See You Now Podcast

From our first episode, SEE YOU NOW has been focused on trailblazers, changemakers and pioneers, and our 100th episode features a nurse who embodies these values. Virginia Allen, LPN is the last known living Black Angel, part of a group of Black nurses recruited from the Jim Crow South whose tireless efforts led to a cure for tuberculosis, a disease responsible for nearly 18% of New York City deaths in the early 1900s. This story follows the Black Angels who, for twenty years, risked their lives working under dreadful conditions while caring for the city’s poorest and played a major role in desegregating New York City hospitals along with nursing practice, education, and professional associations including the American Nurses Association.

A choir for nurses, art tours for clinicians, on-demand meditation for all healthcare workers. In this episode, we’re sharing a panel discussion recorded live at Aspen Ideas: Health, hosted by Jon LaPook, MD and featuring Winnie Mele, RN, David Ko, and Eric Wei, MD, to learn how clinical settings are testing support and wellness interventions to boost emotional health and tame the widespread stress and burnout among nurses, physicians and all healthcare providers that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to strain so many. Clinical staff are reporting remarkable improvements in morale and motivation from these creative approaches. Effective patient care is best delivered by a compassionate care team, and that means designing programs to heal the healers.

Homelessness across the U.S. is on the rise. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports the number of unsheltered and chronically homeless individuals and families has climbed ~6% annually since 2017, and an estimated 582,462 people experienced homelessness across America in 2022. Advocacy groups and researchers say a big driving force is the decline of affordable housing, a problem decades in the making but one that has grown significantly worse in the past few years. And when people lose their homes, housing and shelter, their lives, health, and safety become far more complex and at risk.

In this episode, we meet Indigenous nurse researcher John Lowe RN, PhD, FAAN, and discover how he is addressing the long-standing structural impediments that have kept American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous youth from connecting to their cultural heritage and identities.

In recognition of the vital link between health and voting and a reminder to verify your voter registration and help others to do the same, we’re having another listen to an earlier episode with public health nurse and Delaware Lt Governor Bethany Hall-Long, where we discover how clinical practice, nursing expertise and research, and voting are critical drivers of influencing, passing, and enacting legislation to keep citizens, our environment, and our economy healthy.

As the temperatures rise and vacations are afoot, there's no better time to indulge in uninterrupted hours of podcast listening. And to make your listening easy, enjoyable, and thoughtful we’ve created a Summer SEE YOU NOW Playlist!

In this Moment of Awareness, Nurse Practitioner and researcher Timiya Nolan, PhD, APRN-CNP, ANP-BC describes her research as a “work of love” to young Black women, how representation allows research to move from academia to practice, and the power clinicians have in addressing disparities in care through partnership and collaboration with communities.

A common stereotype of aging is an era of decline and shrinking horizons. The reality is far more nuanced. The process of aging isn’t uniform and many will find their health and functional trajectories widening as they get older. In fact some, like President Joe Biden or pioneering nurse-midwife Ruth Lubic, won’t make their greatest contributions until their later years. A key to healthy aging is maintaining or improving your health, which for our oldest adults, largely falls outside of healthcare facilities. For many, health allows us to feel safe wherever we are.

According to the United Nations, climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. We see it every day in headlines, research, and outside of our windows. As public health leaders and climate first responders, nurses are often the first to witness the impact of climate change on people’s health and livelihoods, as well as its disruption to the ability of our healthcare systems to respond.

There is no shortage of headlines about healthcare’s challenges. As we begin a new year, we’re encouraged by the beacons, the health organizations listening, taking action and evolving to create workplace environments where people thrive. So, what’s working in healthcare? Across our three episodes focused on redesigning work, we’ll hear how change is in the air as new models and mindsets are embraced, revolutionizing hiring, mentorship, career planning, and more.