A Chief Nursing Officer On Burnout, Back Pain, And Better Nursing Home Culture

We talk with chief nursing officer Jessica Cashaw - BSN,RN,  about the real-world demands of long-term care leadership, from critical thinking under pressure to the physical and emotional toll nurses carry home. We also dig into culture during facility transitions, why floor staff visibility drives better partnerships, and how families can avoid crisis chaos with planning. 

• Jessica’s career path from pediatrics to long-term care leadership 
• Critical thinking as the difference-maker in tough moments 
• Daily routine as a traveling CNO and staying reachable without losing focus 
• Back strain, CPR wear-and-tear, sciatica, and the unseen physical costs of nursing 
• Burnout, grief, and the need for quiet after giving all day 
• Culture-building during acquisitions and ownership changes 
• Why vendors and physicians must build trust with floor staff 
• Message to caregivers to remember your why and re-center 
• Planning support for families including power of attorney and living wills 
• Nursing school difficulty, finding the right nursing niche, and why hospitals feel “churn and burn” 
• Personal pivots, resilience, and the role of a supportive marriage 
• A tell-all book idea plus timeliness and leadership standards 

Please tune in, subscribe to the channel, visit our website, comfortmeasures consulting.com

Transcript

Meet Jessica And Her Career Path

SPEAKER_04 0:14

Welcome to another episode of the Lesson Comfy Podcast. I'm your host, your favorite black bearded ball guy, Norman Harris, owner and CEO of Comfort Measures Consultant. And yet again, I have another healthcare titan on the platform with us today. Thank you for joining and tuning in, Miss Jessica Keshaw. Thank you so much. I appreciate you joining the platform, ma'am. And as tradition, I always let our guests, I put you in an uncomfortable situation right up top, um, with introducing yourself. And I want you to go crazy and brand, because you're a well-accomplished ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

So good morning. My name is Jessica Keshaw. I'm a BSNRN, and I am currently the chief nursing officer for Vivo Healthcare. I started my career 13 years ago. I started as an LPN in pediatrics, and I was a school nurse and did a variety of things with kids. And then I pivoted 10 years ago into geriatrics and long-term care, and that's where I found my passion and my love for healthcare and what I do. So I was a unit manager. I worked in MDS. Um I worked for a very tough administrator who at the time I hated, who now knows that I don't hate him and he knows who he is.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

He knew you hate him at the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Oh, yeah, no, 100%. 100% he knew I hated him. Um but he said that if he didn't keep me busy, I would be bored. And so he made me learn everything and anything there was to learn in that facility, and I took it on. And I went back and got my RN, and I continued working MDS and full-time at the hospital. I did both. Um, and then I made my way into a risk manager position and then DON, and I left the hospital at that point. Um, it was too much, and then I worked my way up to a regional nurse to a senior VP of clinical services and now the chief nursing officer for Vivo.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Big dog. Big dog. I love that.

unknown 2:02

Ms.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

Kashaw, well accomplished. Uh uh, and we're gonna get right into it.

Critical Thinking As A Nursing Superpower

SPEAKER_04 2:07

So I don't want to start on the edutainment uh side of things, entertaining. Uh so if you had a superpower as a nurse, uh, and just for nurses in general and long-term care, uh, what would that what would you choose for that superpower to be and why?

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Is critical thinking a superpower?

SPEAKER_04 2:25

You know, I think it can be.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Yeah. Yeah. Tell us why. I I think that it is probably one of the biggest things people struggle with. I think that they can, you know, they can understand the bookwork, they can understand, you know, the why behind things and the science behind it, but to critically think on their feet and to be able to kind of problem solve and work in tough situations is one of the biggest struggles that some of the nurses have.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

It's good. That's a good one. And I think you're a very good critical thinker too. Uh you have to be if you rose to chief nursing officer. So the taxing amount of stress you probably deal with, oh my God.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

I think sometimes it's my job to critical think for others. Sometimes, you know, it's like it's and it's a hard skill to teach, one of the hardest skills to teach, but you have to you have to work work around it.

SPEAKER_04 3:13

Gotcha, gotcha.

Morning Routine And Mobile Leadership

SPEAKER_04 3:14

So as chief chief nursing officer, uh, what are some of your must-haves on a daily basis? Like, to just take us through like from the time you wake up in the morning, and like if your day by 9 30, these are the things you need to have.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

So I have to start every single day with a uh coffee protein shake. That's my thing. And so every single day I have to start with that. That's what that's that's what gets me kicked off. Um, I think, you know, my routine is pretty important. And I think because the whole day just goes wild after a certain time of day, and you just don't know what's gonna happen. So I think my morning routine is pretty important at where you know my I have you know, my staff members know what time they can call me back. So usually 7, 7:30 is the time the calls start, you know, start coming and kind of you know getting a recap and you know what's going on. I spend a lot of time in the car, a lot of time driving. So I have people who are reading notes to me and find find things in charts for me or tell me things that are going on. And I think those conversations that I get to have with some of my employees in the morning are are crucial to starting my day to kind of see where we stand.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Right, right. That's I like how you put that too. Yeah, uh, they know when to call you. But I want to just share with the audience too, persistence is key. This has been in the works right now, this interview today. How long, Mrs. Kashaw? Oh, I it's been a little while.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Um, I didn't give up. 2 was from 2024.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

2024, baby. Hey, persistence and consistency. So uh that being stated, now you've worked many years uh work in dual roles, working two jobs, you have family as

Pain Burnout And Mental Quiet

SPEAKER_04 4:51

well. Uh, but one thing people don't really talk about is the pain uh and body uh pain that may come from having a career in long-term care. Can you share with us some things that you deal with? Uh, because I work for evolutionary health care and I do presentations about neuromuscular or skeletal issues and chronic pain. Uh so I wanted to just get that from you because I'm pretty sure long years of you know lifting and standing that it comes with some issues. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_02 5:19

Well, I think people don't even understand like the different types of role you can play as a nurse. So when I was a school nurse, literally I would be running to locations, I would be running to the gym, I'd be running to an outside court, I would be going whatever and taking care of them. So you're on the ground, you're in the dirt, you're, you know, I mean, sometimes those kids get a little rowdy. I've had to, you know, do do some interesting things. So from that aspect, but then also, you know, being stooped over a bedside or you know, just you know, I'm tall. So working with other caregivers and you're trying to, you're trying to boost people. Well, I'm way taller than that person. So guess what? My back is taking the brunt of it because they need to be, they need to be lower. Right.

SPEAKER_04 5:59

You have on the taller side.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

I'm 5'10. Well, yes. Yeah, so I to be, you know, I'm like, okay, well, you're you're five two, so we gotta go on your side because otherwise you're not gonna have any, you know, pull to lift. Um, and then they probably like, call just I'm like, I can reach the stuff on the top shelf. But they, you know, it's you know my think that you know your back takes a too a huge hit on it. Doing CPR, that will that that's a lot. It's a lot on your body, and you know, you don't get to pick positioning, and you know, you hear all the, you know, oh lift this way and do this. Well, you're in situations like that. You're you're you don't get to pick how you how you're doing it. And I think even now that I'm less involved in the day-to-day, but the traveling I do, the sitting in the car, this that that you know, I have I have terrible like saddic in my left side that just kills me all the time. So, and I think it's you know, from the years of strain, but now I'm straining it in a different way with you know the with the sitting in the car for extended periods of time, getting from building to building.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

Right, right. Any other uh I guess pains and issues that other nurses report to you that they deal with, it could be pain in the body or it could be mental stress. What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 7:06

I think that you know, I mean, nurse burnout is a is a huge, huge, a huge thing. So there's a flex. I know, I'm sorry. It's okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

So I had a flash water, I was swiping. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

But I think nurse burnout's a huge thing, and I think um the the mental toll it takes on you sometimes. I think you know, having people, your patients, you know, pass away, you know, dealing with sometimes the families and dealing with you know what you what you go through. I think you know there are days you come home and you just I mean, there's days I go home and I have no desire to speak. I don't talk. And my husband says, like, you're not talking. I'm like, no, no, we're done talking for the day. All talking is done. You know, because you just are talked out, you've talked to everyone, and you've given, you've given all you have. So you you just sometimes you run out, but you can't run out with the patients and you can't run out with the family members. So I know.

SPEAKER_04 7:55

So when you get home, you just really just oh, I just want to relax and just just chill. Just quiet.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

It's not even relaxed and chill, it's just quiet, just them talking.

SPEAKER_04 8:06

Right, right, right.

Culture During Facility Acquisitions

SPEAKER_04 8:07

And just uh dealing with some of the things that you had to just experience so far, um just talk us through uh just transitioning, like from you know, when you've been through acquisitions before, facility ownership change in the post-acute space. Uh, what's one thing, uh, because right now you're part of that uh with your current organization, what's one thing you bring from a leadership standpoint to uh to help to improve that uh experience?

SPEAKER_02 8:36

So I think that being on both sides of it, especially being on the side where we're being kind of turned over consistently, uh has definitely changed the way I approach it when we go in and we and we acquire new facilities because I know how hard that is and how much fear comes with it and how much you're like what's going to happen to us. So I think the biggest thing that I try to bring to them is that I understand because I've been been there, done it, got the t-shirt, the postcard, all of it. And but that the culture, like you like you could say a sniff is a sniff is a sniff, you know what I mean? Like long-term care can be long-term care. Like we're all doing the same thing. But I think it's about the culture that you provide for the staff and how you, you know, how you make them feel, and that they know that they can trust you and they can turn to you, and like what you're going to do for the culture of that facility to make your employees feel appreciated and and and that this change is going to be a good thing for them. And that that approach I think is really important.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

Okay, so what inspired you like to just uh turn long-term care challenges into opportunities uh for quality and advocacy, because just the number of years you probably touched so many families' lives, uh impacted the community just such in a special way. Uh, and as I say, for this platform, we're about celebrating and turning our healthcare professional into celebrities and heroes, so to speak. So um just if you could speak on just what inspired you to tackle this wonderful challenge.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

So

Polio Roots And Nursing Home Advocacy

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I think it started um when I was extremely young because my father was a quadriplegic. So my father um got polio in 1948. He lived in a uh hospital, he was on a Marta Dimes poster, all the kids with the iron lungs and all that. So he lived in hospital for five years, and so he was a quadriplegic my entire life. So I grew up with hoyers and slide boards, and then in fifth grade I was doing do you remember the age? How old?

SPEAKER_04 10:34

Like do you remember he?

SPEAKER_02 10:35

No, you so I was not born yet when he got polio. Wow. So because it's not a whole life, it's not a quad injury like a spinal cord injury. Polio affects you and and paralyzes you differently. So it's not like your spinal cord where you're still not functioning.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

Yeah, educate me on polio and the audience too, because I'm not familiar yet.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

So uh, you know, polio is obviously something that we vaccinate against because of the the the absolute epidemic that it was back in the 40s and early 50s. Um, you know, one of the presidents had it, it caused, it causes paralysis. Um, your your nerves and your muscles continue to die. And even after the polio virus is gone per se, you have something called post polio myelitis that continues. So your nerves and muscles continue to die uh afterwards. So, like when I was little, my dad used to be able to use these two fingers to squeeze my hand, and then as he got older, this one stopped working, this one stopped working. So, like he, you know, because it it it continues forever. So, whether he when he was able to be more of a manual wheelchair as a young, a young man, as I knew him, he was always in an electric wheelchair, he always had to be, you know, transferred and cared for. Um, but my father was uh was a pastor, so we used to go visit people in the nursing home and we used to go to funerals and we used to because he would do all those things. That was his job as the pastor to see see the folks. And I think seeing the bad connotation that nursing homes had then always kind of resonated with me because it was like, oh, grandma's gotta go to a nursing home and she's just gone there and left to die. And I I think that always is like why? What why is this the this is the reputation that it has? And I think it's become important for me to know that that's not what this is. Like our our our company has a regional director of activities, and we call it regional director of life enrichment because this is these these people's home. This is where they live, and so we need to make that environment reflect that. Like this can't be about, you know, that this is not about just where you, you know, you put grandma to go, you know, to go die. You know, that's not what this is.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Um, so I think that was my original inspiration was like making people know and make and having them understand that this was different. This is this is a different environment, and that's not what this is anymore. That's why I really like this. I know.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Um sorry.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

It's okay. So that's that's kind of the the what my original thing was, but just kind of and seeing the reputation and how you can change how you could change that and how you can make it different, and how it's just a different environment now with the vendors and the people you bring in, and having you know, specialty wound care programs, and having you know different services like the OMT that you can bring in to show that this is not just this isn't your your old-time grandma's nursing home that you you know you used to come to. This is their home, and we want it to reflect that way.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

So uh with polio, is that similar to does it have similar effects like with ALS?

SPEAKER_02 13:26

Um, I could you could say that. You could say that. Yeah, you could say that.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

I was just trying to compare it to something.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

You know, it's it's a it's a viral disease, you know, and that that's what it is, and that's obviously why we vaccinate against it, but um, it's just the after effects of what it continues to do, and that that post polio, you know.

SPEAKER_04 13:46

So oh, they say health care is not interesting. I beg to differ. At Comfort Measures Media, we're proving every day that healthcare is entertaining, educational, and full of storage worth telling. We deliver knowledge, resources, and real advocacy in a way that engages, inspires, and connects. Florida, number one, healthcare entertainment state. I am Norman Harris, the networking solution. Let us highlight the organization and give it the voice it deserves.

Visibility That Earns Referrals

SPEAKER_04 14:25

So when we look at sponsorships out there in healthcare, we know healthcare a lot of times focuses on, you know, uh attending conferences, seminars, and those type of things. But how can you assist them with aligning their mission, aligning their brand uh with, you know, the supporting of caregivers, I would say?

SPEAKER_02 14:46

So I think that it's important for, you know, obviously, you know, I I I try really hard to, you know, have a good handle on who's in our facilities and what care they're providing. Um, but I think it's important for those people to also have a relationship with the with the line staff, the floor staff that's there that's that's providing the care. So I always have doctors call me saying, Hey, how can I get more referrals? Hey, how I can I get more referrals. It's impossible for me to manage your referrals for 17 facilities. It's just not a reasonable task. Um and I I take on unreasonable tasks, but that's not one that I I I can I can do. So when the floor staff know you, they know that you're coming to see their patients, they know who they they know who you are and what's going on. You it though they're the ones that are there that are calling that physician saying, hey, you know, we can we have this referral, hey, can we, you know, we do this, or hey, you know, talking to the DON saying, hey, I think this person would benefit from this. Can we can we do this? Um, but they have to be bought into it as well. So we do we do conferences where all the administrators come, we do conferences where all the directors of nursing come, but we don't do anything to make sure that the line staff know who you are and what it is that you you're doing and what you offer to the patient. And that that's what's important. And I think being seen, the other thing is I always say is the patients are my customer and your customer, but you we are also your customer. So this has to be a partnership where we're working for the same common goal, which is the patient, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Where we where we can all work together, and there, you know, that there has to be a benefit on everyone's side. And but getting those caregivers bought in, I think, is is key.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

I was about to say, because if you go into a facility when you round, right, and the DON, the A DON, the unit managers, they're coming, you hey, we need to s uh consider having this particular specialist come in. You know, they really we look really love them, or you hear that consistently, then it's there you're more prompt to say, you know what, let me look into this, or you keep getting forwarded in a particular email, right? Like I do.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

I had a facility just recently that we that we took over and um earlier this year, and I'm like, okay, who was your cardiologist? Who was your nephrologist? Who was your dermatologist? So the administrator tells me there's no dermatologist, the marketer tells me there is a dermatologist, like they don't know. Oh wow. So if you're not present and you're not making yourself known to that floor staff, and you just signed up with somebody, you know, whoever their previous corporate was, nobody knows who you are. So you're not gonna no one's referring to you because they don't even know you're this, right? You know, and that's the key is making sure that you're present in that space and that you know that you know that you're talking to that staff that know that you're there because they will, they'll remember the name, they'll remember the name on your shirt or your car whoever they're you know they're speaking to, or that doctor who they work for when they see you, because they're busy, right? So your visibility is key to you being successful in that space.

SPEAKER_04 17:35

That's a good answer, too. All right, so overall, um, we all this is a show we advocate for families, caregivers, definitely.

Caregivers Remember Your Why

SPEAKER_04 17:43

Um, and I want you to, when you say your spiel here, I want you to look in the camera because I want a good clip of this, all right? Because I know you're gonna say something great. What is your overall message to caregivers from a really a lifelong caregiver? You can kind of consider yourself that. Uh, what would you say your special message for a caregiver in general? Because as we all know, um, and if you don't know, you can look up and research this. Uh, sometimes caregivers uh don't take the opportunity to care for themselves. And I want to say the percentage is around 40 to 43 percent of caregivers actually pass away prior to the patient or the loved one that they're caring for. So, what is your message to caregivers?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

I think my message to caregivers is to always remember your why, and that's really hard. It's really hard to remember your why and and how you how you ended up in this, how you ended up doing this, how did you how did I get here? And I think you get so caught up in the day-to-day, and it's and and that burnout is always just one click away. So remembering why you got here in the first place, how did how did you come to this? And and trying to re-center yourself to where that was where that came from and why you wanted to do this, and why you wanted to be, you know, part of you know, care taking care of other people is an important factor in recentering yourself when you feel like you are ready to just go over the deep end. And that and it happens, and it can be sometimes over nothing, but sometimes you're just you have to stop and resent yourself and say, This is why I do what I do.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

Um, that's a great, great answer there. Um I want to also ask you, uh, as a clinician uh yourself, um looking back over just your life in its entirety, uh, what's something that you'll share for just uh people out there to say, you know, here's uh underutilized resource or underutilized service, or just any guidance you can have for families out there to take advantage of uh new innovation. I mean, we have AI now, we have more technology out there for families, but just for them, give them a resource uh to actually utilize, whether either caring for someone at home or if they have a patient in the community at a community facility.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

That's tough. That's a tough question. So I think that something that is completely underutilized that I see is like the biggest struggle for families is some sort of planning service. Like not like they don't understand the process of what happens when I always tell myself no one chooses to go to the hospital and just never go home again.

SPEAKER_04 20:26

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

I don't I will travel far and wide to not have to stay in a hotel because I want to sleep in my own bed. No one no one gets up in the morning and says, I'm just never gonna sleep in my own bed ever again. Ever. Like that that's not how that's not how people work.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

This house that I've paid for for 20 years, yeah, I had this life event happen. I just woke up and I was on the floor, and now I'm going in an ambulance to headed to the hospital, and I won't return back to that house.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

Yep. And that that's on that's not a conscious choice people make. And so when they are in that situation, they don't know what to do, and they're and and they don't know what their options are and how to kind of navigate this entire situation. And a lot of that is on us to help them with. But I think outside of that, having you know, having a resource and understanding some of that planning, um, I I saw a very, very sad case a few years back of a young woman who was in her 30s with brain cancer who had a significant other who she had a child with, they weren't married. Um, and the mother was then the next of kin. She had no power of attorney, she had no paid documents in place. And the mother didn't want to let him come in, didn't want him to know anything. It was one of the saddest things I ever witnessed. And I literally went and made my power of attorney, my living will. My every my kids think I'm absolutely insane. But I'm like, I will never be in that situation to where I don't, you know, that there's any sort of dynamic like that, you know. And people think, oh, my fanny would never do that, my daughter would never do that. That might, you know, that that's just you don't you can't predict how someone's going to react within when they're in that situation.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

You don't know.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

And so I think that that's something that families really did to have some sort of planning support advocacy service. I think that that's something that would that people could really benefit from as far as transitioning into this long-term care setting.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

Give us a call at Comfort Measures Consultant. Are we deaf? We do assist. Yes, we do assist with uh family planning services and advocacy. Uh we may not have all the services, but I can connect you to someone that does. I promise you that. All right. But yes. I know. Oh, yes. So, but yes, that's that's a wonderful uh thing that you stated there. Elder law attorneys actually assist with that um that process. But again, health care is always something typically people run to um when you're in need. Uh, but that's why I created this platform to provide health awareness, health prevention, uh, and help bring uh that attention to uh these types of scenarios sooner, right? Because these conversations can happen.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

People don't uh don't take care of their health. So I see this a lot of times with with return to hospitals when people want to go to the hospital, and I'm like, why? They want to see a doctor because in the community, that's what they did. In the community, they didn't go to the physician, they just went to the ER when they needed something. So then they think, okay, no, I'm like, no, no, no. Let's let's talk about the physician here. And we have a physician, and you know, and that's why a lot of times these ancillary services having cardiology, neurology, and you know, OMT and all those different people coming in, they see that person and they know they've seen a doctor, and just that alone, even if they don't have a reason to go to the ER, but just that alone, them seeing a seeing a practitioner of some sort helps reduce that because that's what they did in the community. And we have to kind of change that mentality because they didn't have a steady healthcare system, they just weren't going to a physician regularly, like they're you know, that just or they didn't have access to it.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

Have access to it. Oh,

Nursing School Reality And Hospital Critique

SPEAKER_04 24:04

speak to uh an upcoming um, let's say student, right? Graduating senior year, going into nursing school, um, that journey. Just take them through what some things that they may encounter in life that maybe may deter them, but keep them on track.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

So I think the uh most important thing, nursing school is probably one of the hardest I ever did. Um and I did it when I had two kids, you know. So that and then are in school when I had three, you know, so I just just kept going.

SPEAKER_04 24:34

I wonder if that's a and I'm sorry to cut you off, I wonder if that's like what builds nurses like it make you all so tough. Y'all deal with so much like personally, but still have that dedication to like be career-oriented, task-oriented, goal-oriented, and still accomplish those things because I'd be thinking, like, how'd nurses DON's deal with all this? Like, I have Dylan, I know D Wynn, she'll be in school, have five kids, a husband, you're still director of nursing. How do you do all of those things?

SPEAKER_02 25:06

So I this is what I always tell people if you have the heart to do it, you have the heart, you have the want to, you have that drive, I can teach you anything. So I can teach you to do all kinds of stuff. But if you don't have those pieces of it, then you're not you're not the person that I'm gonna be able to teach to do those things. So that's the thing. We you have to, you know, when we were in nursing school, there's always kind of a joke. There's some people who are there to be nurses, some of them are there just to meet to meet an MD because you know they they want to, you know, marry up, you know. There's different kinds of folks. So you have to have it, it is not for the pain of heart. Nursing school is extremely difficult. So, you know, if you can get through that and you've made it through the hard part, then you have to find what drives you. There are so many kinds of nursing. I have friends that do every aspect of nursing on every every scale. Um, and you have to find what works for you and what drives you. The hospital was not for me.

SPEAKER_04 25:58

Wasn't for you.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

I tried that and I was like, this is I'm not doing this. Why?

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Tell us why.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

You know what I because I had worked in long-term care first, I think didn't help me, but I said, this is why my patients come back to me with wounds. This is why my patients come back with matted hair. This is why my patients come back dirty with, you know, a Mepelex stuck on every bony prominence in their body. And it happens fast too. They just because there's no there's no actual, like, it's just about whatever the acute issue is, length of stay, in and out, churn and burn them. That's all it is. There's no actual care that you're providing.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

Like, because a patient could go in the hospital for like three days and come back with a wound, like fast.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Yeah, because there's no concentration on moving them or making sure that you're you're doing anything. And the nurses, you know, are absolutely, you know, insane, going crazy. The teleunits calling you every five seconds to tell you your monitor. I'm like, yeah, yeah, I got it. I I see she's an AFIM with RVR, and I'm trying to get another push card as them. Stop calling me. You know, like you know, but you're and then everyone else is just kind of left sitting there, and maybe they'll get their morning meds because you have that one patient that's that's crashing, and what are you gonna do? I worked for a hospital where I had to, and it's local to this area, I had to move my own patients to the ICU. I'm like, okay, well, I guess, you know. Wow. And we were running a code on a on a patient once, and I said, hey, like who watches the rest of the patients while the entire floor is in here? How do we make sure they don't fall? How do we make sure they're not on the floor? If everyone is in this room and some of them are just standing around, you don't need 20 people to run a code. And you have the ER doctor that comes up, you know what I mean? So it's not the same as running a code in a sniff, but I'm like, who watches the other people? It'll be like I was crazy. I was like, you can't have everyone off the floor at once. Like, someone has to watch the other people, like you know, so it's just a very different mentality than working in skilled nursing. And it's just about, and I knew the the people they would discharge. I'm like, see you in a couple days because you'll be readmitting.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

Yeah, because you just knew they weren't stable, but it was a it's about length of stay, get them out, turn and burn them, just whatever's acute at that moment, the rest of it, let's go.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

That's it. From your experience, so you may not know this, or you may do. Uh, do you feel like uh nursing homes are uh far more regulated than hospitals are?

SPEAKER_02 28:10

Oh, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, in the hospital, you worry about joint commission, and then ACA does complaints in the hospital, um, but it's not the same survey process and and they don't have to run on the same regulations, which is why, you know, they don't care if they send wrong paperwork or do whatever they, you know, whatever they have to do, you know, because it's just not regulated the same way um as to where, you know, I mean, obviously we choose to do joint commission, you know, so that's something that we know that we we torture ourselves with. Yeah. But, you know, um, you know, but we the regulations are absolutely insane for a nursing home compared to a hospital.

SPEAKER_04 28:44

So wow, and they make more money. It is a business. So uh just from your experience though, like um with dealing working in the hospital and in the nursing home setting, um, just overall, how can someone do both? Like because you have the nurses that do that work in both settings.

SPEAKER_02 29:05

I do. I do have nurses that and I have nurses that work for me right now that work that work in both settings. Um, and I think so. One of the nurses in particular I have that works in both settings, I think that you know, she ends up seeing a lot of our our patients kind of come, you know, come through both ways, you know, ones that are being discharged to us, ones that are you know going back and forth. And I think sometimes for them it's kind of a little bit of a continuity of care. But I um I think it's it's tough. And I and and I it just takes kind of a special personality to be able to kind of work in both worlds and have that just kind of be okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:42

But yeah. Right. So you mentioned something earlier. You said there's there's also those nurses, and this gets a little messy here, all right. Okay, that's you said there's also those nurses that go to school and you know in hopes of landing an MD. Yeah, tell us about that mentality right there.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

So, yeah, you know, I so my friend's mom, she who's in RN and she moved to the hospital for gosh, 30 years. Um, she she had taught me about that once when we were in nursing school. And it's just like you can see there's like a different mentality in people that are nursing school, and you know, they don't they they definitely struggle more because they're going through it because they think that they're gonna have like this come up woman and meet a doctor, I'm gonna work at his office and I'm gonna you know do this, and it's gonna be this cakewalk versus I'm gonna be the nurse doing you know all the hard work and you know they just have a have a different mentality, and you see them struggle differently. You see, you see the difference in the because it's something you have to have a passion for, you have to and you have to care about. If you don't care about being a caregiver and you're looking, you know, it's looking for a come-up. Yeah, looking for that come-up, you know, yeah, and you know, and and you know, they don't they don't survive oftentimes.

SPEAKER_04 30:48

So like the Gray's Anatomy type of uh shows and stuff. You right we watch Gray's Anatomy?

SPEAKER_02 30:53

I don't watch a lot of TV, but sometimes I watch Grey's Anatomy.

SPEAKER_04 30:57

Okay, but is that true? Like that kind of see, because it's like you know, it's a bunch of sex, it's a bunch of drama and all kinds of stuff in the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

I think I think that you do find some of that that goes on. I think um more so in the hospital than you do in school nursing, but you know, sometimes you know it happens. I do I have husband and wife teams that work, you know. We just have to be mindful, you know, about you know, positioning. But I mean, sometimes you know, they you know, you I guess find love where you work. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 31:24

Find love where you work.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

So that's that I have a policy against that person.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

You know what? We may need to come up with a reality show like that. Finding love where you work. That'll sound that sounds like a good name, too. Love in the workplace. Yeah, we're gonna like we need to copyright that for real. All right, so we're shifting the gills here. Um,

Breaking Cycles And Work-Life Balance

SPEAKER_04 31:43

we're gonna talk a little bit about Jessica on the personal side, life segment. So, Jessica, if you share with us, uh, what was your biggest pivot in life?

SPEAKER_02 31:52

I think my biggest pivot in life um was kind of deciding to change the future for myself, for my children, from how I grew up and from the environment that I grew up in, and changing that my career. Some people are a product of their environment. And I decided to be despite my environment, what I was going to do. And when that when I made that decision, because you know, I my my 20s were rough. When I made that decision to kind of move forward and say, you know what, no, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get a career, I'm gonna give my children something to be proud of, I'm gonna, you know, break the break the cycle. Um that was probably my biggest, biggest pivot in life, I think, was kind of trying to change change that and and what that took to accomplish.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

Darn it, talk about what it took. Give me three three top things, whether it's uh particular skill set you had to learn or things you had to three things you had to overcome.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

So the first summer I gradu the when I after I graduated from nursing school the first time, I lived in my car. So the whole summer? The whole summer I lived in my car. You had AC, yeah, an AC, right? So in the car. I did. I had a I thought I had a I had a little Hyundai Sonata, I think. Really? Yeah, so I lived in my car. So that was that was something because I I had to it was a lot with the kids and being uh you know, being divorced and trying to go to school and trying to make all that work. And nursery school was full time, you know, so trying to make the whole thing work. So I lived in my car for the summer and saved every penny I had so that I could get an apartment and you know live near where I worked. At that point, I was working in three counties. I was working in Pasco, Hillsboro, and Pinellas, and I would drive in a triangle almost every single day for all the different things I was doing.

SPEAKER_04 33:45

So it was possible to almost live in the car because you was probably getting at work at different times.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Yeah, no, it just it yeah, it was it wasn't ideal. But that I think that was left to have a home. Yeah, yeah. So that was what I had to do to get it together for uh initially. Um, and you know, so and my ex husband had summers for the children, so it, you know, it worked. So I wouldn't have done it with my children, I would have found figured something else out. But for that moment, it was like, I'm gonna grind. I'm gonna grind, I'm gonna work, and I'm gonna make everything I can. And by the time my kids home come come home for we were to start school, they're gonna have a place to live, and that's what it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

Motivation, baby. Yeah, so do your kids know this story? Um they know now.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 34:30

You gotta be thankful for mama. She went through the hardship with you. So never turn your back on mom.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah, so I think that was that was one of the hardest. Um and I think the other thing is just you like going, be doing the nursing school thing, like doing that and have because it is so full-time. So because I I I had, you know, I had done it, they used to not do have like a 12-month program. I did like a diploma program. So it was an 18-month LPN program that I did. Um, and that that was a long, hard, hard battle to be able to have to, you know, do that full time. And they had rules, you can't work within this many hours before you start a clinical at this place and this and that, you know. So it was it was a balance for sure. Right. Um with my, you know, with having having the children and you know, doing all that.

SPEAKER_04 35:15

So that's why when I invite uh clinicians and leaders on the show, I said, brag on yourself, because everybody that I've had on the show hat that's been a nurse um or an advocate of some sort has a journey, has their own story that they had to overcome. And that should be championed because it's hard. It's a lot of hard work. I didn't have that same story. I really don't. No, yeah, I really don't. So I thank you for sharing it. Thank you for being vulnerable to do it too. But let's talk about just marriage now, um, how that established your balance, and how do you um what things did you do to support your work-life balance overall?

SPEAKER_02 35:56

So work-life balance is the most I'm the worst at that out of everything in the entire world. That's what I'm the worst at is work-life balance. I'm like, I I'm I'm married to my job and my husband, it's kind of a kind of a thing. So fortunately, with my husband's career and what he did, you know, he being a Marine for 21 years, he was deployed. So he was deployed 18 months at a time. So he understood like work is work. And when I have to work, like I can't be kind of worried about what's going on at home because that's how you got killed in war, right? So worrying about drama at home. So he continues to carry on that mentality where he who does not call me when I'm at work, like it would have to be like a crisis. Like, I don't even know if he one time had a bolt fly off a thing, hit him in the face, cut him from here to here, tried to take himself to the hospital, got pulled over, ended up with a police escort, did not call me for the entire situation. Wow. Like they're doing plastic surgery on his face and like didn't call me because he won't bother me when I'm at work. So because he's like, you're at work, and that's the that's the priority. And so, but at home, he is definitely like my piece. Like he keeps the home together so that I can do my job. So if it wasn't for him, I would say I'd live in like a studio apartment that needed no maintenance because I couldn't do both. I couldn't maintain the house and all the stuff that has to be done and do everything I do for my job. Um, so he is that piece and he provides that balance for me. Otherwise, it would not, it wouldn't be possible. So I just I just couldn't couldn't do both things.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

Was that something you all had a conversation about like prior to getting married? Like, hey, this is my life, this is how things are gonna be. Like, did you lay that foundation up front?

SPEAKER_02 37:39

So I think that so we've been together 10 years. So he's he's watched this progression and this growth, and he knows how important this is to me. Um, so he's I don't know that it's ever a conversation we've directly had. He's just always been very, very understanding. That's part of the reason why I stayed with him because I'm like, my career is really important. I've raised my children, my children, you know, are you know at a level now where they can, you know. I waited until my boys were in high school to go to RN school because I was like, I need to focus on them. And one of my children is has some like medical issues, so I waited until there was a better time to do it. Um, so it just he saw what it's what I put into it, and that's what it's gonna be. And he just has that that meant that's his mentality as far as the work situation goes. He just is like, No, you're at work, and that's that. I called him the other day at work, super excited. I never ever call him, but I was so excited about something that we pulled off that I had to tell somebody. And he was like, What's wrong? And I'm like, nothing's wrong. He's like, Jessica, what's wrong? I'm like, I swear. He's like, because I just it's not something that we you know do. He just holds down the fort and takes care of it, and you know, that's that's that.

SPEAKER_04 38:47

Well, give a special message to your baby today. Yeah, make sure you look at the camera too.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

Yeah, Tim, I love you. Thank you for holding it down all the time and keeping everyone in the middle of the road for me.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Yeah, we're gonna put a little heart on his message too. Very nice.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

You know, so you know, him and I are not warm and fuzzy people.

SPEAKER_04 39:05

Hey, this will be a warm and fuzzy moment on the comfy. We're getting comfortable. So a big shout out to your marriage. Uh, much success to you both. Um, I know that balance is very important for sure. Uh, having someone to go home to is very important too.

SPEAKER_02 39:19

I tell him that he gets one week a year and Vivo gets 51. One week a year for her anniversary, he gets a week of vacation. Oh man.

SPEAKER_04 39:29

So just sticking with uh, you know, your personal uh story and journey, if you could share uh with us just a ritual or family uh tradition that you remember from your childhood that you really enjoy, and then if you would share the opposite, uh a childhood memory that's something that you just wouldn't care to even talk about.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

Oh, so we'll talk about it anyways.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

So I um was a very interesting child, as you probably could imagine. Um, so but I grew up with my father and my grandmother. Um, and it was an interesting dynamic. It was my mother's mother, but my mother was not in the picture, so it was my the two of them. And my grandmother was a sign language interpreter. Um, and so every Sunday I would go sit with the deaf people at church and I would watch her interpret and just hang out with all the deaf folks and watch her interpret every all the church sermons. And I didn't want to go with like the kids in the kid session. I just wanted to go sit in church with her and watch her so you know sign language? So I know a little bit of sign language and I'm not doing it.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Can I do it? Can I do it? Oh, she I hit the mic. I don't want to do all the time.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Just watch Miss Rachel. You got little kids? Watch Miss Rachel just so my granddad can do a little bit. You do you know more, please. You know, they can do a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

So you did they did she did she understand like braille, how to read braille?

SPEAKER_02 40:49

Um that's for blind people.

SPEAKER_04 40:51

Oh, yeah, she did that. Yeah, but we're going to cut that out the show.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

So, you know what we did have on our house was a TTY. And I don't know if you've ever seen these TTY, they're special telephones for deaf people. So they're very, very interesting where you can type on them and then someone kind of translates it. I haven't seen one of them in a bunch of years, but I had one of these in my house so that she could have phone calls with the deaf folks. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

You just a bull, you're just a bundle of everything, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02 41:18

You have no idea. We haven't even we haven't even cracked the iceberg.

SPEAKER_04 41:21

Goodness gracious. But yeah, so that's uh what you consider it a fun memory, or yeah, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:27

It was yeah, no, I I absolutely, yeah, I love my grandmother, and she it was absolutely just a a great memory that I have, you know, from being there, you know. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 41:37

So all right, so the let's go with opposite.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:44

Um there's so many. There's so many. I think that the probably the biggest point of contention was is probably, you know, my my biological mother. That's probably the thing. So she also taught me when I was seven. My brother and so my father was a quadriplegic. Okay. In 1980, 87, 88, he he was awarded full soul custody of my sister and my brother and I. So my brother was two, my sister was twelve, and I was seven. So that's not heard of now, let alone having a quad a quadriplegic man in 1988 being awarded full soul custody of the children. So I'll leave that with you.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Yeah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

So yeah. But he was a chaplain at the sheriff's office in Lindale Lake, so he was the chaplain there. He was a volunteer chaplain at the New Bergey Police Department, he was on staff at First Baptist Church of New Bergy, and that's what he he that was, you know, ministry is what he decided to do with his life, and uh so that's what he did. So that's what we we grew up with. It was very interesting.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

So I was about to say you you automatically would see just how didn't I give up? You know, each skill pushed along.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Well, that's the thing. So if you can, you know, and he and he and he lived a you know considerably long time. So if you can do all of that and accomplish all that without the use of your arms and your legs, with your you know, you know, all the stuff that you know transpired, um why why should I not be able to do whatever? You know what I mean? So that yeah, that if he can do that, yeah, I have nothing to complain about.

SPEAKER_04 43:27

I don't know. Uh none of us do.

SPEAKER_02 43:29

No, probably not. Probably not.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Uh so uh do you are you so are you biblical?

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Um so I find that there's a difference between believing in God and organized religion.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

So do you know how to do you have any verses you can recite?

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Uh remember? Maybe, maybe a couple, you got one? I have one, I think what's one that probably anyone who's ever knows anything about the Bible knows, but it's one that I've I remember I learned it in vacation Bible school when I was little. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and for whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John three sixteen.

SPEAKER_04 44:07

John three sixteen.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:09

Got it. Okay. Yeah, I don't have that one. I can and I grew up in the church too.

SPEAKER_02 44:15

I have a incredible memory. Like really an insane, almost idatic memory. Like I remember dates, times, numbers, license plates, driver's license. I can tell you all kinds of things. I remember all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Really? So that's why you remember how long I reached out to you in 2024.

SPEAKER_02 44:36

So I just have yeah, I have a weird memory.

SPEAKER_04 44:39

Okay. So I know you said pretty much is work and husband life for you. But how can we get you to incorporate a hobby or extracurricular activity?

SPEAKER_02 44:50

So my hobby, my extracurricular activity is my grandchildren.

SPEAKER_04 44:53

Got it. Okay, you do have one.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

I yes, yes. That's and that's yeah. And um, and if I don't have them, then my hobby is shopping for them. That's what I do.

SPEAKER_03 45:02

That's what you do. You love to shop.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

For my grandchildren, oh yes. I have two, they're two little girls. One will be three in December, one just turned one in August. And so princesses and all the stuff and all the yeah, no, it's yeah, but they love you, don't they? Yes. Oh yeah, and it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

So they have a special name for you, or is it grandma?

SPEAKER_02 45:21

No, I actually wanted to be called grandma.

SPEAKER_04 45:22

Grandma, okay, because you know, Dad, they have the G Ma and all those things. G me, GM, me, all that stuff. Except that you're granny, you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

My daughter didn't want to call me grandma, and she's like, You're too young. And I was like, no, I feel like that's like part of the issue because people do wait till they're in their 40s to have children now sometimes. So people think that I'm their mother. I don't want anyone to mistake me as their mother, I am their grandmother, which is why they can do whatever they want when they're with me. I'm like so. No, I like grandma. My husband is G.

unknown 45:50

G.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

G.

SPEAKER_04 45:51

So are you an empty nester right now, currently?

SPEAKER_02 45:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Really? You enjoy that?

SPEAKER_02 45:55

I do. It was hard initially. Well, you know, like my daughter left, and then there were, you know, then my sons, but actually, um, you know, they were just menaces, you know. I would come home and be like, Why is there a person-sized hole in my wall? We were wrestling with socks on. I'm like, oh, good, you know, so absolutely. So I decided to build a house, and then I said, You guys can't come with me. You graduated from high school, you both they both they dual enrolled and got technical degrees. One's a welder, one's a mechanic. Oh, wow. Um, and then one's in school to be afraid because he wants to be an engineer. But um, you know, so they did they, I'm like, you guys now have to figure it out. I'm gonna throw put everything on the curb and and I'm gonna move out, and you have to find somewhere to go.

SPEAKER_04 46:37

How big are your sons? You're 5'10, yeah, and I mean height-wise.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

So my one son actually I'm surprised he only ended up being six foot um because his dad is tall and like my brother's six foot seven. Um yeah, so it's I'm very surprised that he's only six foot, um, because even his dad is six two. But my other son is adopted. Oh, because yes, okay, you said yeah, so you can't really go by that. But my daughter is as tall as I am.

SPEAKER_04 47:00

Really? Yeah, yeah. So all sport? Do they play any sports at all?

SPEAKER_02 47:04

Uh my sons did wrestling, weightlifting, and football. Um, my daughter was younger, she did sports, she used to do soccer um and cheerleading. Um, but then yeah, that didn't that work.

SPEAKER_04 47:18

Got it.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Yeah, that wasn't her thing. I got it.

SPEAKER_04 47:20

Well, um, well, they have a wonderful example as you, uh, as their mother, uh, just the stories that you have and possess. Um, I would say, I'm not sure if you do this or not, you probably do, but I will say just from my youth and growing up, one thing that I missed my granddad, um, my granddaddy chicken, call him Chicken James, but he would share a lot of stories from you know his youth and growing up and how the times were in the past. But please do that with your family, share those stories and your journey as well, because you never know how I will inspire them.

SPEAKER_02 47:56

Have you met these new Gen Z folks?

SPEAKER_04 47:58

Uh yes, I have.

SPEAKER_02 47:59

So, this is what they tell me that I have survivors bias.

SPEAKER_04 48:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 48:05

I do you know what that means? I know.

SPEAKER_04 48:07

No, everybody have a label now for something nowadays.

SPEAKER_02 48:09

So I'm like, we used to ring out of the hose, and they're like, You have survivors bias. I said, Well, what does that mean? Well, it means because nothing happened to me, I think it's okay, but that doesn't make it okay. I just have I'm biased to it because I survived it. Like, so despite of it, and I was like, What?

SPEAKER_04 48:26

Yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

So I've I've been educated on survivor's bias, which is what I have. So I tread carefully with the children. When the grandchildren are a little older, we'll we'll see. But I tried I tread carefully with the children because they're like, oh they don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_04 48:40

Yeah, well, use it as motivation. Uh it's your mama journey. Nothing like mama, man. Uh, so are we gonna end on a this note

Tell-All Book And Creative Writing

SPEAKER_04 48:49

here? And it's a little game, okay? And I want you to go in detail on this because I know you said you only broke the tip of the iceberg, right? But if you would, okay, so it's a game. If you could write a tell-all book, what would it be about? And discuss, I guess, key pieces or details you'll have in your tell-all book, right? And I want you to touch on, if you will, your career, right, and your professional life. I'm sorry, your personal life. A tell-all book.

SPEAKER_02 49:17

A tell-all book. So I think it would, I mean, obviously, it would start when I was uh a child, and um, and kind of some of the things that that transpired as a very, very young child and kind of what what effect that had on me. Um, and I think some of the things that transpired, the we kind of there was kind of like this this policy in my house where you don't talk to anyone outside of the home. Like what happens in your home stays in your home. So they don't believe in therapy, they don't believe in, you know, you know, telling you telling a doctor or going, you know, I have this cut on my arm here. I I cut my arm at a zoo once, and my dad said I had to get a bunch of stitches. He said, You're waiting until we get back in town. We're not seeing an out-of-network hospital here in Tampa. We're waiting, you're going back. I was like, okay, you know, but like the lack of access, like what that would have been different, because I I feel like I could have been life could have been incredibly different if there was just a different access to to things and what went on and that and that mentality that you know that kind of that went on. And I think it would have to start there. Um, and I was, yeah, I that a little more than what I want to say, but that it was it would start, it would start as a seven-year-old Jessica's where it would start. Okay. Um, and then it would continue on, and then to when, you know, I had my first child very, very, very young. Um, and we essentially grew up together. Um, and then, you know, and continued on with my with my other children. Um, and just kind of how that transpired and how my you know, my divorce and that the way things were in life kind of kick-started me into being like, you know, no, I need this career and I need to show my children something different. And I need I think a huge part of my motivation in life has always been um to be different than my biological mother, like you know, because obviously when you're biological to someone, like I see a lot of similar similarities in her and myself, you know, but um I want to, you know, make different choices, you know. As a child, I'm always like, why didn't she pick us? Why did she pick these other things versus picking her children? So I wanted to be the one that picked my children, you know, and and and make those changes in my life. And so I so I did. Um, and then just kind of being that young, that young nurse and that baby nurse, you know, they tell you nursing school in the first year, you're you're gonna kill somebody in the first year. Like, it's an awful thing to hear, you know what I mean? Because I did not kill someone in the first year, but like that's the mentality you have going into this. So, you know, you kind of work in fear, but just kind of knowing that it's okay to take the time to explore and to see what it is that you want to do and what that looks like for you. Um, because this the same thing isn't for everyone. Just like, I mean, I couldn't function without my MDS nurses and my my case managers and the different types of nurses that I have. We all have kind of you know a niche and what we what works, and without each other, we couldn't do our jobs. So I think as a young nurse, taking that time to explore and not feeling I think I, you know, sometimes beat myself up, like you know, that kid, the kid, the pediatrics was hard. It was hard. And you know, just kind of seeing the things that you know transpired and happened to some of these children, it it was tough, you know, just and you know, not that the geriatrics isn't, but you know, they have a life story.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 52:30

And if you sit down and talk to them and listen to them and let them tell you what they've done and where they've been, and I mean, some of them, it's just it's absolutely amazing. Um, so I that's that's the difference for me. And the and the kids were hard. Um so just kind of taking that time to explore what what works for you, what it where is your heart? Because if you're somewhere where you're miserable and it's not like what you don't like what you're doing, you're never going to be successful at it. You have to find where your heart is. And it would go, you know, kind of into what that exploration was for me and what that what that looked like. Um, because you know, a lot of people feel like, you know, okay, they start this job and they do this, and if they aren't successful at it immediately, that that makes you a failure. And it doesn't because you can be, I mean, the types of nurses, it's just insane what you can do, you know. So um, and and whether you want to continue that path. I never had a desire to become a nurse practitioner. That wasn't my thing. To me, it's a different type of medicine. I don't want to be out, you know, prescribing and treating and seeing someone for 15 minutes. I want to be involved in the other end of the care.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Oh yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 53:32

So that and that's kind of where you know where my heart is, is and so, but that's not everyone. And some of them they want to continue that, and that's fantastic because we need those people.

SPEAKER_04 53:40

Right. So in your tell-all book, would you talk about like what takes you off? Like what what pisses you off?

SPEAKER_02 53:49

I mean, I could talk about what pisses me off. Yeah, there's a couple things that piss me off.

SPEAKER_04 53:52

Like what? Give me one, one thing. One thing you'll put in your book and talk about.

SPEAKER_02 53:57

Um, so my staff would tell you one thing that pisses me off is timeliness.

SPEAKER_04 54:01

Timely people show up late. Yes. So I was a little late today, but I was here on time.

SPEAKER_02 54:05

No, but the thing is you don't work for me. So it's got it. Okay, gotcha. All right. No, but like when you're having a meeting, when you're having a thing, when you're saying you're going to be somewhere, you know, you you should you should be there. You know what I mean? So I'm very mindful. Like, you know, I don't schedule a million calls. I'm not doing calls every other day. I'm not trying to, you know, take your time away from being with the patients. I think that's important, you know what I mean? And what you're doing there. So when I schedule it when we have something, like I I like you to be on time, you know, for you know, we're having a meeting. You should be on time for work. It's not when you mosey in, you know, that that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_04 54:33

So 23-year-old Jessica, what pissed her off?

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Oh boy. Everything.

SPEAKER_02 54:43

Everything, everything. I was angry. Yeah, I was angry. Everything. Yep. So um, yeah, I was I was a little bit wild. Yeah, you didn't play.

SPEAKER_04 54:54

Yeah, it was you haven't getting any fights, Miss Jessica? Huh? Because you 5'10, so you know you probably you're probably pretty intimidated, but also too, I know.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

People tell me I'm intimidating, and I have like I'm like all I do is laugh and smile all the time. Like this is how I am all the time.

SPEAKER_04 55:10

I'm saying too, I'm just thinking about it in the in the mind of a 5'2 woman, you know. Uh so you know, women interact differently with each other, you know.

SPEAKER_02 55:21

So when I was younger and I was in middle school and high school, I was a very angry young lady. So yeah. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 55:27

So you've been you know how to throw some hands you're trying to say today.

SPEAKER_02 55:31

I'm just saying as an angry person, but that is a different person.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

And if you would have played a sport, what sport you wish you would have done or activity you wish you would have done, uh did you or if you even wished, it was just an instrument or anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

So you know what I really enjoyed, even in like I I I had started kind of in some like back in the day they called it gifted. So I had to take these classes. Um in third grade, I wrote my own will. What? And they thought that there was like something wrong with me, so they had me examined, and then they did a bunch of testing on me, and they realized that I was bored. And my but in my mind, I still have it to this day. It was logical. And my sister wasn't always nice to me, my older sister. So I wanted, I didn't want her to have certain things, and I wanted my grandma to have certain stuff because I was like, nope, I'm giving it to her. I had no death wish, I didn't know what suicide was, it wasn't anything like that. I thought I was being practical because my father was older and I hung out at nursing homes and funerals. So I mean, like the first time I ever saw a dead body was an open casket at a funeral that I had no idea I was gonna see because my dad would take me along with him. And so I was like, okay, well, I get I'm I don't want my sister to have my stuff if something happens to me. You know what I mean? So I did so they thought I was, and then they started putting me in these these different classes, so then all my teachers became doctors, and then I was, you know, in these, they called them these gifted classes. So from that point on, I loved creative writing. I can write a paper like nobody's business. Like I I love that. So like we I had this teacher who would just they give us a word, and basically you had it was a contest every single week to see who could write the most words based on that one word that he gave you, and then words like and if it, you know, the as like those words didn't count as words, so they had to be actual words, and you had to write a story. And I absolutely love doing that. That was that was my thing. Outside's not really my thing.

SPEAKER_04 57:19

Right. So I so you should do you should work on your tell all book then, like the story of Jessica Kushal. You should do that because you probably could do it in two weeks. Yeah, if you did time blocking, you would have to time block, be able to time block because your job is yeah, you know, maybe say like 2026, the first quarter you work on your book. That'd be good. Because once you start it and you see the responses, you're gonna want to keep doing it. I promise you that.

SPEAKER_02 57:45

I have a friend who did a book, and they uh actually have two friends who write books. Um one is a little little different kind of book than but I have one. Um, but you know, but you know you you humility is my thing, so I'm not really I'm not really showy, isn't my thing. Humility is my thing.

SPEAKER_04 58:03

But you deserve to be you you're the brand of Jessica, you know.

SPEAKER_02 58:06

You have I am a I am a brand, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 58:08

For sure, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have a lot of experience, a lot of stories that you can shed light on that people could could utilize. So, and I want to highlight you like any way I can. I'm gonna support you. So I can tell you that. For sure. You should do it. I'll consider at least think about it. Matter of fact, what's your husband's name?

SPEAKER_02 58:24

Tim.

SPEAKER_04 58:25

Tim. Talk to her about this at home, man. Talk to her by now. Well, thank you for joining the platform and the show. Uh, big shout out to your family. I hope they like this. Um, and I thank you for gracing us on a Sunday and doing this. I really do. Uh, from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate you seriously. Um, but thank you. It's another episode of Lexicon Comfort Podcast. We have Miss Jessica K. Shaw. Please tune in.

Closing Thanks And Subscribe CTA

SPEAKER_04 58:49

Uh, subscribe to the channel, visit our website, comfortmeasures consulting.com with more than a media platform. We provide consulting for independent, probably owned organizations, but also advocacy for families to help you with that life planning and stop waiting to the last minute. Right? Start having those health preventions, health awareness conversations sooner rather than later. All right. Until next time. Thank you. Did it? We did it. We did it. Good job. You killed that. What time is it?