by familymembers and they are crying and
they wanna quit.
You know, it's like, it's notabout you and you, you have to
try to separate that and you'regonna have to have a little bit
thicker skin and that will comewith time, you know?
Um, but yeah, I think it's.
All of the above.
I have a question that I mustask.
I think I, I think I'm pretty, Ithink I'm pretty personable and
(29:29):
social and Totally, you soundlike it.
Yeah.
Yes.
Very good at reading the room.
You know, you get very good atreading the room.
Mm-hmm.
What you can say and what youcan't say, and when you can make
something funny and when youcan't, you.
John's working on it.
I'm struggling with that.
He's working on it.
Um, so, uh, I promise that wewould have you off in 30
minutes, but just a couple quickother questions.
(29:51):
Of course.
This is a question for mysister.
Um, you know, she's into like TVshows, like lockup and
prisoners, and I noticed someorange jumpsuits and shackles.
How often do you have likeprisoners.
Uh, that, that you're caringfor, and why are they usually up
there?
Is it, did they get shoved inthe shower or, okay.
(30:14):
Or, yeah.
It's not alcaraz I, for cryingout loud.
Geez.
Listen to the, to the expert.
I don't know.
Okay.
You don't know.
Toothbrush, shiv we do get them,of course.
And they have like a sheriffthat sits with them like all
night.
Yeah.
If, if you're incarcerated, youhave to be handcuffed to the
(30:37):
bed.
You have to have a guard at thebedside.
Sometimes, a couple depending.
Um, but they usually come infrom some kind of an assault.
Um, some is self harm, some is.
Just being sick, old.
I mean, it, it depends.
But yes, we do have them.
(30:59):
We, we get it all.
So there's nothing we don't seeand we don't do.
Huh.
So that those o opportunitiesfor you kind of blend what you
wanted to do with what youultimately decided to do.
Yeah, so you get to be aroundthe's a prisoners.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Not many of these guys here.
Oh, I see that.
See now that kind of blink, thatconnection.
(31:20):
Wow.
It's just by way, way my brainworks.
To wrap this up, to put a bow onthis thing, I just want to thank
you, Dina.
You made the journey for ourentire family, but especially my
dad, one that just felt verypersonal and just very cared
for.
You guys are angels.
Yeah.
And I sincerely, cannot tell youhow much we will always
appreciate the generous kindnessthat you've shown us.
(31:43):
So, well, good on you.
You're welcome.
And I'm, I'm very happy that youhad that experience for that
difficult time in your life and,you know, your dad was taking
good care of, which makes meproud of our whole team.
You know, like.
I know people work very hard totake care of him, so kudos to
(32:05):
the trauma team.
You bet.
And palliative.
And the nurses and all thepeople.
Well, Dina, it sounds like youlanded in the exact right spot
where you needed to be For us.
She did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you for being here.
And the social workers.
So social workers.
Social workers.
A tough, that is a tough gig.
Well, and we always like, Iwouldn't want that job.
No.
My God.
No.
(32:26):
No.
just real quickly.
We had this new social worker.
She had been on the job for like30 days and we were struggling
with what to do with dad.
Should we do the dialysis,should, and she was just working
her tail off to, to help usnavigate this thing.
And we're like, oh my God, I'mso sorry that we've been so
(32:47):
difficult.
And she says, difficult.
Exactly.
She goes, you are the mostenjoyable family that I've ever
worked with.
And I'm like, come on.
Yeah.
And she's, she's, no, but what Imean, what that tells me is they
deal with some really toughsituations.
She told me that there have beenoccasions where somebody gets
(33:10):
discharged.
They're homeless.
What do you do with thosepeople?
Oh, mm-hmm.
Tough.
They, they're delivered to acorner in, in, uh, St.
Paul or Minneapolis.
It's bad.
So on that delightful note, ohJohn, that's not what you wrap
it up with.
You know what?
I'm gonna cut that out.
Fuck it.
(33:30):
I'm gonna cut, know I'm cuttingthat out.
We're gonna come on, we're gonnafinish with the nice stuff that
we talked about and we alwayslike to close with a and off we
go.
Thank you, Dina.
Oh, thank you guys.
Thank you, Dina.
Thank for having me.
We'll be in touch.
Alright, thanks.
Okay, sounds good.
Bye-bye.
Yep, bye.
Creepy.
(33:52):
It's not creepy.
It's Halloween.
They want someone with knowledgeof the body.
We just want the body now.
That is disgusting.
How did you know?
Oh God.
Tune it out.
Sorry.
It's a fact that there is such athing as manners, a way of
treating people.
These fish have manners, infact.
They're coming with me.
Oh boy, that's a great movie.
Welcome to The KindnessChronicles.
That's a great movie where onceagain, we hope to inject the
world with a dose of theMinnesota Kindness.
(00:31):
That it desperately needs.
Was that from Jerry McGuire?
Yes.
Oh, that's fantastic.
J Dina, we haven't gotten to youyet.
Sorry.
I tease it.
Tease.
That's up my job.
Tell her to be quiet.
Tell our guests to be quiet.
Tell our guests to be quiet.
Be quiet.
Speak.
Pretend like you're not on yet,Dina.
Speak when spoken to in acorner, nobody.
Oh, she starts out strong.
(00:52):
There you go.
That's the right way to start.
We're gonna get right into this,I guess.
I guess.
So.
Real quick, KG, how are you?
KG ISS on the road.
Where are you at?
KG.
I'm out running some errands inMinne Talke, uh, uh, the travel
schedule officially startstomorrow for the, uh, the
Minnesota Wild and the newseason.
That's a us so yeah.
Excited that this worked out.
Uh, nurse Dean is gonna be anawesome guest and, uh, some good
(01:14):
topics tonight.
So, real quick, uh, how do youfeel about the Carri contract?
It was needed.
We were, uh, kind of trainingcamp there that black cloud
over, uh.
Waiting for something to happen.
Surprise, it hadn't happened.
Uh, but he's a top 10 player inthe league.
(01:35):
Uh, the wild know thatsuperstars are the ones that win
Stanley Cup.
So if they have any intentionsof doing that, they had to find
a way to keep'em.
They probably overpaid forCarole, but they probably have
underpaid for some of theirother players.
Bold, who's only making 7million a year.
Oh.
Oh no.
How will he make it?
Uh, they'll all be okay.
(01:56):
But that's the landscape thatthey're in and, um, a little
extra kindness for, uh, for isokay by me because he's a great
kid.
Absolutely.
Let's just get right into this.
Yeah.
I have, uh, secured a, uh, aguest for us this evening.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, this person is someone thatI knew a long, long time ago.
She was a, uh.
(02:17):
A neighborhood friend of mysister's and all the boys had a
twinkle for her.
Mm.
Of course.
Um, Dina, it used to be DinaTolleson.
Now she is Dina.
Oh boy.
Zeep, isn't it Dina Tolleson?
Did I get that right?
It used to be.
Yeah.
It used to be.
Yes.
Well, here's how we re uh,connected with d.
(02:38):
Uh, right after my dad wa andthis is gonna be the last show
where we talk about the dad.
Why?
Because we, because we justdon't wanna overdo it.
No, we love to talk about dad.
We do love talking about thedad.
Yeah.
I have a couple of things to, toreal quick.
So, Ben figures out that he hasall of the voicemails from
grandpa that he had ever senthim.
Oh, wow.
And he goes and reeves thesethings and he starts sending
(03:00):
them to me.
I'm like, why are you do.
I'm trying to drive, man.
Right.
A break.
Right.
But we'll get into that in asecond.
Anyways, Grandpa was, on the11th floor, the trauma center
at, Regents Hospital, level OneTrauma Center, and couple of
staff walk in and all of asudden this familiar face pops
around the corner and we'relike, no way.
(03:22):
Oh my gosh.
I used the word God too often.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh.
That's Dina and my sister breaksout into tears.
I mean, it was just thisbeautiful reunion.
Kate and Dina were the bestpals.
Dina went to Harding, Kate wentto Hill and you know how you
just kind of go your separateways.
Life happens.
(03:42):
Yeah, life happens.
Welcome Dina.
Hi, Dina.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Hello.
Hello.
Hi.
Thank you for having me.
So, so Dina, um, tell us alittle bit about your journey to
becoming a nurse.
How was it that you decided, atwhat point in your life did you
decide that you wanted to becomea nurse?
Ooh.
Well, first starters, welldescribe to us who you are and
what you do at the RegionsHospital.
You know, Steve, if you want meto do, do, what am I doing?
(04:03):
I'm just sitting here.
You're giving the look.
I just, you're giving me thelook.
Let's listen to Dina.
So I was there, a labor partnerfor a girlfriend of mine who was
having a baby because herhusband did not wanna be in the
room because he would've savedit.
And the experience that Iwitnessed of, first of all, a
(04:24):
baby being born was absolutelybeautiful.
But the nurse that took care ofmy friend.
Took my breath away in everyway, shape, or form.
She had the greatest bedsidemanner.
She was funny, she was serious,she was empathetic.
Like she was the coolest ladyI've ever seen.
And I was like, I wanna be thatlady.
I wanna do what she's doing.
(04:45):
And that's kind of where itstarted.
Wow.
D Dina, this is Michael.
It doesn't sound like you madethe decision to do nursing when
you were 16.
And then you went to a nursingschool and you did all of those
things.
How old were you when you werein that room and you had that
epiphany?
Well, first of all, I went toschool to be a police officer.
(05:05):
That's what I wanted to do.
Oh, that's what I started outbeing.
but with that, I think I was,uh, 22.
Oh, early twenties, fifth.
Oh wow.
It's relatively young, but tohave the, that experience and
have that epiphany and go, okay,now this is what I want to do.
Yeah.
Is, um, that's unique.
How do you really know what youwanna do, right?
(05:26):
When you're a young kid, right?
You have no idea, right?
And it took an experience likethat to say, that's what I wanna
do.
So then what happens?
So you have that experience andyou say, oh my goodness, I wanna
be that person.
then what happened?
What's the next step?
What's the journey?
Then the journey is you applyfor colleges that, uh, will
accept me because I didn't havea great GPA.
(05:49):
Um.
Not you.
So I mean, I like to passletters and talk in school a
lot.
So academics was not a priorityunfortunately, but I ended up
getting into St.
Kate's and got my degree andwent to work at, A nursing home.
(06:10):
That was my first job.
I worked with Alzheimer dementiapatients.
Oh, wow.
And then I went into hospicenursing.
for a year or so.
And then I went to the bigregions hospital.
I have been there ever since.
You said that you'd originallygone to school to become a
police officer.
How far along were you in thatjourney before you, uh, decided
(06:31):
to switch?
Five minutes.
Five minutes.
Okay.
Okay.
So it, it didn't last long.
Okay.
Yeah.
One of the things that I justhave to, acknowledge is when we
first spent our time at RegionsHospital, we were mm-hmm.
Overwhelmed by how attractiveall of the nurses and the
doctors were.
It was No, and I mean thissincerely.
(06:53):
It was like a, it was like aChicago med or a Grey's Anatomy
sort of situation.
Geez.
And my son Ben, has a friendnamed Jesse Flores who works on
the seventh floor, I believe.
Is that like a step up or stepdown?
I don't remember how hedescribed it, but Jesse's just
this really handsome lad and he,he made the comment, you should
(07:16):
see the overnight crew.
Very attractive people.
And I said, well, was he beingserious or no?
He was, he was being veryserious.
Oh.
Because they're all usually newgrads and Exactly.
They all still, you know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I gotcha.
Uhhuh Their skin is where it'ssupposed to be, all that stuff.
Yeah.
so Dini, you end up at RegionsHospital.
(07:36):
where were you first, assignedwhen you're at Regions?
my first job I was medicalprogressive care, working with
dialysis patients, and, I lasteda year there and I had a couple
of girlfriends that I actuallywent to college with that went,
they worked at the unit rightnext to me, the trauma unit, and
(07:57):
I'm like, I gotta get outta thisunit.
I can't stand it.
I, I just, this is not for me.
And they're like, come work withus.
They set up an interview withher boss and I transferred over,
and it was awesome.
It's been awesome all theseyears.
Well, of all of the places thata nurse could find themselves, I
would imagine that being atrauma nurse has to be one of
(08:19):
the more stressful, you know,every, can you describe just
some of the things that a traumanurse will experience throughout
the course of their, uh, of aweek, for example?
I can, yes.
So we see anything from a falloff of a ladder Mind.
You don't get on ladders ifyou're over 25.
(08:42):
Oh, geez.
Except stool.
That's it.
No ladders.
Wow.
Don't do that.
Not the first, uh, medicalprofessional that's ever said
that to me, by the way.
Yeah.
Stay off the ladder.
Yeah.
Stay off ladders.
Okay.
Stay off the ladder.
Yeah.
Hire out.
Do that.
Car crashes, motorcycle crashes,assault stabs.
The big thing nowadays is thee-bikes and the kids and wearing
(09:02):
the crocs and the no helmetsand, people like to have a
couple beverages and falldownstairs.
That's another big thing that wesee.
see it's a lot of falls.
Do you see, do you see likegunshot wounds and those kind of
things?
All the time.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Dina, you said you, did thedialysis piece for about a year,
(09:22):
and you said,, I gotta move in adifferent direction.
there is so many differentavenues in this field that you
can work in.
And, the patient population is abig thing like.
Sick Medical patients are notwhere I get my pleasure from.
but I like surgical traumapatients.
what I figured out was when myfriend recruited me, kind of,
(09:45):
you know, it's like, okay, we'llgive it a shot.
You're kind of supposed to shoparound a little bit for the
first few years of nursing soyou can see what you like.
And I just never left.
I loved it.
Huh.
So I have a question.
On the, the day that John's dadcame in, did you know that they
were there?
Did you see his name come in andyou were curious, or did you
(10:06):
just happen upon them?
Or how did that work?
And then how did you feel whenyou saw, uh, John's sister yes,
it was actually my weekend towork and we come in for the day
and we get our patient lift, andI saw John's name on it and my
heart sank, and it wasbittersweet.
(10:28):
It was like, oh boy, because itdidn't sound good from what I
was reading before I went to seehim.
But then knowing that I've knownthis family for most of my whole
entire life, who I love andadore, it was bittersweet.
When I saw Kate and we hugged,it was like we had not missed a
(10:52):
day.
Yeah, that's exactly, for 30years.
That's what Kate was like.
She, that's cool.
She's like.
Yeah, I haven't seen this gal inso long, but instantly that
connection was made.
And so, just so everybody knows,my dad's name is also John.
Yeah.
He went by Jack.
Um, did you know it was him ordid you think it was me?
No, I saw the age and I knew itwas definitely not the age.
You, that's right.
(11:12):
I'm much younger.
John, how did you, how did youfeel?
We were much, much younger.
I just had a question for John.
How did you feel when you sawthat it was.
That was, Deena being there andlike, did you feel like, oh,
comforted.
So it's, it's really funny'causeI immediately recognized her and
you would think that, right?
I was the first one thatrecognized you.
Let's just get that on therecord.
(11:33):
You did.
Let's say it.
Yep.
And, and I mean.
Not to be creepy, but she lookspretty good.
Oh, looks pretty good.
Oh boy.
Oh boy.
Oh Jesus.
Dina.
Sorry.
Sorry, Dina, sorry.
She fit in with all the rest ofthe Chicago me people that were
there, but she looked in and Ithought, is she visiting or, it
was super weird.
(11:54):
Yeah, it's like, it's kind ofodd that she would just pop her
head and, oh wait, she's got aname badge on.
She works here.
I that that whole trauma team,their bedside manner was
outrageously kind.
It was soft spoken.
Um, but you know, one of thereasons I wanted to have Dina on
is obviously when you areworking with Level One trauma
(12:16):
patients.
You are going to be experiencingpeople that have very, in many
cases, very little chance ofmaking it.
Yeah.
And you know, my dad's futuredid not look real good, but just
the way that they handled it wasjust so, I can't even, I don't
even know how to describe how,how discomforting it was.
(12:36):
Patients are great, right?
Like, and you are meeting themin their most stressful,
traumatic time of their liveswhen they're with us.
But your dad, who he is, who hewas, the personality, the
sincerity, the kindness, the,the gratitude that he showed
(12:59):
everybody like that is whatmakes us want to do our job.
And then we go above and beyondbecause Wow.
It's hard not to fall for peoplelike your dad and your family.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it's like you wanna doall the things, any little bit
of help that you can possiblydo.
(13:19):
You do.
And I think, like, I remembertexting John, like I left one
day and I was like, oh gosh, Iforgot.
Maybe we should ask for, whatwas it, like a cardiology
consult or something?
I can't remember what it was.
Because we haven't touched thatyet.
You know, like thinking outsidethe box to see what else that we
(13:40):
can do, and you're like, it'salready done.
Sitting here next to SteveBrown, he asked me a few months
ago if I'd seen the series, thePit.
That was my next question.
And, and I, and I just watchedit.
And I'm just listening to youand I, I, I thought the show was
amazing, but I'm not a traumanurse or a doctor.
(14:02):
Have you seen Yeah.
The, uh, the series and if so,how close to real life is it?
I have not seen that show.
Yeah.
In particular.
Yeah.
Um, but medical shows.
It's more about the drama.
Yeah.
You know, like you see peoplewho have oxygen on and they,
(14:24):
it's on wrong.
Or the prongs are in upsidedown.
Yeah.
You know, things like that.
Yeah.
I always wondered why they neverconsulted a regular medical
doctor to make it look morereal.
So Dina that, but yeah, you, youwant stuff like that and you're
like, oh, that is the thingabout the show.
No, that's not, that's done.
That's the thing about the show,Dina, it, the pit, um, they
consulted doctors and doctors.
(14:45):
Are amazed how it's really,there's so much more medical
stuff in more medical than it isdrama as far as Yeah, really.
It's so, it's so amazing.
Yeah.
Sorry, I don't wanna, I don'thave to, we're not here to
promote the show, but it's, no,I have to watch it.
It's really, really good.
And another nurse that I talkedto said, he said it's exact,
it's amazing how exact it is.
And it's, um, it's really, it'squite amazing.
Anyway.
Yeah, it's, well, and some ofthe nurses up on, on that floor,
(15:08):
uh, you know, just making smalltalk with them.
Had mentioned that the pit isshockingly realistic.
Um, KG is, huh?
This is, this is the longestyou've ever gone without saying
anything, do you, any questionsover there?
Kg?
I do.
I, I gotta start by saying my,my, uh, my aunt who's like my
second mom was a nurse for 42years at, at Children's in St.
(15:30):
Paul.
And so I have the utmost respectfor the profession and how
giving.
She has been in our lives.
She's like a human saint.
I mean, she's just the mostselfless person.
And I think there has to be alot of that to what you do.
I hear the catch phrase worklife balance all the time in all
walks of life.
But for you specifically being anurse, having to have that
(15:53):
connection with families, andthis is what you know, this one
was a little extra specialbecause you have the background
of being friends with the SCHfamily, but taking that aside.
If you're gonna do your job,you've gotta connect with these
patients knowing that thesituation is dire.
Um, there's emotion involvedwith that.
Dina, how do you separate whatyou do and you know, you're
(16:15):
there for 8, 10, 11, 12 hourssometimes, and then being able
to go home and unplug and nothave some of those emotions
bubble back up.
great question, and I, oh, ofcourse, it was a great question.
Professional, whatever.
(16:37):
here's the real deal, is this islife and death.
We're all gonna die someday.
You know, some of us end uphaving tragic accidents where
it.
Speeds that process up and theconversations are real.
They're tough, they're hard,they're emotional.
Um, talking with families is aspecialty all on its own.
(17:01):
Um, you have to meet peoplewhere they are.
You have to not take thingspersonal, right?
Like you're gonna get lashed outon by family members because
their loved ones are sick,dying.
Side, you know, we're the, we'rethe punching bag sometimes.
Wow.
Um, and over the years you dolearn how to navigate that and
(17:26):
not take it personal.
Um, but I think being ahealthcare professional, we, we
probably as a whole, don't takethe best care of ourselves
because you are giving a lot.
And at the end of the day, youknow.
I didn't learn what self carewas until I was 50 years old,
(17:47):
honestly.
So I believe it, it, it's true.
Um, but having friends that youtalk to, being out in nature,
going for walks, like if youneed to journal, I love
acupuncture.
You know, there's, there's toolsand things that you do to
(18:08):
release the stress of work.
But you do come, become verygood at decom compartmentalizing
things.
Um, and just separating it.
I don't know how it's a gift ora curse.
I don't, I don't know.
Yeah, Dina, you know, greatanswer.
Yeah.
The, um, thank you.
It seemed like we weresurrounded by, by people that
(18:30):
were just, you know,compassionate, just caring
folks.
I would imagine that in over thecourse of your career, there are
people that have inspired you tooperate the way that you do.
Who are some of those people andwhat kinda lessons did you learn
from them?
Oh, goodness.
I'm gonna start with, lemme justtell you those, those, uh,
palliative care docs, Dr.
(18:53):
Ruiz, Dr.
The French guy, um, I mean Dr.
Blando.
Yeah.
Blando, I mean, my goodness,what lovely human beings they
are.
I knew Dr.
Ruiz a long, long, long, longtime ago.
Um, I don't work on the flooranymore.
I'm not a bedside nurse anymore.
Um, so I haven't seen him forquite a while, but they are
(19:16):
amazing people and it's a wholedifferent philosophy, you know,
the palliative and hospiceapproach.
and you, you have to have thetough conversations with people
and try to help guide familiesinto a different thought
process, right?
Like, there's nothing more thatwe can do.
(19:38):
So here's our option.
those are tough conversations tohave.
And one thing that I will say,with your dad, he was so, the
hard thing, I think probably foryou guys, but for healthcare
people too.
Like he had his wits about himto the whole time.
Yeah, right.
He knew exactly what was goingon.
(20:00):
He knew, he knew.
I remember, I'll never forget,he looked at me and he's like,
this is gonna be so hard forKate.
Mm-hmm.
Because I think he was kind ofcoming to the point where things
weren't progressing, he wasn'tfeeling better.
You know, like, what do we do?
And you know, like the last daythat I saw him and I held his
(20:25):
hand and he's like, well, whatdid he say, John?
We've made the choice.
I forgot what, how he worded it,but I just looked at him and I
saw a little tear down the sideof his face and I just squeezed
his hand.
And, you know, it's like, I getit.
You're stuck between a rock anda hard place.
You know?
(20:46):
What do you, what do you do?
Let me tell you what he did.
And he just kept, let me tellyou what he did.
Um, just, I just listened toyou.
He, he exuded the kindness thatI've heard, uh, about him on
last, the last podcast.
And this the fact that.
The thing out of his mouth was,this is gonna be hard for my
daughter.
(21:06):
Yes.
It just says it all.
Right.
I mean, that's, that's what hedid.
What, what he did.
He was worried about her.
Exactly.
Yep.
And that, and that speaksvolumes about the kind of man
that he was.
And you know, the kind of humanbeings that, you know, he raised
and surrounded himself with.
That's, that's right.
Let's talk more about that.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Besides John, besides his son.
(21:29):
Right.
That can just ale that ales.
All of the nurses that walk in.
I mean, besides his son, I mean,everybody else.
Yeah.
I'm a.
I'm a pig, although I learnedthat, uh, the, is this a long
story actually came from theelder, so Yes.
Yes.
Is this a long story?
Yes.
That's something that my dadwould, uh, would drop on me
every once in a while.
(21:49):
after the first day that she wasthere, I'm like, how do I
connect with Dina?
I don't know what her last nameis.
So I start trying to track herdown, uh, through LinkedIn and I
find her on LinkedIn, so I sendher a LinkedIn connection
because I wanted to be able totext her.
About, you know, I didn't gether phone number'cause that
would've been super creepy, buthere's what's, here's what's
(22:13):
super funny.
Yeah.
My wife probably would've said,well, wait a second.
You know, she was here.
She was a big girl.
She probably wouldn't have caredso much.
But anyway.
Oh my genius.
Okay.
I'm keeping it real.
I'm keeping it real.
So anyways, she, John, John, Iknow where you're going with
this.
Is this the story that you'regonna tell?
(22:33):
Yes.
Is this a long story?
Yes.
It's not a long story.
It's a crazy story.
It's not, it's crazy.
Look, she accepts my, myLinkedIn thing.
Yeah.
And she says, oh my God, do youremember my cousin Jason
Bergdoll?
And I said, oh, I remember JasonBergal.
Not the, not the Jason Bergdoll.
That was Uncle Chunk.
It was a cousin of that.
(22:54):
That was Joe.
That was Joe Bergal.
This is Jason, and Jason was twoyears behind me.
He went to Harding.
I said, yeah, people used tothink that we used to look
alike, so she sends me ascreenshot of his LinkedIn
profile, what it looks, what didI call it?
Doppelganger Doppelganger.
(23:14):
That's like a cartoon.
Exactly right.
It's a caricature of you, John,with glasses.
So here's what I see when I lookat this.
This is an AI generated.
Cleaned up, thinned out versionof me.
Yes.
Jason Bergdahl don't look thisgood.
No, there's no way Kind lookslike Clark contact.
Does he sell cars?
What does he do?
But, but he has the sameglasses, the same jacket I'm
(23:37):
wearing.
Yes.
I wonder if he sweats like you.
Like there's nobody sweats likeme.
It was like the same person.
It it is.
It was crazy.
So what's super funny is, andDina you haven't even heard this
story.
There was a story about Jason inthe Star Tribune about, you
know, professionals on the go orsomething like that.
Sure.
And this picture was in thenewspaper.
(23:57):
My uncle Harry sends me ascreenshot.
He goes, look at how much thisguy looks like you.
I'm like, I know that guy.
Oh, that was since, are youserious?
Since, I am not kidding you.
Wow.
And I thought that maybe I hadshowed him this, and he's like,
wait a second, this is just toofricking weird.
But yeah, it is weird.
So those of you that arelisteners, go to the LinkedIn,
(24:18):
uh, and look up Jason Bergal andthen look up John Schitz.
And the pictures are almostidentical.
He for sure had his teethwhitened.
There's no question about that.
And he's got a filter.
'cause nobody's skin can be thatperfect.
You need to have him on theshow.
Yeah, no.
Yeah, he looks slick.
No, he looks slick.
Right?
He looks like a slick guy.
He looks like a slick, thinnerversion of me.
(24:39):
Yeah, whatever.
You guys are identical.
It's.
Crazy.
So go ahead.
D this is Jeff.
My, uh, daughter Kimmy is in herlast semester at Winona State
for nursing.
Yeah.
And, uh, do you have any jobsavailable in preparation for
this episode?
I was just asking her, you know,what would you ask?
And so what advice would yougive a new nursing student who's
(25:02):
thinking about going into traumacare?
I would highly recommend thatyou start out doing a med surg,
job, which means you work withmedical surgical patients, so
people who have diabetes, heartproblems, gout, uh, whatever,
whatever the issue is.
(25:23):
Um, who also also has surgery.
So you get a well-rounded.
Wealth of knowledge from dealingwith both patient populations
and that way you can decide whatyou like to do.
Do you like med sick medicalpatients or do you like surgical
patients or do you like both?
you know what I do is absolutelynot for all nurses for sure.
(25:47):
I hate vomit, like I don't knowhow.
I have always said, if you'regonna throw up patient, please
tell me because I, I'll bethrowing up with you.
So we, we can't do that.
Like, I don't want, I don't likethat.
Smart.
But, um, so I, I think that isthe best way to kind of start
out.
But I know, you know, thingshave changed a lot in the past
(26:09):
25 years since I've been anurse.
Like to work in the emergencydepartment, you've had to have
years and years and years andyears of experience.
Now they hire new grads, whichis kind of scary.
same with like ICU positions,but she'll figure it out.
So she just has to try.
(26:29):
I would, I would definitely trya few different units if she
works at a hospital to see whatshe likes, that's great.
And she'll, she'll, she'll findher, her niche.
Is there a case that sticks withyou, uh, one that maybe changed
the way you approach your jobthat you can think of?
I asked, what's the craziestthing that you've seen on the
(26:52):
trauma unit?
Yeah, and maybe it wasn't you,Dina, but they, they mentioned
that like, this guy's stomachbecame so distended that he like
blew up.
Oh my god.
Burst open.
That, that happened to me,honestly.
Was he, it burst open, brother.
You know, actually it was a pa.
I didn't tell you that.
No, I didn't tell you that itwas a pa, that there was no
(27:14):
names.
So there's no HIPAA violationhere.
Keep going.
that did happen to me.
Um, that's when I first startedon the trauma unit, and this guy
had an abdominal surgery and hewas super, super, super, super
distended to where like thestaples that were holding his
stomach closed, were ready topop out.
(27:34):
Well, we had to insert a tubeinto his nose to decompress the
stomach so it would go down sothe staples wouldn't.
Oh boy.
Well, the tube went in and thestomach came open.
Oh my God.
I felt that way after Foggo deChow one time.
(27:55):
This is like an episode of thePit man.
I know.
Not good.
So we have to have a littlelevity with this, right?
No, you're, you're right, you'reright.
We do, we do.
That's gross.
It's gross.
But it's Halloween too, too.
It it's kind Halloweenish.
It's Halloweenish.
Dina, I have a question.
So.
Um, relating to your experienceand you know, obviously in your
position where you are rightnow, just how you were with the,
(28:18):
uh, the Schitz family.
Do they give you a lot oftraining on how to talk with
people, how to get them intothat frame of mind?
Or is that just come with timeand learning how to do it and
working with people?
Or are you just a naturally goodwith people and you just chimed
into that of the above?
Yes.
Okay.
All of the above.
I mean.
(28:41):
As you age, as you experiencedifferent scenarios with
different people, differentfamilies, different health
situations, life experiences,personal death, personal
injuries, like you learn how tobecome more empathetic, um, and
again, learn how to take.
(29:07):
They get yelled at by familymembers and they are crying and
they wanna quit.
You know, it's like, it's notabout you and you, you have to
try to separate that and you'regonna have to have a little bit
thicker skin and that will comewith time, you know?
Um, but yeah, I think it's.
All of the above.
I have a question that I mustask.
I think I, I think I'm pretty, Ithink I'm pretty personable and
(29:29):
social and Totally, you soundlike it.
Yeah.
Yes.
Very good at reading the room.
You know, you get very good atreading the room.
Mm-hmm.
What you can say and what youcan't say, and when you can make
something funny and when youcan't, you.
John's working on it.
I'm struggling with that.
He's working on it.
Um, so, uh, I promise that wewould have you off in 30
minutes, but just a couple quickother questions.
(29:51):
Of course.
This is a question for mysister.
Um, you know, she's into like TVshows, like lockup and
prisoners, and I noticed someorange jumpsuits and shackles.
How often do you have likeprisoners.
Uh, that, that you're caringfor, and why are they usually up
there?
Is it, did they get shoved inthe shower or, okay.
(30:14):
Or, yeah.
It's not alcaraz I, for cryingout loud.
Geez.
Listen to the, to the expert.
I don't know.
Okay.
You don't know.
Toothbrush, shiv we do get them,of course.
And they have like a sheriffthat sits with them like all
night.
Yeah.
If, if you're incarcerated, youhave to be handcuffed to the
(30:37):
bed.
You have to have a guard at thebedside.
Sometimes, a couple depending.
Um, but they usually come infrom some kind of an assault.
Um, some is self harm, some is.
Just being sick, old.
I mean, it, it depends.
But yes, we do have them.
(30:59):
We, we get it all.
So there's nothing we don't seeand we don't do.
Huh.
So that those o opportunitiesfor you kind of blend what you
wanted to do with what youultimately decided to do.
Yeah, so you get to be aroundthe's a prisoners.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Not many of these guys here.
Oh, I see that.
See now that kind of blink, thatconnection.
(31:20):
Wow.
It's just by way, way my brainworks.
To wrap this up, to put a bow onthis thing, I just want to thank
you, Dina.
You made the journey for ourentire family, but especially my
dad, one that just felt verypersonal and just very cared
for.
You guys are angels.
Yeah.
And I sincerely, cannot tell youhow much we will always
appreciate the generous kindnessthat you've shown us.
(31:43):
So, well, good on you.
You're welcome.
And I'm, I'm very happy that youhad that experience for that
difficult time in your life and,you know, your dad was taking
good care of, which makes meproud of our whole team.
You know, like.
I know people work very hard totake care of him, so kudos to
(32:05):
the trauma team.
You bet.
And palliative.
And the nurses and all thepeople.
Well, Dina, it sounds like youlanded in the exact right spot
where you needed to be For us.
She did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you for being here.
And the social workers.
So social workers.
Social workers.
A tough, that is a tough gig.
Well, and we always like, Iwouldn't want that job.
No.
My God.
No.
(32:26):
No.
just real quickly.
We had this new social worker.
She had been on the job for like30 days and we were struggling
with what to do with dad.
Should we do the dialysis,should, and she was just working
her tail off to, to help usnavigate this thing.
And we're like, oh my God, I'mso sorry that we've been so
(32:47):
difficult.
And she says, difficult.
Exactly.
She goes, you are the mostenjoyable family that I've ever
worked with.
And I'm like, come on.
Yeah.
And she's, she's, no, but what Imean, what that tells me is they
deal with some really toughsituations.
She told me that there have beenoccasions where somebody gets
(33:10):
discharged.
They're homeless.
What do you do with thosepeople?
Oh, mm-hmm.
Tough.
They, they're delivered to acorner in, in, uh, St.
Paul or Minneapolis.
It's bad.
So on that delightful note, ohJohn, that's not what you wrap
it up with.
You know what?
I'm gonna cut that out.
Fuck it.
(33:30):
I'm gonna cut, know I'm cuttingthat out.
We're gonna come on, we're gonnafinish with the nice stuff that
we talked about and we alwayslike to close with a and off we
go.
Thank you, Dina.
Oh, thank you guys.
Thank you, Dina.
Thank for having me.
We'll be in touch.
Alright, thanks.
Okay, sounds good.
Bye-bye.
Yep, bye.
Creepy.
(33:52):
It's not creepy.
It's Halloween.
They want someone with knowledgeof the body.
We just want the body now.
That is disgusting.
How did you know?
Oh God.
Tune it out.
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