112 - Maliah Haroldson Pt 1: Presenting a Unified Front

Join nurse and Sacramento, California native Honored Guest Maliah Haroldson as she talks about the art of storytelling in nursing, vent sessions, the importance of diverse friend groups, The Pitt, how she got into nursing, her convoluted attempts at getting into nursing school, the HPSP Scholarship, working at the VA, and more!

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Transcript

0:01

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. Today's a very special episode. I know I say that a lot, but it really truly is, because today we're going to talk about being unified in nursing. A very special theme. That is all we're going to talk about. We're not going to mention names. We're just going to talk about unification. So in a unified manner, I'd like to introduce our unified honored guest today. OK, I can't keep going with it. Maliah how are you? Welcome to studio. I'm like, she did the intro and I'm like, if you're, if you're not embarrassed by it, let's roll with it. Let's just talk about. biffed that. was like, unified, sure. I like uplifted actually, like, let me hold on a second. Maybe in, so we'll call it the Maliah rule. In the next like five episodes, we'll just change that word to unified for people. They'll have no idea. It'll be great. Oh, so Maliah, I don't want to waste any time because as we've already established before officially hitting the record button, you and I can talk in circles and one circle combined with another circle makes a really big circle. So let's just jump right in. Introduce yourself. Give us your name. Where is home for you? Where are you from? Where are you at now? Okay, so again, my name is Maliah and I... I graduated, my nursing school journey started, started in Southern, I'm originally from Northern California, Sacramento is my home. I have a poster of it, guess, behind me. And then I ended up, I didn't really know what I wanted to do after high school, so I went straight to Cal State, Long Beach. did the Cal State system, went there for two years. I think probably a lot of people, if you don't go to a four-year, California is just also so packed full of nurses, people that wanna be nurses. So then I was there for two years, transferred over to Cal State San Bernardino, and then I took three years there. So I took like five years to finish my undergrad, but very enjoyable. And I graduated from there. And then I actually ended up with a scholarship. It was from the VA. One of the professors was like, you should do this. It's called like a PBRNR scholarship. It's like an HSPS kind of scholarship. I forget the formal name. I did that one. It's through the VA and basically do like pretty much like three years. and two of those years you work full-time and one year is like a transition year so you kind of it's a nurse residency so you kind of like go to different floors at least that's how my program was set up and then that's how I ended up in Seattle so right now I'm in Seattle and yeah. Wow, what a journey. Like that is so incredible. And I love that. Let me back up for second then just on that note. Are you planning on going back to California? Have you fallen in love with Seattle and the dreary weather and all the things? Like what's going on there? I so, California again, like I love the sun if I just like being outside so like Seattle was like a good fit. I do have to say the winters are still there still. I've been here for now like three years. I actually finished up my scholarship like literally last month, so now I can go wherever I do please, but I don't think I currently. I don't have any plans on returning. actually in grad school right now at UW. I kind of that was kind of a lot. Not a last minute decision, but kind of a whim of the moment. decision. Yeah. apologies to all of my former Coug students. Go Huskies! We're spending a little time with the purple and gold today. We've got no biases here defeating our young podcast, that's for sure. The only color that we embrace here is unification. alright, so. all to my cats. It's gonna work. Yeah, I love it. you can too, Maliah. In fact, we should like, how many times can we work the word unified or unification into this episode? it's gonna be a lot. think we can, I feel like if people wanna take a tally, you know, they can play a little game with themselves. And not a drinking game. We've talked about that. Don't make a Feeding Our Young drinking game. I'm always worried about that part. Okay, so continuing with our kind of our normal opening questions. I always ask everybody to give three words that they would use to describe nursing school. We're going to talk about them later, but what are the words you chose, Maliah? I chose the word memorable, would say frustrating and hard work. Yeah. do you have three favorite songs in life right now? Not exactly. I kind of just go with whatever. I'm just going to pull up my Spotify then and let's see what I've been just listening to. No, so personal already. The social security card, the number and all that, that comes later, so don't worry. Everybody get your pen and paper ready. I have the one I was just listening to that I liked, it was called Following the Sun. I have Noe, it's by like Super-Hi and NEEKA, I guess, is that one was on there. Let's see, I like anything like Noah Kahan, weirdly enough. I don't like, I'm like, I haven't been damaged in any sort of way. But it speaks to you. It speaks to you. I think the first one I feel like the first one that came up that I recently listened to was like Orange Juice. So I guess that one's gonna be on there. And then I... I I'll just I'll put this one out there. I know like a lot of people that if you've listened to house music I guess I I don't really follow the artist but Focus by like John so much featuring CLOVES is like on there I guess so we'll go with that I might have to, so as any long time listeners know, I love to run, blah, blah, blah, blah. My only distance is a half marathon. I couldn't get mine in this morning, so that's what's awaiting me when we're done chatting. So I think I'm gonna take those songs and pop them into the My Playlist and give those a little taste while I'm punishing myself, I guess, I don't know. All right, so the one thing I didn't get to prepare you for and the one thing that is not on that form that I send you, I normally warn people. But I'm currently doing the unofficial Feeding Our Young personality test. I ask you five rapid fire kind of would you rather questions, nothing scandalous. Are you willing to take that test right now, Maliah? Look at that! on this like game show right now. I'm like, I'm ready. Alright, the unofficial, Feeding Our Young, unified personality test today. Is Wham's song titled Last Christmas actually a Christmas song? Yes. Would you rather have the ability to fly or breathe underwater? I'm chuckling because I get to see her face. You don't. It's awesome. Team pie or team cake? Pie? Okay, question mark. And now you've been gifted a time machine. Would you rather go back in time or see the future? back in time. Interesting and yeah, hold on gotta make a note there. Just kidding So and the last question would you rather instantly learn a new language or instrument? There it is, so the results are in you're amazing. Congratulations, Maliah So there it is the unofficial unified Feeding Our Young Maliah Haroldson episode edition of Yeah, that personality test. All right enough enough enough of the games, let's have some fun with this. So, you know, there's a lot of different, I have kind of this, you know, standard, let's get to know Maliah, let's get to know her as a person and as a nursing student and her career and all that sort of thing. But I'm trying to break out of that mold. So there's a few topics that Maliah has written down that could be of interest, we might get to, we might not get to. But I definitely want to start there. And we'll just kind of work our way around and kind of interject and maybe sprinkle Maliah's story. amidst the topics because I think that might be the way it works today. The first thing that you had written on there, Maliah, which I really, really love, you titled it The Art of Storytelling in Nursing. What is that about? Honestly, for me, I just think... I like just recently like my coworkers and I have started a book club on our unit. So it's like, it's not even about that. It's like the idea of that, like nurses and like just people get together or they find like an online community to me, which is interesting. Like now you have all these nursing influencers that a lot of people are like either inspired or just like for laughs. And I feel like even like when my coworkers are together, we just like have all these stories and we just start like spouting off all these stories. And I don't know what it is about it, but like, I feel like whenever you have, like times where you can just, not even like just vent, it's like a little vent sesh but it's also not so much gossiping but you guys like it's a way to like bond and like you able to like understand people it's just like a little bit more than a conversation it's like okay like you know I felt this way and then you're like I felt the same way or like having that shared experience it's like the idea that you're not alone in your nursing journey because again it's that whole idea of you're not alone like not everybody's going through it but some as similar as going on in the world around you, kind of the same way. I don't know. And not that you would become, this is gonna sound silly, but not that you would become a cult, but that you would, you know what I mean, of just these, you just now hang out with nurses and other nurses in nursing community. But you know what I mean, there is a level of understanding there that's not with other friends or loved ones who are not in that tight circle, you know what I mean? And so I love that, you kind of gave me the vision of like a, you know, IV tubing. For lack of better word, when you're trying to, for anyone who doesn't know, when you're trying to hook up IV tubing to like a glass-filed medication, you're encouraged to open the vent. You pop open this little vent, which is almost like a little porthole, right? Like it looks like a porthole on a submarine or something like that, but you pop it open so that more air can get in and you can get the medication out. And I'm like, a little vent sesh. Like that's kind of what that is, right? Like you just kind of pop that hole open, let it out, right? And it's like again filled with lots of laughs because you know what I mean like I I love laughter I feel I have like I've been told to like very serious moments This might not be the best in my career where it's like I just start like laughing It's like, know, like patient like I don't know like pooped or peed on the ground and I'm just like laugh like I was just like I'm just like I don't know like they're like this isn't funny and I was like, I don't know like Like you're just in the room turn the page I think it's like happened to multiple of us and they just like let it tell and you're just like it's like so hard for me to let's like keep it together but like it's like stories like that like everyone has had that and they'll be like wait a minute I got even a better story like hold on Like it just keeps amping up and then you're at the point where you're like, I don't even know how we got to this point. But you know, like you're in public too. And you're just like, wait a minute, like nobody can relate to this. you're like, nobody's going to just like stare at you. think I've also been at like, I think dinner always is like a, like a, like any meal. They're always like, I can't talk about this. Like, and I've gone out to meet with like friends that are not in healthcare. And I love my friends that are like, I try to make like, again, like the whole idea of diverse friend groups and like having people that aren't just in nursing. I think one of my best friends, one of my best friends is becoming a pilot right now, aerospace engineer. even she's just like her parent, her mom's a nurse and her stepdad's a nurse, but it's just one of those, she's like, I don't know how you do that. Or even my sister who's in tech, I'm just telling her about my day because I call her on my way home from work. And she's just like, she shot me one time and she's like, stop. She's like, I'm. ha ha! I went into my career, this is your choice. Like, I don't want to hear about that right now. Right, and it's such a thing, and any nurse will tell you, 100 % at the dinner table, whatever, with friends, with family, it's gonna happen. And like, I get used to even, you know what mean, as a postpartum nurse, what is the number one body fluid I deal with? 90 % of every day, all day, blood, right? We're worried about women bleeding, we're working at blood, we're taking care, maybe people listening to this who aren't in the nursing community are like, gosh, are we gonna keep talking about that? Because I need to tune out. But that's just it. Like, you know. and you get used to whatever you get used to, but even like my patients, my patients and or their significant other, their spouse, their support person, they may not have a tolerance for that stuff even though they're in the middle of it. So you kind of have to check yourself on occasion to be like, yeah, okay, no, it's okay, don't worry, we've seen worse and we're gonna stop talking about it. Let's focus on other things. can't go there. feel like the best, like I think like on social media right now too, it's the, I feel like you've probably heard about like The Pitt. Everyone's like talking about The Pitt. Oh, I cannot wait to- I wanna binge it so bad, I'm so busy, but I want to binge it so bad. You and like I was watching it I was watching with my boyfriend Isaac and it was like so funny because he's just like I'm not ever I like I know people that work in an ED Respectfully like I'm like I would never like I don't think I could I work on the surgical ICU at the VA and I'm like no like But like it was so funny because there is this one scene It's not gonna spoil anything but you just see this like naked like patient just run out of the ED and you just see it like Like I think it's a nurse just chasing them down being like sir. You can't leave like you have an IV and still just like watching this and he's like this isn't real and i was like no that's like 200% like what you'll see and i was and you have nurses that are like, my gosh, you've seen those clips of The Pitt, and they're like, no, nurses going, you guys, I normally don't recognize, I don't recommend watching shows like this, but this is real, this is as real, and they've taken great pains at making it real, and I love that about them. I think my favorite though is I just keep seeing like all the RTs like the respiratory therapists being like, where's respiratory? Like they're like, wait a minute, they just intubated a patient? We would have been there. And I mean, but we get that too, as a nursing perspective. Do you ever watch The Office? I have seen it. It's been, I've like seen bits and pieces of The Office, but... I won't go into detail because I've said it in other episodes and for anyone who's only listening to Maliah's episode, I'm sorry, you're gonna have to go find the one that I talked about it in. The Office is one of my top five all-time sitcoms, love it. It's that, you know, comfort food you need when you're just feeling down. But nurses on The Office are the worst nurses I've ever met in my life. You've got one that rolls her eyes at Pam and Jim when they're having a baby because she's asking questions, God forbid. you've got another one that stops Michael Scott from like trying to put an IV tube back into an IV. And she's like, wait, wait, wait, sir, let me do that. And she takes it from him. You're like, thank God. And then she connects it. No alcohol, didn't toss the tubing, get new tubing. No, no, no, she just hooks it up after it was touching the floor. So whatever. I don't know. But The Pitt, as I understand it, and I watched some behind the I haven't seen the show, but I've seen some behind the scenes stuff. And they're very much like, no, we like, want to make this. is our, Noah Wiley says like, This is our love letter to this community, especially post COVID. You know, having his experience being on ER before and now doing The Pitt. And I'm just like, okay, I don't usually watch medical stuff. Like, cause I don't know about you Maliah, like for me, like entertainment being related around work is not entertainment when you're outside of work, right? no, it's not. It's almost like scarring. You're like, wait, I don't want to see. You're like covering your eyes. You're like, wait a minute. I don't need to see this anymore. Like, I don't want to think about it. No thank you. There was an old adage, like, you know, receptionist. She doesn't want to answer the phone when she gets home. Or he. Let's not be gender biased here. Okay, so, Unified. Unified. Doesn't matter what gender you relate with, what you are, you're answering the phone, you don't want to answer it at home. Alright, and there it is. Number, I don't know what we're at. Five, four, five. We're not even gonna count. We're gonna leave that up to you guys. We're having fun, you get to do the work. That's how that works. Okay, so I mean with storytelling and nursing what I love about this podcast is we get to do stories We get to listen to your story So I'll just segue that into a very sloppy segue into tell us why nursing how did you get into nursing? And then you know what I mean? I kind of lead us down that road a bit How did I get into nursing? Well, I feel like I did out of high school. went, guess I should give you back. I grew up in Sacramento, California and I did the, my mom was like, you're going to go to private school. So I went to like a, I went to a college preparatory, like private school. So like, I know, like I feel like I try, like I, know, like it's like embarrassing too. You're like, yeah, I went to like a Catholic high school. You're like hiding in shame, like Catholic guilt. You're like, no, like don't. no. I swear, like I'm not part of this elite class, like I swear. I had no idea what I wanted to do. think my dad was a nurse and then my mom's a teacher. So I have like that whole background, know, very service related. And my mom kind of very so much was like, you know, like I feel like she was like financial security is a great thing to have in your life. So I kind of was like, it was like match the dots as I imagine it's like, you know, pick and play. Like these are the top careers right now and pick a major that goes to it. And again, like I, at the time, you know, you're young and you're like this sucks mom like I want to go and like you know try and she's like no like choose like choose something so my aunt kind of helped counsel that too and was like I feel like nursing would be a great thing for you you get to travel financial security and that you'll meet a lot of people and like coming out of high school too I was I don't know like I I found like my I was like very shy growing up so like for me to think about patient care and like talking to people I was like I don't know like this isn't gonna go well like maybe maybe like I won't like rapport with patients. like, I might come off a little awkward and I still kind of do it. You know what I mean? So. school background I'll have you know. I'm just trying, I'm just trying to make it here. But then I went in undeclared to Long Beach as like probably in the beginning of the episode you heard and then I met some great people there. I tried to get into the nursing, I applied to seven nursing schools in the state of California. I tell anyone that I counsel or like just try to like tell them they're like I'm really interested in nursing and they're like a senior in high school. I was like go to a four year, go to a four year university, pay the extra money. It will pay off in the end because you could be waiting this limbo like I almost didn't get into San Bernardino and that was a whole mess too but I'll go into that but like so basically yeah so basically I got like rejected like I applied like if you know California I like applied to Chico State I messed up on the app there I I messed up at like I didn't get into Sac State I didn't get into Fresno State I was like Fresno like come on Was that like, is Fresno like the fallback? Like that you're like, that's my safety net. back, but it's like where it is in the state of California. was like, no, no, like shade on Fresno, like love all the people that live in like central California. But I was like, Fresno, like really like me. Um, I didn't get into Long Beach. So San Bernardino actually happened by chance. Like I had friends that grew up, we call it the Inland Empire in Southern California. So the IE, um, they were like, you should just apply. So I put on my app, they have a satellite campus out in Palm desert. So if you know Palm Springs, it's the same area. and then they were like, just apply. They both got into Long Beach, so I was like, okay guys. Great! Great! I was weirdly like in Spain at the time, like visiting like a friend that was studying abroad. And my mom like WhatsApps me and is like, Hey, like you got a letter from San Bernardino and they're asking that you got in. I had no idea, but then like, I get back, like, I'm like, okay, I accept. I was at the satellite campus at first. I asked the Dean at the time, like, I was like, can you please let me in the main campus? Like, I don't know anyone in this region, like please civilization, like, you know, anything like Palm Springs and Palm deserts, a nice area, but it's not. young people like you know you're pretty far out from places so I begged her and then she was like she looked at my app and she was like you didn't submit something right so she's like we're gonna have to deny you so then I was like all of a sudden I'm like panicking on the phone now like it's honestly and I just turned like 21 too it was on my birthday I'm like going through this too and I was like what do you mean like my friend's like at my house I'm pretty sure my friend was at my house and she's just like sitting there like I'm we were supposed to go so I call like the like it was summer too. So I'm like calling the office. I'm like something happened with like my of all things. I think it was like AP scores. She's like you never sent us those so we don't have like transcripts. I was like what is going on? And so like the guy was so nice. I forget his name, but like God bless this man's soul like he was the nicest gentleman. He was like tell them it's fine. Like we got all your stuff. I get in like I was like my god like this was the only nursing school like I got into you don't understand You was like, and he was like, okay. And then it was even crazier because at that point I didn't know I got into, I didn't know I was going to go to the main campus. So I had full intentions of going out to Palm, like Palm Desert. And so I met a roommate even too. And I was like, I don't know, I'm going to just do this. And I had, and then the Dean called me and was like, okay, we're going to let you in the main campus. It was kind of demoralizing though, cause she was kind of like, just know that cause you checked like by chance, you checked like you could go to both campuses. You're going to take away like a place on like some else's place in this nursing program and I was like what the heck like my god like okay yeah like I was like But it all worked out in the end. again, like I got in the first year though of just nursing. just remember like feeling like, do I deserve to be here? Like I had this such huge self doubt starting there. Cause of just that one conversation we had. And then like through that, like I, I like was like, well, I'm just going to prove you like wrong. So that's exactly what I did. I was like, well, I'm going to do well in all my classes. And then I guess like long story short is that I like, they talked me into like leadership like the club was like, I feel like my mentor at the time was like, you should just like take over faculty rep. And I was like, okay. So I'm like just sitting in these like staff meetings on like Friday at San Bernardino, like I'm just transfer, like I'm just here to write notes and then go from there. And then all of a sudden they were like, my friends and I joked and they were like, you should just become like president of the nursing club. And I was like, yeah, guys, so funny. They're like, we'll run. And so like they do this whole thing. And then I was like, did you guys put your names in there? Like, no. Absolutely not. I'm like, wait. So no, was, it turned out really funny in the end. And yeah, so I, but then COVID hit. So it was kind of weird. Like we did everything online like this, like a very online platform. And I was like, I, don't really know what I'm doing, but like we kind of made it work. And then, I don't know. I think they're still doing well. Like I know that the club is still up and running. So I was like, I kept it afloat. So I was like, I did my job. Pass it on to some other poor sucker whose friends got them to run for it. I don't know. know, like I was like, I don't know. kind of like an easily, I, it doesn't take much for me to get talked into things. Anyway, long winded journey for nursing, I guess you could say. And then yeah, I got this scholarship, which paid for my, like the last two years of nursing school, it paid it in full with a monthly stipend. So I was like, I guess I can plug that scholarship, but it was a great one from the VA. You just have to be willing to move. I actually just talked to one of our family friends daughter became a nurse, is becoming a nurse and like, She's in her last semester at, I think she's at Loyola, Chicago or something, somewhere in Chicago. And basically it helped her pay for nursing school as well, but she was like, they're offering, what I did was just the post-baccalaureate residency program and then transitioned to practice one. So what's the official name of the scholarship again? Like full name of the scholarship and if someone's like, well this sounds kind of interesting, like how would they apply? So it is called the, to be formal, is called the Health Professions Scholarship Program, HPSP. Basically, wait, maybe it's not this one. I think it is this one. I think this was the one I did, yeah. I don't know. It looks different online, but I think that was the one I did. And it was like, you don't have to be a military kid. You don't have to like have any military background. It was offered as a civilian one. I felt like not a lot of people, the only, okay. So funny story. The only reason I heard about this is also cause like one of our family friends and like one of my mentors did it as well. And she went to university of San Francisco, which is like private school too. And she did it, but she was placed in LA. But again, like they've been changing the program too as the years have gone on. So what I had like three years ago is definitely not what people will get like now. And again, they have this new transition to practice, which I think is better because the VA is a federal facility. So I think jobs are kind of getting wonky with the little things and irresponsible full time out of VA after. So the transition to practice guarantees like you have a job after. I was like, maybe that would be the better option just to be safer. But again, it's cool. No, that's incredible. And I'm glad you brought it up because there's one of our students that we have at the university that I work at, she was telling me all about that too, and that's her plan. She currently is working at the VA while going to school. And so then my understanding is there's a bit, and I don't know if it's the same program that you're describing, and I can't wait to ask her, because she is gonna be on the podcast as well eventually. But the long story short on that, so then you are then working for the VA. upon completion, upon obtaining your nursing degree, yes? Yeah, basically, OK, so the PBRNR, the post-baccalaureate program, I can speak to that. Basically, that one is that you work for them. You don't get any of the benefits of the VA. The VA, you don't get anything. You get a monthly stipend, and it's coming from education, the education department. So I was on a monthly stipend my first year. And then at the very end, you do a project. At least that's how my program was set up. And then afterwards, you're responsible for getting a job at the VA full time because the last two years of your scholarship, you have to work full time for the VA. And again, like I got very lucky. Like I love my unit. They had openings on their unit, the surgical ICU. And I was like, I've always was like, I wanted to be ICU. So I was like, perfect. So, but again, a lot of people are, I think like I was traveling. don't know if travel nursing is kind of like going down a little bit or like facilities are trying, cause I've kind of seen this trend. A lot of people are trying to find like a home kind of like a quote-unquote home. Yeah and the VA does have like really good benefits at least what I've been told I've only worked at a VA for like my nursing career and like not unfortunately but like you know what I mean like some people like variety so that was so I know a lot of people are trying to get in to the VA so it's kind of like saturated at the moment too. yeah, interesting, interesting. And like you said, I've been doing this relatively long enough now that I feel like a lot of us, the nurses before me would tell me this, and then now I'm starting to see it, how things become cyclical. You know what mean? So like, you know, maybe travel nursing's huge, and then it kind of that ebbs and flows and... And then, you know what I mean? And then it comes back in favor again. And I see it too with like trends on... various things in the healthcare field. So it's kind of fascinating how we're, and we kind of joke about the fact that it's like, okay, we do things this way and we're like, well, we gotta do it better. So we're gonna do it this other way. Oh, that's amazing. And we go do it the other way and we do that for however long, whether it's years or whatever. And then they go, we need to do this better. We're gonna do this this other way. And it was the way that was done before, you know what mean? And then we just kind of go back and forth and around and. like the whole thing. It's just like trends. I think I think it's like somebody told me it's like it takes 75 years for like a full change to happen in healthcare and I was like in 75 years we could be on like some other planet like what are we talking about here? Because even if you can I think like you get the people that come from the East Coast to West Coast and I think is like the best coast because again you got I feel like nurses are very protected out here and like you have the East Coast people that come here from the south and they're like yeah you get good pay here and everything and then they're like You guys are doing things like that we were doing like five years ago though. They're like, what are you guys doing out here? Like this is innovative. was like, apparently like I was like, I don't know. Like the patient seems like I'm looking at my patient. was like, do you feel good? Do you like we're innovating? I don't know. It's in an effort to be unified, Maliah. Yes. to be on a unified front. So the East Coast, West Coast, the South, the Midwest, we're all somehow unified, but we all... Yeah, some of us got ratios, some of us don't. Some of us got good pay, some of us don't, some of us have unions. Yes, exactly. Exactly. No, and I'm glad you brought that up because it was kind of fascinating when we moved over to Spokane, kind of a similar thing. When I left the Seattle area, we were just starting to digitize patient records. So I worked in medical records for about nine years or so. I started, honestly, when I was 14. wow. That's best way to do it. getting paid. Yeah, I was 14, what do I care? So, but no, when I left there, we were starting to digitize records for Epic and all this thing. And so then you go to Spokane and we're like, oh, no, there's no Epic here. Okay, that's okay, it must be new, it must be relatively new or kind of a big push. And I was like, well, we'll see it soon. so then we always joked that, and again, anyone who has listened knows that I love my hometown of Spokane here. Spokane, Washington. So know that when I say this. And that is that I was always like, Spokane's like 10 years behind Seattle. Like whatever's happening in Seattle, it'll happen 10 years here. And then, you know what mean? But then you keep going, the joke is you keep going east. So then Northern Idaho, it's gonna take a little bit longer. Man, you get to Montana, it's gonna take even longer in the sticks and in the woods and the backwoods of whatever, you know what mean? Like all the things. But no, it is, and that's the thing. How do you fix the system? that is not only, you know, obviously broken currently, but also like has so many disparate parts. You know what I mean? Like depending on where you're from, like you said, if you're down South, you're getting paid different, you got different things you're dealing with and patient populations are different, right? Exactly. It's crazy. think in Washington though, there's this huge push again, like there's just this big push towards rural medicine right now because they're like, how do we reach like, again, that's a huge need. And so, and then I guess like even in like, I think Idaho is working on it too. They're just like, yeah, we got like a huge need. Like, and I feel like in some of those rural hospitals though, you're going to get some crazy stuff. Like I feel like you really learn how to utilize what you got. So I... don't have that respiratory therapist ready to go. Yeah. There are a few hundred miles to your west. It's definitely interesting. think like living in like such a big city as Seattle, think again, like coming from like, I guess like Southern California, even seeing all the resources there then like even in Southern California, you still have like rural parts as well. But I don't know, I'm honestly, as you talk about like the electronic health, I'm honestly curious to see like where all this like AI is going to go with it too. I'm like, I can only imagine what everyone is like thinking. They're like, huh, like, I don't know, I, it's hot topic too. I know in medicine too. I'm always like, where can we go with this? Like I feel like can a computer detect like trends better than me? And I was like possibly, you know what I mean? Like that's it's programmed to do. literally just read an article about AIs inroads into nursing and an AI nurse like kind of telehealth that sort of thing where you're calling in and maybe kind of in a triage manner, know, and the article, was just, even the article was creepy because it just starts off, know, and you know where it's going, but they just said, you know, you're going to call in, you're going to speak to Anna and Anna is so sweet and she's going to give you advice and da da, but there's one thing you don't know about Anna. She's an AI nurse, you know what mean? I'm like, oh, sweet Lord. So I, you know what I mean? There's some incredible, incredible pluses that are coming and I'm, there are some things that make you go, oh my gosh. Overall, I'm kind of creeped out by it. I watched too much Terminator growing up as a kid, so. It's crazy. think like the thing that I found interesting too, because at work we have this ACN thing going on and it's like the, it's not, it's CSI. So it's not criminal. It's supposed to be clinical scene investigator. I was like, I'm like over here like CSI, like they were like, you know it is for? And I'm like, no, I was like, hold on. I'm like, part of this like project. I was like, wait a minute. So I, so basically the, one of the groups, like they take a bunch of like a cohort from region and one of them it's down south of here they have like a telehealth ICU like they have like ICU telehealth and basically I was like how like I was very curious so I guess like the nurse like will look overlaps too. It's kind of like having like an extra like set of eyes on you. And I think like even like, know, like if you're not, I was like, it has its pros and cons too. I think they're working out all the kinks as well. Like I was like, I don't know how I'd feel about this or, you know, it's like it's the telesitters. Like they just sit with that little like cone in that room and they just like, they're like, don't get out of bed. you're like, they're like, I'm going to call your nurse right now. And you're just like, It's like a school calling the mom and dad, right? Like, I'm calling your parents. gonna come and fix everything and then they're just like watching you also like struggle in the room with this patient. You're like, you're like turn the camera off please like. Uh-huh, 100%. Anyone who's worked with the telesitter knows what we're doing and what we're talking about here. So, okay, so, I mean, it's obvious to me now, Maliah, and as it was very early on when I first got to meet you, is that we're gonna be a little chatty. So we're already kinda reaching that time for, know, kinda capping a first episode. You okay if we turn this into a two, maybe three-parter at the most? If you want, we could do that. Or you could just cut and take whatever you want in this conversation. You could be like, I don't like this part. Let's take that out. That's got weird. Real quick. cut everything out except for word unified or unification. Actually the whole podcast will just be that word. it's just like every clip it's like, know, you want a small bite. but, we joked, cause I was like, oh, we're talking about honoring time and all that. And she's like, I got all day off. was like, great, then you're gonna be our first seven partner. We'll have seven hours, you guys, of Maliah. So be ready. No, just kidding. Before we close this episode though, I had two random questions that popped in my brain based on things that you talked about. I can't let it go that you mentioned that your dad's a nurse. So what kind of nurse is he? Again, that's recognizing game, recognizing game. That's pretty rare. So especially with it being your dad, you know what mean? Like when did, how does that come to be? How do you have a male nurse as a father? What is that like for you? Well, he was, so it was interesting growing up because again, I don't know, I guess you could call it, when you have parents, yours. My dad was very nonchalant. Was it very like, you know what I mean? He was just kind of there. Again, love my dad, but I was like, what? He would never talk about, so he was an adolescent psych nurse. So very different kind of vibe. know what I'm getting? Both my parents, my mom's been a special ed teacher for 40 years now. my goodness. exactly, like very service driven careers. and then I, again, they both worked. So it was kind of like, see mom, see dad, but like, I never thought that was weird. Again, that was my normal, but for growing up with him, like, I think it was just his personality, very like, he was, he would, he would talk to you about things if you asked, but like not very like open. And especially like when you're a kid, you're not going to ask like, what do you do at work? Like he's going to be like, I deal with like adolescent psych patients. I take care of kids your age dealing with these problems. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and like, you know what I mean? again, like, I know mental health, again, like trends, talked, we talked about trends and everything. And, you know, like mental health has a huge spotlight right now and rightfully so, you know what I mean? Like mental health is important. Your wellbeing is important. I guess you could say wealth is health, you know? So like that, so now like I think about that and I was like, yeah, like I, you know, like as an, like an eight year old kid, you're not going to be like, this is depression. This is anxiety. Like maybe like inside out or like inside out came out. like, like, what is this feeling? You know, so yeah, so very, yeah. But yeah, like I also grew up in a weird household too. it wasn't weird, but like my mom would do like the hard like labor work. She'd be like, the sink needs fixing and my dad would just be there with like the light. just like, she's like, okay, like we gotta go do this. like my dad would just be like, okay, like I'm holding light. Like it's just like right there. I-I-your dad is my brother from another mother. I'm giving him a hug right now through the-through the-yeah, wow. That's awesome. Like, because of my wife, like, she's-she's the one that, like, I'll learn how to barbecue, because she's like, I really would love for you to barbecue, and I'm like, no, thank you. My dad is-my dad barbecued a whole bunch and all things, and I-I love that about him, but I just have no desire. I no desire to cook. I have no desire to barbecue. I'm not- That's not my, know, I'm like, come on over, we'll do that. No, so she was like, I'll learn how to barbecue, so she's the barbecue in our family. You know, it's just, it is what it is, right? Exactly, and it's okay, like even if it defies stereotypes and all the things, you know, it allows us to become nay more, what was the word again? Utified. A unified front. Okay, so one last random question because I promise we have to name drop here. So you talked about being randomly talked into things. Someone talked you into this little endeavor. Would you mind pulling the curtain back on this person so we can stroke their ego a little bit, lest they get a nasty text after they hear your episodes down the road. Well, Christie is her name and actually, so she's gonna have to listen to my episode now. I was like, if there's one episode, it has to be this one. She gets a name drop. Yeah. Basically though, only know Christie through my mom weirdly enough. my mom, cause Christie is into interior design and my mom loves interior design. like she kind of used, like they work together and then they've become friends and my mom just saw her. So like basically my mom was like, went to this party like Christie hosted and was like, Hey, like she has this cool like Alexa, like Amazon, new speaker. And she was like, that's what I want for Christmas. And she like sends us picture and like and I've like met her in the past too I think like we had a game night one night where we all went over to like yeah so I was like okay like I kind of like I don't know what she looks like now actually so I get this random text and it just is like it's just like hey like I would like really end up that's why I like she was like I was the one that convinced her mom that she needed that new Alexa speak me, the Alexa Speaker Lady. yeah, I know of you and everything. And she was like, yeah, I think you would just get along so great with my friend Eric that I've been friends with for 20 plus years. It's going to be so great. And I was like, OK, sure. And then I was like, I guess I'll just text him, see what comes out of this again. I was like. I love it. So on my end of it, so yes, we're name dropping Christie. Christie, the way I know Christie is through my wife. Christie and my wife grew up together in Alaska. So they were truly like the, you know, close friend. There was like four of them that kinda, you know, really grew up together and all the things. And then my wife moved to Washington and then there was a whole different, you know, all that. I mean, we're not gonna go through the boring detail of my wife and Christie's friendship. But not that it's boring you two, if any of either of you happen to hear this, great story. You know, unified in their friendship. Unified friendship. But anyway, no, and so, and Christie's like, hey, I know a couple nurses that I think would be great for your podcast. I think you'd have a great time with them. Can I send them your info? And I was like, please, heck yeah. I'll take anyone. this is, you know, again, I'm talked into anything. I don't know, if you've got a breath and a pulse, you can be on the podcast too, yay. was the only requirement. was it. We just happened to get a little extra with Maliah here with the intelligence and the kindness and the easy goingness and all the things. No, but that's how know Christie. Christie, thanks for hooking us up. And now because of that, we're going to be chewing up about, oh, I don't know, seven hours of our day doing the seven parters. So, all right, so Maliah, we'll catch you on episode two. Sound good? All right, you guys, don't want to miss it. She has a lot of good topics she wants to talk about that I've got more questions for her. I don't know where we're going with it, so neither do you. And we're all going to discover it together. Yeah.