Turn-around: Grandson interviews Health Hats about his Zelig-like career path and choices: unpredictable, privileged, mentored, supported, and spiritually healthy.

Summary

Health Hats is interviewed by his editor, grandson Leon, delving into a discussion about his diverse and impactful career. The episode starts with Leon interviewing Health Hats about the origins and motivations behind the podcast, tracing back to a serendipitous naming and a road trip that solidified the podcast's visual identity.

Health Hats shares his journey from opting out of a higher-paying job that required him to cut his long hair to embracing a path in healthcare as a psychiatric aide, which led him to nursing school.  The story also touches on being a male nurse in the 70s, transitioning from direct care to significant hospital and quality management roles.

Leon and Health Hats discuss the significant impact of personal decisions on career paths, the unpredictability of life, and the profound influence of one's birth and circumstances. Health Hats reflects on his efforts to improve healthcare systems, advocating for better staff and patient conditions and participatory health. The episode explores Health Hats' professional life, his philosophy on work-life balance, his role as a change agent, and his commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

Click here to view the printable newsletter with images. More readable than a transcript, which can also be found below.

Contents

Table of ContentsToggleEpisodeProemPodcast introBirthing Health HatsNursing school – what’s hair got to do with it?Wanted a lifeFirst male public health nurse in Western MassWe don’t hire men in nursing hereRetiring in our thirties as back-to-the-land hippiesCouldn’t manage an emergency at homeTwelve-bed hospitalWest Virginia, a Third World stateAdvanced Cardiac Life Support Call to actionVolunteering for the Emergency SquadFrom direct care to managementChange agent: staffing and visiting hoursRemote Learning for a Master’s DegreeMoving onStudent of organizational healthOutspoken, driven change agentBest Boss EverThe will to change – leadershipNo, lay me offRetiringProfessional life, more than the jobCan’t keep a jobReflectionPodcast Outro

Please comment and ask questions:

at the comment section at the bottom of the show noteson LinkedIn via emailYouTube channel DM on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok to @healthhats

Production Team

Kayla Nelson: Web and Social Media Coach, Dissemination, Help Desk Leon van Leeuwen: article-grade transcript editing Oscar van Leeuwen: video editingJulia Higgins: Digit marketing therapySteve Heatherington: Help Desk and podcast production counselingJoey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, and Arranger, provided the music for the intro, outro, proem, and reflection, including Moe's Blues for Proem and Reflection and Bill Evan's Time Remembered for on-mic clips.

Five-minute episodes on YouTube.

Inspired by and Grateful to 

Jim Bulger and Bob Doherty (deceased), Eric Pinaud, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, Luc Pelletier, John Marks, Ann Boland, Lynn Hubbard

Links and references

Are medication error rates useful as a comparative measures of organizational performance? was published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvements in 1994 receiving the David K Stumpf Award for Excellence in Publication from the National Association for Healthcare Quality. The article was referenced in the book, Error Reduction in Healthcare by Patrice L. Spath in 2000.

1977 article about Danny van Leeuwen, the first male public health nurse in W Mass

It sounds like a Zelig effect (if you know Woody Allen) or a Forrest Gump effect (if you know Tom Hanks)

Jane Sarasohn Kahn, a blogging health economist

West Virginia

The University of Minnesota ISP ProgramEpisodeProemAs you may know, my production team includes Grandson Leon,