0:00

when i'm already kumar a little

0:02

law he was medicare to It

0:05

is your sister and friend and you're

0:07

listening to the digital sisterhood

0:10

podcast.

0:12

Last week, I left you on the craziest

0:15

cliffhanger. As I usually do, And

0:17

I kinda wanna apologize for that,

0:20

but I don't because why?

0:23

I am actively trying to make your life

0:25

far more exciting, and it's not every

0:27

day about a normal heart rate. Sometimes

0:29

you need a little elevated heart, a little

0:31

bit of blood pressure, you know. to keep life

0:34

a little bit more exciting. But

0:36

before I tell you about what transpired because

0:39

I know you guys been waiting, I

0:41

gotta tell you full story. So the

0:43

last time we left off was

0:47

when you had finally crossed

0:50

the schedule so dramatically.

0:54

This really beautiful representation of

0:56

just like yeah, you're always gonna hear about

0:58

me. You know what I'm saying? That's about you're going this

1:01

is my last, you know, moment

1:03

you cross the schedule out and as

1:05

you essentially walked out, you were done.

1:08

It

1:08

almost felt like I had tons

1:10

of breaks off my shoulder. like,

1:12

the moment that you finally realize your

1:15

your dad is, like, coming to life

1:17

in a sense. Mhmm. It's, like, at

1:19

And I

1:21

didn't wanna get my hopes up a little too much

1:24

because what I learned about life is once

1:26

you're, like, done with one test,

1:29

that doesn't mean that test ends. It

1:31

just means we're onto the next one.

1:34

I remember starting the job

1:36

and My parents are even excited.

1:38

They're like, we

1:41

don't hear anything. You know?

1:44

Like, regarding the job.

1:46

So I answered the job.

1:48

It was a a

1:51

breeze. Like, I was shocked the first

1:53

day it came in I've seen so many

1:55

diverse faces. I was kind of shocked,

1:57

like, not just only in the respiratory

1:59

department, but in every department,

2:02

the nursing the PT,

2:04

the OT, the you name it.

2:06

It was another diverse Muslim

2:09

girl face, and it was like,

2:11

I was, like, very happy to see that, like,

2:13

You know? Sounds great. I

2:16

know. I've made it to the promised land.

2:18

Yeah. Thank god.

2:20

the ebbs and flows, the

2:22

highs and lows

2:24

are guaranteed in this life.

2:26

We're going to be tested in this life

2:29

and there's a reason for it. As

2:31

a law says in the qur'an is sura

2:33

al Ankebu to verse three to four.

2:36

Do

2:36

people think once they say we

2:38

believe that they will be left without

2:40

being put to the test? We

2:43

certainly tested those before them.

2:45

And in this way, a law will

2:47

clearly distinguish those who

2:49

are truthful and those

2:51

who are liars. The beautiful

2:54

part about tests as Eva once

2:56

said back in her episode when the cat lady

2:58

found true love,

2:59

hardships are

3:00

like portals of beautiful discovery. In

3:03

Yesmi's case, one of the most beautiful

3:05

discoveries through it all was odey.

3:08

She's like the the mama of the group. Like,

3:11

she notices the one person that's,

3:13

like, kinda by themselves, and she

3:15

always tends to, like, make sure they're good.

3:17

In a sense, I was an

3:20

introvert. I was in that moment of

3:22

kind of, like, I was super shy, super,

3:24

like, not wanting to step into who

3:26

I was in a sense of, like, breaking

3:28

through of, like, speaking my opinions

3:30

and stuff. She would stand there. and she'd be

3:32

like, you better you better save what's on your chest.

3:35

Yeah. And then she was standing there and remembering.

3:37

She's just like she's looking at me, like, we're not

3:39

leaving this room in the front. That's

3:41

what you said. So I

3:43

remember we're being clinicals and

3:46

if anything bothered me, they knew. there

3:48

was this almost like this motto of of

3:51

oddities in the room, nobody messes with the s

3:53

mean. Like -- Oh. -- she was like the

3:55

protector.

3:56

So she was super like, she was taking care

3:58

of me. Mhmm.

4:00

I mean And I remember, like,

4:03

when that hospital, like, we were trying

4:05

our best to fight it. We went all the

4:07

way to getting legal action.

4:09

This is crazy because it's also, like, they're

4:11

kinda putting your career on the line

4:14

because they kinda, like, frighten you in a sense

4:16

of, oh, if you do something like this, like, you

4:18

have a bad rep. Like, no hospitals ever

4:20

gonna you guys when you guys not scared

4:22

doing this legal action like it, like, when you guys not

4:25

like, your like, this is It's the

4:27

because we're talking legal action against

4:29

that hospital is a lot of money. Mhmm.

4:32

Yes. But it was a confidence.

4:34

It was, like, almost a sense of we

4:36

felt guilty of bleeding. and

4:39

not doing anything about it because

4:42

we are in a sense like,

4:44

oh, I'm good. I moved on. I

4:46

I don't need to deal with this, but the

4:48

next sister has to deal with this.

4:51

And it's like if we as

4:53

healthcare workers are dealing with this, imagine

4:55

the patients, you know, So

4:57

it's like you're kind of we got

4:59

into the healthcare world saying we're helping

5:01

people, but where are we helping people for doing

5:03

that? You know? So

5:05

so we kind of felt like it was

5:07

a responsibility of ours. And at the end

5:09

of the day, everything is in a

5:11

nice hands. if it's meant to be, it's

5:13

meant to be this route, and I will pave this

5:15

route, or I would give us a different route,

5:17

which it didn't work out for us.

5:20

we just didn't own the system of

5:22

the legal routes to take, and

5:25

the company that we reached out to

5:27

was in a sense kind of telling

5:29

us to almost like come by out,

5:31

like, oh, you'll send a letter and they can

5:33

apologize for their actions. And I'm, like, at

5:35

this point, is has been passed.

5:38

apology. Mhmm. We need act we

5:40

need actual sustainable protocols

5:42

in action to be taken. And

5:44

we're not just here to just suit

5:47

in a sense of, like, like, when

5:49

people think about that, it's like you're getting cash and you're

5:51

running. Let's stop what we want. We want actual

5:53

protocols to be placed. so

5:55

no one else has to deal with us

5:57

ever again. You know what I mean? You really you

5:59

want structural change. You want systemic

6:01

change. That's what you want. Yeah. You guys are looking

6:03

for the big fruit, not the little fruit. Yes.

6:05

And they're they're telling us it's pretty hard. This

6:07

is this is a big company

6:09

here coming against. I think we got to the

6:11

point of understanding there's

6:14

no actual structural change

6:16

that we can do inside the

6:18

system. We have to come out from outside

6:20

the system. What

6:21

did you guess we were basically planning to

6:24

save the world like actual comic book

6:26

heroes? I mean, how else can you

6:28

see it? these women were plotting

6:30

and plotting and bringing essentially

6:32

this racist institution to its

6:34

knees once and for all. and

6:36

they knew they had to do it from the outside the

6:38

hospital through business. Truth

6:41

is nothing shakes things

6:43

up better than an LLC. The

6:45

only problem is, what

6:47

does two RTs know about business?

6:50

This

6:50

is like twenty nineteen. We had no

6:53

idea what to do. And I remember

6:55

we're we're like, you know what? We'll just start

6:57

with patient advocacy because

7:00

that way we're kind

7:02

of helping The healthcare

7:04

workers have a stance and a presence in the

7:06

healthcare world, and we're helping the

7:08

patients as well. So we're

7:10

googling, searching, and there's

7:12

actual classes that you can take for it.

7:14

So we're finally thinking like we're gonna

7:16

slowly get into the business venture

7:19

and learn about health care

7:21

advocacy and and

7:23

then COVID hits. Oh

7:26

my god. COVID.

7:28

On March eleven, twenty twenty,

7:31

the World Health Organization declared

7:33

that COVID-nineteen with a global

7:36

pandemic.

7:37

At that point, there was a hundred and

7:39

eighteen thousand confirmed cases

7:41

of the coronavirus in a hundred and

7:43

ten countries. By October ten,

7:45

twenty twenty, More than seven

7:47

point seven million people across

7:49

every state in the United States tested

7:52

positive for COVID-nineteen. The healthcare

7:54

system was quite literally crashing.

7:56

There weren't enough nurses. People

7:59

were getting sick

7:59

and sick. There were no cures. Everything

8:02

was just so uncertain and unknown for everyone.

8:05

not only was the world being exposed to one

8:07

of the deadliest viruses,

8:09

but at the same time, the world was also

8:11

being exposed. to the longest

8:13

standing, deadliest threat to mankind,

8:15

a threat that has killed more people than we

8:17

can count for centuries. structural

8:21

racism. And for

8:23

those who don't know what structural racism

8:25

is, let me tell you. Structural

8:27

racism refers to totality of

8:29

ways in which societies advance

8:32

racial discrimination through systems

8:34

like housing, education,

8:37

employment, media, criminal

8:40

justice, and the

8:41

health care. It

8:42

was clear COVID nineteen

8:45

disproportionately affected communities

8:47

of color, resulting in a

8:49

death rate that was at least double

8:51

that have white and Asian Americans. The

8:54

worst part of it all, nobody

8:56

was providing adequate information. That

8:58

was really because of the fact that healthcare

9:01

workers were overworked, underserved,

9:03

and inaccessible. People felt

9:05

like their families were being admitted

9:07

into hospitals and never

9:09

seeing them come out alive.

9:11

And this consequently made

9:14

pages more anxious and distressing of

9:16

healthcare workers. And for the

9:18

patients who didn't speak English,

9:20

they had the most trouble

9:23

because they started to refuse

9:25

vital treatment because of it.

9:27

You sweet herself had witnessed a woman

9:29

pull her oxygen mask off

9:31

because she generally believed that

9:33

the healthcare staff were

9:35

trying to kill her. she

9:37

had COVID. She was on a

9:39

thing called the high flow, which is it just gives you

9:41

an extra oxygen flow through your

9:43

nose. So she would take her

9:45

high flow off. and no interpreters

9:47

in the room because of

9:49

COVID. And, I mean, they

9:51

have the, like, the tablets and stuff and

9:53

they can connect to a interpreter that

9:55

takes time. you need someone in the

9:57

room actually being able to communicate with the

9:59

patient to put it on. The nurses are

10:01

having issues with communicating with the

10:03

patients because patients are not

10:05

understanding. There's a language barrier there. So

10:07

I remember a specific how

10:10

do you I would tell the

10:12

nurses like, hey, if I'm

10:14

here, call me if you need anything. If you need to

10:16

interpret anything, if you need to

10:18

reassure her to put it back on,

10:20

contact my number. if I'm not here,

10:22

contact the respiratory department,

10:24

there's another somali healthcare

10:26

worker there. You know? And I remember I

10:28

was taking care of her, and I was making

10:30

sure she doesn't get intubated, which

10:33

is when you have the two

10:35

placed in your on the life support

10:37

machine. I was trying to make sure she

10:39

recovers in a sense of not being placed on

10:41

that. You know? And because what does that

10:43

mean when they get intubated? What does that mean? When

10:45

they get intubated, that means deteriorated

10:47

in their lung, yeah, pretty bad.

10:50

And and that the

10:52

ventilator, it helps you, but it also

10:54

can cause lung trauma

10:56

and stuff like that. So,

10:58

especially with COVID, it was very new.

11:00

Everybody was

11:01

learning how to treat

11:02

patients with the ventilator and what

11:04

modes to use. So so I was extra

11:07

cautious on as much as we can stay away

11:09

from it. Let's stay away from it. Yeah. Because

11:10

I remember, like, during that time,

11:13

anytime a family would go on a ventilator, there

11:15

was a really high chance they'd pass away.

11:17

Yes. Like, that was the end. Like, that that

11:19

was the statistic. Like -- Yeah. -- if

11:21

somebody went on the ventilator, it was a

11:23

really bad news. Yes. So

11:25

here you are trying to avoid that -- Yeah.

11:27

-- for this auntie -- Yeah.

11:29

-- smiley auntie that you see who doesn't speak English

11:32

obviously. Yeah. remember I was clocking

11:34

out and she was doing well the whole night at

11:36

Hamderita. I remember I gave report

11:38

to my coworker and was clocking out and

11:40

I heard cold blue,

11:42

which was, like, the

11:44

patient has needs to be

11:46

resuscitated. And then when

11:48

I heard the room number, all I saw

11:50

myself was I started running.

11:53

Mine

11:53

just was supposed to be clogged up. I

11:55

was like, oh, how about you probably took

11:57

it off? They couldn't put it back on her because

11:59

she's super

11:59

anxious. And she probably

12:02

deteriorated really bad. So I ran And

12:05

by the time I ran, I

12:07

entered the room with

12:09

no mask on. Oh

12:11

my god. And I was trying to help

12:13

her output because I could see her

12:16

fighting the nurses. Oh my god. I was like, how did

12:18

you please put it back

12:20

on. Like, I was trying to help her out. She goes,

12:22

no Javier. They want me to pass.

12:24

They don't feed me. Javier. I don't talk

12:26

to my family. And it's

12:28

like you're trying to hold back your tears and you're

12:30

like, how are your nose? A lot of my patients is

12:32

what I would do for them is to calm them

12:34

down as hold on for them. So I told

12:36

one of the nurses, I was like, hey, can

12:38

you go on YouTube? Can you search

12:40

up this recider? And this hold

12:42

on. Like, I spelled it after I was like, can

12:45

you can put it on and I would help

12:47

her with the high flow.

12:49

And -- Yeah. -- as I have it, I'll put on

12:51

on for you. please

12:54

calm down. Like, your family

12:56

wants to help you. She's like, no, I

12:58

don't eat. I don't know what they're doing.

13:00

Are they killing me? because she doesn't understand

13:03

what's happening. So she's just assuming

13:05

they're killing me. You know what I mean? And she

13:07

doesn't see herself progressing or

13:09

anything happening. So she's like, how about

13:11

you? Just let me pass. Just let me pass.

13:13

And I'm like And it was, like,

13:15

super

13:19

Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'm crying too. It's

13:23

just hard to even imagine.

13:25

Yeah. You know? That kind of

13:27

fear, you know, they had to deal

13:29

with. Yeah. And feeling like people are

13:31

harming you and you don't have your family

13:33

and and and

13:35

feeling at mercy bro -- Yeah. -- my

13:37

people, you know. It's a it's a

13:39

and even harder to look at, you

13:41

know, them and complete the strut

13:43

and and mat and, like, panicking.

13:45

Like, it's really I

13:47

can't imagine, like, that kind of

13:50

fear. I understand her as well

13:52

because the way that

13:54

we treat ourselves health

13:56

wise and our community is

13:58

a lot different than in

14:00

health care. So in health care,

14:02

if you're on such high settings like that,

14:05

you are on NPO,

14:07

which is nothing by mouth. You know,

14:09

you're not eating.

14:12

So mainly because if you had to

14:14

get intubated, they don't want you to

14:16

throw up and then aspirate

14:18

all of that into your lungs. you know, reasoning

14:20

to it. But at the same time in our

14:22

culture, it's like, if you

14:24

don't eat, you're dying as you

14:26

know. Yeah. So it's like she's thinking they're not

14:28

feeding me. They wanna kill me. You

14:30

know? Yeah. And I would have to tell

14:32

the nurses just try to give her

14:34

something small like apple sauce

14:36

maybe or like water because

14:38

this is exactly how they translate.

14:40

You're not feeding them, like, it means, like, you

14:42

don't wanna care for them at all. So

14:44

I put the mask on for her. I had one

14:46

of my other coworkers bring another

14:48

machine that's a hire pressure

14:51

and higher oxygenation so we can put it

14:53

on her. And then that's a calmer down and that's

14:55

to ask them to give her anxiety

14:57

meds just to help, like, ease your

14:59

anxiety. because COVID like ups

15:01

your anxiety. You know? Once they did that,

15:03

she calmed down. Her oxygen's saturations,

15:06

like, her oxygen rate came back

15:08

up. happened to that. She was a lot

15:10

better. So and then I remember I went to one

15:12

of the coworkers, and I was like, hey, you're

15:14

working at Daisha. Please.

15:16

Please. Please. keep the eye on how to

15:18

like, I do not want her to get intubated. Please

15:21

give the eye on her. I will be back today

15:23

at six. I'll just be just a

15:25

couple hours away. and I'll be

15:27

back. Just keep an eye on her and I and

15:29

I remember I was super,

15:32

like, nervous going

15:35

home. Like, I she was just

15:37

on my mind constantly. So

15:39

everywhere I went to bed, usually,

15:41

before I go home, after working, I take

15:43

a walk because if you

15:45

go straight to bed right after working in

15:47

healthcare, like, you hear the beeping,

15:49

you you basically dream about

15:51

the job. So I took a walk,

15:53

attended it, I went home, and

15:55

I I remember by the time I came

15:58

back to work, she

15:59

was intubated. And

16:02

I was, like, super disappointed. I

16:05

was super disappointed. And she

16:07

eventually didn't make it, you know, how do

16:09

you still? And

16:12

it was one of, like because I couldn't remember

16:14

her her face. I can

16:16

remember her voice. And what she was

16:18

saying during that

16:20

time, you know. because I would ask

16:22

them even bring the FaceTime

16:24

I mean, the tablet in than

16:26

her FaceTime or family. So she can

16:29

just feel like a sense of home, like people

16:31

care about her, people are here,

16:33

people are rooting for her. You know what I mean? because

16:35

it can get very lonely, just

16:37

sitting in a room, you're sick, and

16:39

you're super anxious, you feel

16:41

helpless, and you're just in

16:43

four walls. You know what I mean? So it

16:45

it takes a lot, like so my patience is

16:47

when they're super they're the, like,

16:49

the most humbling very

16:52

humble people and they make us

16:54

smile more than we do it for them, you

16:56

know? And I'm just like, you're

16:58

going through all of this. and

17:01

you're just, like, so pure

17:03

and so humble, like, martial art, like, I

17:05

can't even imagine, like, all my

17:07

problems become very, like,

17:09

minuscule. Like, have first world problems

17:11

at this point. You know what I mean? But

17:13

it humbles you. That experience very

17:15

much humbles you. And it's good to

17:17

take it in and take the lessons from it because

17:19

in healthcare, you can get so soaked

17:22

in where, like, almost, like, the

17:24

patients become a number. though

17:26

you're not seeking that out to be the case,

17:28

that's what becomes the case especially

17:30

during COVID with many people.

17:32

Like, you're seeing so many deaths

17:35

And it's like, as respiratory

17:37

therapist, when the patient's

17:39

passing on the ventilator, you have to go in

17:41

and you have to remove the

17:43

tube. So you actually see

17:45

the enough's leaving the body

17:47

almost like like it is

17:50

the worst thing. Like if I

17:52

can, like, give it a way to someone else. I would always tell

17:54

people, like, I have to remove the two. Can you

17:56

do it for me? I would do your whole

17:58

assignment. I'll let you sit all

18:00

day. I just cannot

18:02

do this part, like, for the life of

18:04

me because I feel like

18:06

stuck in the room in a sentence. You know what

18:08

I mean? because you have to understand too

18:10

religiously, like, the essence

18:12

of, like, you pull

18:14

the tube the per you see the

18:16

person's numbers dropped their heart

18:18

drop, and they turned gray.

18:20

And you you literally see the enough

18:23

leaving the body. And and

18:25

you have to understand, like, medical mode is

18:27

in the room. That's how close

18:29

you are to medical mode. So so

18:31

this is giving me chills. You know what?

18:33

It gives me chose -- Yeah. -- is because

18:35

you I

18:36

in in theory, we understand the

18:40

angel

18:40

of death. We understand Malibu Mo. We

18:42

know we know that in order

18:45

for a a body to pass, he

18:47

has to be there. I

18:48

cannot imagine you

18:51

as who

18:52

who knows? Mhmm.

18:54

Standing there and knowing he's

18:56

here. Mhmm. And he

18:58

he

18:58

sees you. He like, he's

19:01

there. Yes. Like, if you dive into it, you're wondering,

19:04

like, monoclonal health could

19:04

be here for you or that patient. You might be

19:07

thinking it's for that patient. Oh my god.

19:09

But you never know. I'm getting a

19:11

chills. a panel loss panel You know what I mean? So

19:13

it's like you have to have your you have to

19:15

give yourself a reality check. Like,

19:17

the picture shows that he might be here for

19:19

that patient. You never know you.

19:21

Savannah Law. Mhmm. Have

19:23

you

19:24

ever noticed? And when you're no

19:26

longer in, like, survival mode,

19:29

Suddenly, you can peep everything. I

19:31

mean, you can start seeing the cracks on the

19:33

walls, the creak in the door,

19:35

that piece starts to really clear

19:37

the fog. And for Yasmin,

19:39

the fog more than just cleared things

19:41

up. She's beginning to see the gaps

19:43

in the healthcare system. in complete

19:47

six k. Yeah. You'd be shocked

19:49

once we started, like, engaging and

19:51

learning about patient advocacy. There's

19:53

so many advocates, but then

19:55

there's no cultural

19:58

advocates. What does that even mean how

20:00

come I see

20:02

no cultural because other

20:05

patients feel like healthcare

20:07

is not in their best interest,

20:09

so they have a patient

20:11

advocate. that they actually

20:13

privately pay that comes

20:15

and literally is in

20:17

the team when

20:20

making decisions. So people don't know they

20:22

have Easter. It's actually existent.

20:24

It's been existent for many

20:26

years. Why? That's kinda wild to

20:28

me. There's someone that could be part of

20:30

your your team that takes care of you.

20:32

Yeah. because whole job is to make sure

20:34

that you get their best service.

20:36

Service. That's his whole job. Now you

20:38

understand what you're getting, and that you're getting

20:40

the best. How come

20:43

we don't know about it? If this has been existing

20:46

for years, Why don't we know about it?

20:48

It's a very good question to

20:50

be honest. It kinda emphasizes

20:52

the healthcare disparities. Like,

20:54

people just know about like,

20:57

I'm

20:57

I just flat out say it, like,

20:59

there's a discrimination in the hospital. You know

21:01

what I'm saying? So and the

21:04

only type well, the reason why it's called systemic

21:07

racism, it's it's in all systems.

21:09

You know what I mean? So

21:12

and the only ones that we see that are

21:14

prevalent are police

21:17

brutality and, like, when you see

21:19

things at school or if

21:21

anyone is discriminatory to us outside of,

21:24

like, very, like,

21:26

like, evident things in our face.

21:28

No one really thinks about

21:30

health care having racial discrimination. You

21:32

know what I mean? So

21:34

even if you just think

21:36

about how healthcare was

21:39

taught, from back in the days, it's like

21:41

it was taught and

21:43

studied on the white

21:46

body. You know what I mean? So

21:48

it's like, A lot of the medicine and a lot of the

21:50

therapies are not geared towards

21:52

people of color, you know,

21:54

socially giving pain medications.

21:59

It's like

21:59

some patients I remember would be like

22:02

super they

22:04

they would get a pain medication

22:06

and they just got a fresh trach, which is

22:08

that permanent tube in your throat.

22:10

And there's there's still

22:13

like kind of, like, hollering and

22:15

crying and, like, very, like,

22:17

I'm in pain, you know. And

22:19

then they're just, like, oh,

22:22

they're just very they're just hollering in there. Already

22:24

gave them pink mets. They don't eat anymore. And I'm

22:26

like, how do you know?

22:29

they don't need anymore. You know

22:31

what I mean? Yeah. because, you

22:32

know, there's this this is

22:35

also thing about

22:36

thou black

22:38

bodies being able

22:40

to take more pain than

22:42

white bodies. Right? So they'll they'll say

22:44

You don't need a dosage more than this. Mhmm. It's

22:47

this animalistic bro

22:49

perspective. Like, this real, like,

22:51

this real, like, this real

22:53

animal like, they it's, like, It's,

22:55

like, oh my god. It's just it's

22:58

barbaric. It's truly utterly

23:00

barbaric. Mhmm. And

23:02

it's, like, they don't believe your

23:04

pain. Mhmm. Like, you'll tell them your degree of

23:06

pain. They don't like, even when they say, what do you

23:08

feel? Seven or five. Mhmm. Right?

23:10

Mhmm. They add another layer of

23:12

it. Mhmm. Oh, she's saying seven. She

23:14

really means four. Mhmm.

23:15

That's true. How does

23:17

And so that what ends up happening,

23:19

the patient is an excruciating amount

23:21

of pain. Yeah. And they're looking at them

23:23

like, they'll be okay. Yeah.

23:25

And then you wanna put our parents

23:27

in these spaces during COVID and they're alone?

23:30

Yes. And I was not

23:32

for that. Those are my first instances of seeing,

23:34

like, okay, we

23:36

have a lot of, like, healthcare disparities.

23:38

The hospitals are not knowledgeable

23:41

on it. and the patients are not

23:43

knowledgeable on their services and what can

23:45

be miscommunicated. Even though we have

23:47

interpreters, the interpreters

23:49

their main job is to interpret

23:51

the words. So it's like yellow is

23:53

yellow, green is green, you know. So

23:56

they don't have the nuances. Yes.

23:59

So and they don't have the background

24:01

to know all the services that are

24:04

there because they're here to

24:06

interpret. They're not here as

24:08

a nurse. They're not here as a respiratory therapist, not

24:10

as a doctor. So you're not going to have

24:12

all that knowledge on what's available

24:14

for this patient. You know what I mean?

24:17

Okay.

24:17

So this is what the problem is.

24:20

Interpreters might know the language

24:22

yes, but they don't have the deep

24:24

understanding of the procedures and

24:27

offering so the patient can have, which

24:29

means the interpreter support is

24:31

extremely limited. They're not patient advocates in

24:33

that way. and not to be dramatic because, you

24:35

know, I love being dramatic, but I'm gonna give it

24:37

to you. It's legit like having Google

24:40

translate. as your advocate.

24:43

Google translate we don't even

24:45

like Google Maps. Imagine

24:47

Google Traveler being

24:49

your patient advocate? Like,

24:52

what? Is it

24:52

real life? I was

24:53

like, you know what? I'll be the

24:56

I'll be the one kind contacting the

24:59

doctors. I just need one family

25:01

member that's gonna be a representative for

25:03

the family. that's gonna bring everything back to

25:05

the family, you know. There'll be a

25:07

morning report, there'll be a

25:09

afternoon report, and there'll be a late

25:11

night report. So when then

25:13

there's shift changes and then people are

25:15

getting reports, you will be

25:17

getting report to on what in

25:19

the past couple of hours and what's the what what

25:21

we need to do. So I had a whole

25:23

entire smoothing notes section of,

25:25

like, what to do, like, jotting

25:28

it down. So we moved forward with

25:30

that, and I remember I

25:32

had to conceal my

25:34

identity, just considering the fact of what

25:36

I went through with the other hospital. I

25:38

always had a almost like a

25:40

lawyer's mind of

25:42

you have to be careful and protect

25:44

your license at all cost.

25:46

So if they knew where it worked, what my

25:49

identity was and let's just say I'm giving them

25:51

certain therapies or I'm pushing

25:53

and advocating is not easy, Like,

25:55

you have to push even though

25:57

they're denying you. You know what I mean?

25:59

Yeah. You have to

25:59

keep asking. They're gonna get

26:02

annoyed. so imagine on knowing my background

26:04

and where I work and everything.

26:06

I don't

26:06

know. Yeah. I don't know if I would get re

26:10

retaliated it. or I would lose a job

26:12

opportunity. So basically, I

26:14

concealed my identity and I

26:16

was like, oh, I'm a respiratory

26:19

therapist, and that's all you're gonna know. So

26:21

when I'm speaking to the doctors

26:25

and everyone, they're like, oh, who are

26:27

you? first question is who are you? And I'm like,

26:29

oh, I'm a healthcare worker, family friend.

26:31

Care to help bridge

26:33

the gap, to help advocate us.

26:37

Oh, where do you work? Oh, you would

26:39

know where I work. It's okay. I would

26:41

just, like, drift

26:41

away from questions like that. Yeah. Has

26:44

it ever come a time? We were

26:46

advocating for so many people at the same

26:48

place? Yes. Three

26:50

people. And

26:50

and you were you kept saying, I'm just a family

26:52

friend. Yeah. Most of them actually don't

26:54

from one thousand. But can you tell

26:56

me what that look like? because you probably look

26:59

crazy to the -- Yeah. -- like, who is this girl? It's,

27:01

like, you're only self familiar. I'm,

27:03

like, I don't know what you mean.

27:05

So I remember I was

27:08

advocating

27:08

for one family and

27:10

I remember they were telling the family

27:13

like oh, your dad is gonna be in legislative state.

27:15

He has no hope. We can't

27:17

move him on to the next stage.

27:19

They were just denying us

27:21

of like, not even trying

27:23

out certain therapies or just

27:25

flat out denying us. And

27:27

I remember I was arguing

27:30

and advocating and doing a patient conference

27:33

with them. And then

27:35

the next family was helping out

27:37

was doing a FaceTime. So I wasn't showing my

27:40

Facebook. They can hear my voice. So they

27:42

would show me, like, oh,

27:44

on So I would have to see in

27:46

order to give suggestions and stuff, they would

27:48

have to show me, like, what ventilator,

27:51

like, the like support machine, what settings

27:53

are we on, what are the vital signs, which is like

27:55

the heart rate, the pressures? Like, I can't just

27:57

be giving information out with

27:59

no information. at

28:01

hand. You know, even though I spoke with the

28:03

nurses and doctors, I just need to

28:05

know what the patient is currently doing in

28:07

order to give effective suggestions.

28:10

And I remember they're showing me and they're like, oh, your voice sounds

28:13

familiar. I was just oh,

28:16

my god. I know

28:18

every year like that. It's okay.

28:20

Even though I knew there's not

28:22

much that they can do in a moment, I

28:24

was like, I just had to protect myself in the moment. You

28:26

just never know. And as

28:28

I was doing that, I

28:30

remember even a coworker of

28:32

mine, helped out

28:34

and was super appreciative of the

28:37

work at hand and doing

28:40

the business with us, but just out of, like, humbleness

28:43

to help patients out. He's

28:45

helping out. And he was taking a lot of

28:47

the load. Like, he learned the

28:49

families to I wasn't able to be

28:51

contacted, they were contacting

28:53

him or, you know what I mean? And I

28:55

remember there's a story of

28:57

a patient he was helping

28:59

out, and it was during Gamelon time.

29:02

And the patient was supposed to have a trach,

29:04

which is a permanent tube

29:06

in his throat just right above your collarbone.

29:10

And basically, it was because the patient

29:12

was not getting off the ventilator. because

29:14

he was not responding to commands, like when they

29:16

did the neurological assessment of,

29:19

squeeze my hand, curl

29:22

your toes, stuff like that. He was not

29:24

responsive to it. So they're thinking

29:26

he's not able to get off his ventilator.

29:28

It's been two weeks. He's been on it.

29:30

It's about time we have transition him to the permanent

29:33

one. So he came into the room,

29:35

and he talks to he's saying he talked

29:37

to me, like, said, I'm at like a

29:39

moment. it's a little from Milan,

29:41

like and kind of, like, incurred

29:43

like, telling him about what day from Milan

29:45

it is, and kind

29:48

having communication with the patient even though he's

29:51

fully sedated and

29:53

intubated. You never know what they can hear

29:55

on the other side. You know?

29:57

So as he's doing that, he was

30:00

just holding his hand.

30:02

And I guess the doctor

30:04

saw him and he's like, oh, are you

30:06

talking to him? Like, are you talking to him? He's like,

30:08

yeah. He's he's moving around,

30:10

like, when I talked to him, he's like, no

30:12

way. Like, he wasn't moving for us, and he was

30:14

like, are you sure? yeah. And he

30:16

goes, okay. I'll show you, like,

30:19

watch

30:19

like, he's, like, squeeze my hand,

30:21

curl your toe. Like, he said it in

30:24

somali, though. and he

30:24

was doing everything. Wow.

30:28

And they're super shocked that they canceled

30:30

the surgery for

30:33

the

30:33

trach. because

30:34

you imagine he's responsive now.

30:37

Can you imagine they were gonna do

30:39

this huge Yeah.

30:41

Like, this procedure is a big deal. Why do you

30:43

have to break skin?

30:45

Yeah. Okay? Why do you have to break

30:48

skin? What all you need to

30:50

bring was someone who

30:52

could interpret for goodness sake?

30:54

Well, like, just the you know, I'm

30:56

just thinking about all the people -- Mhmm.

30:58

-- who was deemed like, not

31:01

responsive or cooperative. Mhmm. They

31:03

have to go through a procedure

31:05

-- Yeah. -- to force it, that

31:07

could've potentially like,

31:10

hurt them even harm them even more.

31:12

Yes. When all you need to do was to say,

31:14

it's it's the sand. There's no

31:17

sand. You know what I'm saying? There's no there's

31:19

no due diligence. There's no, like

31:21

-- Yeah. -- a lie I cannot

31:23

believe this advocacy thing

31:26

is not the biggest thing. Right. Like, I

31:28

I was shocked there isn't, like,

31:30

millions of them because

31:33

The gap is so massive. Mhmm.

31:36

It's one thing

31:38

to make mistakes, but it's completely

31:40

another when you're blindly denying

31:43

alternative treatments for patients. This

31:45

is exactly what happens

31:47

when you challenge the status quo.

31:49

The system makes you an open

31:52

enemy and you have to ready for the fight

31:54

and punches coming at you because

31:56

these systems, these

31:59

hospitals They're coming at you with all they

32:01

got. Though they're labeling your families

32:03

difficult, gaslight you,

32:05

even conceal vital information and

32:07

resources from you. just

32:09

so they could have it their way.

32:11

The hospital that took the cake for the

32:13

worst type of resistance was this

32:16

one. Listen to this.

32:17

Yesmi was contacted by a family about their

32:20

father who went to the hospital to get

32:22

tested. But there was

32:23

told he could not leave because his situation

32:25

was so dire that he

32:27

needed to be intubated right then. Now,

32:30

if you knew the statistics back then about

32:32

the likelihood of survival after intubation,

32:35

you try every treatment to

32:37

try to avoid it. But here they

32:39

were innovating a relatively healthy

32:43

patient basically increasing his

32:45

chance of death. And so

32:47

of course, the family went

32:49

into complete panic. I

32:51

mean, you we or yourself was even shocked. but the

32:53

course of action the hospital was suggesting.

32:55

So she called the hospital on behalf of the

32:57

family and started suggesting a list of

32:59

treatments they could explore before intubation.

33:02

But then, the hospital told

33:04

her they didn't offer those services

33:06

and those treatments. And so, yes, me

33:08

and oh my god. Being the girl that

33:10

she is, decided not to take no

33:12

for an answer. She was

33:14

going to find a way to transfer

33:16

this patient out of that hospital

33:18

into another that could. She just

33:20

had to get creative. They're

33:22

like,

33:22

oh, the modalities you're asking for.

33:25

We don't do them based on our protocol

33:28

for COVID. I was like, okay,

33:30

perfect. It's good to know that. That's not what

33:32

you do. Okay. So we'll have them

33:34

transfer to a hospital that does us do

33:36

that. Period. Period.

33:38

Yeah. Exactly. Okay. They're

33:40

shocked. They're like, really,

33:41

and they're like, but we can't assist in

33:43

that transfer. I was like, oh, don't worry. I'll

33:45

call. I

33:46

follow. There

33:50

was a minute to who the hell

33:52

is this girl? I've

33:55

actually careening. Okay? Mhmm.

33:57

So we call and

33:59

I'm trying to

34:00

see if there's bets available. They're like, yes, there's bet

34:03

available. We're like, we need to get this patient

34:05

transferred out. and into this hospital

34:07

for second opinions. And do you guys do

34:09

these modalities? Or like, yes? Okay. Perfect. We need

34:11

them either on the high floor or a

34:13

bipath, if he doesn't tolerate understandably, he

34:15

then we understand he can

34:16

get intubated. You

34:17

know what I'm saying? But

34:19

without trying anything, you

34:22

can't just go straight to intubation, you know. So

34:25

God. That's how they kill us. That's

34:27

how they kill us. And if they

34:29

don't know that information, it's

34:31

like, Yeah. What do you do? Like, what

34:33

do you what can you do? They

34:35

went from straight from that

34:37

to the most extreme case

34:39

-- Mhmm. -- when Oh

34:41

my god. This is And you know, family doesn't even know

34:43

that you can go transfer a patient. Oh,

34:46

you don't

34:46

do that? I'm a go to one that does that.

34:48

So it literally it was the most like, what stories,

34:51

like, had a lot. Like, we went from

34:53

that to they denied us the transfer even

34:55

though we went through the whole

34:58

calling the hospital doing everything. They're just like, oh, the

35:00

hospital said, they can't accept

35:02

this patient unless he's intubated.

35:06

The same

35:06

thing is quite. I was like, what

35:08

are you talking about? They're like,

35:09

yeah. They said, if he's gonna

35:12

transfer, we will have to intubate him and go. And

35:14

I said, And then I

35:16

was like, okay, is the patient

35:18

deteriorating? They're like, oh, they're not talking this and that.

35:20

I said, I saw I saw the son to

35:22

call his

35:23

dad. I said, Can you call your

35:25

dad and see how he's doing? Because we are not physically in

35:27

there, you know. There, yeah. You're not there,

35:29

so you can't see. You have to believe what these

35:31

people are telling you, Eli. And

35:34

then he goes I'm

35:37

gonna translate it after, but

35:39

he goes, what do you

35:41

know? And then

35:44

that's

35:48

where you're actually lying to me

35:50

right now. And I'm like, what are y'all

35:52

talking about? And then they were trying to tell

35:54

us that No. When we explained to them

35:56

in English, I want the audience and

35:58

listeners to know. The level the

36:02

audacity. The the son

36:04

calls his father ring ring. Okay?

36:06

Yeah. And the and this is a

36:08

person, by the way, guys. The doctor said it's

36:10

the irritating. We know what

36:13

deteriorating means. He shouldn't be speaking. He should

36:15

be moving. He shouldn't know nothing from nothing.

36:17

This is a body. Okay? Yeah. He

36:19

calls his father and his father says, what you mean? Hank, I picked up a

36:21

test. He basically says, like, almost

36:23

like homie. What what what's going on? Like, why is

36:25

this taking forever? He

36:29

said, homie, what's going on? He picked up, like, right now, if

36:31

you were to call your healthy father. The way

36:33

your healthy father would pick up

36:35

was, hey, what's is

36:37

the way that his father picked up on

36:40

that allegedly is deteriorating.

36:43

No. Please,

36:46

think that in. It's

36:48

crazy. Well, I mean, I remember a contact with

36:50

the nurse and nurse asked her just a couple of

36:52

questions like, hey, just wanna know how much oxygen he's

36:54

on and what he's doing for a a saturation. She's

36:56

like, oh, he's doing okay. So I'm like, a

36:58

couple of leaders, and we got

37:00

him back from six to, like,

37:03

four and he's down, but

37:05

he does when he whenever he takes it

37:07

off, he goes back down on his

37:10

saturation, which is his

37:12

oxygen levels. we just have to make sure he keeps it on and stuff. And I was like, oh, okay. He's doing

37:14

fine. I was like, yeah. I was like

37:16

okay. Fine. No. No.

37:17

No. They're trying to sign our death

37:19

certificate. The one that,

37:22

like, they're or you know, I realized they're already at time of death.

37:24

That's where they're at. They asked me, okay, this

37:26

person is probably you know, it I'm

37:28

I was shocked and then

37:32

So they wouldn't allow us to leave and

37:34

he the sun was super scared. Like,

37:36

if I don't do anything and my dad

37:38

happens to

37:39

be intubated and it's

37:41

very hard to come off of once you're

37:43

on that ventilator. Yeah. He's like, I

37:45

have to do something. And he's like,

37:47

I would just take

37:50

him in the

37:50

car and just grab one oxygen and just run to the

37:52

other hospital if no one wants to go.

37:54

Oh my god. We're fighting for

37:57

a light You know, I'm just like, okay. Oxygen

37:59

you need a lot of

38:02

oxygen. Where are we gonna get

38:04

the oxygen? how and if anything happens, I don't want that to be

38:06

honest, conscience, essentially.

38:08

Mhmm. So I might have to do this

38:11

very smart but

38:13

at the same time, like, what do we

38:15

do? And the hospital wouldn't allow us

38:17

to transfer it. Like, they're not gonna

38:19

do transfer it. I don't so I was

38:21

like, okay. Perfect. So I

38:24

was like, what if he

38:27

gets discharged? Soon

38:29

as he gets discharged, We call

38:31

nine eleven. We stand outside, and

38:32

you gotta get us an

38:36

ambulance.

38:36

Yes,

38:39

please. You you got

38:40

him. And it was like, oh,

38:43

look at me before I

38:45

exercise this thought. Let

38:47

me just call

38:48

nine minutes. You guys

38:50

are so creative. Okay.

38:54

So there So wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. So I found out was like, hey,

38:56

just a hypothetical question. Imagine someone calling nine

38:58

eleven saying I have a hypothetical question.

39:03

If I leave a

39:05

hospital and in front of a

39:07

hospital doors, I need service and

39:09

I call nine eleven to

39:11

get the ambulance Would you

39:13

guys put me back in that same hospital? Or can you transfer me to another hospital?

39:15

They're like, we'll transfer you to

39:17

whatever hospital you ask? too.

39:19

I was like, okay. Perfect. Thank you so

39:22

much.

39:24

Okay. Oh,

39:26

my

39:26

god. Didn't get a dance. Okay.

39:28

we we we pause. We another

39:31

emergency, okay, at

39:33

the tedious headquarters. Now, I

39:35

don't found out. Right?

39:38

that I had told you guys

39:40

at part one that TDS is collaborating with ACC a

39:43

continuous charity to help

39:46

people get an education. Okay? because we all remember what

39:48

it was like being a student and trying to

39:50

get that education, but they

39:53

keep putting all these percentages, and interest

39:55

on top of it. Wasn't so nice.

39:57

But unfortunately, when are we

39:59

hitting

39:59

our

40:00

targets y'all? that

40:03

kind of makes me

40:03

really sad because HCC

40:06

is supporting TDS, supporting our

40:08

projects, so we can keep doing

40:11

this And and the support

40:13

isn't mutual? Come on,

40:16

guys. Come on, guys. This

40:18

is about supporting Muslims is about giving

40:20

back. You know what I'm saying? And so you

40:22

already know that TDS is brand. That's what we

40:24

support. And that's why we

40:26

all collectively believe

40:28

in. So if you're still interested in

40:31

donating to a continuous charity that

40:33

really is trying to

40:36

fundraise for a Muslim women to get the education they deserve without

40:38

having to compromise their faith.

40:40

This is that time. Right? So

40:42

if you go on our Linktreat,

40:45

You'll see at the top, it literally says

40:47

a continuous charity. Click that

40:49

and help us get to the goal that

40:51

we need to. Whether that's a five thousand

40:53

dollar goal, ten thousand goal, twenty 5KI

40:56

believe in us. I believe in you. So,

40:58

Sheila, if you can donate, donate,

41:00

and know that whenever

41:02

you donate, a loss from Huddl to Ireland will multiply you.

41:04

Can't get any better than that. Anyways,

41:07

emergency up,

41:08

mercy back to

41:10

story. We

41:12

have

41:12

green light. So we're like, okay. We had

41:14

we needed to have a game plan because of it

41:16

is on just a couple liters of

41:19

oxygen. So we cannot mess

41:22

around because the oxygen

41:24

belongs to the hospital.

41:26

So once he's getting transferred, we have

41:28

to make sure everything's ready set prepared.

41:30

rather to get a

41:33

quick switchover. So ambulance

41:36

comes. hospitals shocked

41:38

at this point. Everybody's on standby.

41:40

I'm on the call. I'm just like

41:42

I'm like, I just need to know

41:46

details 411 You know what I mean? So is,

41:48

like, guided on every step

41:50

he's gonna do. You're gonna

41:53

be taken off their oxygen. You're gonna be assessed by

41:55

the ambulance. You're gonna be taken by the

41:57

ambulance. You're gonna just be

42:00

transferred over. He's

42:02

like, okay. Like, I'm ready to leave

42:04

here. Like, he was super anxious. He

42:06

was ready to go. And then so

42:09

as the ambulance walked into the doors,

42:11

and start walking down the hallway. They

42:13

meet the the team of healthcare

42:15

workers, and they have to have a they took

42:17

them into a private room by the by

42:20

themselves. and had to have a meeting

42:22

with them. And then they come

42:24

out and they're just like,

42:26

oh, they're saying the the

42:28

the data is unable to tolerate this type of

42:31

transfer. We have to intubate

42:33

him. Basically, giving them the same run

42:35

down of when they're

42:38

refusing a a

42:38

transfer earlier. So the family one of the

42:40

family friends called the fire

42:44

department had lead

42:46

which contacted contacted the

42:48

ambulance. And then they're

42:51

just like, go

42:52

and actually check on the

42:54

patient. First thing you learn in healthcare is

42:56

you don't believe the numbers you look at your patient. They tell you look at your

42:58

patient. Your numbers might be down. You look

43:00

at your patient and patients talking.

43:03

You know what I mean?

43:04

So there's he said first,

43:06

go look at the patient and then come back

43:08

to me. So then he goes and they look at

43:10

they go and they look at Ave, they go

43:12

into the room. I think someone here just chilling. He's ready

43:15

to go suit it up. Like, let's

43:17

go. He's super anxious. Like, what are

43:19

we doing here? Like, let's was taken

43:21

you guys forever.

43:21

Yeah. He's literally just

43:24

chilling. Yeah. And this guy

43:25

they're saying that that

43:27

cannot be transferred. because

43:29

he's deteriorating. Yes. This is we're

43:32

talking about God is that there is

43:34

deteriorating and is is dangerous to

43:36

transverse. Also, think God said, gonna so

43:38

long, bro.

43:40

We gotta get out of here. We must say,

43:42

I just it's just over here. Like, I just

43:44

came here to take a COVID

43:47

test to see if I had COVID test going

43:49

upstairs. You know? So and

43:51

then they go into they

43:55

go and report back, and he's like, if he's doing fine, he's on just a couple

43:57

liters of oxygen, transfer him right now, and they

43:59

had to

43:59

do it.

44:01

there to do it And

44:03

the hospital was livid.

44:05

They were livid. And

44:07

then of it,

44:10

they brought a a little wheelchair for wheelchair for him to

44:12

transfer him because he's so, like,

44:14

deteriorated as you're

44:16

saying. Right? he was get

44:18

this wheelchair away from me. He literally

44:20

was thrown in those hallways.

44:24

Literally. He they said he walked into the

44:27

ambulance by himself and just went into

44:29

the ambulance. Like, I you know what I'm laughing?

44:31

You don't have to keep up

44:34

the optic of him coming out of his room

44:36

passing the nurses walking.

44:38

Look how dramatic that is. The guy, they

44:40

deem deteriorating. It cannot be transferred.

44:44

is in his regular clothes that he came in with walking past them.

44:46

What kind of ridiculous and

44:48

monstrosity is that? Please tell me.

44:51

I was telling me about, what were they intending

44:53

to do? What were they intending what were they intending

44:55

to do? That's what I wanna know. Literally, III

44:58

was like, did that look like

45:00

someone that needed to be intubated right away? Like,

45:02

urgently? Like,

45:04

come on. Like, they didn't even do an

45:06

ABG, which was, like, an arterial blood gas

45:08

to see what is his oxygen,

45:10

what is his carbon dioxide

45:13

levels in his body to

45:15

even come to a notion of he needs to be immediately intubated. As

45:17

soon as we left of

45:19

of it, it

45:22

was like, kinda liberating. I had a video sent to me of him leaving

45:24

the ambulance going into the hospital, and he

45:26

was walking. He said, leave me a word.

45:28

And he was striking. I saw the video

45:30

because son,

45:32

video feeds him from Parkway. And then -- Yeah. --

45:34

of him just straightened into the hospital.

45:36

And I had friends

45:39

that were there And I was like,

45:41

yo, can you just go check on

45:43

other for me, see how he's doing,

45:45

make sure he's getting the right therapies, had

45:47

the patient advocate saying, hey, instead of like

45:49

using all these modalities, you can flip the

45:51

patient over and their oxygen with sooner than

45:53

a worker hopper. I'm

45:55

like put him on plasma, give him the

45:58

the clinical drugs, let him know of

45:59

all the options he has, and

46:02

it'll have to do that. All of it

46:04

took two weeks he was

46:06

off the oxygen. The the small amount of

46:08

oxygen he

46:10

was on.

46:14

Although this was a huge

46:16

win, I canceled off the gig about all the people

46:18

who didn't have a Yesmi to fight for them

46:20

like this. How many people did we lose

46:22

in the last two years? In the last

46:24

two centuries? I remember

46:26

back at university again this reading

46:28

that talked about ratio

46:30

in equity in the medical

46:32

field. Something I remember reading

46:34

was something called

46:36

medical error. It was estimated to have killed over

46:38

three hundred thousand people

46:40

in the United States yearly.

46:42

So that was so crazy.

46:44

was so crazy Even more

46:46

crazy because we know that people

46:48

color are more likely to have

46:51

poor care than white people.

46:53

So how many

46:54

of that three hundred thousand is

46:57

us? And this is just

46:59

the lives

47:00

that were

47:02

reported. How many more have gone

47:03

on reported? How many

47:06

lives did

47:06

we lose

47:08

that we don't know about?

47:12

Yes. People are here

47:12

to help you, but mistakes happen.

47:15

Male practices happen. You know what

47:17

I mean? It's something that exists. So

47:19

how would you know if

47:21

you're just putting your ultimate full and all

47:24

trust in the system, like, as

47:26

if it's this perfect system with no

47:28

wrongs. You know what I mean? one

47:30

story of a we'll

47:32

just keep her identity covered. So she

47:34

was just going through this before

47:38

COVID. she was going through, like, kidney. I

47:40

was just a bystander taking a

47:42

patient to a room. And I

47:46

remember on they were

47:48

like, we're gonna transport

47:50

this patient to go get CT

47:53

room eighteen, and

47:55

we're also gonna transport room nineteen

47:57

to go get a CT tube. Room nineteen

47:59

can

47:59

get a

48:00

CT with a contrast.

48:04

Contrast is they put it through

48:06

your IV, and it goes your

48:08

kidneys have to filter it out. So

48:10

people who have already have

48:12

kidney issues cannot go through the

48:14

contrast. It's like you have to

48:16

be extra cautious with it. So this specific family,

48:19

roommates, could not

48:22

do it. So I remember we're supposed to take room nineteen

48:24

first, but then they switched it up and said

48:26

they'll take room eighteen

48:27

first. Right? We

48:29

take the patient, we take her

48:31

to CT, got her ready.

48:34

I'm just waiting in

48:36

the back. call the seminar here, oh, is this not room

48:38

nineteen? And then someone was

48:40

like, no.

48:40

some like know And

48:43

then

48:43

I'm like,

48:44

you're lying. And

48:47

then I'm like, I'm over

48:49

here,

48:49

like, what's going on? There's no way

48:51

I heard this correctly. And they're

48:53

like, oh, this is not my routine. Oh my god. Oh my god. I

48:55

gave the contrast.

48:59

And sitting

49:00

there, like, no way.

49:02

And then they're just

49:04

like, oh my god. This only has

49:06

happened to me twice This

49:09

is the second child. This is happened. Oh, what are we gonna do? And they're just like,

49:11

oh, you know, they she already had, like,

49:13

deteriorating kidneys. I mean, I

49:16

don't know how much it could affect her, but she already, like, kind

49:18

of, like, reassuring, like, it's not your

49:21

fault. And I'm sitting

49:24

there, like, I'm

49:25

not understanding fully because mind you, I'm just

49:27

I'm specialized in the respiratory.

49:29

So it's like,

49:32

all this other stuff that they're talking about. I'm, like, kind of understanding

49:34

it, but, like, fully, like,

49:36

what is the gravity of this?

49:39

is I understand it later.

49:42

So once we get back to the room,

49:44

the next bat night patients

49:48

kidneys, kidney function deteriorates,

49:50

and plummets. And I went from

49:52

that to By

49:54

the time I came back, was like patient had organ failure, and it was like

49:57

-- Oh. -- and my family, it was

49:59

like -- Yeah.

49:59

-- why did

50:02

it happen overnight? You they were just doing well, and they did not understand

50:06

until I bumped into

50:08

somebody in there just like,

50:10

oh, we're having

50:12

a family might have a funeral soon.

50:14

I'm like, oh, is that, like, kind of

50:16

curious, like, oh, and I am

50:19

I'm very clueless as to what's happening. And then they're like so and

50:21

so. And I'm like, they're like, yeah. And

50:23

they're so and

50:26

so hospital. I'm like,

50:27

can And then when they said it,

50:29

like, I never had

50:31

such back

50:34

shiver almost

50:34

you know what mean

50:36

in a sense of,

50:38

did that

50:39

just happen? And

50:42

then and then the

50:44

the the the salts of the wound

50:46

was, they go and ask the family

50:48

as they're trying to digest this

50:50

overnight changes. if

50:52

they wanna do organ transplant?

50:54

Yes, ma'am. Oh

50:56

my god. That is insane.

50:58

And then the family decided not to

51:00

do an autopsy because they're just, like, at a stage of she

51:03

passed away. So there's

51:05

no point into finding out.

51:07

We just want to just

51:10

be have have them rest

51:12

comfortably comfortably in a sense

51:14

and not put so much pain and

51:16

process through the family and the person. You

51:18

know? So And it's,

51:20

like,

51:21

malpractice is useless. But in our

51:23

most important community, we do not

51:26

do autopsy.

51:28

autopsy. We don't do that. And and now so

51:30

just to be frank, to be clear -- Yeah.

51:32

-- this practitioner, this

51:36

nurse, essentially, to definitely kill

51:38

someone. Potentially

51:39

kill someone. Yeah.

51:41

And

51:41

because Muslims don't

51:44

do autopsy, Yeah.

51:44

They will never know. They will never know. And you

51:47

can't say anything

51:47

because it's patient

51:50

confidentiality. Yep. So

51:52

you're sitting there and you just saw all of this history. So

51:54

all I know is it got reported, but I don't

51:56

know how far it went, but all I know

51:58

is the family never

51:59

found out. but we were told

52:01

they got recorded. Oh my god.

52:04

Only a patient had you know, the

52:06

patient said we had no clue.

52:08

And then you're just, like, in a place where you're

52:10

stuck in two worlds in

52:12

a sense of, like, yeah.

52:16

It's like you're kinda protecting your license, but it's like

52:18

this family needs help. You're

52:20

like but then you're wondering, like, am

52:22

I even doing them any justice

52:26

or benefit by telling them this information, like, they're it's gonna make

52:28

them grieving more. Like, it's not gonna bring the

52:30

person back, but

52:32

it's, like, almost

52:33

like you you feel a sense

52:35

of guilt, but you're

52:37

like, oh, what can I

52:39

do in a sense? So the best

52:41

thing that we can do is to just allow people to understand

52:43

that you need to advocate for

52:45

yourself, you need

52:48

to you know what I mean? Question everything. You

52:50

have to know, you have to stand up for yourself, like, you can't

52:52

just be giving your one

52:54

hundred percent trust into the system.

52:58

because this is not something new and this is not something just

53:00

solely targeted to our community. Mail

53:02

practices have been happening and do

53:06

happen every day. You know what I'm saying? So you have to understand

53:08

that you're not free from that

53:11

at

53:12

all.

53:13

Yesmiya Uzi's

53:14

work in advocating for

53:16

patients quickly started to spread like

53:19

wildfire. People even started contacting Yesmi's dad

53:21

to ask her for help.

53:24

Yes, ma'am, at what you were interpreters,

53:26

advocates, they even visited patients on their

53:28

days off reading reports,

53:30

and sometimes even take calls on

53:32

their breaks. to speak to doctors. Man, I can only

53:34

imagine it was a

53:36

lot. So it's

53:37

like imagine you're going

53:39

to work, you're working thirty

53:41

six to forty hours a week

53:43

night shift. On top of that,

53:45

you have patience right

53:48

as soon as you clock out. So

53:50

you're doing talking to doctors, having patient conferences,

53:53

talking to the families, gathering

53:56

everybody together it was

53:58

just so mentally, like,

54:00

draining and emotionally draining at

54:02

the same time. And I

54:04

was going through it myself too because

54:06

I'm seeing all these people losing their

54:08

family members and I'm

54:10

scared that I might get my

54:12

family and my parents

54:14

COVID because ABA has diabetes and Hoi has diabetes,

54:16

so they're just very high risk. And I'm over

54:18

here like, okay, I can't go

54:20

home. I like I'm bringing

54:22

everything that I'm wearing back to

54:24

home. I'm gonna get them

54:26

COVID. So I literally had to live out

54:28

of hotels. You

54:30

lived out of hotels? I lived out of hotels and everything because

54:32

I was super anxious of giving

54:34

COVID to my family. You know? Because

54:38

it's just the thought of I brought COVID

54:40

home, and then my family

54:42

got sick, and then God

54:44

forbid something happened to them. You're

54:46

gonna, like, at the end of the day kind of, for

54:48

that. Like, why not, like, protect them a

54:50

little bit more? So I had this

54:52

overwhelming anxiety of, like, I

54:56

I can't get my family COVID. I can't even though I know they can get

54:58

COVID otherwise, it was just, like, like,

55:00

I have to reduce it from my end,

55:03

you know. And the

55:05

icing on the cake was this

55:08

hospital that I never got reported

55:10

at, the new

55:12

hospital that as I'm dealing with

55:14

all these issues, there's this there's this patient one day that

55:16

was, like, deteriorating, I

55:20

remember, and he was supposed to get

55:22

intubated, and I was super sad he was getting

55:24

intubated because he was

55:26

doing well, but

55:28

somehow, like, he got infection and his lungs took a hit and he

55:30

was deteriorating so he had to get

55:32

intubated. And intubation is

55:34

just a

55:36

hard process for the patients to scope that

55:38

you have to prep their mind because

55:40

if they go into it in a chaotic

55:44

environment, people screaming saying, give me this, give me that. I

55:46

need to intubate push some

55:48

meds, like, you're hearing all

55:50

of this. as a

55:52

patient. And then all of a sudden, you're

55:54

knocked out. And then a

55:56

weekend to finally

55:58

being wake woken up.

56:00

It's like you just hear voices. It's like you're in room almost. You

56:02

have to paint yourself in the

56:05

patient's shoes. Mhmm. So so

56:08

scary to think about. Well, that's scary. So you have to be assured that

56:10

the boomeric intubated. Yeah. So I remember I

56:12

go home and say, hey, I know

56:16

this is a hard process for you, but people are gonna start

56:18

getting packed into this room, and

56:20

they're gonna slowly guide

56:23

you and like the medications they're gonna use, how

56:25

they're gonna intubate, either gonna put this tube

56:27

in you, and it's gonna help you

56:30

breathe a little

56:32

bit easier. And I was like, just understand that

56:34

you're gonna feel alone and you're gonna

56:36

hear a lot of noises,

56:38

but I need you to understand

56:40

what's happening.

56:42

because once we need him to come off the ventilator, they

56:44

start to become super anxious

56:46

because it was almost like PTSD,

56:48

what you put just put them through.

56:51

You know what Mhmm. So it's like getting them off

56:54

the machine. They're anxious.

56:56

They're fighting the machine.

56:58

They're, you know, and you're not cooperating

57:00

as it as I say, and

57:02

it's all about the person's

57:04

mental health that was not taken

57:06

care of as they're going into this

57:08

procedure. You know? So I reassured him, I'm like,

57:10

hey, like, I've gotten

57:12

COVID twice. You know what I

57:14

mean? And You

57:16

never know what your future

57:19

holds don't think that you have

57:21

no chance. Like, I'm standing in front of

57:23

you and I survived COVID

57:26

twice. You know what I mean? So let that just be

57:28

just a guidance for you to just

57:30

believe in yourself and believe that you

57:32

can surpass those. You know,

57:35

And I said, I don't

57:37

know what religious preferences you have,

57:39

but whatever feels comfortable for you,

57:41

like, go in. seek

57:43

solace or, like, pray for yourself, you

57:45

know? So when it

57:46

comes to my patients, I'm very, like, extra

57:48

sensitive. They told me I'm,

57:51

like, super overprotective, but So I

57:53

left, he had intubated, and I

57:56

had no idea what happened

57:58

afterwards until this

57:59

situation occurred.

58:02

A nurse

58:02

called me. She was like, oh, this patient needs to

58:05

have their the balloon nose

58:07

talking to you guys about

58:08

about the tray

58:10

deflated. so I can give him his medications.

58:12

And I was like, the

58:14

balloon

58:15

is there to prevent aspiration,

58:17

which is swallowing

58:20

like because their gag reflex in

58:22

their swallowing capacity is very limited. So

58:24

the balloon is there to capture anything

58:28

that falls just in case they ask for it. You know? So it doesn't go

58:30

into the lungs. I was like, if you're gonna

58:32

give medication, like, I

58:36

don't know like, I don't necessarily give medications, but I would

58:38

assume, like, you want to flip the cuff.

58:40

Right? But I was like, hey, let me just

58:42

check to see if that's

58:44

our protocol. So I asked the other

58:46

artistes, and I was like, hey, you guys have been

58:48

here a little while longer than me. What

58:50

do you guys do in there? Like, don't deflate

58:52

the cuff? Like, why would you

58:54

deflate? Like, they they were looking at me, like, why would you

58:56

do something like that? I was like, I'm sorry. I was

58:58

just I was asked, I like to reassure,

59:00

I just don't like to just go with whatever my mind told

59:02

me. I just wanna make sure the protocols, you know.

59:04

And then there's just like, no. And then I was like, okay. This

59:06

is what she's asking me to do. And then,

59:08

like, just let her know. And then I let

59:10

her know, and she was like, no, you have to come

59:12

upstairs right now. And

59:14

I was like, okay, I'll

59:14

come up there and I can let you know what's

59:17

going on. And then I looked at my coworkers. I was

59:19

like, are you guys free right now? And they're

59:21

like, yeah. I was like, just come with

59:22

me. I just need like, when

59:24

one second, I need backup. I

59:26

need witnesses. Yeah. Yeah. because I

59:28

need someone to go down. Your lawyer mind went

59:30

on. You went on. You and off. You said, oh, some

59:32

some have been trained for this. It

59:34

kind of is useful. Yeah. So,

59:37

yes, I mean, being yes,

59:39

I mean, Twitter figures and all --

59:41

Yeah. -- had to make sure I was covered. So I

59:43

was like, you know what?

59:44

Let's go. And then we all

59:46

went and

59:48

immediately

59:48

immediately she was, like,

59:50

super disrespectful to me. Like,

59:52

I came in and she was, like,

59:54

listen, I don't know why you're

59:56

late. I was, like, late. I was, like, you

59:58

know, you're just called me, and all we did was got

1:00:00

out of the department, walked all the way over

1:00:02

here. Like, it takes a while to come here. And I

1:00:05

came, I said, that was within three to

1:00:07

four minutes, and she goes, Well, that was late.

1:00:09

I was like, I knew she was already fired up. I was like, she's just choosing

1:00:11

to pick a fight right now, and she

1:00:13

goes, and you're telling me that we

1:00:15

can't do this. And

1:00:18

it just sounds like you don't know the protocol and what to do. You need to go there

1:00:20

and do it. I'm telling you to do it.

1:00:24

I said,

1:00:24

said I have

1:00:25

two coworkers here. They said it's

1:00:28

not the protocol. I

1:00:30

don't know what you want me to

1:00:32

do, but I said, if we do that

1:00:34

gonna be under us. Like, I'm a put a

1:00:36

note in that I refused

1:00:38

and you, like, commanded

1:00:40

me to

1:00:42

do this. You

1:00:43

know what I mean? Just be aware. You

1:00:45

know? And she basically,

1:00:46

as I'm, like, talking to

1:00:48

her, walks away from me, you know.

1:00:51

she was just being super disrespectful,

1:00:54

like, just to get under my skin,

1:00:56

to get a reaction out of me. And

1:00:58

I was not allowing it. I was like, let me just

1:01:00

stay patient. I go in and I

1:01:02

research the patient and say, hey, this is not

1:01:04

something we do, but your nurse

1:01:06

insisted on it, so we

1:01:08

will do it will keep my eye

1:01:10

on you and I'll stand by. I'll be out

1:01:12

standby. But I just have to make sure

1:01:14

your head of the bed is up. And then

1:01:16

this patient mind you is a

1:01:18

quadriplegic meaning he's fully

1:01:20

paralyzed neck down. So he's guiding me on

1:01:22

what to do, how to change his vet

1:01:24

settings, and we're doing

1:01:26

everything goes okay to this. like, he

1:01:27

points at every step because he's very strategic

1:01:30

on what he does, I guess. He's like, if you're

1:01:32

gonna deflate the cuff, you have to do this and

1:01:34

do that. I was like, okay. She looks at the patient.

1:01:36

She goes, you need to hurry up because

1:01:38

I thought she was talking to me at first, and I

1:01:40

was, like, I was

1:01:42

confused. And then she's looking at the

1:01:44

patient, like, we can't just do everything you want precisely. This is not

1:01:46

the time. We're on time crunch. You need to

1:01:48

hurry up and just choose. And I

1:01:50

was like, Whoa.

1:01:52

Like, why is she talking? And then in that moment,

1:01:54

I'm like, okay, she's not just picking a fight

1:01:56

with me. This is

1:01:58

more of a personality.

1:02:00

trade.

1:02:01

because if you're picking a fight with a patient that's sick,

1:02:03

paralyzed, like, there's bigger issues

1:02:05

that's going on.

1:02:06

You know what I mean? So

1:02:10

I kinda reassure the patient, like, hey, like, I try to

1:02:12

go faster on my end. I was like, just guide me

1:02:14

a little bit quicker. I'll do everything you need. Right?

1:02:16

And then he's like, oh, thank you. And then

1:02:19

I, like, everything went well. And then our VA assured

1:02:21

him was like, hey, I apologize for all

1:02:23

the confusion. You know, this is not something we

1:02:25

do in our hospital. So

1:02:28

I do apologize for

1:02:30

any, like, back and forth.

1:02:32

Everything, just to reassure

1:02:34

him. And then he's like, no. It's

1:02:36

okay. He's smiling and stuff like that. He was just,

1:02:38

like, he kept saying, like,

1:02:40

melding, like,

1:02:42

it's okay.

1:02:43

And then

1:02:43

I was like, okay. Made sure that everything

1:02:45

was okay. And then

1:02:48

I left the room. I

1:02:50

knew something was coming after I

1:02:52

left the room. like, my gut was just telling me she's

1:02:54

gonna report you.

1:02:56

And then what I thought she's

1:02:58

gonna report in which she reported,

1:03:02

you'll just be shocked at this.

1:03:04

So I left us left

1:03:07

that day two days later, like,

1:03:10

I'm team lead for my department. We're short

1:03:12

staffed. I'm meeting people to work

1:03:14

extra hours, pick up, like, that stayed

1:03:16

twelve hours. I'm like, hey, can you stay extra

1:03:19

four hours to help us out. And they're like, okay.

1:03:21

If you're a team lead, I'm staying. Like,

1:03:23

everybody's like, if yes, I'm easier. We're got

1:03:25

because they're just like, you're not gonna

1:03:27

finesse our assignments, like, make sure

1:03:29

everything's fair. Like, if you're

1:03:32

here, like, we we just have a fun

1:03:34

time. We just vibe and we all get our work

1:03:36

done. I'm like that. So I handed it less. So

1:03:38

I recruited some people. I was like, handed it

1:03:40

less. I texted the manager. I'm like, we're

1:03:41

good. And

1:03:42

then so the next

1:03:45

day, the manager comes and I

1:03:47

record more people again who are still short staffed because this is COVID.

1:03:49

Everybody's burnt out. Everybody's leaving. You know

1:03:51

what I mean? what

1:03:53

matters is like, hey, yes,

1:03:54

me and I need to talk to you about

1:03:56

something. I was like, oh, okay.

1:03:58

I knew something like gutless telling you

1:04:00

as a little lady. And this time around, I didn't do

1:04:03

my regular reporting styles, you know?

1:04:06

because I knew something was coming,

1:04:07

but I wasn't for sure, and nothing

1:04:09

ever happened here, so I had

1:04:11

my cards down. So he took me in, and then he

1:04:13

was like, we had a

1:04:16

a patient almost like

1:04:18

a patient, not on patient

1:04:20

neglect.

1:04:22

but a patient abuse reported against you? I

1:04:24

said what? He said patient abuse. I

1:04:26

said

1:04:27

I know what you're talking about,

1:04:29

and he goes, I said, is this

1:04:31

day, this patient, this nurse? And

1:04:33

he goes, okay. And I said,

1:04:35

before you tell me

1:04:38

the story, can I tell you

1:04:40

what happened that day so you know my side of the

1:04:42

story so you don't think I'm

1:04:44

like like making excuses

1:04:46

for myself? Mhmm. And then he goes, okay. I'll give you the platform. I

1:04:48

said, I don't wanna know anything that they said or

1:04:50

reported about me. Let me give you

1:04:52

my one

1:04:54

two cents. I told him,

1:04:56

and I was like I I told him about how

1:04:58

she was super, like,

1:05:00

feisty with me and then the patient, and I was

1:05:02

like, okay. Like, it was more of a

1:05:04

like, I was understanding it was a personality issue, not her just picking a

1:05:06

fight with me, you know? And then

1:05:08

he's like, he's like, can I stop you

1:05:10

there? And I

1:05:10

was like, why? And he goes, it's

1:05:13

interesting. You said that. I was like, why?

1:05:16

She goes she reported

1:05:17

that you yelled, screamed, and

1:05:20

harassed, the patient. I

1:05:22

said

1:05:23

what? I said what?

1:05:25

What? And he was like, yeah.

1:05:27

He

1:05:27

was like, you made the

1:05:30

patient feel uncomfortable, you yelled at

1:05:32

him twice. So everything

1:05:34

that she did, disrespectful to

1:05:36

the patient, she labeled it as you did.

1:05:39

She said, you didn't. Yeah. And I

1:05:41

was, like,

1:05:41

so shocked. And I

1:05:44

was, like, So what did you say to them? I asked him. He goes,

1:05:46

what do you mean? I was, like, you've known

1:05:48

me for about we're almost, like,

1:05:50

two years

1:05:52

down. like,

1:05:52

we're a year and a and, like, you've known me. Like, I barely Yeah.

1:05:55

He's like, yeah. You barely can speak like, your

1:05:57

voice is very soft. You can

1:06:00

barely yell. And then he was like, there's no way he asked me

1:06:02

out. And I was like, but did you tell him that he

1:06:04

goes, no. I

1:06:06

told him, So she took

1:06:08

this higher up to

1:06:10

management. Excuse me. of

1:06:11

use. Yes.

1:06:12

So and, basically,

1:06:15

it was, like, basically

1:06:18

coming for my license

1:06:20

and me and they basically

1:06:22

without even hearing my side of the story,

1:06:25

he was like, he was telling me

1:06:27

they requested you do

1:06:30

learning hours, like, learning

1:06:32

modules, like, on how to treat

1:06:34

a patient. You?

1:06:34

you yeah Yeah. It wasn't

1:06:37

I'm, like, going through

1:06:39

the the patients.

1:06:42

I'm going through the patient's families, I'm going through braces,

1:06:44

I'm going through a lot, and it's like,

1:06:46

on top of it, I'm scared for

1:06:48

my family giving them COVID,

1:06:51

George Floyd is happening. It was

1:06:53

just like that extra you know, when

1:06:55

you're just down and someone just kicks

1:06:57

you. That and

1:07:00

I just started falling. Oh

1:07:02

my god. Yes, I mean, I was

1:07:04

so sorry. I was like, why would you

1:07:06

think I said before you before

1:07:09

this hospital, before the

1:07:12

management, before anybody, before

1:07:14

my license, I said, I served

1:07:16

God. You know

1:07:17

what I mean? I served God

1:07:19

and I

1:07:19

and I was like, me doing

1:07:22

that, I would go to hell. I would

1:07:24

go

1:07:25

to hell for I said, do

1:07:27

you think I'm scared you? would I do that? God is

1:07:29

watching me. I said, I don't know what

1:07:32

like, what I believe

1:07:34

in is I'm

1:07:36

held accountable in the justice of

1:07:38

Elai. You know what I mean? I'm

1:07:40

in the justice system of

1:07:42

Elai. Why would I do something

1:07:44

like that? And I was like, based on my character, did you

1:07:46

ever even see me getting

1:07:48

into it with one of

1:07:50

your workers? You

1:07:52

know what I mean?

1:07:52

And then I was like, he's like,

1:07:55

no. But, you know, I would just

1:07:57

say, don't be confrontational, like, when we're

1:07:59

gonna get

1:07:59

into the meeting. just state

1:08:02

everything without emotion. I was like, how do you want

1:08:04

me to react with no emotion? You're

1:08:06

honestly telling me I abused the

1:08:08

patient, and I was

1:08:10

disrespectful. I I have to take classes is

1:08:12

going on? You know? And

1:08:14

then and then I was just super

1:08:18

frustrated. And I was like,

1:08:20

I was like, on top

1:08:22

of all of this, you're

1:08:24

telling me I'm neglecting abusing

1:08:26

patients. I have patients outside of I don't get

1:08:29

paid, that I'm helping

1:08:31

because your systems are not

1:08:33

helping the patients. You know

1:08:35

what I mean? And

1:08:37

I'm having to do extra, like, extra work on top of what I'm doing.

1:08:39

And you mean to tell me that I'm the one

1:08:42

that would be abusing patients?

1:08:47

And then he was just, like, I'm sorry,

1:08:49

this is happening. And I was just, like, I

1:08:51

was, like, crying because

1:08:54

everything's just hitting me up. because I

1:08:55

was, like, bottling everything up. And then

1:08:58

I remember that day,

1:09:00

I

1:09:00

was, like, he didn't

1:09:02

even thank me for helping his

1:09:04

department and getting recruiting people for

1:09:07

him. He could have been

1:09:09

short staffed. That could have

1:09:11

been a patient neglect issue on their behalf because they're not

1:09:13

fully staffed. You know what I mean?

1:09:15

Very well.

1:09:16

I'm over here doing

1:09:18

extra work for your department.

1:09:21

I'm not getting paid a dime extra

1:09:23

during this whole COVID situation. We're not getting paid We're going through all of

1:09:26

this. I got COVID

1:09:28

twice You

1:09:30

know what I mean? You're even telling me

1:09:32

to come back to work while I'm I'm

1:09:34

having COVID because there's so short staffed there telling

1:09:37

you to come back to work. are you

1:09:39

that they they they're, like, assess yourself.

1:09:41

Are you even that sick? Like, come

1:09:43

back to work? Like, that's how

1:09:45

short's out there. So I'm, like, This hospital

1:09:47

system does not care for us. It does not

1:09:49

care for us. I remember I was going down

1:09:51

the highway. I

1:09:55

knew this nurse coordinator for a night shift, and I

1:09:57

let her know what happened. And she was like,

1:10:00

yes. I mean, like, she was like, I

1:10:02

was

1:10:02

looking for you. I said, why? And she

1:10:04

goes, I was looking

1:10:06

for you to get your manager's number

1:10:08

and email because I wanna send him that

1:10:10

email because you just helped a patient

1:10:14

that was one of my family.

1:10:16

It was like her

1:10:19

in laws that I

1:10:21

helped She's like you helped him and

1:10:23

he was telling me to go find you because you're the

1:10:25

reason why after he got extubated, he did so well, he was

1:10:27

looking for you. It

1:10:31

was the patient that I was

1:10:33

reassuring to to just have

1:10:36

hope. He and she

1:10:38

was like, you told him something that stuck with him is

1:10:40

that you got COVID twice and you

1:10:42

survived. And that's what, like, pushed

1:10:45

him forward. And

1:10:47

she was like, And

1:10:48

it's crazy that they're pinning you out to

1:10:50

be this, like, almost like those monster that would, like, do injustices on

1:10:53

patients when you're

1:10:55

doing the absolute extra

1:10:58

to make sure they're okay mentally. And

1:11:00

she's like, I'm over here looking for your manager to

1:11:02

give your accolades, and they're reporting you for this.

1:11:07

And she was like, I already know that nurse. She was

1:11:10

like, she's been reported many times.

1:11:14

She creates problems. she literally bullies everybody. And I

1:11:16

was like, I don't know her as well.

1:11:18

Like, this is my first encounter with

1:11:21

her. And she was like, you know what? I'm gonna take you to the

1:11:23

nurse manager, you know, help advocate for you.

1:11:26

And I go to the nurse manager

1:11:28

and I'm standing by the door. I'm trying to

1:11:30

advocate for myself, but I'm pulling back my tears.

1:11:33

and I'm just, like,

1:11:36

I'm, like, exhausted at

1:11:38

this point because

1:11:39

I'm just, like, Is

1:11:43

this what I signed up to be? Like, is this what

1:11:45

health care is? You know what I mean?

1:11:47

Like, this is not healthy.

1:11:50

This is not okay. I I don't like seeing all

1:11:52

these families going through this. I

1:11:54

don't wanna go through this myself.

1:11:56

I'm at a point

1:11:58

where I just

1:11:59

wanna drop. all of healthcare. You

1:12:02

know what I

1:12:02

mean? And so I'm talking to the

1:12:04

nurse manager and she's like, honey,

1:12:06

let me stop you there. She's like,

1:12:10

with the tone that you're talking in.

1:12:12

She's like, I know you're not even capable

1:12:14

of yelling. So I don't even know you

1:12:17

and this is my first time seeing

1:12:19

you. She is, like, by the your demeanor and the way

1:12:21

that you talk. She's, like,

1:12:23

if

1:12:23

I was your

1:12:25

manager, I would

1:12:27

have debunked this. and I don't even know

1:12:29

you. He knows you. He shouldn't have brought this up to you.

1:12:32

Yeah. He should have defended

1:12:34

you. Yeah. She was like basic

1:12:36

predicated and defended you. And

1:12:38

I was like, that's true. And then I'm and and

1:12:41

she

1:12:42

was

1:12:43

like, don't worry. I will

1:12:45

write AAAI would advocate for you and the other lady's like,

1:12:47

yes. This is what she did

1:12:50

for my family member. Like,

1:12:53

this is a type of human being

1:12:55

she is. That's not what they're paving your act to And I was just going

1:12:57

through my own troubles at that

1:12:59

time too, like, everything,

1:13:03

like, from every corner. My life was

1:13:05

just hitting me at that point. And

1:13:07

then I remember I just

1:13:09

booked a flight

1:13:10

and I left. Yes, mean, was

1:13:12

done. There was nothing

1:13:15

she could

1:13:15

do from

1:13:19

the inside. that if she wanted to make a real difference, she had

1:13:21

to make some real

1:13:24

changes. And so,

1:13:26

yes, mean, finally takes the leap to

1:13:29

become a travel respiratory

1:13:32

therapist. Now if you know

1:13:34

anything about being a travel r

1:13:36

t, you'd know they make a

1:13:38

lot of money, a lot more money than being stationed at a hospital.

1:13:42

This was a strategic game plan for them too.

1:13:45

It gave Eugenius Mean the

1:13:47

opportunity to not only potentially

1:13:49

find a better place

1:13:51

to work at, but more importantly,

1:13:54

the financial ability to fund their patient advocacy objectives

1:13:56

so they can make some

1:13:58

real changes in the space. and

1:14:02

by the mercy of

1:14:04

allah. While it wasn't common for

1:14:07

two friends to end up

1:14:09

at the same hospital, as

1:14:11

travel artist, Not only ended

1:14:14

up at the same

1:14:16

hospital with the

1:14:18

same work schedules, get this.

1:14:20

They ended up at

1:14:22

the most prestigious hospital

1:14:27

the world in the world. Harvard Medical

1:14:28

Center. What about all the

1:14:30

services that are applying there?

1:14:34

I'm like, I wish we had

1:14:36

this in Minnesota. Like, it was like, we almost had

1:14:38

the same values in treatment methods, but they even went

1:14:40

up a notch. Like, the amount of

1:14:43

stuff that they were doing, was,

1:14:46

like, shocked. They were doing research upon

1:14:48

research at taking initiatives. You

1:14:50

know what I mean? Like,

1:14:52

taking like, it was amazing to see, like, the amount

1:14:54

of knowledge there and the and, like, I was shocked. Like, I

1:14:57

was like, you guys do this and then, oh my

1:14:59

god, this is so smart. Like, I

1:15:03

was, like, so intrigued and everybody minded

1:15:05

their own business, like, they did

1:15:07

their cares, they let

1:15:09

you do your your

1:15:12

thing, and like, nobody's bothering you. And I was,

1:15:14

like, I was, like, almost on guard. Like, when is it coming?

1:15:16

Like Yeah. The

1:15:18

trauma. The trauma. The trauma.

1:15:21

to a Rava,

1:15:22

you would feel like, is it gonna come from here? Like, this sounds too good to be true. Right? And there,

1:15:24

like, hundred like, they they're super

1:15:26

cautious of us to the point where they're,

1:15:28

like, Since

1:15:31

you guys walk to work, we have to put you guys both

1:15:33

in the same shift because it's dangerous to be

1:15:35

walking outside in that

1:15:38

area by yourself. Yeah. What? Literally.

1:15:41

So they're like, you guys have to so that we had

1:15:43

the exact same shifts together, which is a basic because we have

1:15:44

a basic very considerate.

1:15:47

Yeah. Right? They're very considerate. they're

1:15:50

thinking about your well-being. Yeah. It was an amazing sure.

1:15:52

It was the first time you ever felt. You're

1:15:54

on me. And it was just, like, like,

1:15:57

our well-being. Get like, a

1:15:59

cat embedded with that that felt like --

1:16:01

It was an breeze after everything. -- I was like, wow. They would have food

1:16:03

every day because of how COVID is and they're trying to take care

1:16:05

of burnout. They would have, like,

1:16:07

the Apple chargers we

1:16:10

came to work one day and was like a whole pack

1:16:12

of Apple chargers later on. They're like, do you

1:16:14

need a charger? And I'm like, who got these

1:16:16

chargers? And I'm like, well, the department just bought

1:16:19

it for us just, you know, because of COVID.

1:16:21

It's I'm like, you guys get high

1:16:23

level chlamydia care. Like, you guys get

1:16:28

high level chargers. We didn't

1:16:30

even get a dime. Add a tariff.

1:16:35

If one thing remains true,

1:16:36

it's that we plan and

1:16:38

sometimes others plan against us,

1:16:40

but all love

1:16:42

plans too. The only difference

1:16:44

is, His

1:16:45

plans always prevail. So funny story, while you tweeted, or did you

1:16:47

were joking around

1:16:47

in the

1:16:49

are you mean it was you were joking around the surgical

1:16:51

unit surgical unit, They

1:16:52

saw that how they had disposable scrubs for

1:16:54

pretty much everything. They even had one for a beard. Without realizing

1:16:58

used to be stars playing around with the beard scrub, it starts making a

1:17:00

head jab out of it. Used to be fun

1:17:02

is so funny, and she was so impressed

1:17:05

with herself. started taking pictures and posting it on social

1:17:08

media, like, look, everybody evaded this whole

1:17:10

lot of time. And then, oh, she

1:17:12

looks at her and says, It's mean.

1:17:14

It's mean, delete it. Delete it. Get speed. I think we might have found our

1:17:15

first business.

1:17:17

i think we might have found our first business

1:17:20

What did she

1:17:21

saw the vision? And she was like, it literally, like, clicked

1:17:23

to her, like, a light bulb, you

1:17:27

know, Yeah. And then she's sitting down with me and she's, like, she's, like, remember

1:17:29

that time during COVID? Like, I told

1:17:31

you so her

1:17:34

cousin, which is our

1:17:36

current designer Ramadan Designs.

1:17:38

So she they grew up together.

1:17:43

And during, like, the whole COVID and

1:17:45

prior to COVID, we were always complaining like our hijabs. Like, when we're

1:17:48

doing compressions and stuff, it

1:17:50

would flap over onto the patient

1:17:54

Like

1:17:54

Oh. And then it's like you're doing compressions and then

1:17:57

your job is everywhere and then the patient

1:17:59

has blood. And it's

1:17:59

like it's like you better have an extra

1:18:02

one as a backup. I remember she told

1:18:04

her cousin, like, hey, can

1:18:06

you just make us, like,

1:18:10

very suitable very easy, not too long, like, hijacks or

1:18:12

else. You know what I mean? That's, like, very,

1:18:14

like, health care friendly. And then she was, like,

1:18:16

oh, I don't know what you guys like. Like, I'm

1:18:18

a designer, but I'm not in the healthcare field. Like like, I don't know how to

1:18:20

join those two worlds together. She's like, just design

1:18:22

something for us. Like, there's so many things

1:18:25

we need. Oh, the old operating

1:18:27

room. We need skirts. they

1:18:30

don't allow you to like, they they want you everything sterilized, so they give you pants and a top. So now

1:18:32

you and Udi, you've decided

1:18:34

you guys are gonna make Yes.

1:18:39

Disposable hijabs. Disposable --

1:18:41

Disposable hijabs. Yes. --

1:18:44

for women in women who wear

1:18:46

her jib in in the medical? Yes. So she was like, we can contact cousin

1:18:48

because

1:18:48

I told her earlier to do

1:18:51

this with for us prior,

1:18:56

but I guess she said that they she

1:18:58

contacted the hospitals. Actually, I wanted to

1:19:01

do it. but got turned down. So

1:19:03

she kind of she was a busy person. Like, she does, like, fashion week for

1:19:05

Minnesota. Like, she's doing

1:19:07

all the designs Oh

1:19:10

my god. She is not that known and

1:19:12

I wish she was so known because the

1:19:14

amazing work that she does behind

1:19:17

the scenes I'm like, can you just come to

1:19:19

the front? Yep. For fore fronts? I've had a lot. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing why there's so many Muslim women doing incredible

1:19:21

things. Yeah. And that's the

1:19:23

point of TDS. We're

1:19:27

here to spotlight everyone that's doing the

1:19:29

groundwork to make a difference for

1:19:31

all of us because there is

1:19:34

there's people happening people are happening during real time and people like

1:19:36

you and Udi and everyone

1:19:38

else that, like, fought to

1:19:42

do this, to advocate to advocate

1:19:44

for yourselves to not take no. And, like, look at

1:19:46

who you guys are. You guys went through everything just

1:19:49

to land at

1:19:52

the business project. I didn't know Ray.

1:19:54

How your essential of your dreams that represents everything that you

1:19:56

guys are and

1:19:59

everything that you experienced what

1:20:01

a waste? How do I Like, when I look at the trade of

1:20:03

the story that I lost Hotels put you guys on, it's like everything

1:20:06

kind of makes sense.

1:20:09

You know, because, like, if if if a lot were to make this successful, right,

1:20:11

this project, this these these hedgehabs, you

1:20:15

know, it would You guys have an

1:20:17

incredible story. Thank you. Now if you can get to this point, it was it

1:20:19

was almost made by design,

1:20:22

a

1:20:22

lot of design that this

1:20:24

would be your avenue, and this is your story. And I'm just I'm so

1:20:27

proud of you. Yes, ma'am. I don't even know what to say. You

1:20:29

are a modern day

1:20:31

hero, baby. My mom modern

1:20:33

day. get me a emotional. You know

1:20:36

what? They always say that heroes don't don't real

1:20:38

heroes don't wear capes. You know what I'm saying?

1:20:40

And sometimes, heroes

1:20:42

wear scrubs. Sometimes, they are they're in just

1:20:45

in any any space

1:20:47

under their teachers. Sometimes

1:20:50

they are our parents. Sometimes it's

1:20:52

just a hero is someone

1:20:55

who not only

1:20:56

fights from the cells, but fights

1:20:58

for the well-being of others. You know what

1:21:01

I'm

1:21:01

saying? That is a hero and, like, I

1:21:03

I know you're cringing at the whole

1:21:05

hero.

1:21:05

I know. You've seen it right

1:21:07

now. Yeah. You're printing. But the thing is, I

1:21:10

have to say this. A lot of us talk believing in them. And we real. Like, sometimes

1:21:12

the word

1:21:13

heroes left to

1:21:15

Marvel and Television. but

1:21:18

they

1:21:19

are very much exist.

1:21:21

And a loss of

1:21:23

Harjothala rewards those who

1:21:25

just are at the cause of

1:21:27

other people. Allah Sadai loves that -- Mhmm. -- those who at at the cause

1:21:30

and help of others. Allah

1:21:32

Sadai, says

1:21:35

those those people who love each other for a

1:21:37

la seg one, who take up each other's

1:21:39

cause to those

1:21:43

who, like, you know, to fill the rights -- Mhmm. -- to fill

1:21:45

the rights. Right? Yeah. And they

1:21:47

do, sen. Allah has nothing

1:21:49

else but planned, but don't

1:21:51

talk for those. for

1:21:53

them. You know, and

1:21:54

it's just those to me is what other people might define as

1:21:57

heroes. These these

1:21:59

are people who who

1:22:01

what they do in this Dunia transcends even in the achara.

1:22:03

Like, these people are not just really just on a

1:22:06

bigger and better, you know,

1:22:10

trajectory. And I just wanna say, yes, me to you and Eugen everyone.

1:22:13

Yes. I know it was like twelve

1:22:15

or fifteen double neck. Wait. And I'm

1:22:17

sure they all have similar stories.

1:22:19

Yeah. You know, I'm sure even

1:22:21

today they're all still advocating and fighting and pushing the emblem and not

1:22:24

taking no

1:22:27

for an answer. will lie is greater in the

1:22:29

a hundred and I'm I look for I hope I I make it there and I hope I

1:22:32

see it.

1:22:35

You know, all of the efforts. And, you know, beautiful about this is,

1:22:37

you guys did this at shit Babs. You guys

1:22:39

did this as young people. You know?

1:22:41

And and it really tells

1:22:43

you that young people are

1:22:45

are so important that you need to be taken care of because they're

1:22:47

they are trying their best -- That's true. -- to

1:22:49

make it different. And they're

1:22:51

trying their best to

1:22:54

make way. And I just wanna say publicly and

1:22:56

I know listeners are probably like

1:22:58

really are so inspired by your

1:23:01

resilience. and I'm so excited to see when your head jobs come out. Oh my

1:23:03

god. And they get into and and and hospitals buy them, and and

1:23:05

we see, you know, women a head

1:23:07

job, wearing them. It's

1:23:11

I we can all remember how that started. Yeah. Like,

1:23:13

we can all remember how we got to

1:23:15

that point. Yeah. It it

1:23:18

came from a point of

1:23:20

women in a job who wanted to make

1:23:22

a difference and how people generally for the sake of a loss behind on to Adele.

1:23:24

Firstly -- Yeah. --

1:23:27

is why those invited why

1:23:29

these hijab, these finer grills were created was for the sake

1:23:31

of a lost noitiza. And it's beautiful. These things can be

1:23:35

in spaces like hospitals, and people could wear them. You

1:23:37

know what I mean? Like, it's a beautiful -- So -- reminds of that. And I just

1:23:40

I love how Faith drove

1:23:42

you guys, and I love it's

1:23:45

faith that made you guys extraordinary in your

1:23:47

pursuit beautiful. Yeah. May I lost on time make you successful?

1:23:51

Yes, ma'am. Meaning I think you

1:23:53

guys successful in this pursuit and made a lot

1:23:56

of us ultimately accepted from

1:23:58

you guys. I mean I mean

1:24:00

I meaning

1:24:02

except that from you guys. III always

1:24:04

ask and this is beautiful, I guess, the

1:24:06

end episode because I've been asking and

1:24:09

the season guys This is our last

1:24:11

episode. You know, this is our last

1:24:13

episode. Last story, actually. Not episode. There's

1:24:15

another episode coming on Nextiva, but it's different.

1:24:17

But this is a last story we're telling

1:24:19

a season two. And to wrap it up, and

1:24:21

of course, I have to ask questions because I'm trying to ask as many guests these

1:24:24

questions. But What

1:24:27

name

1:24:27

of a lust for

1:24:29

how it ties ninety nine names

1:24:31

resonates with you most

1:24:34

and why? It will

1:24:35

be a Nasea, meaning he is

1:24:38

the helper and the

1:24:40

protector because you

1:24:42

have to just understand with telecom,

1:24:44

the Relay. We just have to learn how

1:24:46

to let go sometimes that we

1:24:49

don't know what's best

1:24:51

for us. Relay knows way

1:24:53

better for us and the type of path that we should go through. If I

1:24:55

were to draw my path today, I would

1:24:57

say I would do this in

1:24:59

this in this. and

1:25:02

think that it would guarantee me

1:25:04

the results that I want, but no. You would learn through

1:25:06

trials and tribulations, and I still there to be helpful.

1:25:11

still they're protecting you, but having you learn the lessons that

1:25:14

you need to learn to gain the

1:25:16

wisdom that you need

1:25:18

to gain in order to

1:25:20

fulfill the blessings

1:25:22

that you're seek seeking out to. So my biggest thing biggest

1:25:28

on kind of like feedback for

1:25:30

healthcare workers, especially as I know what you're going through and I know

1:25:33

how tough it

1:25:36

is. But just understand that

1:25:38

there's a bigger picture to this. We might not understand it as human beings because our

1:25:41

mind is

1:25:44

very limited. So we not we

1:25:46

don't understand the scope of it until it comes full circle, and you're just, like so that's I

1:25:49

understand the journey now. You

1:25:51

know what I mean? my

1:25:55

biggest takeaway from all

1:25:57

of this is to help

1:25:59

every Muslim woman, especially young

1:26:01

women that are coming into

1:26:03

healthcare understand that your presence is you are worthy

1:26:08

and that your voice matters. And

1:26:10

we might have just seen one area to fix and how to fix one area,

1:26:12

but you might see a completely

1:26:14

different area. Don't shine your dreams out.

1:26:18

and we need everybody to step out and make

1:26:21

changes, and we need to all

1:26:23

sit at the table. Yes,

1:26:24

lean

1:26:25

story is not to

1:26:28

scare you. from trusting healthcare professionals or meant

1:26:30

to stop people applying for jobs in the healthcare sector. Rather,

1:26:32

we're sharing the story to

1:26:34

merely remind you how important health

1:26:38

care advocates are. It's a never back down from holding systems accountable no matter how

1:26:40

scary or

1:26:42

difficult it may be. speak

1:26:46

up. And to

1:26:47

remember that all we got is

1:26:50

community. All we got is each

1:26:52

other. And don't take that

1:26:54

for granted. We are better and stronger together, unified.

1:26:56

There are very few

1:26:58

moments in life. We could look

1:27:00

at everything you went through,

1:27:03

the pain, the sorrow, and realizing hindsight that a loss

1:27:05

from how to ala is the

1:27:07

best of planners. Nobody ever

1:27:10

forgets to die they

1:27:12

made their most desperate time of

1:27:14

need, especially when it got accepted, and man, where he smeared to

1:27:16

man eyes

1:27:17

an example

1:27:20

of that. not

1:27:20

only did a law accept it, but he wrote for

1:27:22

her a

1:27:22

path that would not only open more doors for her,