Healing Heroes: Jennifer Eddings on 'Strength Behind the Scrubs' & Nurturing Nurse Well-Being

We sit down with nurse leader Jennifer Eddings to explore how joy, vulnerability, and a therapy dog named Fletcher rebuild trust and morale in stressed hospital teams. From pandemic whiplash to family dynamics at the bedside, we share practical ways to lead with grace.

• origin of “chief spirit officer” and therapy dog Fletcher
• why nursing: people first, supporting a family
• pandemic culture shift and staff moral injury
• flamingo, tutus, and symbolism as stress relief
• building engagement through Fun Squad ownership
• personal grief story mirroring a patient’s family
• advice to new caregivers: grace and psychological safety
• what nurses wish families knew: kindness and trust
• community starting points: Pioneer Medical Group
• how to find Jennifer on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok

Be sure to like, comment, subscribe. Visit our website www.comfortmeasuresconsulting.com. We recently launched our CMC Media Division on YouTube. Now we’re at Comfort Measures Media. Visit our Facebook page, Comfort Measures Consulting, also on Instagram, Comfort Measures Consulting, Norman Harris on LinkedIn. When you start, like, comment, and share. Continue to like, comment, and subscribe.

Transcript

Meet Jennifer Eddings

SPEAKER_04 0:14

Another episode of the Let's Get Coffee Podcast. I'm your host, Norman Harris, bringing you peace, love, but most of all, comfort. Thank you for joining us here. I have another person, wonderful individual. Powerhouse, Ms. Jennifer Eddings.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Very good. You did? Eddings. Yes, you got it. Good job.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

All right. She's joining us here on the platform. I thank her for sharing her Sunday with us. I'm very grateful. And she has something special to share. So your LinkedIn profile just really just drew attraction to me. Say, let me check out this person here. And that's what my intuition is how I invite guests on the show. So this is what you have. All right. And I want you to explain to me what they what it means to you. Okay.

Roles, Therapy Dog, And Spirit

SPEAKER_04 1:03

Nurse Development Manager and Brand Ambassador for your organization, award-winning nurse advocate, chief spirit officer, dog mob to Fletcher, who's a chief market officer, and best friend to Fiona da Flamingo. Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

That's a lot. That's a lot. You probably want some explanation of that, I'm assuming. Yeah. Okay. So let's start with the chief spirit officers. It's definitely self-proclaimed. Chief Spirit Officer. I just ran out of characters in that little box that I put in. It was just something that one of the first conferences I went to, I just love people. And one of the other people that were there was like, well, each hospital has a CEO or COO. You're the chief spirit officer. So I took that and ran with it. I was also blessed last October, we Advent Health, the Medical Executive Committee, had sponsored the purchase of a therapy dog for staff specifically for our for our particular hospital. So they put some flyers out about getting someone to agree to be the handler. And I completely said no at first. But then I definitely prayed about it. And it was six months later, we still didn't have anyone. And I knew that there was a need. And I was like, you know what? Let's just make it happen. So I agreed to be the handler. We picked him out from the breeder. We knew we were getting him before he was ever born. He was born July 19th, by the way. And then his name is really cool because the whole hospital voted on it. So we everyone was allowed to send in some submissions, and then we voted during town hall. And that's how it came to be.

SPEAKER_04 2:30

That's how it came to be.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

That flamingo just brought attention. That's all I was looking for. I wanted people to come to me, listen to me, let me love on you, let me help you. And a flamingo did that.

SPEAKER_04 2:42

Great strategy. Great strategy.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

That was it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Great strategy. Well, it caught me too. I don't even work for your company that you work for. So it got attracted me. So yes, that's a great strategy for sure.

Why Nursing And Love Of People

SPEAKER_04 2:54

So why did you become a nurse?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Oh goodness. That is one of the questions is asked all the time. And I used to feel almost guilty about not having a more um profound why moment. A lot of my friends and family, they had mothers or family members that were nurses, or maybe they all had their own childhood illness, like cancer or anything really. That that wasn't me. So I got out of high school. I did not go straight to college. Um, had my first son at 21. And I was sitting at home, I was waitressing, always worked two or three jobs. And I was like, I gotta figure something else out because my Dylan deserves better. So I went to medical assisting school and I was a medical assistant for about 12 years before I became a nurse. And to be very honest with you, my love is just people. And I can take care of people as a medical assistant, just like I can a nurse. But I found myself being a single mother of four. And as a medical assistant, when I stopped doing that in 2017, I was making, I think, $14 an hour. And I'm sure everyone knows you can't, I can't live off of $14 an hour, let alone my kids. So I knew that I needed to be able to support us. Um, because by that time it had become obvious that no one was coming to rescue us. It was up to me. Yeah, so that's right. That is why I became a nurse, just for the love of people.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Just the love of people. And so you spread it that love. Uh, and that does that go into sort of your sort of vision and mission to as a nurse advocate.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

I'd say now it absolutely does. It's spreading that love that it became so obvious the world was missing. Um, but more particularly my own home, my own hospital of Avon, Health, Tampa.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

I did it. Okay. No, keep going, keep going. Okay, I'm sorry. So for your own home, your own

Pandemic Whiplash And Staff Burnout

SPEAKER_02 4:36

hospital.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

So my own hospital home is where I really put in the majority of my effort at the beginning. Um the pandemic was difficult. And it was something weird. Like at first, when COVID came, there were parades for healthcare workers, people were applauding them as they came, you know, giving lunches, doing everything. Like, we love you, we love you. Something switched towards the end where fear took over. And now all of a sudden, people are saying that we're lying, that we're making up numbers, that we are spreading the disease, that we are not doing enough to eradicate it. And as a healthcare worker, going into the hospital every day, specifically critical care, um, and I had the critical care COVID ICU as under my under my leadership. It's hard. And I didn't go into healthcare to not help somebody, it was quite the opposite. So they go into off the office every day, they do everything they knew to do to save these patients, and nothing was working. So they were theoretically dying too. Every day they were coming in and giving everything they had, and every day they left and they felt like a failure. Right. And you and I know they weren't failures.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

But they didn't know that at that time.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

So, what led you? So you became sort of the voice at that time. Was that the moment?

SPEAKER_01 5:46

I was, yeah, absolutely. During the second round of COVID, um, we have we had a hospital committee and we still do, it's one of the best called Healthy Work Environment. A lot of beautiful women are in that. And the flamingo came about, just uh like decorating for a particular holiday. And then I was like, I just like to dress up. I don't have a real good reason for it, it just makes me happy. I like glitter, I like tutos, I think it's fun to wear superhero capes because life is hard and the hospital is hard, and I see you as hard. So if I can at least one of my my philosophy, I live by. We are all just walking each other home. Yeah, and if I can do anything to make somebody else's journey a little less heavy or a little more bright, even if that is just me putting on a superhero cape and looking like an idiot walking

The Flamingo Strategy For Joy

SPEAKER_01 6:31

down the hallway, I'll do it. And I'll do it 10 times over if I'm adding joy to somebody else.

SPEAKER_04 6:36

Oh, for sure. For sure. So that's my thing I did, I'm sorry, could you?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

No, no, please go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 6:40

Was uh as an administrator, I always install like the fun squad everywhere I went. Um, really championing, right? Because a lot of times uh staff, and I'm just gonna be transparent, uh they they would they have all these millions ideas of what the company should be doing to show appreciation, um, what they want and everything. But then you I so I formalized a committee called the Fun Squad to sort of uh promote employee engagement. I love it. And so I put the owners back on them, what you want to see happen, right? But let's get you more engaged and involved to actually get these things done. And then you start to see, well, I don't know if this happened with you, but uh you see three people sign up.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Our committee has doubled, tripled, quadrupled over the past few years. Exactly what you're saying.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

But it started out probably, you know, just a few. Uh but but uh but then you say, okay, well, you guys complain, but you want to join the funds for our committee. Uh, but we kept pushing it, and and like you said, ours grew as well. Uh, but yeah, but thank you for sharing that. But that is a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

You're welcome.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Um, but go ahead. Yeah.

Fun Squads And Real Engagement

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

All right. What are we doing? All right. So this is our comfy comedy moment. Uh, so we'll take a pause uh from the episode here.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Do I need to stretch?

SPEAKER_04 7:55

No, you don't have to start. No, we're good. Okay. We're good. I didn't think we're gonna be right. I don't do anything challenging for you. Uh so we'll we're gonna do, we call this uh comfortability all over the globe. All right. So we're gonna bring in the globe here. Oh goodness. Yeah, so what I would like for you to do, uh, anything triggers you on this globe, if you had any trip or any moment to share, uh just uh uh anything you want to share about this what made you comfortable, uh a life trip, a life lesson in whatever company, uh I'm sorry, not company, but country uh that you select.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

We're gonna we're gonna go ahead and select uh United States of America.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

United States of America. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

And um the place that I am gonna say is Chicago. Chicago. Illinois. Okay. Do I get that back to the city? Back to me. Um and I guess now I explain why Chicago.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Yes, go ahead. Tell us why Chicago is so special to you.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

So um the the company I work for also has locations that are up in Illinois and Chicago.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

And as the brand ambassador, I've been privileged to be able to go and support hiring events or whatever they may need up there. Um, and a couple of times I've been able to go and actually do hospital engagement rounding on their hospitals over in the Illinois area. And for me, that that region, the way they accepted me, which was so beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 9:24

Um you come in with like the flamingo or the outfit?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, they let me do it all. They let me do it all. I and they were like, Where's your two? I'm like, I got you. I got four of them. And I bring props, and I they were they got these little bars this one time. I'm like, y'all can just leave the bars here if you want. We're about to go have fun. And so two of their other leaders, and I think that's the part that makes me so happy. The leadership

Comfy Comedy: Chicago Comfort

SPEAKER_01 9:45

in that region, my entire organization, you know, I I absolutely love them. But that particular region um went through a hard time with the acquisition as far as employees feeling like they really belonged. Um, because our our Grand Central Station is definitely down here in Florida. And as you get away from it, it's easier for the mission to kind of become a little bit lost, or maybe not all of the service standards. It just further away you get from the mothership, it just seems that they have a hard time sometimes, continuing the same culture that we we promote. Those leaders are active, they are present, they are um encouraging, they know people's names. And being able to walk around the hospital, these guys thought I looked crazy. I mean, I'm a little crazy, but I looked crazy because I had my flamingo and my tutus, and then you just you could feel the tension just start to kind of come down a little bit. You put on a pair of shark sunglasses, you have no idea what it does to you. It completely neutralizes whatever you're feeling.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Chief Spirit Officer.

SPEAKER_01 10:43

Yeah, that's where that came from.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

Chief Spirit Officer. Thank you for sharing that. That's a good story.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

How about that?

SPEAKER_04 10:48

For sure. Uh, anything, just uh, what would you say the audience to the audience and they don't know about you? That would be shocking.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Yeah. That would be shocking. Um, I guess if if it's in the audience that they haven't followed my Facebook yet, probably that I do have four children. Um, oldest is 21, and my youngest is 12, and the other ones are mixed in there. Um, that would probably be one of the most things. I don't know that there's much. Really? Anyone that knows me or that follows me would be really surprised about.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

Right, motorcycle rides.

SPEAKER_01 11:18

I I not in not not driving it, I'll get on the back.

SPEAKER_04 11:21

You'll get on the back, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Um skydiving. No, no, I don't see any reason to jump out of a perfectly functional plane. Okay, I don't see any reason for that, but I do like roller coasters.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Gotcha, okay. You like a thrill in some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

I do, but I yeah, with a with a very safe landing. Yeah, me too. Preferred for me.

SPEAKER_04 11:39

Yeah, I ride roller coasters with my eyes closed.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Well, at least you get on.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

It's been a while now, but yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

I don't know that there's much they would be surprised about, actually.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

Thank you. Thank you for participating in our comfy comedy moment. I appreciate that. All right, so jumping back in, um, you you spoke about being an advocate for others uh in nursing, uh bringing that culture. Uh, but uh do you have your own personal healing journey um, you know, that kind of uh shape your approach in the workplace?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, for sure. And I think um I think we all do, and I think it's gonna change. I think I'm gonna, I think I'm on a never-ending journey, and I think it is about the journey. And the the biggest thing, and it's actually the post that I made is what sparked what I do is in two parts. So at the hospital with hands-on employee engagement, but during that time when everything was not great, what I wanted was I wanted people to see that our our hospital was still doing really good work, despite the political agendas, despite anything that was being set out in the mainstream media. I'm not here to fight in one's battle. I'm not here to say whether COVID's real or not. What I'm telling you is that I manage a unit that has 16 people here that are fighting for their life. That's what I know.

SPEAKER_03 12:52

Oh, they say health care is not interesting. I beg to differ. I confirm as me with proving every day that healthcare, entertaining, and education are full of stories worth telling. We deliver knowledge from sources in real advocacy in a way that engages, inspires, and works. Florida, number one, healthcare educated station. I am Laura Harris, but networking community. Let us highlight

Personal Healing And Jackie’s Story

SPEAKER_03 13:20

the organization and give it the voice it deserves.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

But for me personally, the story that kicked off my social media following was I was ICU nurse manager, and I was working one day, and there was a woman that was there, her name was Jackie, and her father he was dying. And and Jackie was a nurse. And so Jackie and I had a very long conversation. She felt very pulled because she knew that her father deserved a peaceful passing, but that his sister had not yet come to terms with it. So she was weighing the complexities of grief from a daughter, but then also a nurse who knows the science, but this is the daughter, right? And then that's where the heart is. So I comforted her, we talked a lot, and she had decided our goals for that day were just to comfort, keep him, keep him here till the sister had some more time. Well, as I was walking back to my office, I closed the door, I couldn't get back there fast enough, and I started crying. So in 2020, um, my father got very sick. And I was supposed to be going to go see him. He lived in Tennessee. Um, but COVID was about to ramp up. It was just on the heels. We didn't know it yet, but things were getting busy. And my hospital had asked me if I could work a shift. And I was like, you know what? Okay, because the the plan was to put him in hospice the following day. And we were told he probably had about two weeks. And my plan would have been to go and stay with him until he finished. Until, well, not he finished, but until he unfortunately passed. Um, I picked up that shift, it was a night shift, and when I got off the next morning, um my sister called me and he had had a heart attack and he died. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

Um I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

So I didn't I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. Um and my sister's name is Jackie, which is what the woman's name was that day, with her father laying in the bed. And in that moment, is nurses and I think healthcare professionals, even when I was going through school, you're told that it it's not your place to have feelings about someone else's family passing, or you shouldn't uh connect to that level because you need to maintain professionalism. And that's just so wrong. The the most beautiful thing about nurses is the way we know how to connect. And I'm here to tell you a lot of times physical presence is just as healing as any other medicine. Yeah, yeah, and being there. Yeah, and so that that is my own journey of wanting to be able to help the other Jackies.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

Thank you for sharing that and being vulnerable. Uh, you just show right there. Now, do you do that same thing? Uh, you influence, how do you influence your team to show whether it's vulnerability and gratitude, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yes, the best way to influence vulnerability is to continue being vulnerable. I think it takes time, I think it takes space. I don't think I'm the first one that ever worked at my hospital that liked glitter or tutus. I'm just the first one crazy enough to wear it. And I think everybody else stood back for a little while, like, yeah, she's probably about to, she's about to go off the deep end here. Look for this thing. But then when they started seeing that it worked and that it was getting the attention and respect of higher leaders in the organization, now there are definitely more tutus walking around.

SPEAKER_04 16:38

That's amazing. That's amazing. So you uh shared a story about your your your father there. Uh again, we I know that's in the past, but we all feel condolences uh for that. But can you share where you're from?

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Yeah. Um my dad was in the military for um retired at 26 years in the Navy for service. He was a musician. So I was born in Washington, D.C. Um, and he retired when I was eight. We moved to Pennsylvania for a couple of years, and then we landed in Memphis, Tennessee. My father was a jazz musician. So we landed in Memphis so we could play on Beale Street. Okay, and that's where I was pretty much raised. And I moved here in 2012.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Memphis.

unknown 17:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

You know what that means.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

I'm kind of a gangster.

SPEAKER_04 17:18

I was sorry, I don't want to go nowhere, you know. It's true. I'd be looking at that's where that 448 be at. I mean a lot. Memphis in Miami.

SPEAKER_01 17:25

A lot, right?

SPEAKER_04 17:25

So for sure. Now good food though. So we'll keep it on a good note.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Listen, I am not allowed to say that anywhere else has a good barbecue except Memphis. It's no longer where I live, but I swore in the third grade, we take a pact and we always remember two things. And the barbecue is one. Um, they have amazing barbecue for sure.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

Okay. Uh, so any story from your childhood that helped uh you'd say that just was so impactful uh that that it stays with you to this day.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Actually, yes. Uh when I was in the second grade, there was a small little group of us girls. We were gonna be famous. We had to we came up with our own little group. Um, we definitely stole songs that uh from whoever was the artist at the time, and we were going to um get together

Roots, Memphis, And Early Courage

SPEAKER_01 18:11

and just become very famous. And we were gonna go around our school and start singing for some of the different classrooms. And two of the girls backed out. They're like, no, I'm just kidding, just kidding. And I'm like, I'm going, I'm going. And so I went and I did the song in my friend's sister's class um by myself because that's what I signed up to do. And they, I was awful, by the way. It was horrible. Didn't remember the words, but they applauded me and they made me feel welcomed and they were thankful that I was there. And that was probably one of the first times in my memory that I put myself out there and it worked out okay. That's good. So I can continue to put myself out there if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

Yes, it does.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

So if eight-year-old Jennifer can go sing a, I don't even know, like a Bengals song to the fourth grade class, 43-year-old Jennifer can walk up and ask somebody for directions. That's a good song.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

That's a good one. I like that one, actually. Uh so my next question is um what advice would you give to caregivers uh entering uh the field today? So a new nurse, uh, someone even someone taking your path that says, you know, I'm a medical assistant now or research assistant now. Um, I wanna, because maybe life at the time, you know, you have other responsibilities, but 35 is not too late. You know, 40 is not too late. It's not what be your message to them.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I'm gonna just speak here because I want them to hear me. So for anyone that is currently in the healthcare profession or you're thinking about coming in, the biggest advice I can give you is to give yourself grace. This is all new to you or to whoever. Starting a new job is hard, starting uh nursing is hard. Working at a place that's 85% women, not easy. It's a little difficult. Women can be a little challenging. So all of it's hard, but we place such high expectations on ourselves, myself included. Um, I just like to give advice. I don't I don't take my own advice very much. Um I we all have these high expectations, and as soon as we do one thing that we think is indicative of failure, we are so upset with ourselves, which is really the purpose of my role at the hospital. I function as I say a big sister to all my new nurses. I'm there for Sarah to come in and say, Oh my gosh, you know, I I did this,

Advice To New Caregivers: Grace

SPEAKER_01 20:24

and I was special. I'm like, girl, I did that too. Let me tell you how it worked out for me when I did it. Making them feel normal, wanting them to feel psychological safety. Right. We're here to grow you. We need you. I want to retire one day. I need someone to come take my place. So that's my biggest advice. And I talk a lot. My biggest advice is grace. Grace.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

Yeah, grace. Grace for yourself. That's actually good. Thank you. I love that you're a storyteller too. You can connect with people very well being a storyteller, honestly. You can. Uh so uh moving along here. Uh we're gonna be wrapping up the the show, right? We're closing, winding down. But I have to ask you, and I know you share uh vulnerable vulnerability with us. What did you say your biggest pivot in life?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Um my biggest pivot in life had to have been when I did get divorced um from my my first husband. Um and I said, I'm about to struggle, whether I'm in Tennessee by myself, or if I'm in Florida, well, Tennessee with my children, or I can struggle in Florida with my children next to the beach. And I said, So we're gonna go to the beach and I'll be miserable there, I guess. I don't know, we'll figure it out. And it was that courage to step out into that, into that world, knowing that I didn't I don't have a clue what I'm doing half days. Most days I don't even know, but I show up and I'll figure it out when I get there. And that's what I did for Florida.

SPEAKER_04 21:47

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

We showed up.

SPEAKER_04 21:48

That's good. So uh now this is a little bit uh maybe a little controversial. If you want me to take it out, I still want to ask you um, what is something that you would Say all nurses, right? Consensus wise, would want to say to families

Life Pivot And Choosing Florida

SPEAKER_04 22:07

out there in the public, right? You guys are in the hospitals. What's something that all nurses probably would feel right now if you would say to them? To say to like they could say to the families out there in the community.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

To the families of people that they're taking care of or just families in general?

SPEAKER_04 22:24

Families out there in the community that they're taking care of.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Oh gosh. I think, well, I'm sure some would say a few different things, but um, I would hope that most of our our healthcare team members would say that they hope that they say, We've got you. We've got you. We're here for reason. You're where you are for reason. If you can't be here, don't worry. We're gonna love grandmom just like you would if you were here. Um and then we're also here for the other stuff. We don't just take care of patients, we we take care of families too. We heal, we we try to heal everybody. And one thing I said to a nurse um before my dad passed away, I did get down there for surgery a couple months before he died. But anyway, um, my dad was not very emotionally present. He was an amazing dad. He loved me as much as he could. Um, but I definitely didn't get a lot of emotion. And so what I said to her that day, I said, I understand that right now this is just a

What Nurses Wish Families Knew

SPEAKER_01 23:13

man for you. This this is my father. And I said, and I'm not necessarily worried or yes, I'm gonna grieve him being gone, but I'm also about to have to own that I'm never gonna have a chance to make it better with him. I was like, I'm not just losing my dad, I'm losing it the chance of ever having a better relationship with my dad. And that um that's hard.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

That's really hard. That's uh, I think you that was a good explanation you gave, a good message. But so I'm gonna go a different route. Go a different route. Yeah, a different route. So uh here the Lift the Comfy Podcast. Community members out there, I know you probably heard the saying of what is it, you get more bees with honey.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_04 23:54

You get more bees, I mean, yeah, you attract more bees with honey.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

Is that what they say? What is it?

SPEAKER_04 23:58

I think yeah, you attract more bees with honey.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

There you go.

SPEAKER_04 24:00

So as a family community, you're entering the hospital, skilled nurse facility, assisted living facility, kindness, right, respect goes a long way. That is, but also your little research, say it a little, that you did in Google, is not above the physician, the nurse that you're you're coming in there to ask for assistance. Does nurses are all nurses perfect? No, all doctors perfect, no. Do all of them have good intentions all the time? That I'll be lying if I said yes, all of them do. But I'm just telling you, you get more, attract more honey. I'm sorry, bees with honey. So your approach and how you address things uh goes a long way. Uh so I just wanted to share that because I see nurses.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I do love that.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

Nurses uh deal with a lot. We do CNAs deal with a lot, you're dealing with families' emotional state, uh dynamics that you're you haven't completely, you know, you know nothing about, right? But you're dealing with all of that balance there. Uh their loved ones can be in a state where they think they're gonna lose them. Uh so they're emotional at that time. Yeah, um, so but nurses have to balance all of those interactions, right? So it's a lot. So I always say just the family in there, you're coming in with the right attitude, right mentality, uh being kind, knowing asking the right questions. There's nothing wrong with asking questions at all. Advocate for your loved one. That's your mom, right? Absolutely. Uh, but again, sprinkle put a little honey on there. You get bees. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

I do, I do love that perspective. I think as a nurse's heart, I I try to give a little bit of more grace because they're anyway. I agree with you. If we all are just more kind, it would be a lot better.

SPEAKER_04 25:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I used to hear the stories. My nurses say that all the time. I say, well, hey, you know, we're here. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

But I think that goes back to because we're not just nursing that patient. What now what we have is we have a situation where uncle doesn't like cousin, and there's so many family dynamics in there. They're not really trying to be ugly to me or to to Timothy. They're just mad at each other, and grief looks very different for a lot of different people.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

It does.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

And we really try, even if security ends up having to be called every now and then, we still try to leave. Security having to be called.

SPEAKER_04 26:19

Oh,

Community Resources And Help

SPEAKER_04 26:20

yeah. Uh, so community resources um that you are aware of that the elderly could benefit from.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Um, yeah. So the the main one I would say, I do a lot of work with Pioneer Medical Group. Um, they are you? I love them so much, and they do such great work in the community. And a few months ago, Fletch and I were out at a community um health care for them. It wasn't targeted just necessarily for elderly, just the community. So that's one of my biggest the ones I would point out would just be going to them, and then they will know everywhere else to go.

SPEAKER_04 26:52

Gotcha. Knowing the where to at least start.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Exactly. That's all most people just need a place to start.

SPEAKER_04 26:58

We need a place and we can help them get going from there. That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Asking for help is the hardest.

SPEAKER_04 27:03

It is. So don't be afraid to ask for help.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Don't be afraid to ask for help.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

Jennifer, we're closing up the show here today.

Where To Find Jennifer & Closing

SPEAKER_04 27:12

Um, we're so happy to have you. Um, I'm really grateful. Your spirit, uh, you can just feel it. Thank you. Pretty sure our audience can as well. So if you let them know where they can find you, yeah, um, just look you up, watch, watch your content.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

I'm probably gonna age all of us here. I do have a Facebook. A lot of a lot of my Gen Z or nurses tell me I'm I'm pretty old and I shouldn't have that. I do a lot of posting on Facebook. I um I do a lot on LinkedIn, mostly similar content, just varied a little bit. And then Instagram, I do my best, man. I try. Instagram and TikTok, they're definitely out of my comfort zone um to be able to do quickly, but I'm trying. So and if there's another platform that I might be able to reach somebody that might need to hear something I want to say, let me know. I'll sign up for that too.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

Amen. Amen. A nurse advocate, chief spirit officer, Madam Flamingo.

SPEAKER_01 28:03

I've been called worse since Madam Flamingo. We're called lots of things.

SPEAKER_04 28:06

Thank you, Ms. Gentlemen. Thank you so much for happy to have you. I appreciate it. Stay tuned. Be sure to like, comment, subscribe. Visit our website www.comfortmeasures consulting.com. We recently launched our uh CMC Media Division on YouTube. Now we're at Comfort Measures Media. You can look us up. We're also at Comfort Measures uh or CMC Media on Instagram as well. Visit our Facebook page, comfort measures consulting, also on Instagram, Comfort Measures Consulting, Norman Harris on LinkedIn. That's a lot. But start somewhere. When you start, like, comment, and share. We're spreading healthcare-related knowledge and resources to benefit individuals so that you're not in a crisis situation and don't know what to do. We're here to provide you guidance, wonderful spirit, and uplifting. So stay tuned. Watch. Continue to like, comment, and subscribe.

SPEAKER_01 29:11

Good job.

The Collective: Share Your Story

SPEAKER_01 29:13

Hey friends, Jennifer Eddings here, the heart behind the College Collective. You know, I created this space for you. I created this space for me. I created this space for all of us. This is a space that is designed for us to come in and speak about the things that are happy. For anyone that is navigating a difficult situation, for anyone that has found themselves standing in the middle of life just looking for the light. Around here, we talk about the things that aren't easy to talk about. We talk about the things that people typically are quiet about or whisper about. We talk about the things that literally can set someone free once they know that they're not the only one going through it. So this is my ask of you. I want you to be just as much of this woman as I am and the women who sat in these chairs before you. I would love for you to share your story with me. Write to me. Tell me what you're going through. Share a situation that you've been navigating through and you just would love some outside perspective on it. Or if you just really need to know the album. You can email me at ComeFromEasures24 at gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. Whenever you need something or you need someone to be there for you, I beg of you just to hit the call up. And I promise I'll answer. Because at the end of the day, all of us are just walking each other home one conversation at a time.