Wakanda's Wrld
This channel is primarily informative within the weird and wonderful world of healthcare. I discuss how to improve the wide world of healthcare along with up to date information. I love to have different guest from different walks of life within healthcare. For podcast guest inquires reach me at shanklindj@yahoo.com
Wakanda's Wrld
Breaking: Man sentenced for unaliving a home health nurse, visitor chokes nurse, etc.
The healthcare profession has always demanded courage, but today's nurses face dangers that extend far beyond the traditional risks of the job. From violent attacks to professional peril, the frontlines of care have become increasingly hazardous terrain.
What happens when a family member walks into a hospital room to find their loved one restrained and seemingly unresponsive? The podcast opens with this emotional scenario, breaking down the medical necessity behind restraints and high-concentration oxygen masks while offering guidance on how families can constructively address their concerns. Rather than storming in with accusations, understanding the proper channels of communication can transform a potentially explosive situation into a productive conversation about patient care.
The discussion takes a sobering turn as we explore recent incidents that illuminate the physical dangers healthcare workers face daily. A home health nurse making what should have been a routine medication visit lost her life at the hands of a patient with a violent history. An ICU nurse was choked by a visitor while simply trying to provide care. These aren't isolated incidents—they represent a troubling pattern of violence against those dedicated to healing others.
Professional hazards also loom large, as demonstrated by the case of a nurse fired after criticizing unsafe staffing ratios at her hospital on a podcast. This raises vital questions about the balance between advocacy and employment security. When does speaking up for patient safety become a career risk? Where is the line between professional responsibility and organizational loyalty?
The healthcare system demands both physical courage and moral backbone from its workers, often without providing adequate protection for either. As patients and community members, we must recognize these challenges and advocate for those who advocate for us. Follow Wakanda RN on TikTok and Instagram to join the conversation about healthcare worker safety and share your experiences in the comments. Together, we can work toward a healthcare environment that protects both patients and providers.
https://linktr.ee/WakandaRN
Welcome in, welcome in with Joe Wakanda RN. I got a lot on my mind, but I'm not here to waste your time. Let's get into it. I want to know, man, how's your week been, how things been going? Hope you've had a good week, a blessed time. You know what I'm saying. I know life can be lifin' but, man, let's get into it. So I like my first video. Man, we're going to check this one out. I want to know your thoughts and opinions right after this. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1:So we got this elderly gentleman here. Seems to be in restraint, it seems to be. So. This man is upset. You may or may not be able to hear it, but this man is pretty upset. He's mad that his dad's in restraint. He's upset that. You know the workers. He's yelling, he's cuss his dad's in restraints. He's upset that, um, you know the workers. He's yelling, he's cussing at him, um, so he's pretty upset, man. He wants to know, like you know, he's mad about you know, look at the things on his hands, look at things on his wrist why his wrist swollen. You know he's. He was threatening to to sue the hospital, um, so let me want y'all to take a good look, man, look at everything that's going on. Yeah man, look at his hands. Yep, yep, take a look, all right. So let's go back, let's go back, okay, all right, man.
Speaker 1:So in that short clip, in that short video, there's a lot to unpack, okay. So, if you're so, if you're listening to this audio, only that's what I'm trying to talk through the video, as much as I could. If you're watching this visually, you can kind of see the video. So let me try to paint the picture. Ok, so you have a family member that's in the hospital and you walk into the room you haven't seen your family member in a very long time, very old. You haven't seen your family member in a very long time, very old. You remember last time you saw him he was talking and walking and full of life and things were going right. But then, when you walk in, you're not seeing that. You see him, that he's tied up, he's got these things on his wrist that prevent him from moving. You have like this big mask that's on his face. He's not talking, he seems to be out of it, and you see people standing around him. There's machines that's hooked up everywhere.
Speaker 1:You're confused, you're hurt, you're angry because the man that you see in the bed is not the same man that you remember. He was a man of honor, strong dignity, pride. And so you're angry and you want to know what's going on. You want to know what's going on. I want to talk to whoever's in charge I want to talk to, I want his charts, I want everything, because I don't know what's going on, right? So this is probably you. Maybe you probably experienced this situation, maybe you've probably experienced this situation, maybe you've been here.
Speaker 1:So let's take a step back. So the first thing you should do if you walk into a scenario like this, okay, is the first thing you should do. You should want to talk to the nurse the nurse that's providing his care, okay. If not, ask to talk to a charge nurse? Okay, be an adults. Don't come in there yelling angry, cussing, yelling at everybody, threatening to sue everybody, because you don't understand what's going on. There's a right way to go about doing things and the wrong way to go about doing things. And the wrong way to go about doing things is to come through and just pointing fingers and blaming everybody, because there's a lot, when it comes to the medical side of the world, that we do not understand.
Speaker 1:And so the first thing, on the medical side, let me say this he had what's called a non-rebreather mask, on which is highly concentrated oxygen, about 80 to 100 percent, due to somebody who's in possibly respiratory distress. So beforehand they were probably on what's called a simple mask, which goes up to about five liters, okay, and they were not getting significant enough oxygen to keep their oxygen saturation levels high enough, so they had to go to a higher oxygen, which was the non-rebreather mask. That's, first and foremost, the risk restraints that you may see on this gentleman here. They are used to. It's not necessarily to keep the gentleman from going anywhere, it's to actually help the gentleman, to save him from himself, so to speak. Okay, so if this gentleman, for example, has all these tubes, he has all these lines that he needs for him to order to get better, the last thing he needs is to take those things out. Ok, so he needs that oxygen. So those restraints were probably put in place.
Speaker 1:Now some of you may be wondering about his cognition. Some of you may be wondering about his mental. At least, in the short video that we just saw, he seemed to be out of it. He seemed to be lethargic of some sorts. I'm not sure if that is due to some medical condition or was medication administered that put him in a state of mind, I am not sure. But either way, this was for his benefit and for his safety.
Speaker 1:And one thing about soft restraints, or restraints in general you're supposed to check on them pretty frequently, every 15 minutes. You're supposed to check on them to make sure the circulation is good and to make sure that the patient has no skin issues, to make sure nothing else is going on that could negatively affect the patient. And so there was look like IV pumps that was behind this patient. Maybe there was like a BiPAP, cpap Looked like there was something else behind the patient's wheel. Wasn't exactly sure, but there was definitely a lot going on in this particular scenario. So, and also to address, he had like edema or swelling on his hands and things like that. So if I would guess, at the very minimum he has some cardiac issues, that's going on. It needs to be addressed. This gentleman may be on Lasix I'm not sure, but there's quite a bit going on. But if you're, if you are a family member, there's a right and a way and a wrong way to go about it. And so make sure, if you're a family member is in this scenario, in this situation, that you handle it with respect, because, guess what, that nurse, this patient, this patient and this particular team taking care of this patient, they have a lot, of, a lot of stuff going on. They have other patients as well, and this is a highly delicate situation, but try to to have a little grace and to let them try to explain everything that's going on.
Speaker 1:Ok, ok, so on to the next subject. So there was a nurse that was fired for criticizing their former employer on a podcast. So you know. So I want to be honest here. I really really do. Let me see if we can get to this article. Man, look, man, um, there was a recent whistleblower case in Massachusetts that captured the attention of nursing professionals nationwide, raising important questions about patient advocacy, professional ethics and employer protection. Carla, a former nurse at St Vincent Hospital in Worcester, massachusetts, filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the hospital and its parent company, a tenant healthcare corporation, after being terminated May 1st 2025.
Speaker 1:So, okay, I'm going to be. I'm going to be honest here. Close the article. Close the article. Stop it right there, look why. I don't know about you guys, but I know about me, if I am prepared you see, I got podcast equipment here. Everybody wants to tear up on podcast equipment I am prepared that if I criticize any employer that I work for, if I criticize them publicly, I have to be prepared not to have a job. Go figure, go figure. Now it's just me. Now I don't know how she felt, I don't know what she walked into or how the scenario played out, but if I get on here and criticize my employer publicly, I'm not, I'm prepared not to have a job. That's just what happens. Like you can't, just, you can't just do this and be surprised that you got fired. I mean, this is what's going to happen if you criticize your employer. So you know, filing a lawsuit and all that. I don't know how that's going to play out. I really, really don't.
Speaker 1:Now, supposedly she has criticized this particular hospital because there was three patients found before that were unalive due to unsafe staffing ratios. Now, if you have watched this show or been a part of this show I have advocated, I've talked about, we need safe nurse to patient ratios. We have to have them because it protects us and it protects you, the listener, and I don't know if she's had meetings with, you know, nurses. I don't know if she's had meetings with management. I don't know if she's talked to people about this before publicly criticizing her employer. I have no idea. But I hope she took the proper steps. You know what I'm saying. Before she just went off and criticized her employer.
Speaker 1:But if you just talked amongst yourselves, amongst your peers, and then you just publicly criticize your employer, well, that's pretty much what's going to happen in the end. Well, okay, well, all is good, you know for the greater good. But you know, I hope you didn't just file a lawsuit just because you got fired because you criticized your employer. I mean, it's just me personally. Y'all can let me know what you think in the comments below. You know, I like to advocate for nurses, I like to advocate for patients, and you know. But I try to be fair, I try to be honest and on this podcast I try, you know, I try not to be biased, I try to be objective in how I view things. But I think anybody who's listening to this, they know, like if they're going to criticize your employer publicly, then you know you probably are not going to have a job. Just saying, just saying Okay. So on to the next thing. On to the next thing.
Speaker 1:So can you imagine all my nursing people who are listening to this podcast that let's say you're doing home health, right, you're on a home health visit, you're on a regular visit. You pull up to the place that you're supposed to visit, place that you're supposed to visit you think you're just going to have a normal, regular visit. You got your materials, you got your everything you need to take care of this patient. You enter the home and little did you know that'd be the last time that you took care of any patient. What am I talking about? I mean, some of you probably are not aware, but there has been an ongoing case regarding a man who previously had mental health problems. And yeah, let's talk about it.
Speaker 1:So a man previously convicted of SA unalive in Connecticut visiting a nurse at a halfway house. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison in a case that reignited calls for better protections for home health workers across the country. Michael Reese, 40 years old, that he admitted he unalived Joyce Grayson October 28th 2023 at the home where he was living under electronic monitoring while on probation for stabbing and SA-ing another woman in 2006. The prison sentence, which mandates no early release or parole, was part of a plea deal for 36 years had gone to the house to administer a medication to Reese, who was on probation after serving for more than 14 years in prison for the 2006 attack. So Reese, who wore a tan prison suit and a black face mask, did not speak during the hearing at Danielson Superior Court. His lawyer spoke on his behalf, saying he apologizes to Grayson's family and is ashamed of what he did.
Speaker 1:Sad man, it is really really sad, really really sad. So, yeah, I mean my heart goes out to the Grayson family, my thoughts and prayers go out, because that is difficult. I mean, 63 years old, you're thinking you're getting towards the end of your career and your career was cut short due to a man who had previous issues before and you was going to help and unfortunately, during that time you know that was your last stop. So that's very sad, very, very unfortunate. And I think I saw something about how there's going to be different provisions. You know, maybe equipping um those healthcare workers with some type of self-defense device. I'm not sure yet, so that's still in development.
Speaker 1:But people, when healthcare workers go to your houses, it's already an uncomfortable position, you know, to go to somebody's house to try to take care of them, you know is, you know already you're already at a disadvantage, right? You don't have normally, you don't have other staff members with you, there's no security, it's just you, you and the patient and whatever else is lying within that home. And to go into that situation and to try to do the best you can to take care of. I tell you guys, that's why I try to advocate so hard for nurses. Man, I try, I try. You know if they do right, if they're wrong, if they're you know, if they have been done wrong, I try to speak up on it. But in this scenario, like we got to have better protection for nurses, we got to have better protection for nurses, we gotta have better protection for health care workers, because that is that scenario should never happen, should never, never, never. So I mean, justice is served, but my heart goes out to that family. My thoughts and prayers are definitely with you. So, yeah, okay, so all right. So, yeah, okay, so, all right.
Speaker 1:So we had recently an ICU nurse that was working for a Huntington hospital that went to enter into a patient's room and was choked out by the visitor. That's right, you heard me. He went in there to try to take care of his patient, walked up in there after probably sanitizing his hands, you know, anticipating what his, you know what the patient's needs are, and then he gets blindsided and choked out by the patient. It took multiple staff, it took security to get this, to get this visitor off of this nurse. And then, after the fact, the nurse went to the emergency department, got checked out. I mean, he lived a tale to tell and he still has to work.
Speaker 1:I mean, can you imagine you? I mean you, hey, whoever's listening, the person is listening. Can you imagine you're just trying to do your job, wherever that your job is at, and then somebody decides I'm just going to choke you out for no reason, I don't know. Man, just thinking about it. You work at a front desk and you just think that somebody's coming in to say hi and then they put their hands around your neck. You know what I'm saying. You may work at a food. You know you may work in the food industry, right, you go to serve food or something, and then you know you go serve your food and then somebody decides to choke you out.
Speaker 1:Like, what are we talking about? Like, why in the world? I mean what is going on in this weird world of healthcare to where people have to keep their head on a swivel for people? We're not even talking about patients, we're talking about a visitor that came in and choked a healthcare worker out. So I'm just saying, man, the world is already crazy enough as it is. That is insane. That is insane Y'all.
Speaker 1:Sometimes, man, when I be looking for stories, I don't have to look very far. I be looking for stories to come talk to you guys about, to let you guys know what's going on within health care. I don't have to look very far, I don't at all, I don't at all, but it is. It is absolutely insane what people go through on a day to day basis, a day to day basis. So, anyway, all right, man, this is what I have for you guys today. Thank you for tuning in with Chill Wakanda RN. Make sure you check out the rest of the episodes on the podcast. Make sure you check out my other platforms as well Wakanda RN on TikTok and Instagram as well. You know what I'm saying. You give me suggestions, let me know your thoughts on this episode and my other videos below and I love you guys and I hope you have a blessed rest of the day and I am out.
