"The Heart Behind Healthcare" | NGP #07

From military service and emergency medicine to nursing and serving rural Appalachia, this conversation explores a journey shaped by compassion, resilience, and a commitment to helping others. Hear perspectives on healthcare access, the challenges facing rural communities, addiction, technology in medicine, preventative care, and what it truly means to care for people during some of life’s most important moments.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:22

This segment of the Next Gym Patriots podcast is sponsored in support of the West Virginia Tobacco Quit Line. If you or someone you love is ready to quit tobacco, you're just one phone call away. Trained coaches are available to provide guidance, resources, and support every step of the way. Call 1-800-QITNOW for free coaching, helpful resources, and encouragement to help you break free from tobacco. That's 1-800-QitNOW to take the first step towards a healthier future. And uh thanks for taking time and your schedule to join us this evening.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Of course, of course. So as we get on to this, kind of walk us through a little bit here so everybody kind of knows you a little bit better. What's some hobbies, interests, some things that you do throughout the week or for fun?

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Oh my goodness. Um I love to read. I do. Um I like uh fiction mostly. Um I am an avid thrifter. I I do like thrifting and uh collecting trinkets. Um hobbies include painting, uh crochet sewing, cooking, I mean, you name it. I'm I'm always doing something creative. I've got tons of material and just whatever hits me.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

You know, I like creating beautiful things.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

I get it. I get it. I understand. Everybody's got a little creativeness in them in some some aspect. So everybody has an introduction, and so I kind of wanted to walk through your career a little bit because um you have a very, very interesting career um in everything that you have done. So kind of walk us through right out of high school, what did you do right out of high school?

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Um, I joined the military. I joined the United States Army, hurrah. Um mostly because family obligations. Uh, you know, I've um I think I was the third or fourth generation. Um my brother was not eligible to join. He had asthma as a kid growing up, so I felt like it was kind of like my job to carry that torch. Um it was also kind of funny because I had a relative who had joined and was not successful in making it through basic training, and I'm like, well, I'm just gonna show them all it can be done. So that kind of led to it. Plus, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. Um I knew I wanted to go to college, but I was not really honed in on exactly what I wanted to do. So part of joining the military, you know, growing up, we take these little tests to see how we're doing in school and things like that. And then I remember in, I want to say my tenth grade year at high school, we did some kind of test, and it was like I want to say it was kind of like a personality test, but it wasn't, so it was kind of gauging you as like what you might would be good at, you know. And um mine was public service, um, medical, um, you know, just things like that. Um my dad was a coal miner, my mother was a teacher. So how I became medically inclined, I have no clue. I kind of feel like there were times when dad would be laid off for a period of time and he would drive an ambulance um for a company that was in Jaeger at that time, and part of that he had to get his EMT. And I was just fascinated by the stories I would hear the grown-ups talking about, you know. And I I think that may have kind of piqued my interest at that time. So yeah, I just kind of wasn't sure what I was gonna do, didn't know which way I was gonna go, but I knew I needed to do something because you cannot, it seems like, especially at that time and and more so now, that it's very difficult to have a successful career without some form of secondary education, be it uh a technical program or a college degree or something to that nature. So yeah, I joined. Um the original job that I wanted to do was already booked. Um there was a waiting list for like a year to a year and a half, and there was no way I was going to wait that long. I wanted to go now, I was ready. Um, Desert Storm had just turned. I think the events had turned around to where the American military was on the upside of it and it was winding down, but there was still a mission to be done.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:41

Um, so with that being said, I chose the next available slot for training that I could leave, go to basic, go on for um my MOS training, and so on. And it was an orthopedic technician. I ended up, that was really cool. I learned so much so fast and was really exposed to a lot of good orthopedic surgeons, a lot of um major trauma care. Um, it was very interesting, but it was kind of getting oversaturated after probably about the first or second year. So I kind of sidestepped a little bit and then became a paramedic in the military. And that was interesting too. So I kind of started developing a love of trauma, uh, an adrenaline junkie, I guess you could say. Um, so it it was it was good. Um, and I was able to help. I was able to care for people quickly and at some of the most vulnerable times of their life. So that was an amazing feeling. Um after four years, almost five years active duty, I came home and I was still serving as a reservist. I don't think they even have reserves now. Um, I think it's all state, national guard type stuff. Federal reserves, I think, is um very far and few between. But I served as a paramedic there. It was 302nd Field Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia. Um and uh civilian, I worked as a paramedic in McDowell County. Uh loved it. I also worked at 911 for a little while too. I was a 911 operator here in McDowell County. I also worked in Logan County and Wyoming County, so I I was a workaholic. Yeah. But um times changed, funding, insurance reimbursement, you know, after several years as a paramedic, I was making less than what I made when I first started. And the job was harder. Um things were more difficult. Um it was crazy. So I decided to go back to school and I went to Bluefield State College, now known Bluefield State University, and I obtained my nursing degree. My first degree was an associate. Um and after that, I graduated in 99, I think. Yeah, 99. Anyway, um, I worked as an ER nurse and trauma nurse and ICU nurse. Uh several years. Several years. And then, I don't know, um ten years later, I decided to go back to school. I went through WVU and got my bachelor's, my four-year degree as a nurse, um, continued my career in emergency medicine, critical care. Um, ten years later, I decided to go back to school and I obtained my master's through Chamberlain University. And I have been serving the citizens of McDowell County for the last six, almost seven years as a nurse practitioner, um, primary care provider at one of our local clinics. Um, but I cannot give my love of emergency medicine up, so I also work as a provider in the emergency department locally, a few shifts a month.

SPEAKER_03 9:21

Wow. So you're even though with all that background and as busy as you are, you're still giving back in some form.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I try. Yeah. I try.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

Yeah, that's amazing. That's amazing. So as we kind of move on here into this, um into these segments, I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about health care um in Appalachia. And that's not really talked a lot about, and there's a lot of a lot of different uh viewpoints to look at it. But what makes health care in Appalachia different from other parts of the country?

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Access. That's probably one of the biggest things. Um access. Um air transportation, you know, we have no public transportation. I think there's a bus that runs a certain line, but the timeframe's, you know, very difficult. Um we have a a large older population, so their mobility in its sense is, you know, um hampered. Um and people don't really want to be all day going to a doctor.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

So, you know, the travel associated with it. So access is one thing. Um I know we have moved into telemedicine um thanks to COVID. That's opened up greatly, but you have to have the equipment for that. You have to have, you know, good internet or cell phone service, of which limited in our area. Excuse me. And you have to have some form of smart device, either a cell phone or a tablet or a computer or something. And, you know, it's difficult. Yeah. So I kind of feel like access is a a big hindrance for just healthcare in general.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Plus, I think, you know, we have a lot of sick people. You know, we have a lot of diabetes, we have a lot of um heart disease, we have a lot of obesity, um, so many things that lead to so many other problems. And, you know, it it takes work, not just on a provider's point, but on a patient's point too. And that brings you to a whole nother gamut of issues. I mean, transportation, um, you know, food disparities. I mean, we we live in a food desert, so to speak. We have what, one, two, three grocery stores, and you know, we don't have a farmer's market, we don't have a lot of gardening kind of land. I mean, I know people do garden, but it's not like it used to be. Right. Yeah. Um, so access to fresh fruits and vegetables, access to good meats that are not full of antibiotics and steroids and all this stuff. Yeah. You know, not very processed kind of things. Um there's so many things. And it's just it's kind of hard sometimes to see the silver lining or the way out of it.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

And oh my gosh, exercise. Where do we have to exercise that's safe and well lit and accommodating?

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

I mean, we don't have that.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. What would you say? What are some of the biggest health challenges facing Southern West Virginia specifically?

SPEAKER_02 13:08

I hate to harp on it, but I feel like number one is obesity. I really do. I think um because of so many environmental issues, um, you know obesity is a big thing. And that leads to so many other things. Or it compounds other things.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Yeah. You think it the obes obesity is because of the resources that are limited here?

SPEAKER_02 13:37

I do. Yeah. I think that's some of it. Um some of it is just personal habits. It's so much easier to grab a not very healthy item to eat on the go. Mm-hmm. Um as opposed to really watching. And then, you know, you gotta take into insurance as Medicaid, Medicare. That's that's our prominent insurance in this area, how little they do pay for like weight loss. Um it's just it's it's a horrible roller coaster of everything intermingled and tied together to the other.

SPEAKER_03 14:22

Yeah. There's one thing I want to uh get your perspective on right now, and this is a really a hot topic right now. What's your thoughts on the uh weight loss shots?

SPEAKER_02 14:32

I think they're amazing.

SPEAKER_03 14:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Um I think that patients and providers uh should use any tool that is accessible to assist in weight loss. I think they are fairly safe as opposed to back in the day when people were taking fin fin and all these, you know, stimulant type medications to um stave off appetite and things like that. I think GLP1s are safer in a in a monitored way. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think there are more health benefits than just weight loss, um, the cardiovascular protection alone, um renal health, kidney health, you know. I think I think they're a good thing. Uh and I hope 10, 15 years from now we're not class action lawsuit if you ever took a GOP. You know, that is a possibility.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

That's what I was going to ask you. What do you think the outcomes are from 10 to 15 years from now?

SPEAKER_02 15:42

I I would hate to I would hate to even think, honestly. I you know, because you just never know. You never know what's going to come down the pipe.

SPEAKER_04 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Um I hope all is well. I hope there's, you know, but from what I'm seeing, when I'm seeing good things.

SPEAKER_03 16:03

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Why going back to access specifically to health care um in our area, why is access to health care so difficult in real communities?

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Again, I think this is based on transportation. Um good solid transportation. Um I mean, we have several clinics, several reputable clinics. Um there there is resources available, but and two, you know, I grew up in a home where my mother and father, you know, we had our well child visits, we we went for that, we went for our annual dental visits, you know, all that was a mandatory thing. But uh learning now, as I've grown and uh, you know, have children of my own, that's not necessarily been the norm. You know, for the most part, people only went when they were sick. And I feel like part of things is still kind of trapped in that mentality. You know, they only go when they're sick. Yeah. They're not big on preventative. Um I can't say that that's the majority now because you know, they do have programs like Bonnie's Bus for mammograms, they have the low-dose CT scanner out and about, you know, for lung cancer and and such. Um and two, you know, we've we've we're in an area where people work hard. And, you know, they work long hours. Um clinics typically are closed, you know, and we don't have urgent care. Right. Yeah. Um and urgent care really doesn't do preventative primary care, they're a sick, you know, sick visit place.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Um so it is, I mean, it's it's a it's a cycle that somewhere somehow needs to be broken, I guess, for any improvement to come about. Um you know, coal miners, God love them. They're they're underground, you know, five, six days a week. The shifts that they work, I can only imagine, you know, when you're getting off work, the last thing you want to do is stop at the clinic and be there for several hours, you know, or you definitely don't want to get up and go before you go to work because you might end up being late. Um, our truck drivers, I mean, you know, put 10, 12 hours in a seat. It's kind of hard to stop off and have your blood work done. I mean, you know, um, our teachers, oh, bless their hearts after being at school all day. The last thing they want to do is have to, you know, stop off to be seen and or take a day off. You know, um, it's it's hard for individuals, law enforcement, fire EMS, corrections officers. I mean, you know, our working population, it's hard for them to take a day off.

SPEAKER_03 19:25

Yeah. Yeah. You know? How has addiction, do you feel, impacted healthcare workers and families in Appalachia?

SPEAKER_02 19:31

Oh, mercy. That's a loaded question. Um Wow. Addiction has absolutely devastated our communities. Um it it really has. Um it's generational, unfortunately. Um there's help.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

You know, there's help, but there's no easy fix it.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Um What would you say in the healthcare world has it affected you guys the most with addiction?

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Oh, that's a loaded question too. Um I find unfortunately, it may have jaded uh us a little bit in the sense of um you know, you can't take a pill for everything. Yeah. You know. Um you have to do the work. Um it it's created it's created a problem because those that would really benefit from pain management aren't able to receive it because of the fallout from addiction. And you know, even with a lot of mental health type issues, anxiety, depression, you know, um, there are other medications that are more effective than like benzodiazepines. But does that mean that, you know, patients wouldn't benefit from a mild controlled substance for crisis situation? I'm not saying that. You know, they would, but unfortunately, the whole addiction cycle has really put a damper on several areas of care that patients could benefit from.

SPEAKER_03 21:52

Yeah. Kind of moving on here, uh, specifically to your rule, um, people a lot of people may not know, but what exactly Exactly is a family nurse practitioner?

SPEAKER_02 22:04

We are a provider that sees patients from zero to death. Our focus is mainly on preventative medicine. However, we do monitor and manage chronic illnesses.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

Okay. What would be the difference as a nurse practitioner from a doctor?

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Um, scope of practice. Okay. Um doctors are, you know, education-wise, they they have gone to school far more than nurse practitioners have. But like myself, you know, I became a nurse practitioner after 20 years in medicine bedside nursing. Um so I kind of feel like I've had some pretty good experiences and history that prepared me. Yeah. But unlike a medical doctor, you know, we air specialty is very limited. We only have um, I want to say seven specialties that we can specialize in. Okay. Whereas, you know, doctors, you know, they can specialize in just about anything. Yeah. Um, given that they go, you know, and do the intern and residency and things like that. So there's there's a lot of difference, but yet there's not a lot of difference. I know that's not exactly the right answer, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Yeah. What is or well, let me ask you this way. Why are family nurse practitioners especially important in rural communities?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

Because we're there. We're um we are more, I mean, there are uh there are more of us. Number one. Yeah. Um I hate to say it like this, and this is probably the wrong way, but we're cheaper. Honestly, we're cheaper to employ. Um, and that's based on insurance return, you know. Um we can't charge as much as MDs and DOs. Um, insurance reimbursement is not as high for MPs and PAs.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Especially in areas like ours, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. What's the most rewarding part about your job?

SPEAKER_02 24:41

Oh my gosh, everything. I know that sounds crazy. Um, but just having patience, I'm so glad you're here. Or thank you. Or well, you didn't tell me to do uh even the, you know, the little harsher ones, you know, they still bring such great joy.

SPEAKER_05 25:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

Um and seeing progress, you know, seeing their A1Cs decrease, seeing their blood pressures be more controlled, um, seeing that they get to the cardiologist or the neurologist or the nephrologist. Um, you know, just being able to be a part of their lives and to care for them, even when they don't want it, I guess would be a good way to put it, but it's just it's a blessing. It there's no two ways about it. Um even your most difficult patient, there's a blessing in there somewhere. Um so I I say I get to go to work, I don't have to go to work. Right. It's a get-to thing, not a got-to thing. Yeah. Um I just I love my patients. I do.

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

I I love them and I worry about them and I pray for them and I think of them and I honestly care about them.

SPEAKER_03 26:02

What advice would you give someone interested in going into healthcare?

SPEAKER_02 26:11

If you think it's about making money, it's the wrong thing to do. Um if you think it's about having this cakewalk schedule, it's the wrong thing to do. Um if you wear your feelings on your sleeve, it's the wrong thing to do. Um twenty years ago. Yeah, a little over twenty years ago, night shift, ER, trauma center, rough night, rough night. Emotional, physical, mental. It was just a rough night. And I can remember one of my colleagues, one of my other nurses that I was working with was just absolutely complaining. Granted, we all have to spout off sometimes. We all have to just kind of let it roll. But this was, I mean, it felt like for a 12-hour shift, it felt like 11 hours was just constant, you know. And I'm pretty sure things at home were okay. You know, we often drag things at home to work with us. We can't help it, we're human. Um, this night was particularly rough. I mean, we had had a child death. We had had, I mean, there it you name it, it was hitting us every which way but sideways. And I'm still thinking it might have been hitting us sideways too. But just hearing this person nag and nag and negative and negative and negative. I mean, it was relentless. And I finally am like, no one forced you to become a nurse. You chose this.

SPEAKER_04 27:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

You know, if if this isn't for you, you need to do something different. And I think I stopped everybody at that moment, and they're just like looking at me and I'm like, I'm sorry. But enough's enough. You know, no one twisted your arm and made you become a nurse. And I still think that's to this day, you know, you're not being forced into healthcare. It's a choice you're making. But if you're making it to get rich or to have a cakewalk schedule, or to have all the bells and whistles and star spangled banner, think again. It is it is truly grunt work. It is emotional, it is taxing, it's frustrating. I mean, you know, you name it, you'll go through all the emotions. But if you have a heart to give selflessly and not take anything personal, you can't take you cannot take anything personal from the folks you work with to the people you care for, you cannot take things personal. Um, then yeah, go for it.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Yeah. Kind of moving on to the future of healthcare. Where do you see health care the next 10 years from now?

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Hopefully better. Um, I watched a clip the other day, Nola, Noah Wiley speaking, and he was talking about, you know, healthcare is human, and I'm like, oh my God, is it not? You know. Um, hopefully you'll get, I don't mean to get political, but hopefully you'll get big pharma out of it making the decisions. Hopefully you'll get business people out of the decision-making process for insurance reimbursement. Hopefully we will have more preventative. Hopefully, patients will not have to jump through five million hoops to have procedures done. Hopefully, things will be covered that will, you know, make life better. I mean, hopefully healthcare will be moving in the right direction.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Yeah. How has technology changed medicine from today?

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Um, many ways good. Many ways good. You have access to information a lot quicker now. Um you have help with documentation, um, you know, from dictation to AI, kind of being able to participate and record conversations between your provider and the patient. I'm not a hundred percent sold on that. I would prefer to have a little more control. So I'm all about dictation as opposed to full-on AI. Um the medical records, the electronic medical record system, the MRs, being able to flag results and you know, recommend hey, this person might need this, this person might need that, based on, you know, quality measures, um, reminders. Um, this patient needs a mammogram, it's been a year, or this patient needs a PSA, it's been a year. Um, so there's been a lot of good, you know, um, patients being able to have access to their charts quicker, but uh sometimes that can be a little bit, well, it says it's supposed to be. Well, I can't help it. Pharmacy doesn't have it ready, you know. Um technology has been good, but it's also been bad because people will Google their symptoms and and be convinced they're dying.

SPEAKER_03 32:00

Yeah. So won't believe the expert. Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:04

You know, that it it's it's it's a double-edged sword. Yeah, I get it.

SPEAKER_03 32:07

I get it. Where so you talked a little bit about telehealth a little bit. Um where do you see that helping rural communities, especially?

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Um chronic management of conditions. Um I do not feel that telehealth is appropriate for sick visits because as a provider, I like to see my patients, I like to touch my patients, I like to hear my patients, I like to be able to, you know, listen to heart sounds, listen to lung sounds, actually, you know, see their throat. I mean, you I don't care if you have the most up-to-date cell phone, you're not going to get good visuals, you know, there's a break in that, you know.

SPEAKER_05 32:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

Um, but with chronic management like diabetes, um, congestive heart failure, um, coronary artery disease, hypertension, there is a place for telehealth with that. Mental health, um, being able to do your counseling online as opposed to take a day off and you know, trek down to the counselor's office and you know, sit on the couch for an hour or whatever, you know, um, that is I feel telehealth is most beneficial for management of existing conditions. Yeah. I do not feel telehealth is appropriate for diagnosis of conditions, yeah, be it physical, mental health, et cetera. Yeah. I feel it's it's not the place. I feel human interaction is necessary.

SPEAKER_03 33:42

Where do you where do you see the role of AI playing in the future of healthcare?

SPEAKER_02 33:46

I worry. I worry, I worry, I do. Um I hope it is an accent to healthcare, not taking the place of human interaction. I hope it's just an adjunct. I hope it's a tool and not the provider.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

Right, right. Yeah. Taking taking jobs. Yes. Yeah. Once it starts taking jobs in the healthcare, it gets scary.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Uh it does. I mean, you know, I think AI is amazing. But you can chat GPT, Google G whatever, you can do all those things, and there's always that disclaimer, things can be incorrect, you need to, you know, recheck.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:40

You know?

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Um, how awful would it be for it to be incorrect with a human life?

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Right. Yeah. You know.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

So I just using it as an adjunct, as a tool to assist, absolutely. You know, but to take the place of that human interaction is kind of scary.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

You say you what you're saying is to sum it up, you're saying from an administrative administrative side, it's more acclimable, but probably from a practice standpoint, it's scary.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Yes. Yes. Yeah. I get it.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

I get it. Yes. Um how why are so many healthcare workers experiencing burnout?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Because of all the things I had said previously.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

If you take things personal, if you feel that you're you should be getting rich from working in health care, um but also, you know, the violence towards health care has exponentially increased. Um people have somehow, somewhere become so entitled that um, you know, they demand, especially like in emergency departments across the country. You know, their demands for things is sometimes very unrealistic. And then the explosion of mental health crisis um and and treatment and you know, we have a lot of emotionally, mentally unwell people. I feel more so now than I can ever recall.

SPEAKER_03 36:31

And from a health standpoint, where and and how? Where and how from a health standpoint, where and how do you see people mentally?

SPEAKER_02 36:42

There's just so much more. There are how do I say this? Um there are more patients with emotional mental health diagnoses than I ever recall. Um I feel addiction has a lot to do with that. I think that it may um be the precursor of a lot of instability, but um, you know, social media has a lot to do with it too. I think um our children aren't developing coping mechanisms real well because they are in the age of the internet, of you know, access, information access, um, instant gratification. Um there's a lot to be said about that as well. I mean, that's a whole nother rabbit hole we could go down, which I'm sure we don't have time for. Um I feel like the family unit has been broken a long time. Yeah. And um unfortunately audiovisual devices have been used far more for babysitters than probably should be. But I'm not I'm not dogging any parents that, you know, I'm not. Um you do what you gotta do, how you have to. I get that. But I feel social media has taken away from us learning how to adapt and how to cope appropriately. And I feel like it has taken away the art of socializing.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, um all these it's like it's a um multitude of little things that is what's caused a lot of the mental instability with most of society. Yes. Addiction or no addiction, yes. It both has the effect, yeah. Yes. What changes do you think needs to happen to improve health care in America?

SPEAKER_02 39:23

So much. Um I think a lot of FDA studies need to be fast-tracked. I think we need to open our um minds and reality to a lot of eastern medicine. Um I feel that insurances there needs to be an overhaul of what is reimbursed. I feel that there needs to be an overhaul of what's covered and allowed. Um you know, patients with chronic pain issues, back pain, shoulder pain, whatever, you know, they can um benefit from other things besides just physical therapy. They can benefit from other things besides narcotics, um massage therapy, um, acupuncture, uh, yoga. I mean there uh but again, who is gonna take time for things? Yeah. That's that's yeah. So unfortunately in our area we're very limited.

SPEAKER_04 40:47

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:49

So um there needs to be more.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Yeah. Yeah. What's your thoughts? And I didn't have this in my notes, but I do want to get your thoughts because this is um relatable and it's just came out with a new administration. What is your thoughts and kind of explain a little bit with this new system of getting medication uh that they just released with the the new administration?

SPEAKER_02 41:16

Um unfamiliar.

SPEAKER_03 41:19

Okay. I think it was Give me a little more background. Yeah, I think it was last week. Uh last week they came out with the like the the Trump RX or the whatever it's called, like the online medication. Basically it's supposed to be able to ease your access to getting medication through.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

I think within reason that having that is a good thing. Mm-hmm. But I think it needs to be monitored. Um I think I think there needs to be um a provider you know, behind that. I don't think it's a good idea for people just to, I guess, self-prescribe.

SPEAKER_03 42:02

Yeah, yeah. I think that's actually harmful. Look that up, Caden. So yeah, um actually fact check me. Look that up. It actually came out, I think, uh last Friday. Just just look that up. The new um just look up Trump administration, new Medication Act. Yeah, they just had like a uh just a press conference with like Mark Cuban. I think he's one of the owners of it, um, and a few other CEOs. Let's see, what did it say here? Uh scroll down some.

SPEAKER_02 42:40

Um the you know, being able to Give me a break more of a breakdown on it. That's not but it looks like uh drug costs in America is part of it. And I can see that being beneficial to kind of shop around for your medication, so to speak.

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Yeah, so is it okay, yeah. So the centerpiece is uh it came out on April 15th of 2025. Uh yeah, it was lowering the drug prices.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

Um I think that's amazing, and I think that is net necessary. Yes, because I mean, especially in our area, our older population, they are on fixed incomes. Um given what their insurance will actually pay, you know, a lot of them still have out-of-pocket costs and they're having to decide between medications.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

You know?

SPEAKER_04 43:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:34

So being able to, I guess, shop around for a better price, I can see that being a good thing. Um, but again, you know, you have to have a provider of some kind tracking and making sure that I feel like a patient is actually being seen and they're not just, you know, keeping. Refilling something that they've been on for 25 years without any kind of office visit.

unknown 44:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 44:07

Or telehealth visit.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Yeah, yeah, I get it. I get it. Um so as we kind of wrap this up a little bit, um, I asked this question to everybody because, and I say this every episode almost, everyone has a unique perspective in how they say this, uh and really their answer. But in your own words, how would you define success?

SPEAKER_02 44:33

Success is when you are able to lay your head down at night and know that you have done your absolute best at whatever you choose to do. Um I don't feel like success is a monetary thing. I feel it's a personal You know, so many people just there's things they want to do. Yeah. That, you know, it's outside their comfort zone. And to go after it and give it your best and give it your all and be able to lay your head down at night and be like, all right, you know, I did my best.

SPEAKER_04 45:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:26

And I'm good. I'm good with what I've done today. And, you know, tomorrow I'll keep going right after it again. Yeah. To me, that's that's success. Um being pleased with your, you know, your your attempt, your try, your determination, your your guts and glory, your, you know, your fortitude.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

Yeah, yeah. Well, uh as we wrap it up here, I want to say once again, it has been an honor and pleasure to have you on here. Uh and for you making time on your schedule. I know you are very busy with work and everything, but we greatly appreciate it. Um, and so for you guys, uh, we appreciate you guys joining us. Um, make sure to check us out on social media and on YouTube to find our full content. Um, and until next time, we will see you guys in the next video.