June 23, 2020 • 29 mins
The vast majority of us have, at one time or another, benefitted from the TLC of a nurse. It's a grueling profession with long hours on your feet, strange shifts, not entirely pleasant duties (understatement!) and is often taken for granted. So here's a question for you, who takes care of the care givers?
Shannon McPeek has always likes hepling others, this personality trait led her to the nursing profession, which she finds immenently rewarding, but sooooo stressful! Six months into her new vocation, she hit a profound low, and soon after determined that not only would she find ways to reduce her own anxiety, but other's as well. Enter "Operation Happy Nurse" an on-line support community offering a boutique menu of self-help services; fitness instruction, community forums, book club, nutrition advice, and give-aways (LOTS of give-aways!)
Join Shannon and I on this episode of "LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah." If you're a nurse, join the Operation Happy Nurse community, and if you know a nurse, help us spread the word! ~ Delilah
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
One heart at a time, One one heart at a time.
That is my battle cry against the injustices and the
inequalities of the world, and Shannon McPeak is answering the call.
Shannon is a nurse who, even before the coronavirus had
been heard of, recognized a need in our nursing community
(00:29):
that wasn't being met. She decided to fix that. She
didn't wait for someone else to do it, she didn't
wait for legislation to remedy it. Instead, she started gathering information, people, businesses,
and knowledge so that she could spearhead a nonprofit web
(00:49):
based service organization focused on decreasing the stress, anxiety, and
depression in the nursing profession. It's called Operation Happy Nurse.
Just hearing this makes me happy, and I'm not even
a nurse. Shannon is joining us on Love Someone to
(01:09):
talk about her exciting new project and how she hopes
to lighten the hearts of her fellow nurses who do
all they can every single day. They truly do to
lighten the hearts of those they serve. Before we talk
with Shannon, though, I need to tell you about my
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(01:33):
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(02:36):
So with me on Love Someone Today is Shannon McPeak,
who definitely put her her love, her passions, her desires,
her thoughts into action. You're a nurse. How long have
you been a nurse, Shannon? I've been a nurse for
four years. Oh so you are new to the nursing field. Yes,
(03:01):
yes i am. I'm a travel lerg Right now can
I ask how old you are? Ticks? Oh my gossh,
you're a baby. Yeah, I'm I'm a newbie. So tell
me what led you to the nursing field and why
you decided to choose a career that is so exhausting
(03:23):
and has to take such a huge toll on your
heart caring deeply for others. Yeah. So when I was younger,
I just had this urge to care for other people.
I never really was one too not help in certain situations.
I just always had an urge to be surrounded by
(03:46):
people and to help them in the best way that
I possibly could. So I started doing some research, I
volunteered at some hospitals and found my calling as a nurse.
And although it's so tough sometimes and it's really exhausting,
it's also so rewarding. Um. I worked in the neonatal
in tens of care unit, and these babies I get
to see grow and it's just an amazing, amazing experience.
(04:09):
So you were, as Mr Rogers would say, he always says,
in times of trouble, look for the helpers. You were
the helper even when you were young. Yeah, that's always
been my draw. I've always had to urge to help
those around me. I can't think of a profession that
is better built for you then, or that you are
(04:30):
better built for than being a nurse. So you became
a nurse, you went to school, you became a nurse.
Did you go directly into working with babies at the
neonatal Yeah? So during school I kind of realized that
babies was my forte and I just wasn't really into
the adult nursing life programs. The adults are just not
(04:50):
my thing. I can't do it. I applaud all of
them who do, but I am babies through and through,
and I just looked for programs where I could go
directly and finicky and I did. And so that's what
I've done ever since I graduated. So you you knew
early on after volunteering at hospitals and doing rounds, Nope,
I need to behold in me and leving on some
(05:13):
babies exactly. Honestly, when I was in nursing school, initially,
I was really worried that I hated it because I
was like, I'm not into this adult nursing life. And
I once I was in the babies, I just knew it.
You know, my heart was in it there. So you
want to help, but you really want to help babies.
That was your calling. Yeah, that's my calling. And honestly,
I've spoken to a lot of adult nurses too, and
(05:34):
they said the same thing about babies. It's just you
know you're calling when you have it. I actually, because
I get fired a lot in radio, I actually looked
into a program being a midwife. When I was fired
in Pennsylvania, I thought, I can't keep getting fired, I
can't keep doing this, and because I so love babies,
I thought about going through this midwife program and being
(05:57):
a midwife. The problem was I was a parent at
the time with two kids, and I was the breadwinner
that I didn't have any support. And I'm like, how
am I going to take the years off to do
school to become a midwife. I gotta get another job.
I gotta get back to work right now. And then
so within a few days I had another job. But
(06:18):
I love babies, so I get that that is your calling.
They're just amazing, and they're so resilient and just incredibly
amazing and pure people, and I just I love them.
So you became a Nike you nurse, and how long
into this, did you realize that there is a huge
gap or a huge void in emotional and mental and
(06:44):
helpful support for people who choose a nursing as a career.
So they say it about six months is when you
hit your lowest point mentally in this thing, and I
didn't really believe them initially. We had to write a
diary to ourself and all that, and when I hit
the six months, it was very hard. It's unbelievably tough.
(07:05):
I would I feel like I had a chest bake
almost every day, like I had never really dealt with
anxiety like this before, and I just knew it was
slowly eating at my personality. It was just slowly getting
to me and I was becoming more withdrawn. I wasn't
acting as happy as I normally was. And it really
(07:25):
took one of my friends saying that I was different
for me to realize that something was off and I
needed to fix it. And I knew that I wasn't
coping with my stress how I should have been. But
it was a lot of energy to try to figure
out how to cope with it, and so I I
just pushed myself and I started working out a lot.
(07:47):
I started researching different ways to help my stress, and
it did really help me. Although I'm not at mycent
low stress, I am getting there, and I just thought
I should help other people, like how I struggled how
the coronavirus affect that stress for you, Like, I know
that your project and we're going to get really delve
(08:08):
into Operation happinurs which is your your big project, and
I really want you to to to dive deep with me.
But how has COVID Like did Operation Happy Nurse? Was
that birth in your heart long ago? Was it birth
at that six month period or did the coronavirus kind
of push you over the edge to decide to do this.
(08:31):
I came up with the idea of Operation Happy Nurse,
and I started working on it around then I did
some research, I started talking to people. Um and it's
because my friend said me, this glorious human being asked
me if I wanted to continue working with nonprofits because
at the time I was working at March of Dime,
and I said, I loved March of Them, but I
(08:52):
really wanted to work for a nonprofit that was focusing
on the mental hall of the nursing profession. And her
and I did some research and realized that there wasn't
really much there and there are some resources, but just
not enough at the forefront. And so I started developing
this idea and I really started delving into it when
I was living in Australia during the winter, and that's
(09:13):
when I started getting this idea of rolling. So it
was actually started before COVID nineteen, but we've been pushing
ourselves more to get it going because of this, and
we know that there's gonna be such high rates of
PTSD and anxiety when nurse staying after this is all over,
so we are now speeding things up to make sure
(09:34):
that we have this resources available. I have a lot
more questions, Shannon. I'm so happy, I'm so thrilled that
you took this on, that you are spearheading this, and
I want to hear a lot more about it, but
we gotta pause for a second or two for this message.
So now jumping into the big question, tell us what
Operation Happy Nurse is, what your vision for the future
(09:58):
of this is And you just kind of told us
how it was birth, but what is Operation Happinurs? So
Operation Happiness is a nonprofit. We just got our five
O one C three status that we're super pumped about
that um and so we're now officially a nonprofit and
we are I gotta just jump in and say congratulations
(10:19):
as somebody that that that has a nonprofit getting that
nonprofit status, you know it would be easier to give
birth to quadruple. It's without any anesthesia. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough.
And we had the most amazing lawyer helping us, that
Thomas Roebol. He's awesome and he held our hands through
this process and it was it was hard, but we
(10:42):
are here. We are a nonprofit. And I was at
work when I found out and I started trying. Was
really embarrassing. I'm so glad because we have been talking
about doing this interview. My sister heard about it from
a friend, a woman that works with us, and we're like,
this is so in line with what we a spout
is what the Delilah Show is all about, people helping people,
(11:02):
not waiting for someone else to do it. But we
didn't wanna we waste segua weapon as they say, until
you had that status. And so when we heard that
you got it, we're like, okay, great, now we can
do the podcast and talk to her about operation Happeners. Okay,
go on, I'm so excited. But we are an online community.
(11:25):
Are going to be an online community. We currently have
another team working on this web page because it's going
to be very intensive. And what you do is you
join this community, you have to show that you're a
nurse just by telling us where are your license, just
so we can, you know, kind of keep an eye
and make sure that people are actually nurses who are
joining our community. Once you join the community, we have
these resources available to you where you can go in
(11:48):
and you can kind of gear your own stress release
plan to your own personal needs. Because some people stress
relievers cause stress for them, So we want to be
able to make sure what you are provided work for you.
So we have a bunch of different options and you
go in and you pick and choose which parts you
want to be involved in, and we kind of help
(12:10):
track your process and make sure that you're reliving that
stress and make sure that it's working for you so
that we can all go through this together and we
can all work together. It's better ourselves and better our
mental health. So it's a community where you kind of
get to design your own stress really plan and I'm very,
very excited about it. So tell me, tell me, like,
what would be some of the menu options? Pretend I'm
(12:32):
a nurse and I am working in in the NIKI
because like you, I love babies, and I'm you know,
pulling the twelve hour shifts three on, four off, whatever,
and I am so burned out. I can't even help
my kids at home do their online schooling. I can't
even I can't even lift my feet once I get
through the door. Yeah, what are some of the menu options?
(12:55):
What are some of the things that I will be
able to access on operation and happy nurse when it's
built out. Yeah, so a couple of them are. We've
got a book club. My amazing sister she um, she's
an author, and she is going to run this book
club for us, And essentially we haven't decided how often,
(13:16):
but about book recommendations and you consider on with other
nurses and talk about the book and answer some questions
and be involved that way. Reading is a phenomenal way
to be increased your stress um for many reasons, but
mainly because you kind of get to escape your own
life for a little bit and live in the lives
of others and you get to see that maybe stuff
that people are stressed out and in the books are
(13:38):
things that you might be stressed out as well. And
you're feelings, they're universal feelings. You're not alone in what's
going on. Another one we are doing in physical fitness
in yoga. Um, I've got amazing, amazing people who are
helping me out with that. But we're going to make
them at home easy workouts because nurses are very busy,
our hours are very long, and we just want an
(13:59):
easy reason work for them to be able to do
some exercises at home that are short and easy to obtain.
And then, um, we've got discussion boards where you can
talk to other nurses who are going through similar things
that you are. One of the hardest things for me
when I was going through my really dark period was
talking to people. I felt like I couldn't speak to
(14:20):
people who didn't understand where I was that mentally, So
when my family tried to talk to me about it, it
it was really hard for me to tell them about
my feelings because I didn't think they would really get it.
So the discussion board is really important for me to
add in here so that nurses could be surrounded by
people who they think understand what they are going through,
so that was a big one for us. Um, we
(14:41):
want to do help with nutrition. It's really hard to
figure out what you're supposed to eat on night shifts.
It's really hard to figure out quick meals that you
can just heat up at work, but that are healthy.
And we want to help guide these meal plans through
people and help them help them figure out how to eat,
help save foods but also yummy food. So we're more
(15:02):
working on that as well. Um. We've got hotlines for
people who, like you said, are having trouble picking up
their feet when they're walking, having trouble even getting out
of bed. We want to be having an immediate resource
for those nurses so that they they can seek help
right away and seek the intense help that they need. Um,
(15:23):
we want them to have a resource that they can
that they can go to. We've got a lot of
other areas and I can keep going, but I'm really
those are the main ones. We want to do a
podcast as well. UM. We want to delve into random
things that are known to decrease stress, like knitting. Knitting
is a big one for decreasing stress. Acupuncture, adult coloring books.
(15:46):
We want to show the research, and we want to
have one of our members go out and actually try
each of these and keep a diary so she can
tell what her personal journey with them was, and so
people can see that there's other things besides just reading,
working out about all that stuff. There's other cool things
that you can try to help you decrease your stress.
And then also events. We want to have social eventfleence
(16:07):
we're allowed to do that. Again, how has the COVID crisis,
the pandemic inspired you to build faster? Yeah, So I
started speaking to some nurses and it was drawn to
my attention that not only are we stressed out and
work because of what's going on, there's also stressors outside
of work. For a little bit there, some nurses were
(16:29):
being harassed outside of work by some members of society
because they were in scrubs and they believe that these nurses,
somehow we're spreading COVID. So nurses begend to get really
nervous going into work because they were afraid of being harassed.
So that kind of pushed me. And now we are
expediting processes and we are we are working a lot
(16:52):
of hours to get this out there for nurses because
they we want them to know that they're not alone
and that we support them and that we help them
through this journey and that we can help them with
their stress. You know what I love most about what
you're doing, Shannon, is that you're doing it. I talked
(17:12):
to people all the time who have a dream, have
a vision, who think, oh my gosh, this would make
the world a better place, or you know, kids who
work with foster care. Whatever. You're putting feet on your dreams.
You know, you had a dream in the clouds, but
now you're building the foundation under it, and you're doing
it despite the fact that you're exhausted, despite the fact
(17:34):
that you're working. Now, how long are your shifts that
you work at the Nikio? I do three tallve hour shifts?
Do you do the three on four off that sort
of thing? Um? Honestly, it depends on the week. You
don't know because you don't know if you're coming or
going a lot of times because it's so crazy and
you saw this need and you felt this need in
(17:56):
your own life, and you realize this was a huge
void the lives of the nurses. Tens of thousands of
nurses who gives so much to everyone else and nobody
is there to fill up their cup so to speak. Yeah, yeah,
nurses are known to take care of other people but
not really take care of themselves. Um, we spend all
(18:19):
our energy caring for others and we kind of put
ourselves at the wayside. And it's kind that we took
that because honestly, nurses me helped to There's a beautiful
illustration about Um. A father that kept big glass jug
in the refrigerator, you know, like a mason jar, and
(18:41):
he would fill it up with water and he would
put it in the refrigerator with a couple of slices
of lemon in it, so that when somebody was thirsty
they would go to the refrigerator in the hot summer
and there would be cold, cool, crisp clear water to drink.
And throughout the day, his kids and whoever came over
would go get the water out of the jug, but
(19:03):
they wouldn't refill it. And so when dad came in
from working all day, the jug was empty. And that's
such a beautiful illustration of visual illustration. I think for
what nurses do, They fill up the jug everybody drinks
from the fresh water that they provide day in and
day out, night in and night out, and then when
(19:26):
they get off their shift, the jug is empty. There's
nobody there and it sounds like Operation Happy Nurse is
there to fill their their jug with cool, fresh love
and an infusion of goodness. Yeah, that's our goal. We
really we just really want them to know that we're
there for them. It's it's been really hard when people
(19:48):
have come to me and said that they they didn't
know other people were going through this, They thought they
were going through it alone. And I just think that
it's so important for us to start that because it's
so important for people to know that they aren't alone,
that we are here with them, that I went through
with a ton of other nurses went through it, and
that's why I like to tell the stories at different
(20:08):
nurses on my social media because I just want people
to know that again, that they're not alone and that
we're here to support them. And when do we think
do we have a launch date when all this is
going to be curated, put together and ready to to fly.
We don't have an exact date yet. We just want
to make sure everything so perfect for when it when
it flies. But we do have our social media right
(20:31):
now to help give little taste of what's gonna be
on our web page. So for those looking for resources
right now we can. We are posting some things on
our social media and we are also doing giveaways for
working with amazing companies right now to do weekly giveaways
for nurses UM, just to show appreciation for them during
this time. So what does Operation Happy Nurse? What does
(20:54):
it need right now? What can we do? What could
I do to help you to push this move went forward?
I'm surrounded by nurses. Uh, my daughter in law, my
son married a woman. They have a large family, and
her love, like yours, is for caring for people. And
she's so amazingly freakishly good at it, like she's not
(21:18):
even human. She's like a superhuman. She's like super mom, superwoman.
And and I know that it takes a huge toll.
What can I do to help Operation a Happy Nurse
find its wings to fly? It sounds like it's already
found its wings about to take off. And yeah, we
definitely need help taking off right now. We really need funding, UM.
(21:43):
A lot of it is coming out of our pockets
right now to make this a reality. So we need
help with funding. There's a lot of stuff that goes
into making the web page. All of our people who
are working for in our volunteer basis right now, we
just need we need help funding this project to keep
it rolling, to not just have it start up and
then fall, you know. And then we also really need
(22:05):
help spreading the word. We want this to be a
resource for all nurses. We want all nurses to know
about it. It's just hard to get that going, you know.
So that's a big one that we need help with.
So how do I get the word out there? Where
do I tell people to go If somebody is listening
to this podcast right now and they're like, wait a minute,
my daughter is a nurse. So we currently have LinkedIn
(22:28):
Facebook and Instagram it's um all at Operation Happy Nerves.
And we also have a web page that talks about
our project where you can email us if you want
to help and volunteer because we could use all the
volunteers in the world. It's www dot Operation happinurs dot com.
That will be the same and we will have a
dot org as well for when the nonprofit and online
(22:49):
community is live, and that's where we will past all
the updates about our progress. Give me that address one
more time. Www dot Operation been Happy nurse dot com.
That's easy enough, Operation Happy nurse dot com. I'm going
to send everybody I know there who is a nurse
(23:11):
who loves a nurse who's thinking of becoming a nurse. Yeah,
it's it's burning the word is the biggest thing we
can do right now is that there are any nurses
out there listening to this. Please help us spread the word.
It's going to help a lot of people, and we're
really excited about it and we just need all the
help we can get. I will do my part to
get the word out there for you, Shannon, And I'm
so proud of you. Like I said, the thing that
(23:33):
thrills me is that you saw this need, an idea
was birth in your heart, and instead of waiting for
federal funding or somebody else to pick up the ball
or to to run with it, you said, this is
this is the dream that was put on my heart
and I'm going to see it through. And I know
(23:55):
it has cost you money. It's cost you hours, it's
cost you tears, it's cost you anxiety, it's cost you
being vulnerable. And yet you're not letting anything stop. You know,
it's pretty funny because that's really stress out about it.
At one point and my friend she was like, isn't
this supposed to help stress? Like you're getting stressed out
(24:16):
about it? I was like, I know, but I'm stressed
because I want people and their stress, and it's causing
you stress to want to help them with their stress.
So I gotta ask, what's what is your What have
you found works for you for stress release? For me,
it's reading and painting. When I can read a good
book or paint, my stress level goes down tremendously. But
(24:40):
but covid, I've turned to sour dough bread baking, which
is not good for a lot of reasons. But it's
so good though. But my mine is working out. It
really decreases my stress. If I don't work out, I
can notice my my anxiety starts old a good run
(25:01):
really just I can just feel a struslating my body.
So work out like you go to a gym and
pump iron, you go do cross fit? What does that
workout look like for you? Who is doing twelve hour shifts?
So I normally would go to a gym, but because
of COVID. I can't right now. So I've been running
(25:22):
and I've been using um some apps to try to
find different at home workouts that can do, and I've
been talking to the people who are doing them for
me and doing the ones I've posted on our social
media as well well. I can't wait for Operation Happy
Nurse to take off, because, like I said, I'm surrounded
by nurses and my my niece is in a program
(25:43):
in high school so she can get her associates so
she can go straight into the nursing program UM. Her
aunt is kind of her hero, my daughter in law
I was telling you about. So I'm I'm excited to
share this news with so many people that I love that.
I know we're exhausted before it hit. We're stressed before
COVID hit, but now have to just be paralyzed with
(26:06):
all the stuff going on. Yeah, it's something I'm really
happy about that we can get this going because honestly,
my stress bubbles were out of control when I first started,
and from when I was talking to other nerds that
that was the same for them. And I'm really lucky
that I have such an amazing team work game with
me to get this going because they've supported me since
(26:29):
this is the start, and they're the reason, honestly that
this is happening because they pushed me and we're excited
about it, which got me even more excited about it.
So I'm I'm very grateful that I have them, and
we're very grateful we have you, Shannon, and that you're
doing this, that you you're giving birth to this wonderful,
wonderful project. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and
(26:50):
thank you for agreeing to be a part of love
someone with Delilah, because you exemplify everything I talk about.
Everything I talk about on my right your show, everything
I talked about on this podcast is taking your dream,
taking your gift, taking your passion, and using it to
change the world for good. And you were already doing
(27:13):
that working with babies. You were already doing that, but
you saw a need outside of the baby's needs, that
being the need of the nurses, and you, you're you
gave birth. You're giving birth to this beautiful project that
I know, I know in my heart and my soul
and my spirit that this is going to be a
(27:33):
blessing to thousands, thousands of people, which is like the
ripple effect if a nurse is a mom has four
or five kids at home, like my my daughter in law,
and she finds a way to handle that stress, those
five kids are then blessed, her husband is then blessed,
the the neighborhood is then blessed. So the ripple effect
(27:55):
of this is going to be phenomenal, and I'm really
really hoping it helps the birth and out as well, because, um,
right now, there's high turnovers in the nursing profession because
people aren't staying it as long as they used too
because of burnout. So I'm just really hoping that we
can all come together and help these nurses because they
need us as much as we need them. Shannon, thank you,
(28:17):
thank you for doing this, thank you for being with
us today, and good luck with Operation Happy Nurse. Thank you.
I was so excited to be on here. You are
just so amazing and I love your mission and everything
you stand for it. So thank you so much for
having me on this podcast because it has been honestly
so well wated to speak to you. We're going to
do everything we can to help you spread the word. Okay,
(28:39):
thank you so much. Let means the world and get
my listeners because you know, my listeners are pretty awesome. Uh,
get them engaged and involved and uh and see how
big we can grow the stream of yours. Oh, you
are just such a beautiful woman. Thank you so much.
All right, thank you, honey, God bless you. Thank you
you too, Shannon. I love that you took the anxiety,
(29:01):
the frustrations, the stress of being a nurse, the stress
that that role had created within you, and instead of
letting it devour you or drowned you, you turned it
into hope and love for others, others like yourself who
are a nurse. Shannon isn't a therapist. She's not a
fitness instructor. She isn't a social director, a librarian, a
(29:24):
business owner, or a web developer. She's just someone who
felt all to personally a deep need and a calling
in her heart to do something about this deep need.
One heart at a time, One one heart at a time.
That is my battle cry against the injustices and the
inequalities of the world, and Shannon McPeak is answering the call.
Shannon is a nurse who, even before the coronavirus had
been heard of, recognized a need in our nursing community
(00:29):
that wasn't being met. She decided to fix that. She
didn't wait for someone else to do it, she didn't
wait for legislation to remedy it. Instead, she started gathering information, people, businesses,
and knowledge so that she could spearhead a nonprofit web
(00:49):
based service organization focused on decreasing the stress, anxiety, and
depression in the nursing profession. It's called Operation Happy Nurse.
Just hearing this makes me happy, and I'm not even
a nurse. Shannon is joining us on Love Someone to
(01:09):
talk about her exciting new project and how she hopes
to lighten the hearts of her fellow nurses who do
all they can every single day. They truly do to
lighten the hearts of those they serve. Before we talk
with Shannon, though, I need to tell you about my
show sponsor, Save Skincare Products. The folks who make this
(01:33):
podcast Possible. You've heard me talk about Save Skincare on
my radio show. I love this line of skincare products.
Save Skincare is a company owned by a woman. Lots
of great products. A hydrating facial cleanser, a gentle gomage exfoliator,
(01:54):
their ultra light moisturizer, not to mention their anti pollution
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(02:16):
free samples in every order. Follow them on Facebook at
save Skincare for special offers and promotions. Find save s
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at save skincare dot com that save skincare dot com.
(02:36):
So with me on Love Someone Today is Shannon McPeak,
who definitely put her her love, her passions, her desires,
her thoughts into action. You're a nurse. How long have
you been a nurse, Shannon? I've been a nurse for
four years. Oh so you are new to the nursing field. Yes,
(03:01):
yes i am. I'm a travel lerg Right now can
I ask how old you are? Ticks? Oh my gossh,
you're a baby. Yeah, I'm I'm a newbie. So tell
me what led you to the nursing field and why
you decided to choose a career that is so exhausting
(03:23):
and has to take such a huge toll on your
heart caring deeply for others. Yeah. So when I was younger,
I just had this urge to care for other people.
I never really was one too not help in certain situations.
I just always had an urge to be surrounded by
(03:46):
people and to help them in the best way that
I possibly could. So I started doing some research, I
volunteered at some hospitals and found my calling as a nurse.
And although it's so tough sometimes and it's really exhausting,
it's also so rewarding. Um. I worked in the neonatal
in tens of care unit, and these babies I get
to see grow and it's just an amazing, amazing experience.
(04:09):
So you were, as Mr Rogers would say, he always says,
in times of trouble, look for the helpers. You were
the helper even when you were young. Yeah, that's always
been my draw. I've always had to urge to help
those around me. I can't think of a profession that
is better built for you then, or that you are
(04:30):
better built for than being a nurse. So you became
a nurse, you went to school, you became a nurse.
Did you go directly into working with babies at the
neonatal Yeah? So during school I kind of realized that
babies was my forte and I just wasn't really into
the adult nursing life programs. The adults are just not
(04:50):
my thing. I can't do it. I applaud all of
them who do, but I am babies through and through,
and I just looked for programs where I could go
directly and finicky and I did. And so that's what
I've done ever since I graduated. So you you knew
early on after volunteering at hospitals and doing rounds, Nope,
I need to behold in me and leving on some
(05:13):
babies exactly. Honestly, when I was in nursing school, initially,
I was really worried that I hated it because I
was like, I'm not into this adult nursing life. And
I once I was in the babies, I just knew it.
You know, my heart was in it there. So you
want to help, but you really want to help babies.
That was your calling. Yeah, that's my calling. And honestly,
I've spoken to a lot of adult nurses too, and
(05:34):
they said the same thing about babies. It's just you
know you're calling when you have it. I actually, because
I get fired a lot in radio, I actually looked
into a program being a midwife. When I was fired
in Pennsylvania, I thought, I can't keep getting fired, I
can't keep doing this, and because I so love babies,
I thought about going through this midwife program and being
(05:57):
a midwife. The problem was I was a parent at
the time with two kids, and I was the breadwinner
that I didn't have any support. And I'm like, how
am I going to take the years off to do
school to become a midwife. I gotta get another job.
I gotta get back to work right now. And then
so within a few days I had another job. But
(06:18):
I love babies, so I get that that is your calling.
They're just amazing, and they're so resilient and just incredibly
amazing and pure people, and I just I love them.
So you became a Nike you nurse, and how long
into this, did you realize that there is a huge
gap or a huge void in emotional and mental and
(06:44):
helpful support for people who choose a nursing as a career.
So they say it about six months is when you
hit your lowest point mentally in this thing, and I
didn't really believe them initially. We had to write a
diary to ourself and all that, and when I hit
the six months, it was very hard. It's unbelievably tough.
(07:05):
I would I feel like I had a chest bake
almost every day, like I had never really dealt with
anxiety like this before, and I just knew it was
slowly eating at my personality. It was just slowly getting
to me and I was becoming more withdrawn. I wasn't
acting as happy as I normally was. And it really
(07:25):
took one of my friends saying that I was different
for me to realize that something was off and I
needed to fix it. And I knew that I wasn't
coping with my stress how I should have been. But
it was a lot of energy to try to figure
out how to cope with it, and so I I
just pushed myself and I started working out a lot.
(07:47):
I started researching different ways to help my stress, and
it did really help me. Although I'm not at mycent
low stress, I am getting there, and I just thought
I should help other people, like how I struggled how
the coronavirus affect that stress for you, Like, I know
that your project and we're going to get really delve
(08:08):
into Operation happinurs which is your your big project, and
I really want you to to to dive deep with me.
But how has COVID Like did Operation Happy Nurse? Was
that birth in your heart long ago? Was it birth
at that six month period or did the coronavirus kind
of push you over the edge to decide to do this.
(08:31):
I came up with the idea of Operation Happy Nurse,
and I started working on it around then I did
some research, I started talking to people. Um and it's
because my friend said me, this glorious human being asked
me if I wanted to continue working with nonprofits because
at the time I was working at March of Dime,
and I said, I loved March of Them, but I
(08:52):
really wanted to work for a nonprofit that was focusing
on the mental hall of the nursing profession. And her
and I did some research and realized that there wasn't
really much there and there are some resources, but just
not enough at the forefront. And so I started developing
this idea and I really started delving into it when
I was living in Australia during the winter, and that's
(09:13):
when I started getting this idea of rolling. So it
was actually started before COVID nineteen, but we've been pushing
ourselves more to get it going because of this, and
we know that there's gonna be such high rates of
PTSD and anxiety when nurse staying after this is all over,
so we are now speeding things up to make sure
(09:34):
that we have this resources available. I have a lot
more questions, Shannon. I'm so happy, I'm so thrilled that
you took this on, that you are spearheading this, and
I want to hear a lot more about it, but
we gotta pause for a second or two for this message.
So now jumping into the big question, tell us what
Operation Happy Nurse is, what your vision for the future
(09:58):
of this is And you just kind of told us
how it was birth, but what is Operation Happinurs? So
Operation Happiness is a nonprofit. We just got our five
O one C three status that we're super pumped about
that um and so we're now officially a nonprofit and
we are I gotta just jump in and say congratulations
(10:19):
as somebody that that that has a nonprofit getting that
nonprofit status, you know it would be easier to give
birth to quadruple. It's without any anesthesia. Yeah. Yeah, it's tough.
And we had the most amazing lawyer helping us, that
Thomas Roebol. He's awesome and he held our hands through
this process and it was it was hard, but we
(10:42):
are here. We are a nonprofit. And I was at
work when I found out and I started trying. Was
really embarrassing. I'm so glad because we have been talking
about doing this interview. My sister heard about it from
a friend, a woman that works with us, and we're like,
this is so in line with what we a spout
is what the Delilah Show is all about, people helping people,
(11:02):
not waiting for someone else to do it. But we
didn't wanna we waste segua weapon as they say, until
you had that status. And so when we heard that
you got it, we're like, okay, great, now we can
do the podcast and talk to her about operation Happeners. Okay,
go on, I'm so excited. But we are an online community.
(11:25):
Are going to be an online community. We currently have
another team working on this web page because it's going
to be very intensive. And what you do is you
join this community, you have to show that you're a
nurse just by telling us where are your license, just
so we can, you know, kind of keep an eye
and make sure that people are actually nurses who are
joining our community. Once you join the community, we have
these resources available to you where you can go in
(11:48):
and you can kind of gear your own stress release
plan to your own personal needs. Because some people stress
relievers cause stress for them, So we want to be
able to make sure what you are provided work for you.
So we have a bunch of different options and you
go in and you pick and choose which parts you
want to be involved in, and we kind of help
(12:10):
track your process and make sure that you're reliving that
stress and make sure that it's working for you so
that we can all go through this together and we
can all work together. It's better ourselves and better our
mental health. So it's a community where you kind of
get to design your own stress really plan and I'm very,
very excited about it. So tell me, tell me, like,
what would be some of the menu options? Pretend I'm
(12:32):
a nurse and I am working in in the NIKI
because like you, I love babies, and I'm you know,
pulling the twelve hour shifts three on, four off, whatever,
and I am so burned out. I can't even help
my kids at home do their online schooling. I can't
even I can't even lift my feet once I get
through the door. Yeah, what are some of the menu options?
(12:55):
What are some of the things that I will be
able to access on operation and happy nurse when it's
built out. Yeah, so a couple of them are. We've
got a book club. My amazing sister she um, she's
an author, and she is going to run this book
club for us, And essentially we haven't decided how often,
(13:16):
but about book recommendations and you consider on with other
nurses and talk about the book and answer some questions
and be involved that way. Reading is a phenomenal way
to be increased your stress um for many reasons, but
mainly because you kind of get to escape your own
life for a little bit and live in the lives
of others and you get to see that maybe stuff
that people are stressed out and in the books are
(13:38):
things that you might be stressed out as well. And
you're feelings, they're universal feelings. You're not alone in what's
going on. Another one we are doing in physical fitness
in yoga. Um, I've got amazing, amazing people who are
helping me out with that. But we're going to make
them at home easy workouts because nurses are very busy,
our hours are very long, and we just want an
(13:59):
easy reason work for them to be able to do
some exercises at home that are short and easy to obtain.
And then, um, we've got discussion boards where you can
talk to other nurses who are going through similar things
that you are. One of the hardest things for me
when I was going through my really dark period was
talking to people. I felt like I couldn't speak to
(14:20):
people who didn't understand where I was that mentally, So
when my family tried to talk to me about it, it
it was really hard for me to tell them about
my feelings because I didn't think they would really get it.
So the discussion board is really important for me to
add in here so that nurses could be surrounded by
people who they think understand what they are going through,
so that was a big one for us. Um, we
(14:41):
want to do help with nutrition. It's really hard to
figure out what you're supposed to eat on night shifts.
It's really hard to figure out quick meals that you
can just heat up at work, but that are healthy.
And we want to help guide these meal plans through
people and help them help them figure out how to eat,
help save foods but also yummy food. So we're more
(15:02):
working on that as well. Um. We've got hotlines for
people who, like you said, are having trouble picking up
their feet when they're walking, having trouble even getting out
of bed. We want to be having an immediate resource
for those nurses so that they they can seek help
right away and seek the intense help that they need. Um,
(15:23):
we want them to have a resource that they can
that they can go to. We've got a lot of
other areas and I can keep going, but I'm really
those are the main ones. We want to do a
podcast as well. UM. We want to delve into random
things that are known to decrease stress, like knitting. Knitting
is a big one for decreasing stress. Acupuncture, adult coloring books.
(15:46):
We want to show the research, and we want to
have one of our members go out and actually try
each of these and keep a diary so she can
tell what her personal journey with them was, and so
people can see that there's other things besides just reading,
working out about all that stuff. There's other cool things
that you can try to help you decrease your stress.
And then also events. We want to have social eventfleence
(16:07):
we're allowed to do that. Again, how has the COVID crisis,
the pandemic inspired you to build faster? Yeah, So I
started speaking to some nurses and it was drawn to
my attention that not only are we stressed out and
work because of what's going on, there's also stressors outside
of work. For a little bit there, some nurses were
(16:29):
being harassed outside of work by some members of society
because they were in scrubs and they believe that these nurses,
somehow we're spreading COVID. So nurses begend to get really
nervous going into work because they were afraid of being harassed.
So that kind of pushed me. And now we are
expediting processes and we are we are working a lot
(16:52):
of hours to get this out there for nurses because
they we want them to know that they're not alone
and that we support them and that we help them
through this journey and that we can help them with
their stress. You know what I love most about what
you're doing, Shannon, is that you're doing it. I talked
(17:12):
to people all the time who have a dream, have
a vision, who think, oh my gosh, this would make
the world a better place, or you know, kids who
work with foster care. Whatever. You're putting feet on your dreams.
You know, you had a dream in the clouds, but
now you're building the foundation under it, and you're doing
it despite the fact that you're exhausted, despite the fact
(17:34):
that you're working. Now, how long are your shifts that
you work at the Nikio? I do three tallve hour shifts?
Do you do the three on four off that sort
of thing? Um? Honestly, it depends on the week. You
don't know because you don't know if you're coming or
going a lot of times because it's so crazy and
you saw this need and you felt this need in
(17:56):
your own life, and you realize this was a huge
void the lives of the nurses. Tens of thousands of
nurses who gives so much to everyone else and nobody
is there to fill up their cup so to speak. Yeah, yeah,
nurses are known to take care of other people but
not really take care of themselves. Um, we spend all
(18:19):
our energy caring for others and we kind of put
ourselves at the wayside. And it's kind that we took
that because honestly, nurses me helped to There's a beautiful
illustration about Um. A father that kept big glass jug
in the refrigerator, you know, like a mason jar, and
(18:41):
he would fill it up with water and he would
put it in the refrigerator with a couple of slices
of lemon in it, so that when somebody was thirsty
they would go to the refrigerator in the hot summer
and there would be cold, cool, crisp clear water to drink.
And throughout the day, his kids and whoever came over
would go get the water out of the jug, but
(19:03):
they wouldn't refill it. And so when dad came in
from working all day, the jug was empty. And that's
such a beautiful illustration of visual illustration. I think for
what nurses do, They fill up the jug everybody drinks
from the fresh water that they provide day in and
day out, night in and night out, and then when
(19:26):
they get off their shift, the jug is empty. There's
nobody there and it sounds like Operation Happy Nurse is
there to fill their their jug with cool, fresh love
and an infusion of goodness. Yeah, that's our goal. We
really we just really want them to know that we're
there for them. It's it's been really hard when people
(19:48):
have come to me and said that they they didn't
know other people were going through this, They thought they
were going through it alone. And I just think that
it's so important for us to start that because it's
so important for people to know that they aren't alone,
that we are here with them, that I went through
with a ton of other nurses went through it, and
that's why I like to tell the stories at different
(20:08):
nurses on my social media because I just want people
to know that again, that they're not alone and that
we're here to support them. And when do we think
do we have a launch date when all this is
going to be curated, put together and ready to to fly.
We don't have an exact date yet. We just want
to make sure everything so perfect for when it when
it flies. But we do have our social media right
(20:31):
now to help give little taste of what's gonna be
on our web page. So for those looking for resources
right now we can. We are posting some things on
our social media and we are also doing giveaways for
working with amazing companies right now to do weekly giveaways
for nurses UM, just to show appreciation for them during
this time. So what does Operation Happy Nurse? What does
(20:54):
it need right now? What can we do? What could
I do to help you to push this move went forward?
I'm surrounded by nurses. Uh, my daughter in law, my
son married a woman. They have a large family, and
her love, like yours, is for caring for people. And
she's so amazingly freakishly good at it, like she's not
(21:18):
even human. She's like a superhuman. She's like super mom, superwoman.
And and I know that it takes a huge toll.
What can I do to help Operation a Happy Nurse
find its wings to fly? It sounds like it's already
found its wings about to take off. And yeah, we
definitely need help taking off right now. We really need funding, UM.
(21:43):
A lot of it is coming out of our pockets
right now to make this a reality. So we need
help with funding. There's a lot of stuff that goes
into making the web page. All of our people who
are working for in our volunteer basis right now, we
just need we need help funding this project to keep
it rolling, to not just have it start up and
then fall, you know. And then we also really need
(22:05):
help spreading the word. We want this to be a
resource for all nurses. We want all nurses to know
about it. It's just hard to get that going, you know.
So that's a big one that we need help with.
So how do I get the word out there? Where
do I tell people to go If somebody is listening
to this podcast right now and they're like, wait a minute,
my daughter is a nurse. So we currently have LinkedIn
(22:28):
Facebook and Instagram it's um all at Operation Happy Nerves.
And we also have a web page that talks about
our project where you can email us if you want
to help and volunteer because we could use all the
volunteers in the world. It's www dot Operation happinurs dot com.
That will be the same and we will have a
dot org as well for when the nonprofit and online
(22:49):
community is live, and that's where we will past all
the updates about our progress. Give me that address one
more time. Www dot Operation been Happy nurse dot com.
That's easy enough, Operation Happy nurse dot com. I'm going
to send everybody I know there who is a nurse
(23:11):
who loves a nurse who's thinking of becoming a nurse. Yeah,
it's it's burning the word is the biggest thing we
can do right now is that there are any nurses
out there listening to this. Please help us spread the word.
It's going to help a lot of people, and we're
really excited about it and we just need all the
help we can get. I will do my part to
get the word out there for you, Shannon, And I'm
so proud of you. Like I said, the thing that
(23:33):
thrills me is that you saw this need, an idea
was birth in your heart, and instead of waiting for
federal funding or somebody else to pick up the ball
or to to run with it, you said, this is
this is the dream that was put on my heart
and I'm going to see it through. And I know
(23:55):
it has cost you money. It's cost you hours, it's
cost you tears, it's cost you anxiety, it's cost you
being vulnerable. And yet you're not letting anything stop. You know,
it's pretty funny because that's really stress out about it.
At one point and my friend she was like, isn't
this supposed to help stress? Like you're getting stressed out
(24:16):
about it? I was like, I know, but I'm stressed
because I want people and their stress, and it's causing
you stress to want to help them with their stress.
So I gotta ask, what's what is your What have
you found works for you for stress release? For me,
it's reading and painting. When I can read a good
book or paint, my stress level goes down tremendously. But
(24:40):
but covid, I've turned to sour dough bread baking, which
is not good for a lot of reasons. But it's
so good though. But my mine is working out. It
really decreases my stress. If I don't work out, I
can notice my my anxiety starts old a good run
(25:01):
really just I can just feel a struslating my body.
So work out like you go to a gym and
pump iron, you go do cross fit? What does that
workout look like for you? Who is doing twelve hour shifts?
So I normally would go to a gym, but because
of COVID. I can't right now. So I've been running
(25:22):
and I've been using um some apps to try to
find different at home workouts that can do, and I've
been talking to the people who are doing them for
me and doing the ones I've posted on our social
media as well well. I can't wait for Operation Happy
Nurse to take off, because, like I said, I'm surrounded
by nurses and my my niece is in a program
(25:43):
in high school so she can get her associates so
she can go straight into the nursing program UM. Her
aunt is kind of her hero, my daughter in law
I was telling you about. So I'm I'm excited to
share this news with so many people that I love that.
I know we're exhausted before it hit. We're stressed before
COVID hit, but now have to just be paralyzed with
(26:06):
all the stuff going on. Yeah, it's something I'm really
happy about that we can get this going because honestly,
my stress bubbles were out of control when I first started,
and from when I was talking to other nerds that
that was the same for them. And I'm really lucky
that I have such an amazing team work game with
me to get this going because they've supported me since
(26:29):
this is the start, and they're the reason, honestly that
this is happening because they pushed me and we're excited
about it, which got me even more excited about it.
So I'm I'm very grateful that I have them, and
we're very grateful we have you, Shannon, and that you're
doing this, that you you're giving birth to this wonderful,
wonderful project. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and
(26:50):
thank you for agreeing to be a part of love
someone with Delilah, because you exemplify everything I talk about.
Everything I talk about on my right your show, everything
I talked about on this podcast is taking your dream,
taking your gift, taking your passion, and using it to
change the world for good. And you were already doing
(27:13):
that working with babies. You were already doing that, but
you saw a need outside of the baby's needs, that
being the need of the nurses, and you, you're you
gave birth. You're giving birth to this beautiful project that
I know, I know in my heart and my soul
and my spirit that this is going to be a
(27:33):
blessing to thousands, thousands of people, which is like the
ripple effect if a nurse is a mom has four
or five kids at home, like my my daughter in law,
and she finds a way to handle that stress, those
five kids are then blessed, her husband is then blessed,
the the neighborhood is then blessed. So the ripple effect
(27:55):
of this is going to be phenomenal, and I'm really
really hoping it helps the birth and out as well, because, um,
right now, there's high turnovers in the nursing profession because
people aren't staying it as long as they used too
because of burnout. So I'm just really hoping that we
can all come together and help these nurses because they
need us as much as we need them. Shannon, thank you,
(28:17):
thank you for doing this, thank you for being with
us today, and good luck with Operation Happy Nurse. Thank you.
I was so excited to be on here. You are
just so amazing and I love your mission and everything
you stand for it. So thank you so much for
having me on this podcast because it has been honestly
so well wated to speak to you. We're going to
do everything we can to help you spread the word. Okay,
(28:39):
thank you so much. Let means the world and get
my listeners because you know, my listeners are pretty awesome. Uh,
get them engaged and involved and uh and see how
big we can grow the stream of yours. Oh, you
are just such a beautiful woman. Thank you so much.
All right, thank you, honey, God bless you. Thank you
you too, Shannon. I love that you took the anxiety,
(29:01):
the frustrations, the stress of being a nurse, the stress
that that role had created within you, and instead of
letting it devour you or drowned you, you turned it
into hope and love for others, others like yourself who
are a nurse. Shannon isn't a therapist. She's not a
fitness instructor. She isn't a social director, a librarian, a
(29:24):
business owner, or a web developer. She's just someone who
felt all to personally a deep need and a calling
in her heart to do something about this deep need.
Host
Delilah
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