Found Down

I had the esteemed privilege of getting interviewed by my friend and collaborator, Des Wood.  It’s time I was the in the hot seat.  You’ll get to learn my thoughts on life, nursing, entrepreneurship, and some of my thoughts about Found Down.   I talk about my conception of Unwound Retreats - a travel and wellness business for nurses.  We have some amazing interna...

Today I sit down with Paul Benz, MDiv to get his insight into his role as a Spiritual Care Provider. Paul Benz is a King County based Mental Health, Addiction, Grief and Trauma Chaplain of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Paul is a Street Minister from Operation Nightwatch and a Spiritual Care Provider/Chaplain for a level one trauma center in Seattle. Spiritual care providers ar...

Today I sit down with Marie Cockerham, MN, RN, CCRN , Support Specialist & Health Program Operations Specialist and Cheri Constantino-Shor, MSN, RN, CMSRN, CRNI Director of Professional Engagement and Nursing Excellence to talk about where we are with the pandemic right now as a healthcare community. Let me tell you, this was a validating and difficult conversation to have. We were *not* in a...

On today's episode, I catch up with flight and ground paramedic Spencer Oliver. He is also the amazing co-host of the incredible EMS 20/20 podcast where he and his co-host, Chris Pfingsten review weekly calls sent in by their listeners. Spencer has been a a flight paramedic for six years and a paramedic for about 12 years. On this episode, we get into how Spencer is actually doing and what is comi...

I have re-aired this episode due to the increase nurses taking action to create a better future in nursing! These bills are still needing to be passed! Today I sit down with the co-founders of the  Last Pizza Party Movement , Nurse Erica and Nurse Nander. This nurse advocacy movement and non profit was born out of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The Last Pizza Party is dedicated to ensuring safer wor...

On today's episode, I interview Tiffany Swedeen, RN and recovery coach to talk about her experience with narcotic diversion, addiction and life in recovery. Tiffany "strives to end the stigma and shame of addiction for everyone, advocating especially for healthcare providers who struggle with substance abuse." Tiffany shares her story with diversion and what happened to her. She never imagined tha...

Today I interview nurse and attorney Irnise Williams , the woman and force behind Your Nurse Lawye r. Irnise has found her niche helping nurses, advance practice providers and professionals protect themselves and grown their businesses. She also consults with hospitals and has a slew of courses you are going to want to check out! Irnise hosts webinars, among other courses for nurses on how to docu...

Today I sit down with Cat Golden , the creator and force behind Nurses Inspire Nurses - a company that supports nurses through community, merch and events. Get ready to be inspired! Cat speaks openly about how when she was going through a particularly challenging time she created Nurses Inspire Nurses - a concept that didn't exist before. This vision came to be when she hosted a Nurse Give Back Ni...

Today, I sit down with Amy Hamsher MSN RN CCRN CNOR(E) to talk precepting new nurses. She has been a nurse for 13 years and has experience in cardiac telemetry, the operating room, and the critical care unit. She has also worked as a nurse professional development specialist for a critical care unit and in the professional development department. Amy is currently a nursing faculty at a local...

Wishing you a heartfelt thank you and Happy Holidays from Found Down! XOXOXO Nic

This episode was recorded 12/10/21. Today I sit back down virtually with two of my favorite women - Dr. Katrine Wallace and Christina Kim, NP. Epidemiologist Kat has a Ph. D. in epidemiology, has over 15 years of professional research and she currently is a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago. Christinaaaaaaanp is a Nurse Practitioner in outpatient oncology, with a BS in biochemistry. B...

Today I interview respiratory therapist Grace Poole about her role as an RT, how she got into it and her day to day. She gets into her amazing scope of practice and what she loves about the job. However, she does go into how the Covid-19 has changed her and the way she views her profession. Spoiler alert - it's been rough. Although, she still loves the field. Grace uses her dark humor and insight...

Today I sit down with Joanie Guy RN,MSN,JD to chat about her 30 year nursing career and her business One World Nursin g where she takes nurses on fabulous international trips to have fun and earn CEUs.  Joanie is also a big nursing advocate. She has spent the last 10 years in nursing leadership roles like manager, director and interim Chief Nursing Officer positions.  And with...

Today I interview Christopher Pfingsten, a flight paramedic who has 15 years of experience in EMS. He shares what his role is like, the scope of his practice and the differences between being a flight paramedic and ground paramedic. He opens up about a very tough call. Chris is also the co-host of the amazing EMS 20/20 podcast where he and his co-host Spencer Oliver review calls that area submitte...

On today's episode I chat with Dr. Mark Tonelli, MD, MA an Intensivist and Pulmonologist at the University of Washington Medical Center. He also is a member of their Ethics Consultation Service. I brought him on the show to discuss how he approaches ethical dilemmas in critical care medicine. The one thing that acts as a guiding light to the consultations is this desire to alwa...

Today I sit back down with Sam Doyle, Acute Care Nurse Practitioner to talk about how change can be a good thing. She recently left her role in the ICU to go back to the outpatient setting, to work at an Acute Clinical Evaluation Clinic. As it turns out, the stress of the pandemic and having her kids at home while working in the ICU was too much. She realized she needed to change things up in orde...

On today's episode, I catch up with my friend and nursing school classmate, Tim Tattu. Tim is a beautiful human who shares his journey into hospice nursing. His story is unique and inspiring. He started out as an artist in LA and found his way to a monestary in Japan, where he stayed and practiced meditation for a year. It wasn't until his teacher asked him to help open a home for the dying that h...

Today I interview Emily Scott, labor and delivery nurse and one half of the Two Dusty Travelers about her time working with ebola patients in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Emily describes how she decided to heed the call to work up close and personal with such a deadly disease and what she experienced when she got there. Emily is an adventurous and brave individual who shares this inspiring tale. Not...

On today's episode, I interview Emily Topalanchik, a nursing supervisor at a local Covid-19 quarantine facility in Seattle, WA.  Emily has previous experience as an acute care nurse, but when the pandemic hit, she started working in the quarantine facilities (in addition to her full-time job) and has a very behind the scenes look at this side to infection control and prevention of c...

Today I interview Emily Scott, labor and delivery nurse, entrepreneur and science communicator. Emily has been in L&D for over a decade and she still gets misty at deliveries. She discusses the highs and the lows. She touches on how special those bonds are that she develops with the laboring women, as she is often with them for 12 hours at a time. Emily is definitely an interesting and talente...

Today I interview Bryan Hill, ICU Nurse, STAT nurse and ECMO nurse about his journey getting a Parkinson's Disease diagnosis. He is also a new father, a husband and an incredible clinician. Bryan came on the show to talk publicly about his recent diagnosis, what living with a chronic illness is like and what it has been like carrying this so close to his chest for the last four years. Bryan shares...

Today I had the awesome opportunity to talk with Emily Cheng, BSN, RN, CCRN-CSC ICU travel nurse turned entrepreneur. Emily is the CEO and Co-founder of the MedVenture App , an app to unite traveling healthcare professionals through community, resources and tools. Emily shares her nursing trajectory, what led her to travel nursing and her burnout story. It is clear in talking with Emily that she i...

Today I interview Shannon Miller, ICU nurse, travel nurse and CAMP Nurse all about her time being a nurse at summer camp this summer. If you have ever wanted to do this, check out this episode! It is a very behind the scenes look at what it takes to be a nurse at summer camp, especially during a pandemic! We talk med passes, home sickness, Covid precautions, scraped knees, lodging situations and t...

On this episode, I interview the very esteemed epidemiologist Katrine Wallace, PhD aka Epidemiologist Kat. She brings us up to speed on the Covid-19 pandemic, the Delta variant and the surge we are currently experiencing in the states. She also discusses the vaccines and break through infection and how we should look at data we have. This is a very informative episode. Thank you so much for being...

Today I interview network engineer and father of three, Neal Browning about his experience being the second human ever to get the Moderna vaccine. Neal enrolled in the phase one clinical trial back in February of 2020 and received his first Moderna vaccine dose on March 16th, 2020. He describes his decision making to get enrolled in a vaccine trial for Covid-19. Neal also talks with us about how t...