May 18, 2023 • 28 mins
Through the Celebrate Caring campaign, Independence Blue Cross aims to shine a spotlight on the extraordinary efforts and dedication of nurses, acknowledging their tireless commitment to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier community. The campaign serves as a platform to express gratitude, appreciation, and admiration for the selfless work performed by nurses each day. I speak to the awardees, Juneifer Riggins, RN, BSN, Pathways to Housing PA, Christina N. Milligan, CRNP, CHOP Primary Care, Paoli, Leah Santos, RN, BSN, Penn Transplant Institute and Koleen Cavanaugh - Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Independence Blue Cross.
https://www.ibx.com/htdocs/custom/celebrate-caring/index.html
Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business. Did you know some major companies are complicit? We talk to award-winning lawyer and author Mike Papantonio about this shocking fact.
https://www.ibx.com/htdocs/custom/celebrate-caring/index.html
Human trafficking is a multibillion-dollar business. Did you know some major companies are complicit? We talk to award-winning lawyer and author Mike Papantonio about this shocking fact.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to What'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow, one of
the nation's top lawyers, has workedto address the terrible issue of human trafficking.
He's written a novel called Inhuman Traffickingbased on his experiences. But first,
Independence Blue Crosses Celebrate Caring Campaign isa heart felt initiative dedicated to honoring
(00:25):
and recognizing the invaluable contribution of nurses. As the backbone of the healthcare system,
nurses play a vital role in providingcompassionate care and support to patients,
often going above and beyond their callof duty. Through the Celebrate Caring Campaign,
Independence Blue cross aims to shine aspotlight on the extraordinary efforts and dedication
(00:47):
of nurses, acknowledging their tireless commitmentto improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier
community. I am so happy anddelighted to introduce the twenty twenty three Celebrate
Caring winners to be talking with themtoday. But before we speak to them,
let's go to Colleen Kevinaugh, SeniorVice president and Chief Marketing Officer for
Independence FRU Cross. Tell us whydid you all decide to have this celebration
(01:14):
of caring honoring nurses. Were greatto see you again, especially with some
things such a great thing to betalking about. Independence has been the hometown
Ensure here in Philadelphia for over eightyfive years. We really believe in everything
that nurses do and the impact thatthey make on the healthcare system and what
a critical role that they play.Nurses we see in so many different settings
(01:37):
making a difference not just in patientslives, but their family's lives, and
oftentimes giving of themselves and really makinga difference in the community as well,
and improving the health and well beingof Philadelphia and the other areas here in
the community. So it really tiesnicely with Independence's mission and the values and
what we stand for. It's reallyincredible to shine a light on these incredible
(02:00):
nurses that are doing amazing things herein Philadelphia and their surrounding areas well.
Colleen, not only are we shininga light, but they also get some
real wonderful goodies. Tell us howyou're celebrating these nurses not only by shining
the light but also giving them alittle something extra extra. They deserve this
and more so, all of ourwinners will be receiving a five hundred dollars
(02:23):
gift card. There's also a nightin Atlantic City which is nice as well,
and twenty five hundred dollar donation tothe charitable organization of their choice.
What we have found over the yearswith nurses is that they are just doing
incredible things and are such selfless givingpeople that to be able to recognize the
charity of their choice and for themto make an even bigger contribution, who
(02:46):
as an honor for us to havethat and honor them this way with giving
them that donation ability, that isfantastic. Well, let's talk to the
twenty twenty three winners, Jennifer Riggins, who is with Pathways to Housing pa
Christina Milligan who's with chop Primary CarePaoli, and Leah Santos, who is
with pen Transplant Institute. So I'mgoing to go down the line and ask
(03:09):
you each this question. What wasyour reaction when you found out you were
being honored. I'm going to startout with you, Leah, what was
your reaction when Brittany called me?I you know, I was like,
oh my God, Like, whatis who do I have to interview?
With and she just kind of shewas just like, you know, we
are partnering with iHeartRadio, and Iwas just like, okay this. Immediately
(03:29):
I felt just full of gratitude.If I could do any part in showing
the way that nurses, you know, do incredible work in and out of
the workplace, I'm all for it. So I was. I wasn't nervous
at first, but now I'm justfilled with gratitude to be able to be
honored in this way. That's wonderful. Do you do? What about you?
What was your reaction? Well,I did not know that I was
(03:51):
nominated, so I was very surprised, But then when I learned about what
it was all about, I wasthankful and grateful to just be nominated and
then be part of it. Andnurses do a lot of good work and
it's always nice to be recognized forwhat you do, although that's not why
we do it. So I'm honoredand just happy to be part of it.
(04:11):
Christina, what was your reaction whenyou heard? I was super surprised.
I wasn't made aware that I wasbeing nominated, so when I was
told I won, I was inshock. I think too, again,
like what everyone else is saying,it's super important that the world sees how
hard we work and like the levelof care and the love that we have
(04:33):
to give. So I think it'slike, I'm just honored to be that
person to kind of be able tobe recognized, and I feel like I
don't do what I do to dothat, so in order to have that
little light it means a lot tome. And I'm just super grateful as
well. That's wonderful. And Isee that so many of you are.
You're just so humble and you dothe work because you really deeply are committed.
(04:57):
This is your mission, this iswho you are, this is your
commitment to service. And I wonderif you can tell us a little bit
more about what drew you to nursing, Leah, what drew you to nursing
in the first place. I don'treally have in a moment. I know
that for some nurses they're able tokind of think of that one moment or
a family member or kind of anexperience. I've always actually felt like I've
(05:19):
had a healing kind of nature aboutmyself and I wanted to channel it and
there was no better way that Icould think of than channeling, you know,
my healing nature than to be anurse. Every nurse that I've ever
met as a healer in so manydifferent ways, and so that's why I
wanted to be a nurse. Doyou do what drew you to nursing?
I actually started off taking care offamily member who was sick and in a
(05:42):
nursing home, and I found thatI found a lot of joy and just
being able to help out. Andthe place I was at, the nurses
and the staff, we're telling me, you're a natural. You know,
this is what you should do.So I started from the bottom and became
a CNA for seven years before Iwent to nursing school and it just went
from there and I love what Ido. Christina, what about you?
(06:03):
I kind of agree with like,but Leah said, so, I feel
like I never have like anyone inmy family that was a nurse, but
I always loved to just care forpeople. I have two younger siblings,
so I think my earliest memories arejust taking care of them and help being
a part of their lives. AndI think that like that kind of just
continued to follow me, and Ifound such a joy in doing that,
(06:26):
even with like having to listen tofriends and just kind of being there for
other people, and that just againfollowed me, and that was the only
option that I wanted to do,is be a nurse. There was no
other career path for me. SoI totally feel like this is my passion
and this is why I'm here.Leah, I want you to tell us
what is the most rewarding and whatis the most challenging aspect of being a
(06:48):
nurse. I would say the mostrewarding is that nursing is lifelong learning.
With that being said, I thinkthat the three of us can agree,
you know, what we know nowis just off in the ocean of what
there is to know. It's incrediblyrewarding in that aspect. I think the
most challenging thing for myself is theamount of fatigue that we experience. It's
(07:10):
not just physical. I think thata lot of us assume that it's physical,
but there's compassion fatigue, there's moralfatigue. And so anytime that I
have a chance to just kind ofconnect with other nurses, I always ask
them, what are you doing foryourself to care for yourself in order to
be able to care for other people? Do you do the most rewarding,
the most challenging thing. So themost rewarding thing for me is just being
(07:32):
able to help people who are lessfortunate, who don't have the support that
others might have. Because of courseI'm in community nursing, so I'm out
on the streets and Kensington in differentparts that Philadelphia helping those who might be
homeless or not have So I justget joy a lot of joy out of
dooring special things for them like thatthey don't expect and it just makes you
(07:56):
feel good. And the most challengingthing for me about my job right now,
it's just basically being able to getthem to go and get the help
they need, like especially medical helplike in a hospital or an emergency room,
and then trying to find a bathroomwhile you want the street. That's
really challenging. That's a challenge forsure, Christina, What about you?
(08:16):
Most challenging, most rewarding, themost rewarding is just like building connections with
families. So I'm like in primarycare, so I get to see from
the newborn stage all the way upuntil they're twenty one if they want to
continue to see me, and Ifind like you get to know their parents
and the grandparents, and you justbuild these little connections and they're like you
(08:37):
feel like you're part of the family. And so I always want my patients
to know that I'm here for youto go to I'm also here to just
listen. And I think sometimes peoplejust want to be heard, and I
think nurses are really important and theydo that whereas they take that time.
So I just want my patients toknow that I care about them. I
treat them like they're my own familyand my own kids, and that that
(08:58):
really just brings up joy to me. The most challenging I think I struggle
with not bringing things home. Ibring a lot home with me and I
think about my patients a lot,and I think about the struggles are going
through and I wish I could domore. So I think that that can
be a real big challenge, especiallywith the mental health kids right now.
I feel like there's so many childrenwho need a lot of mental health help,
(09:20):
whether it's a psychiatrist or a therapist, and there aren't that there are
many options out there. I feellike I'm an option and I'm not certified
in those places. Yes yet Iwish I could be. But I'm not,
so I feel like I'm here forthem, but they could use someone
else who really specializes in it.So I think it's a big challenge just
being able to try to find thoseresources for them, but also let them
(09:43):
know that in the meantime, youcan come to me. But I don't
have all the answers. So oneof the really cool aspects about this program
is that you get to donate toa charity of your choice. So tell
us what the charity is and whyyou chose that charity to donate to.
Leah, the charity of my choiceis the Sunday Love Project. Sunday Love
(10:03):
is a charity that's near and dearto my heart. I've been volunteering with
Sunday Love for about six years now. It is a nonprofit organization that connects
people with resources, but mostly withfood. So right now, Sunday Love
has a free pantry. It's afree choice grocery store. It's in Kensington.
I looked up statistics a little whileago, and it's one of the
(10:24):
poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and Philadelphiais the poorest largest city in America,
And so that you know that tellsyou about the need, and so Sunday
Love has a grocery store called GreaterGoods where they offer free groceries and that
includes fresh groceries, meats, producefish, not just self shelf stable items.
(10:46):
And I'm just trying to meet peoplewhere they are and treat them with
integrity. Yeah, Sunday Love isjust truly near and dear to my heart,
and so I'm really glad to beable to give them this wonderful do
you do? What about you?So I decided to donate two pathways to
housing where I work. The workthat we do there is very important.
It's something that it's not seen alot. So they're going out, they're
(11:09):
housing the homeless. We provide lotsof other things for them as far as
like they have a clinic where theycan come and get vaccines, get seen,
won't care any type of treatment theyneed. They also have mental health
doctors, psychiatrists on board, andthen we have a whole team of service
coordinators that go out support them tothe clinic, support them to grocery shop,
(11:31):
and do laundry and all these thingseven when they're still on the street.
So I think it's one of thosethings where we'll be able to continue
to help them them since we leavemoney. Of course, I think it's
just wonderful to give back to somethingthat I'm so passionate about. Fantastic.
What about you, Christina, Iwas touring when I found out that we
could give you money to a charity. Something close to me is my son
(11:54):
has a rare metabolic disorder. It'scalled the all Tide. What working at
chop you know, you'd think youwould hear a lot of different rare disorders,
And I worked in the ICU fora while. No doctors or anyone
ever heard of it. So whensomeone was diagnosed, I was really alarmed.
And I found a lot of supportthrough honestly through Facebook and through social
media of different families and different peoplewho have rare disorders. So I'd like
(12:18):
to give the funds to rare disordersand rare diseases and maybe someone specifically that
can deal with vatioxidation disorders, sothat we can educate not only my colleagues
and not only the medical staff,but also just like people in general,
that there are people out there thatstruggle with these and they may look totally
fine from the outside, but theirbodies work differently on the inside, and
(12:39):
so I think it's just important tokind of shed some light on that.
So I would love to do that. And finally, you are individuals who
have a great passion for what youdo, and I wonder if you could
provide some advice to those that nextgeneration of nurses looking to enter the field.
Leah, my best advice is tobe an open minded individual. You
(13:03):
are going to see people from somany different backgrounds, that's cultural, ethnic,
religious, socioeconomic backgrounds, people whopractice life in different ways, and
our job is to care for them, not to judge them by any means.
My best advice is to be anopen minded and flexible person. Do
you do? What's your advice?I have a lot of people around me
(13:24):
who are interested in being nurses,and I find the one thing that keeps
people from going into this field aretwo things. Number one, they think
is going to be too hard atschool, and number two, they sometimes
feel like they're not sure if they'llbe able to handle the stress and also
the workload. And what I wouldsay is that school is hard, but
(13:46):
it's doable. Like there are somany that went before you, there's so
much help there and the teachers reallywant to see you succeed, so I
find out that there's a lot ofhelp as far as the workload. I
think if you have a heart forand your passion is to help people,
then you'll be able to handle it. And you'll find like your own way
of dealing and distressing yourself, whetherit be through self care or massages or
(14:07):
whatever. But it's doable, andI think we need nurses, so please
please go out and be a nurse. We need you desperately for sure.
Christina, what is your advice?My advice would be just to be yourself.
I mean, nurses are the mostamazing people in the world. I
honestly just love meeting anyone who's anurse. You just have this special bond
(14:28):
with each other because deep down insidewe want to care for everyone and love
everyone and just do good in theworld. So I think if you could
do anything, just remember why youdid this and be yourself, and you're
going to be great at it.Fantastic Colleen, back to you. I
know that not only are you honoringthese wonderful nurses with all the things that
we've talked about, but there's anopportunity to find out even more about them
(14:52):
on your website and perhaps also alertpeople to next year when you'll have another
round of seller great caring and peoplewill know where to go to nominate the
nurses that they love. Yes,we invite everyone to go to our website
ibx dot com and then just backslashnurses and you can learn even more incredible
(15:13):
things about these wonderful women as wellas we have. In addition to these
three winners, we have seven finalists, so even more nurses that we are
recognizing this year, so you canlearn all about these incredible nurses as well
as our previous winners and finalists.We've been doing this for five years now
and we've over that time gotten nearlyfour thousand nominations and have honored nearly fifty
(15:35):
nurses, so you can get allthat information on our website ibx dot com
slash nurses as well. We willbe sharing information on this year's winners through
our social media channels, so pleasetake a look because as you can hear,
these are incredible people. Every timewe do this, we are amazed
by the winners and what motivates themto be nurses, what they have learned
(15:58):
by being nurses is their nominations typicallyare just the surface of the work that
they are doing and the impact thatthey are having for their patients and the
communities. To please help us andhonoring them by learning more about them.
Hopefully next year you will have anurse shoe want to nominate as well.
Calling Kavanaugh, Senior vice President,chief Marketing Officer for Independence Blue Cross,
(16:18):
which honors nurses every year with CelebrateCaring. Congratulations to all the nurses that
are being awarded. Junifer Juju Rigginswho is with Pathways to Housing, PA
Christina Milligan who is at chop PrimaryCare, and Leah Santos who's at Pen
Transplant Institute. There is a quotethat I think is so apropos, which
(16:40):
is nurses may not be angels,but they are the next best thing.
So we appreciate all of you.Celebrate Caring by Independence blue Cross serves as
a heartfelt tribute to the incredible contributionsof nurses, acknowledging their unwavering dedication and
compassion and providing exceptional healthcare services tothose in need. Thank you all and
(17:03):
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(17:27):
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(17:47):
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dot g sept org slash camp.See you there, you're listening to what's
(18:11):
going on. Mike Papantonio is oneof the few living attorneys inducted into the
Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He'sa TV host and commentator and has worked
on major legal cases focused on bigpharma, tobacco, weapon manufacturers, and
the automobile industry. He's also thebest selling author of legal thrillers informed by
(18:33):
his cases. Mike's newest book inHuman Trafficking, who he has co authored
with Alan Russell, is based onthe case about human trafficking that he's working
on, and the book is inthe tradition of the legal thrillers of John
Grisham. Thank you so much forjoining us today. Thank you, Lory.
Well, let's talk about the stateof human trafficking before we get into
the novel itself. What is happening? First of all, what is human
(18:56):
trafficking and why is it such abig Well, first of all, it's
emerged as a forty two billion dollarsa year business, and we have a
real misconception about what it is.What we focus on with the lawsuit that
we filed, it's a national lawsuitthat's going to hopefully drive this entire litigation,
is the corporate side of it.The idea is we think that most
(19:18):
of the time it's just one individualtraffics two or three girls, very very
different. As a matter of fact, this book, one of the models
that it uses is the trucking industrymodel, where we find that women are
girls, mostly fourteen fifteen sixteen yearold girls are trucked from LA to the
East coast and up the Eastern Seaboardand what they do and they take a
(19:42):
semi they break it into maybe sixor seven different little rooms. They stop
along the way at truck stops,they say we're coming, will be there
at three o'clock. Everybody converges onthat truck stop and you know, has
sex with these miners and leaves.And to understand that you don't do that
(20:06):
one person doesn't do that. Ittakes a lot of cooperation. It takes
cooperation of the truck stop. Ittakes to people that are organizing the logistics
of the trucking process. So it'svery different from what most people think.
Lorraine. Another case that this bookfocuses on happened sixty miles from US,
(20:26):
where they brought in HTB workers fromfrom the Ukraine told them that how would
you like to work in the serviceindustry? Come to the United States,
and well, we'll teach you howto do that. And they have something
called a step up process. It'sused very often in this business where they
hire them as a maybe a greeterat a restaurant and they say, how
(20:47):
would you like to make more money? And then that same restaurant owns a
strip club and then they move themto the strip club as a greeter,
and then they say, how wouldyou like to make more money than that?
And then they put them on apole dance and at a strip club,
and the next and final step isalways how would you like to meet
Tom? And Tom as a traffickerand they disappear. So it's that's exactly
(21:07):
what happened just sixty miles down theroad, but that happens all over the
country. I mean, it's we'rejust we don't seem to be aware of
what's happening in our backyard. Well, you know, that is really one
of the reasons why you write thesebooks, because it's an opportunity to shed
light on some very important issues thatare not often or maybe as well reported
(21:30):
as we would hope they would be. And that brings us to your book
in Human Trafficking. So let's talkabout the plot really does reflect the case
that you were just talking about.Tell us more. Well, the plot
centers around several different parts of humantrafficking, and every part that it centers
around is actually part of a casethat we're handling. What I've tried to
(21:52):
do and this is I try todo it with every book corporate media in
a lot of ways has become somewhatdysfunctional. And I can say that because
I've worked corporate media for a lotof years. I've done MSNBC, CNN,
a liberal commentator for Fox. I'vebasically done the spectrum. And what's
happened is advertisers have taken control ofwhat's delivered in corporate media. So if
(22:15):
I were to go on the airand I would say, you know,
I really want to talk about thishotel chain because this hotel chain understands exactly
how they're enabling all this, itwould be impossible. I mean I have
been on so many, so manytimes where I've been you know, the
teas coming up, Mike Papantonio talksabout Bear Corporation in between the teas and
actually going on the story is killedbecause that particular entity that corporate media gets
(22:41):
advertising dollars from Bear. So youknow, it's the same thing here.
We've run into the same thing here. The corporate media has done a very
very poor job having people understand what'shappening here. The opioid case that I
have going on right now, we'vefiled that one too. We started the
opioid litigation in this country, andafter we did, people started paying attention
(23:02):
and um, you know, outof that, out of that came a
book called Long Addiction. So thisis the same pattern. It's the same
pattern that I use, you know, regularly, and I've done it for
for many years. So my hopeis they read the book. They're entertained.
They say, you know, thatcertainly grabbed my interests, but they
learn something about the about the traffickingindustry that they didn't know. And all
(23:25):
of that that's in there is absolutelytrue. It's all based on actual facts
that we have uncovered in our inour litigation, and I think that's that
that makes it a little more interestingbecause you know, your takeaway is that
you learn something. Well, Iguess the the additional aspect about your book
is that not only does it informyou about the overall issues, but it
(23:45):
also brings it down to the humancost because you're talking about actual characters in
this novel that you write that thatreflect the reality of what it's like to
be swept up into this horrible situation. Yeah. Well, for example,
that centers and heavily in Las Vegas. They know people don't understand there are
(24:07):
hotels and casinos that keep there's afloor that they keep in many of these
casinos in Las Vegas where they havetheir high rollers come in and the high
roller has access to these girls andit takes so a lot of the book
centers around what's going on in LasVegas, what's going on in right down
in Florida, where where the traffickingbegins. And the point being is if
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we will just pay attention, wecome away and we say, well,
maybe there's something I can do.Might be a little, but maybe there's
something I can do. So myhope for the book is to be able
to read it sitting on the beach, maybe in an afternoon, and come
away and say, wow, Ididn't know that. You have taken on
some pretty big cases that really speakto the connection between corporate greed and some
(24:55):
of these horrendous situations like the opioidepidemic and certainly human traffic. You seem
to have chosen a particular direction inyour legal practice, which is trying to
right some wrongs. And I wonderif you can talk a little bit about
what is it that drives you well, I mean, first of all,
you have to have you have tohave a setting that where the organization has
(25:17):
the ability to do that. WeI don't know whether you knew this or
not, but we initiated the tobaccolitigation in this country. The law firm
is sixty seven years old, andso we started that litigation and it gave
us, it gave us the abilityto do a lot of other things.
Look, here's here's how this works. And people they just they sometimes aren't
aware of the facts. Most corporationswant to do. They want to do
(25:41):
a good job for us, theywant to make our lives better, and
they do. They do tremendous thing. But then there's this other they're the
outliers. They aren't the norm.They're not the majority. These corporations who
are aberrational in the way that theytreat people, in the way that they
the way they evaluate what their rolein society is. And you know,
most of most of these cases,Lorraine, I'm sitting across the when I'm
(26:03):
taking a deposition or in trial,I really am across the table from a
sociopath. I mean they don't looklike one, because they're they're dressed up
in Armani suits, they have watcheson they they've driven up in a Bentley,
they have an NBA from Yale orHarvard. They don't look like that
child out on the street corner witha hoodie on selling marijuana. So we
(26:26):
treat them differently. If, forexample, I can't the number of lives
that have been lost in human traffickingis staggering. A child that goes in
is traffic at the age fifteen willnot even make it to nineteen. They
will commit suicide. It'll be homicide, it'll be drug overdose, it'll be
sexual diseases that kill them. Opioid, same thing, one hundred and fifty
people a day dying from opioid addiction. And so how how have we gotten
(26:52):
to the point to where we say, these people aren't this isn't manslaughter.
You said somehow, this isn't manslaughter. And we look at it and we
say, we kid ourselves into believingthat something's different because that CEO looks different.
He doesn't look like he doesn't havea hoodie on. And so we
have to change that culture. Andevery time I write a book, that's
(27:12):
my goal to get people to thinka little bit differently about this double standard
that exists in this country. Andit's white collar crime, and I haven't
seen an attorney general in the lastin my adult life that has seriously taken
on this issue. Every time youthink that, yes, they're going to
(27:32):
come through, they're a miserable failurein their effort to try to curb what
happens on Wall Street, what happenswith corporate America. When they do bad,
sometimes you have to perp walk,and they're not willing to do that.
I'd like to thank you so muchfor spending time with us and telling
us about your book and also aboutthe implications of corporate read and human trafficking
(27:55):
business. The book in Human Traffickingwritten by my Papantonio along with Alan Russell,
based on the case he's working oncurrently on human trafficking. Thank you
so much for joining us today.Thank you, Royan. You can listen
to all of today's interviews by goingto our station website and typing in Keyword
Community. You can also listen onthe iHeartRadio app Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast.
(28:21):
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow and
I stand for service to our communityand media that empowers. What will you
stand for? You've been listening towhat's going on ED. Thank you,
Good morning, and welcome to What'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow, one of
the nation's top lawyers, has workedto address the terrible issue of human trafficking.
He's written a novel called Inhuman Traffickingbased on his experiences. But first,
Independence Blue Crosses Celebrate Caring Campaign isa heart felt initiative dedicated to honoring
(00:25):
and recognizing the invaluable contribution of nurses. As the backbone of the healthcare system,
nurses play a vital role in providingcompassionate care and support to patients,
often going above and beyond their callof duty. Through the Celebrate Caring Campaign,
Independence Blue cross aims to shine aspotlight on the extraordinary efforts and dedication
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of nurses, acknowledging their tireless commitmentto improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier
community. I am so happy anddelighted to introduce the twenty twenty three Celebrate
Caring winners to be talking with themtoday. But before we speak to them,
let's go to Colleen Kevinaugh, SeniorVice president and Chief Marketing Officer for
Independence FRU Cross. Tell us whydid you all decide to have this celebration
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of caring honoring nurses. Were greatto see you again, especially with some
things such a great thing to betalking about. Independence has been the hometown
Ensure here in Philadelphia for over eightyfive years. We really believe in everything
that nurses do and the impact thatthey make on the healthcare system and what
a critical role that they play.Nurses we see in so many different settings
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making a difference not just in patientslives, but their family's lives, and
oftentimes giving of themselves and really makinga difference in the community as well,
and improving the health and well beingof Philadelphia and the other areas here in
the community. So it really tiesnicely with Independence's mission and the values and
what we stand for. It's reallyincredible to shine a light on these incredible
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nurses that are doing amazing things herein Philadelphia and their surrounding areas well.
Colleen, not only are we shininga light, but they also get some
real wonderful goodies. Tell us howyou're celebrating these nurses not only by shining
the light but also giving them alittle something extra extra. They deserve this
and more so, all of ourwinners will be receiving a five hundred dollars
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gift card. There's also a nightin Atlantic City which is nice as well,
and twenty five hundred dollar donation tothe charitable organization of their choice.
What we have found over the yearswith nurses is that they are just doing
incredible things and are such selfless givingpeople that to be able to recognize the
charity of their choice and for themto make an even bigger contribution, who
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as an honor for us to havethat and honor them this way with giving
them that donation ability, that isfantastic. Well, let's talk to the
twenty twenty three winners, Jennifer Riggins, who is with Pathways to Housing pa
Christina Milligan who's with chop Primary CarePaoli, and Leah Santos, who is
with pen Transplant Institute. So I'mgoing to go down the line and ask
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you each this question. What wasyour reaction when you found out you were
being honored. I'm going to startout with you, Leah, what was
your reaction when Brittany called me?I you know, I was like,
oh my God, Like, whatis who do I have to interview?
With and she just kind of shewas just like, you know, we
are partnering with iHeartRadio, and Iwas just like, okay this. Immediately
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I felt just full of gratitude.If I could do any part in showing
the way that nurses, you know, do incredible work in and out of
the workplace, I'm all for it. So I was. I wasn't nervous
at first, but now I'm justfilled with gratitude to be able to be
honored in this way. That's wonderful. Do you do? What about you?
What was your reaction? Well,I did not know that I was
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nominated, so I was very surprised, But then when I learned about what
it was all about, I wasthankful and grateful to just be nominated and
then be part of it. Andnurses do a lot of good work and
it's always nice to be recognized forwhat you do, although that's not why
we do it. So I'm honoredand just happy to be part of it.
(04:11):
Christina, what was your reaction whenyou heard? I was super surprised.
I wasn't made aware that I wasbeing nominated, so when I was
told I won, I was inshock. I think too, again,
like what everyone else is saying,it's super important that the world sees how
hard we work and like the levelof care and the love that we have
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to give. So I think it'slike, I'm just honored to be that
person to kind of be able tobe recognized, and I feel like I
don't do what I do to dothat, so in order to have that
little light it means a lot tome. And I'm just super grateful as
well. That's wonderful. And Isee that so many of you are.
You're just so humble and you dothe work because you really deeply are committed.
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This is your mission, this iswho you are, this is your
commitment to service. And I wonderif you can tell us a little bit
more about what drew you to nursing, Leah, what drew you to nursing
in the first place. I don'treally have in a moment. I know
that for some nurses they're able tokind of think of that one moment or
a family member or kind of anexperience. I've always actually felt like I've
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had a healing kind of nature aboutmyself and I wanted to channel it and
there was no better way that Icould think of than channeling, you know,
my healing nature than to be anurse. Every nurse that I've ever
met as a healer in so manydifferent ways, and so that's why I
wanted to be a nurse. Doyou do what drew you to nursing?
I actually started off taking care offamily member who was sick and in a
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nursing home, and I found thatI found a lot of joy and just
being able to help out. Andthe place I was at, the nurses
and the staff, we're telling me, you're a natural. You know,
this is what you should do.So I started from the bottom and became
a CNA for seven years before Iwent to nursing school and it just went
from there and I love what Ido. Christina, what about you?
(06:03):
I kind of agree with like,but Leah said, so, I feel
like I never have like anyone inmy family that was a nurse, but
I always loved to just care forpeople. I have two younger siblings,
so I think my earliest memories arejust taking care of them and help being
a part of their lives. AndI think that like that kind of just
continued to follow me, and Ifound such a joy in doing that,
(06:26):
even with like having to listen tofriends and just kind of being there for
other people, and that just againfollowed me, and that was the only
option that I wanted to do,is be a nurse. There was no
other career path for me. SoI totally feel like this is my passion
and this is why I'm here.Leah, I want you to tell us
what is the most rewarding and whatis the most challenging aspect of being a
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nurse. I would say the mostrewarding is that nursing is lifelong learning.
With that being said, I thinkthat the three of us can agree,
you know, what we know nowis just off in the ocean of what
there is to know. It's incrediblyrewarding in that aspect. I think the
most challenging thing for myself is theamount of fatigue that we experience. It's
(07:10):
not just physical. I think thata lot of us assume that it's physical,
but there's compassion fatigue, there's moralfatigue. And so anytime that I
have a chance to just kind ofconnect with other nurses, I always ask
them, what are you doing foryourself to care for yourself in order to
be able to care for other people? Do you do the most rewarding,
the most challenging thing. So themost rewarding thing for me is just being
(07:32):
able to help people who are lessfortunate, who don't have the support that
others might have. Because of courseI'm in community nursing, so I'm out
on the streets and Kensington in differentparts that Philadelphia helping those who might be
homeless or not have So I justget joy a lot of joy out of
dooring special things for them like thatthey don't expect and it just makes you
(07:56):
feel good. And the most challengingthing for me about my job right now,
it's just basically being able to getthem to go and get the help
they need, like especially medical helplike in a hospital or an emergency room,
and then trying to find a bathroomwhile you want the street. That's
really challenging. That's a challenge forsure, Christina, What about you?
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Most challenging, most rewarding, themost rewarding is just like building connections with
families. So I'm like in primarycare, so I get to see from
the newborn stage all the way upuntil they're twenty one if they want to
continue to see me, and Ifind like you get to know their parents
and the grandparents, and you justbuild these little connections and they're like you
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feel like you're part of the family. And so I always want my patients
to know that I'm here for youto go to I'm also here to just
listen. And I think sometimes peoplejust want to be heard, and I
think nurses are really important and theydo that whereas they take that time.
So I just want my patients toknow that I care about them. I
treat them like they're my own familyand my own kids, and that that
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really just brings up joy to me. The most challenging I think I struggle
with not bringing things home. Ibring a lot home with me and I
think about my patients a lot,and I think about the struggles are going
through and I wish I could domore. So I think that that can
be a real big challenge, especiallywith the mental health kids right now.
I feel like there's so many childrenwho need a lot of mental health help,
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whether it's a psychiatrist or a therapist, and there aren't that there are
many options out there. I feellike I'm an option and I'm not certified
in those places. Yes yet Iwish I could be. But I'm not,
so I feel like I'm here forthem, but they could use someone
else who really specializes in it.So I think it's a big challenge just
being able to try to find thoseresources for them, but also let them
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know that in the meantime, youcan come to me. But I don't
have all the answers. So oneof the really cool aspects about this program
is that you get to donate toa charity of your choice. So tell
us what the charity is and whyyou chose that charity to donate to.
Leah, the charity of my choiceis the Sunday Love Project. Sunday Love
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is a charity that's near and dearto my heart. I've been volunteering with
Sunday Love for about six years now. It is a nonprofit organization that connects
people with resources, but mostly withfood. So right now, Sunday Love
has a free pantry. It's afree choice grocery store. It's in Kensington.
I looked up statistics a little whileago, and it's one of the
(10:24):
poorest neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and Philadelphiais the poorest largest city in America,
And so that you know that tellsyou about the need, and so Sunday
Love has a grocery store called GreaterGoods where they offer free groceries and that
includes fresh groceries, meats, producefish, not just self shelf stable items.
(10:46):
And I'm just trying to meet peoplewhere they are and treat them with
integrity. Yeah, Sunday Love isjust truly near and dear to my heart,
and so I'm really glad to beable to give them this wonderful do
you do? What about you?So I decided to donate two pathways to
housing where I work. The workthat we do there is very important.
It's something that it's not seen alot. So they're going out, they're
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housing the homeless. We provide lotsof other things for them as far as
like they have a clinic where theycan come and get vaccines, get seen,
won't care any type of treatment theyneed. They also have mental health
doctors, psychiatrists on board, andthen we have a whole team of service
coordinators that go out support them tothe clinic, support them to grocery shop,
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and do laundry and all these thingseven when they're still on the street.
So I think it's one of thosethings where we'll be able to continue
to help them them since we leavemoney. Of course, I think it's
just wonderful to give back to somethingthat I'm so passionate about. Fantastic.
What about you, Christina, Iwas touring when I found out that we
could give you money to a charity. Something close to me is my son
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has a rare metabolic disorder. It'scalled the all Tide. What working at
chop you know, you'd think youwould hear a lot of different rare disorders,
And I worked in the ICU fora while. No doctors or anyone
ever heard of it. So whensomeone was diagnosed, I was really alarmed.
And I found a lot of supportthrough honestly through Facebook and through social
media of different families and different peoplewho have rare disorders. So I'd like
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to give the funds to rare disordersand rare diseases and maybe someone specifically that
can deal with vatioxidation disorders, sothat we can educate not only my colleagues
and not only the medical staff,but also just like people in general,
that there are people out there thatstruggle with these and they may look totally
fine from the outside, but theirbodies work differently on the inside, and
(12:39):
so I think it's just important tokind of shed some light on that.
So I would love to do that. And finally, you are individuals who
have a great passion for what youdo, and I wonder if you could
provide some advice to those that nextgeneration of nurses looking to enter the field.
Leah, my best advice is tobe an open minded individual. You
(13:03):
are going to see people from somany different backgrounds, that's cultural, ethnic,
religious, socioeconomic backgrounds, people whopractice life in different ways, and
our job is to care for them, not to judge them by any means.
My best advice is to be anopen minded and flexible person. Do
you do? What's your advice?I have a lot of people around me
(13:24):
who are interested in being nurses,and I find the one thing that keeps
people from going into this field aretwo things. Number one, they think
is going to be too hard atschool, and number two, they sometimes
feel like they're not sure if they'llbe able to handle the stress and also
the workload. And what I wouldsay is that school is hard, but
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it's doable. Like there are somany that went before you, there's so
much help there and the teachers reallywant to see you succeed, so I
find out that there's a lot ofhelp as far as the workload. I
think if you have a heart forand your passion is to help people,
then you'll be able to handle it. And you'll find like your own way
of dealing and distressing yourself, whetherit be through self care or massages or
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whatever. But it's doable, andI think we need nurses, so please
please go out and be a nurse. We need you desperately for sure.
Christina, what is your advice?My advice would be just to be yourself.
I mean, nurses are the mostamazing people in the world. I
honestly just love meeting anyone who's anurse. You just have this special bond
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with each other because deep down insidewe want to care for everyone and love
everyone and just do good in theworld. So I think if you could
do anything, just remember why youdid this and be yourself, and you're
going to be great at it.Fantastic Colleen, back to you. I
know that not only are you honoringthese wonderful nurses with all the things that
we've talked about, but there's anopportunity to find out even more about them
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on your website and perhaps also alertpeople to next year when you'll have another
round of seller great caring and peoplewill know where to go to nominate the
nurses that they love. Yes,we invite everyone to go to our website
ibx dot com and then just backslashnurses and you can learn even more incredible
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things about these wonderful women as wellas we have. In addition to these
three winners, we have seven finalists, so even more nurses that we are
recognizing this year, so you canlearn all about these incredible nurses as well
as our previous winners and finalists.We've been doing this for five years now
and we've over that time gotten nearlyfour thousand nominations and have honored nearly fifty
(15:35):
nurses, so you can get allthat information on our website ibx dot com
slash nurses as well. We willbe sharing information on this year's winners through
our social media channels, so pleasetake a look because as you can hear,
these are incredible people. Every timewe do this, we are amazed
by the winners and what motivates themto be nurses, what they have learned
(15:58):
by being nurses is their nominations typicallyare just the surface of the work that
they are doing and the impact thatthey are having for their patients and the
communities. To please help us andhonoring them by learning more about them.
Hopefully next year you will have anurse shoe want to nominate as well.
Calling Kavanaugh, Senior vice President,chief Marketing Officer for Independence Blue Cross,
(16:18):
which honors nurses every year with CelebrateCaring. Congratulations to all the nurses that
are being awarded. Junifer Juju Rigginswho is with Pathways to Housing, PA
Christina Milligan who is at chop PrimaryCare, and Leah Santos who's at Pen
Transplant Institute. There is a quotethat I think is so apropos, which
(16:40):
is nurses may not be angels,but they are the next best thing.
So we appreciate all of you.Celebrate Caring by Independence blue Cross serves as
a heartfelt tribute to the incredible contributionsof nurses, acknowledging their unwavering dedication and
compassion and providing exceptional healthcare services tothose in need. Thank you all and
(17:03):
congratulations once again. Have you everwanted to go above and beyond for your
community, volunteering for your local fireor EMS department is your opportunity join a
family that will serve with you,always have your back, and train you
to be the best version of yourself. As a volunteer, you will meet
new people, learn new skills,and make a meaningful impact. Learn more
(17:27):
at make Me a Firefighter dot org. That's make Me a Firefighter dot org.
Rock climbing, kayaking, swimming,arts and crafts and more. It's
time for Girl Scout Camp with overnightand day camp options. Your girl will
make new friends and try new thingsat one of our six campsites across the
(17:47):
region, and financial aid is available. It's not too late to join the
fund. Visit www dot gsep dotorg slash camp for more. That's www
dot g sept org slash camp.See you there, you're listening to what's
(18:11):
going on. Mike Papantonio is oneof the few living attorneys inducted into the
Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. He'sa TV host and commentator and has worked
on major legal cases focused on bigpharma, tobacco, weapon manufacturers, and
the automobile industry. He's also thebest selling author of legal thrillers informed by
(18:33):
his cases. Mike's newest book inHuman Trafficking, who he has co authored
with Alan Russell, is based onthe case about human trafficking that he's working
on, and the book is inthe tradition of the legal thrillers of John
Grisham. Thank you so much forjoining us today. Thank you, Lory.
Well, let's talk about the stateof human trafficking before we get into
the novel itself. What is happening? First of all, what is human
(18:56):
trafficking and why is it such abig Well, first of all, it's
emerged as a forty two billion dollarsa year business, and we have a
real misconception about what it is.What we focus on with the lawsuit that
we filed, it's a national lawsuitthat's going to hopefully drive this entire litigation,
is the corporate side of it.The idea is we think that most
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of the time it's just one individualtraffics two or three girls, very very
different. As a matter of fact, this book, one of the models
that it uses is the trucking industrymodel, where we find that women are
girls, mostly fourteen fifteen sixteen yearold girls are trucked from LA to the
East coast and up the Eastern Seaboardand what they do and they take a
(19:42):
semi they break it into maybe sixor seven different little rooms. They stop
along the way at truck stops,they say we're coming, will be there
at three o'clock. Everybody converges onthat truck stop and you know, has
sex with these miners and leaves.And to understand that you don't do that
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one person doesn't do that. Ittakes a lot of cooperation. It takes
cooperation of the truck stop. Ittakes to people that are organizing the logistics
of the trucking process. So it'svery different from what most people think.
Lorraine. Another case that this bookfocuses on happened sixty miles from US,
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where they brought in HTB workers fromfrom the Ukraine told them that how would
you like to work in the serviceindustry? Come to the United States,
and well, we'll teach you howto do that. And they have something
called a step up process. It'sused very often in this business where they
hire them as a maybe a greeterat a restaurant and they say, how
(20:47):
would you like to make more money? And then that same restaurant owns a
strip club and then they move themto the strip club as a greeter,
and then they say, how wouldyou like to make more money than that?
And then they put them on apole dance and at a strip club,
and the next and final step isalways how would you like to meet
Tom? And Tom as a traffickerand they disappear. So it's that's exactly
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what happened just sixty miles down theroad, but that happens all over the
country. I mean, it's we'rejust we don't seem to be aware of
what's happening in our backyard. Well, you know, that is really one
of the reasons why you write thesebooks, because it's an opportunity to shed
light on some very important issues thatare not often or maybe as well reported
(21:30):
as we would hope they would be. And that brings us to your book
in Human Trafficking. So let's talkabout the plot really does reflect the case
that you were just talking about.Tell us more. Well, the plot
centers around several different parts of humantrafficking, and every part that it centers
around is actually part of a casethat we're handling. What I've tried to
(21:52):
do and this is I try todo it with every book corporate media in
a lot of ways has become somewhatdysfunctional. And I can say that because
I've worked corporate media for a lotof years. I've done MSNBC, CNN,
a liberal commentator for Fox. I'vebasically done the spectrum. And what's
happened is advertisers have taken control ofwhat's delivered in corporate media. So if
(22:15):
I were to go on the airand I would say, you know,
I really want to talk about thishotel chain because this hotel chain understands exactly
how they're enabling all this, itwould be impossible. I mean I have
been on so many, so manytimes where I've been you know, the
teas coming up, Mike Papantonio talksabout Bear Corporation in between the teas and
actually going on the story is killedbecause that particular entity that corporate media gets
(22:41):
advertising dollars from Bear. So youknow, it's the same thing here.
We've run into the same thing here. The corporate media has done a very
very poor job having people understand what'shappening here. The opioid case that I
have going on right now, we'vefiled that one too. We started the
opioid litigation in this country, andafter we did, people started paying attention
(23:02):
and um, you know, outof that, out of that came a
book called Long Addiction. So thisis the same pattern. It's the same
pattern that I use, you know, regularly, and I've done it for
for many years. So my hopeis they read the book. They're entertained.
They say, you know, thatcertainly grabbed my interests, but they
learn something about the about the traffickingindustry that they didn't know. And all
(23:25):
of that that's in there is absolutelytrue. It's all based on actual facts
that we have uncovered in our inour litigation, and I think that's that
that makes it a little more interestingbecause you know, your takeaway is that
you learn something. Well, Iguess the the additional aspect about your book
is that not only does it informyou about the overall issues, but it
(23:45):
also brings it down to the humancost because you're talking about actual characters in
this novel that you write that thatreflect the reality of what it's like to
be swept up into this horrible situation. Yeah. Well, for example,
that centers and heavily in Las Vegas. They know people don't understand there are
(24:07):
hotels and casinos that keep there's afloor that they keep in many of these
casinos in Las Vegas where they havetheir high rollers come in and the high
roller has access to these girls andit takes so a lot of the book
centers around what's going on in LasVegas, what's going on in right down
in Florida, where where the traffickingbegins. And the point being is if
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we will just pay attention, wecome away and we say, well,
maybe there's something I can do.Might be a little, but maybe there's
something I can do. So myhope for the book is to be able
to read it sitting on the beach, maybe in an afternoon, and come
away and say, wow, Ididn't know that. You have taken on
some pretty big cases that really speakto the connection between corporate greed and some
(24:55):
of these horrendous situations like the opioidepidemic and certainly human traffic. You seem
to have chosen a particular direction inyour legal practice, which is trying to
right some wrongs. And I wonderif you can talk a little bit about
what is it that drives you well, I mean, first of all,
you have to have you have tohave a setting that where the organization has
(25:17):
the ability to do that. WeI don't know whether you knew this or
not, but we initiated the tobaccolitigation in this country. The law firm
is sixty seven years old, andso we started that litigation and it gave
us, it gave us the abilityto do a lot of other things.
Look, here's here's how this works. And people they just they sometimes aren't
aware of the facts. Most corporationswant to do. They want to do
(25:41):
a good job for us, theywant to make our lives better, and
they do. They do tremendous thing. But then there's this other they're the
outliers. They aren't the norm.They're not the majority. These corporations who
are aberrational in the way that theytreat people, in the way that they
the way they evaluate what their rolein society is. And you know,
most of most of these cases,Lorraine, I'm sitting across the when I'm
(26:03):
taking a deposition or in trial,I really am across the table from a
sociopath. I mean they don't looklike one, because they're they're dressed up
in Armani suits, they have watcheson they they've driven up in a Bentley,
they have an NBA from Yale orHarvard. They don't look like that
child out on the street corner witha hoodie on selling marijuana. So we
(26:26):
treat them differently. If, forexample, I can't the number of lives
that have been lost in human traffickingis staggering. A child that goes in
is traffic at the age fifteen willnot even make it to nineteen. They
will commit suicide. It'll be homicide, it'll be drug overdose, it'll be
sexual diseases that kill them. Opioid, same thing, one hundred and fifty
people a day dying from opioid addiction. And so how how have we gotten
(26:52):
to the point to where we say, these people aren't this isn't manslaughter.
You said somehow, this isn't manslaughter. And we look at it and we
say, we kid ourselves into believingthat something's different because that CEO looks different.
He doesn't look like he doesn't havea hoodie on. And so we
have to change that culture. Andevery time I write a book, that's
(27:12):
my goal to get people to thinka little bit differently about this double standard
that exists in this country. Andit's white collar crime, and I haven't
seen an attorney general in the lastin my adult life that has seriously taken
on this issue. Every time youthink that, yes, they're going to
(27:32):
come through, they're a miserable failurein their effort to try to curb what
happens on Wall Street, what happenswith corporate America. When they do bad,
sometimes you have to perp walk,and they're not willing to do that.
I'd like to thank you so muchfor spending time with us and telling
us about your book and also aboutthe implications of corporate read and human trafficking
(27:55):
business. The book in Human Traffickingwritten by my Papantonio along with Alan Russell,
based on the case he's working oncurrently on human trafficking. Thank you
so much for joining us today.Thank you, Royan. You can listen
to all of today's interviews by goingto our station website and typing in Keyword
Community. You can also listen onthe iHeartRadio app Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast.
(28:21):
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow and
I stand for service to our communityand media that empowers. What will you
stand for? You've been listening towhat's going on ED. Thank you,
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