Empowering Nurses to Lead with Helen Redekopp

Tim Melanson: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Work at Home Rockstar Podcast. Today we have the owner of Reddi Up Enterprises, and what she does is she helps nurses who are frustrated and stuck figure out what they want and help them achieve that goal. So I’m excited today to talk to Helen Reddi up. Hey Helen, you ready to rock?

Awesome. We always start off here in a good note. So tell me a story of success that we can be inspired by.

Helen Redekopp: Well,

I was living in the Middle East and I had the opportunity to, um, take charge of leadership development for nursing. And so I started developing a program and had people from, there was like 10,000 people working in the organization, so about 3,500 in nursing. So I had the opportunity to work with nurses from almost 40 countries.

So when you work with people who are successful. They go back to their countries. The vision of the organization was to be world-leading. So I really believed I was world-leading. And so I feel like I have a, an international audience and, uh, feel like I’m making a [00:01:00] difference in the whole world. What I would like to do is, uh, now focus a little bit more on, um, here at home.

I live in Canada, so.

Tim Melanson: Me too. Awesome. So

then along with a good note, sometimes there’s some things that don’t go as planned and we like to bring those out and talk about them to make sure that people understand that, you know, failure does happen.

Uh, we move forward. So I’m wondering, is there something that didn’t go as planned for you and how did you recover from that?

Helen Redekopp: Well, I

think that, uh,

I think every day there’s a lesson to be learned.

For

me, the thing was I trusted people. And so, for example, I would talk to somebody and they wanted to get a promotion. They, they were so eager to do things and then afterwards you find out, well, they want a promotion because not so much they want a promotion, they want out of their unit ’cause they’re having trouble with their manager or they come and talk to me because they want to,

uh,

you know, they’re in trouble and they need help to figure out how to get out of that, [00:02:00] um, situation.

They’re not telling you the whole truth. And so, uh, you’re helping them go down a

path and

it’s not necessarily, so over time of course, I learned to ask better questions and not be quite so trusting.

Tim Melanson: Hmm. Yeah. And that’s probably similar with every, with every business, right? Because people don’t tend to tell you the, the bad part, right? They often tell you, you know, all the best parts and then you end up going with the wrong assumptions, right?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: So,

Helen Redekopp: a nurse, I.

Tim Melanson: lead, go ahead.

Helen Redekopp: I was just gonna say, as a nurse, it’s like asking somebody how much they drink. You know, if they drink a lot and they just give you a little bit, they tell you a small amount and you don’t really know. Right. It’s kind of the same thing.

Tim Melanson: Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Sort of downplay that stuff. Right?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: So

did that lead to like maybe some standard operating principles or?

Helen Redekopp: Um,

well, I would say I had this program really mapped out. I have to say I [00:03:00] was alarmed when I found out these things because I, you know, how did you not figure this out? And it’s just stop beating yourself up. And, and, uh, I have very sort of standard questions that I ask people, and sometimes if it’s, I’m gonna say it’s listening to my gut.

When I don’t listen to my gut, that’s when the red flags come up. And because what’s in front of you looks like the truth. And then when

you

start. Later on, find out. You should have listened that that’s the thing. So it’s kind of a hard thing to say, but I do have a standard, um, way of finding out what people need.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Isn’t that funny how the gut feeling always comes in, eh,

Helen Redekopp: Yes, yes.

Tim Melanson: you know, and people sort of discount that and think that, oh, you know, I’m just judging, or something like that. But, you know, it’s, it’s, uh. It’s more powerful than we think. Right?

Helen Redekopp: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And I think I read somewhere that it’s like, you know, it, if there’s, if we’re not even looking at the potential [00:04:00] like energy of it all, you know, if we’re just looking at, you know, the, the difference in your gestures and you know, the way you present yourself versus what you say, like there’s a lot of like.

Things that your brain is picking up on that is not necessarily what they’re saying. Right.

You know, and,

and you know, it could even just be something as simple as that, rather than something like, you know, your gut has this, you know, you know, magic power. Right.

Helen Redekopp: Well, especially

if you want something you put on your best face and you rehearse your speech. And, um,

if

I guess after a while you just kind of go, okay, so this sounds too good to be true. It, it might be so you not quite as trusting and, and without being, getting cynical, but because, um, mean of course everybody wants to put forward their best foot in there. You know, trying to achieve

something.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, but I think that that’s a really good way to go about things is just asking the right questions, making sure that you’re checking the boxes, because like you say, I mean, there are gonna be [00:05:00] people that might still mislead you, but there also might be a lot of people that actually are not trying to mislead you.

They’re just not gonna lead with it. Right.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. Yeah. And sometimes the person who is maybe the least well presented is the person with the most potential. And, uh, and, and I don’t ever wanna overlook that. So, uh, when I look at this, um, helping nurses who are frustrated, that was me early in my profession. And so, and there was nobody to help me. So they say that you are the best person

to help

someone who you used to be.

So that’s when I see people or listen to that. I was just at a nursing conference in the US on American Organization

of nurse leaders.

One of the things they talked about was nurses leaving so early in their career and it’s usually because of their manager and, um, you don’t have anybody to talk to. And so

it’s like, um, 33% leaving

the second year of work.

And

I was that person who had a hard time at the beginning and everybody else

was working 20, 30 [00:06:00] years

in one place. You have no one to talk to and you can’t, you don’t feel like you can be honest. So that was me. And so I’m the person who can help you because that was me and I, you know, did amazing stuff in

my career.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, yeah. And, and that applies

to pretty

much all the disciplines, really. I mean, you’re, you’re gonna be able to explain to somebody. A lot better if you went through it. ’cause you know, you sort of, you feel the same way that they’re feeling. You know, you can kind of go back into the time a little bit and go, okay, that’s what I was thinking at the time.

You’re probably able to help them better, right?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah, and you feel like you can’t tell anybody because. You mean you don’t care? You know, there’s all that guilt and then people who have been doing the same thing for 20 years and love it. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong ’cause we need everybody, but you know, you’re that person who feels unhappy and maybe if you have the right direction, you can get into what you want and, and go and do that as opposed to staying unhappy or, or quitting altogether.[00:07:00]

And so, uh, yeah.

Tim Melanson: So when we get into business for ourselves, one of the things that I think, uh, I think a lot of people struggle with is just,

just

the sales part of it. Just the marketing part of it, getting out there and, and, you know, bringing in fans, right? Uh, you know, a lot of people say, Hey, I’m really good at doing whatever it is.

Like you just said. I mean, you, you, you, you were in a situation, you got yourself out of that situation, and now you feel like you can help people. But now what, how do you find the people to help?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. And so like I say, I was getting people, um. Like even on LinkedIn, I have people contact me on LinkedIn because they know I help you, for example, and they know you and you got what you wanted. And so people that I don’t know, so I have people contacting me that way and, uh, like I say, have my connections everywhere.

And

so that’s how it’s happened. But like, I would like to do something more here in Canada because this is where I live and this is my home. And when I talk to nurses here, I mean. [00:08:00] I talked to somebody who I, I went to see a visit a friend, and she was, had a nurse at, really nice, lovely lady. Really did a great job.

But

she says,

you know, I’ve been working for three months. I’m looking for something else. You know, this is not, you know, feeding my soul the way I thought it would. And

so, you

know, it’s great to help the world, but

you know,

this is my backyard and what can I do here? So I know we just had an election, so now we have people in place.

Like I would really love to have somebody come up and say they have this

idea

about how we could fix this in healthcare because everything’s so broken. This is your opportunity. And so I’m not saying I know what it is, but you know, there’s, if you have the

idea, I’d

love to work with you to help you navigate that and see what you could make happen.

Tim Melanson: Hmm.

Helen Redekopp: for example, when I was at this conference, there were these, um, two nurses who, uh, were venture capitalists and they had other nurses who invested this money

and they had

like a shark tank. So you have an idea when you’re working with patients and you think there’s [00:09:00] things that we could do this differently if we had this, or, you know, just things that you would make life easier.

And so how do you get that happening? So you have your idea, you make your pitch, and then they look at it

and helping

you invest money to make that happen.

And

so I just sort of, I’d never heard that before. And so it’s just like another avenue to help direct people because like there were 5,000 people there and you’re listening to all these different organizations talk about what they do and they had some really interesting ideas and that’s why I like to keep going because you can’t look at healthcare the way it was.

It’s changing. And so you wanna make sure that you keep up to date.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, that’s true too. So now, are there any tools that you use in your business to get success?

Helen Redekopp: Um, well, I’ve, I’ve been really fortunate to, um, have had situations where I was helped. So, for example, in terms of I taught crucial conversations. Um, I talked to the influencer. Um, I went through a whole process in

[00:10:00] helping me

write resumes at

Sal.

I went through a whole thinking into Results program and I’ve used these things and they’ve helped me.

So, um, those are just some of them that I, uh, that I can help people with.

Tim Melanson: Okay, so

you take courses yourself then.

Helen Redekopp: Absolutely. I’m

part of a,

a

support group, and we meet every morning at six o’clock, Monday to Friday, and on Friday. It’s a strategy and, you know, we share ideas

and, and, and

support each other because when you’re used to working in a big place with lots of people. Working by yourself and talking to your family is different.

Um, you know, when you’re work, other people who are doing what you do and you work

together

and

keep,

keep each other motivated.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Is that like a mastermind?

Helen Redekopp: Oh, yeah. You could call it that. We, we just call it a support group, but it is like a mastermind on Fridays, we call it a mastermind.

Tim Melanson: Right on. And how did you get, uh, hooked up with that, with that, uh, group?

Helen Redekopp: Um, [00:11:00]

when I did, uh, thinking into results, uh, they had the 6:00 AM club and we started there. And of course that broke away, but we continued. So there are people there who’ve, you know, written books, they do different things and, but we all started at the same place. And yeah, people are different places in their companies, other people, some people are making reels, um, you know, presenting in different places.

And so,

know. You

come up with something and somebody else comes up with something and they suggest it to the people in the team and you know, so keep giving each other new ideas.

Tim Melanson: Do keep each other accountable on any of these ideas

too.

Helen Redekopp: of them, yeah, some of them.

Tim Melanson: And, uh, so when, uh, when you started working on that, what kind of difference did you see in your business?

Helen Redekopp: What kind of a, I, I think I just felt more confident. Um. I was always really confident in what I, what I did. You have a lot of people around you and I remember a colleague [00:12:00] saying to me, Helen, you have this big hospital. It’s like your lab and there’s lots of people who can give you input, but when you’re working by yourself, you’re stuck with something or you have a situation you’re not sure how to handle, you have that person that you can, uh, or a group that you can run this by.

Or if you’re feeling really down, they help you turn it around in your mind. ’cause so much of. Um, getting into something new is about your mindset and you know, you,

you

can’t move out of there if you keep focusing on what’s not

working.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. I remember back in, uh, in university, I had a girlfriend that was definitely not taking, I took computer science. She was definitely not taking computer science,

but, but

I, I found that, that sometimes when I was working on a difficult problem, if I just try to explain it to her.

Even though she had no idea what I was saying, I would end up working through that problem.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. Yeah,

Tim Melanson: And

isn’t that interesting? Right. I mean, she didn’t fix the problem for me, but I fixed the problem myself by just explaining it to somebody else. [00:13:00] Does that kind of track?

Helen Redekopp: yeah. Um, well, I think it’s like everything, like if you’re, I learned something and if I teach you, that means I really know it.

Tim Melanson: Hmm.

Helen Redekopp: Or otherwise, it may just be information in my head, and then somebody asks you a question about it and you just go, well, I took that course, but I don’t remember exactly what I learned.

And so I, I

think

it’s that whole thing of teaching,

and

we have this saying about you, you, you learn

one,

you teach you, you see, when you teach one, you see when you learn, when you teach one. And so that’s kind of what that, that’s about. When you teach somebody, then you know you can, you know what it is, right?

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Yeah. And uh, it’s probably similar to why people say that you need to write things out as well. ’cause, you know, having something in your mind, you know, it’s, it’s all kind of jumbled up. As

soon as you

try to put it on paper, all of a sudden you have to, you have to organize it in a certain way. Right.

And you know it’s similar to that, right?

Helen Redekopp: yeah.

Yeah.

Tim Melanson: Yep. So now let’s start for your [00:14:00] guest solo. So tell me what’s exciting your business.

Helen Redekopp: I love what I’m able

to

do. Like when you, I

see the

lights go on in somebody. Um, so I, for example, I worked with this one nurse and she,

saw something in

her, which I can’t

explain

and got reaction. I’m not sure I saw something in her. And, uh, she worked in a clinical area that was really, um. High profile and very difficult and you just couldn’t, difficult people, uh, you know, aggressive people working

there.

It’s

kinda difficult to get managers for that. And I saw that and I just said, you know, if you did this and that, and she said, well, you know,

uh,

anyways, long story short, she did great. She not only did that, she became a director, went to the top of the organization,

but somebody

who didn’t see it. And I’ve had a couple of people like that who.

Didn’t even see themselves. Maybe they just, you know, needed something more. And like you become a manager and you, you manage and you know that

stuff. And [00:15:00] then

you know there’s a problem in another unit in the hospital and they can take you over there and you can fix it. You

can fix

the morale in the unit, you can turn it all around, like that’s skill.

Like I can do that and I could do that. So when I see somebody like that is, wow,

I.

Tim Melanson: Wow, that’s right on. And so how do you find those people, or how do those people find you?

Helen Redekopp: Um,

I’m gonna say, I don’t know. Um, it’s usually because I wanna do something, but I don’t know what that is. And, you know, as you speak to somebody, or like in some cases, I, because I know them and I, I know what they’re capable of. Um, I, I can just. I’ve always been told I’ve been great at diagnosing or, you know, finding the person who has that, that, you know, what

is it?

That jam that just doesn’t Yeah, yeah. Has that spark, but doesn’t know it. And that, that to me is the greatest satisfaction. You can help that person turn it around because they’re open and vulnerable. They don’t pretend they [00:16:00] know everything.

Oh

yeah, yeah, I heard that. You know, they’re open and vulnerable

and they

do everything and you know, you go

to an

interview, I can tell you that person’s gonna get the job.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Wow. So now how does it work? Like do individuals hire you or do hospitals hire you? How does that, how does your business

Helen Redekopp: Oh,

individuals at the moment. Um, what I really like is I like to work with a group of people. Like, for example, if there’s three or four people and they looking for the same, not necessarily the same job, but the same job title, because it’s nice when you have, um, like a, a

group

of people that are like your, um, like my 6:00 AM group.

You’re like a family. You support each other because if you’re going from a staff nurse to a manager role, for example, or to a director role or whatever, you’re

going

to, you’re leaving those people behind and you’re taken on something, it can be very isolated and it can be, you know, now you’re seeing people differently.

People that might have been your friends, now you see them, you know how they maybe not behave the way you would like them [00:17:00] to, and you have to address it that they’re expecting favor, they challenge you. That can be really hard for people. And so if you have somebody that you can go to, besides me, I mean, but you know, like you have a group of people, they’re going through the same thing and you know, you’ll make it, you’ll get through it, you’ll be fine.

Tim Melanson: Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Helen Redekopp: Because

that’s, that’s the hardest one, is that first leap.

Tim Melanson: Right. Okay. So, and I wonder how that would work. Like, so if, you know, if I was in a situation where I was looking like, would I be, do you mean that I would already have a couple friends that would be wanting

to hire you together?

Helen Redekopp: It could be. Or it could be you and you know, three people that you don’t know.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. So you would pair them up with some other people that are

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. Yeah.

Tim Melanson: the same thing?

Helen Redekopp: Well, it, it, I, I did it in the hospital where you’re working with people who were doing heading in the same direction, because I think that was always the biggest shock for people, you know? Um, I want my vacation then. [00:18:00] And, uh, well, sorry, you can’t have it because it’s already, all the vacation time is taken.

Well, you’re my friend. I’m expecting you. And then,

well,

we’re not carpooling anymore, or, you know, I’m not babysitting your kids anymore. Like it can get really difficult. And so, um. That’s why it’s nice when you have people, you know, who, who can, who understand exactly what you’re going through because they’re in the same situation.

I’m not saying it’s always that

way, but those

kinds of things have happened and,

and

that was the thing that I always heard

people say was the hardest for

them.

Tim Melanson: So if I was interested in learning more about you, how would I get more information?

Helen Redekopp: Um, well, a lot of people contact me on LinkedIn. Um, I have a, you can get me on Facebook

and you

can also get me on. Website. I’m in the process of updating it, but I do have a website.

Tim Melanson: Okay, what’s the website?

Helen Redekopp: It’s redekoppenterprises.com,

Tim Melanson: Awesome. Redekoppenterprises.com

and then they can find you on LinkedIn. [00:19:00] What, how do I, how do they find you there?

Helen Redekopp: just my

name.

Tim Melanson: Okay. Easy.

That’s

great. And what, what’s the process that they go through when they, you know, so they go to the website, do they, can they sign up like for free consultation or is there,

Helen Redekopp: Yeah, so it, it would, it would be a 30 minute, um, you know, call. We, and I would talk to them about what they wanted or what their needs were, because not everybody’s talks to me about a promotion. Some people, um, you know, if you’re struggling in a, in your job, and these are sometimes the hardest ones, you’re struggling in your job and this is what I’m being accused of him. And

sometimes you don’t really know, like for example, if you’re being accused of being a racist. Okay, so that’s very, uh, um, emotionally charged.

Tim Melanson: Hmm.

Helen Redekopp: What, what makes them say that? And so, and then it’s like, are you doing those things? ’cause you need to stop doing that because you can’t be in that job and have those kinds of things said about you.

So for example, I had a situation where a person was, you [00:20:00] know, Caucasian and British and came to work and talked to her. People. And then they said, I had this person come and tell me she’s racist. And I said like, tell me what that looks like. Well, she comes in and she says hi to the peoples who are from her country, not to anybody else.

So when I talked to her, like, you know, you’re, you’re new in your job and you’re scared and you go to the people you feel comfortable with, but they interpreted as racist. So when I spoke to the person who accused her, I said, you know, this is what’s happening. And then she said, she’s a manager. She needs to be stronger than that.

No mercy. So, yeah. So yeah. And, and, and now that

the world is so, um,

diverse, that’s something that really, you know, need to, um, be aware of and how different people from different countries, they have different thought processes, different beliefs about genders, and you know, what nurses and what doctors do and who speaks up and who advocates for what.

It’s, it’s a complicated world.[00:21:00]

Tim Melanson: Yeah, it is a complicated world. Yeah, because, because you, you, you kind of have this. Tolerance, but not just sex.

Helen Redekopp: On the surface tolerance. On the surface

Tim Melanson: but it’s exactly

the opposite,

right? ’cause I mean,

and, and then there’s the whole thing about the, you know, like what you just said, sort of like an anxiety, right? I mean, someone comes in with some anxiety thinking that, okay, I’m just looking for some familiar faces that I can feel comfortable with, you know, but that’s not okay.

Well, so

it’s like

what, what trumps what? Right. Is

it the

mental health that is more important or is it the opposite of whatever that is? And you know, everything’s complicated now, right?

Helen Redekopp: And, um, you have people coming from all these, all different countries and everywhere and, and healthcare is, uh, it’s very, you know, we’re importing nurses to Canada from all kinds of countries. And, uh, you know, they weren’t raised in our value system. They weren’t raised with, [00:22:00] uh, Canadian health standards.

And when I say Canadian, it’s like North American Health Standards. They weren’t raised with those standards. And so. You can tell somebody in a classroom something, but doesn’t mean that they reg it. Registers.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Well, yeah, and then there’s the other side of it too, with the patients. ’cause now the patients like are also experiencing the same type of situation where they’re dealing with people that maybe they’re not super comfortable with and like how do you handle that?

Right.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. Yeah. And people, um,

you know, if English is not your first language and. Somebody’s saying something to you, you’re nodding your head yes. Yes. And then afterwards you realize they have absolutely no idea what they said.

You

know, so it, I I think healthcare is like re really complicated and, I mean, it’s easy to sit, talk about what the issues are, but, um, I, I always say the person who’s a frontline manager, you have administration on wanting something, you have.

Patients

want something. You have, the nurses want [00:23:00] something that you work with, want something, um, doctors want something. And there’s just so many people to please and there’s never enough resources, never enough people. And you know, I always think that’s the, the toughest job. And if you can do that, you can do anything.

So I, I think that, that, I always teach people at that level. It’s like, let me just make sure I help you think bigger, because invariably some people, not all will wanna go to the next level. But if you do that really well. You’re, you’re doing, you’re doing great. And how you measure that is outcomes. Um, how well do you get along with people?

What are your patient outcomes? Things that we measure. So it’s, um, I, I, I think being in a, in a, any kind of a leadership role in nursing is tough, uh, like teaching. You can’t just say that just because I said it, they understood it. You want them to repeat it back to you.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Well, and, and especially in healthcare, there’s the, the stakes are high too. I mean, it could be life and death. I mean,

Helen Redekopp: Could be.

Tim Melanson: a big deal. It’s not like you’re working in an office and you just have to get along with [00:24:00] everybody.

It’s, you have to

do that and also make sure that people don’t die.

Right.

Helen Redekopp: yeah. And I think the other thing is when people talk about, well, that’s their job. When you talk about, um, death, I mean,

I

mean nurses who graduate from nursing school, they’re really, really young. I. And, um, well, even if you’re old, it doesn’t matter. You know, you’re, you’re, you have

a patient and

suddenly they’re not there.

I mean, they were, it’s fine when they’re still breathing, even if they’re unconscious. Once that heart stops like that, somebody’s mother, father, brother, sister, child, whatever, and it tears on your soul. And when you do that like five days in a row, because people in hospitals are really sick these days, um, it, you know,

it’s not just part of your job, well, it is part of your job, but.

What it does to your soul and how, how it burns you out. So you need to have the strategies in place to deal with that.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. Yeah. I think probably everybody needs a coach in that field,

Helen Redekopp: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

And, and, uh, you know, I think, [00:25:00] I think also over the last few years there’ve been a little bit of

a

kind of a push to get people through programs as well. ’cause we are, we are, we are a little bit short on that kind of stuff, right?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

And I,

I. When you look at the things that you hear in the news about

things that

are happening, and uh, you know, well, this person did this because they have mental health problems. Okay, well, whoever that person is that died, that somebody’s family member, so does this, like something has to change.

Like, and how do we deal with the person who has mental health issues and doesn’t take their medication? Like, what do we do with that? Because there are people who have come to harm because that wasn’t taken care of himself. and a hospital is a microcosm of society. Like any healthcare situation is a health, a microcosm of society.

So people have kids who do drugs, you know, they’re divorced, they’re, you know, all kinds of problems that you, that everybody has or lots of people have. It’s not, they’re not unique. They’re not perfect because they’re [00:26:00] looking after other people that are sick. So, you know, it’s, uh, I think it’s a complicated thing, but like, if you love it and you are excited about solving the problems.

It’s the place to, because it gives you great satisfaction when it turns around.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I think that that’s the, I think that that’s the other part of it too, is that there’s a lot of people that. Get into that field because of the, you know, the reward on the other side is actually pretty high. Right. It’s just, it’s just a really challenging, I, I, I do know some nurses,

so, uh, you know, it’s, you,

you kind of hear the stories of what’s going on and, um, you know, unfortunately we don’t have, you know, the best support for our

healthcare

system right now.

And I’m hoping that that changes over the next little while. Um,

but

Helen Redekopp: and the resources are not there either for the, for the workers

or, or

for the people who, uh, are, are patients. They’re, the resources are not there to

support that. And so

every, [00:27:00] everywhere you

look.

Um, that piece seems to be broken. And then what’s the quality to, um, of what you, of what’s available

to you and do

you jive with them?

And I know that, um, I lived in Vancouver for a long time and, uh, everybody has employee assistance programs, but there’s still this thing about going to see somebody and it’s the scariest thing that they’ll ever do. Talking about yourself, but for some reason people think that whatever has happened to them has never happened to anybody else, and that’s never true.

Tim Melanson: Well, my idea is I think that pharmaceutical companies should be nonprofit,

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: I

mean, hey,

will

that ever happen? I don’t know. But

if, if it.

Helen Redekopp: Don’t hold your breath.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, because,

uh, it just doesn’t make any sense that there’d be companies that are making money off of, off of that when, you know, it probably would [00:28:00] solve a lot, but, you know.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. And, and, and

our society is very much, you’re not feeling well, here’s a pill.

Tim Melanson: Yeah. And that’s wrong. I, I think it’s wrong. I, I’m, I didn’t vary the opposite my whole life. I don’t even take Tylenol. Like, it’s just, I,

I.

I,

but then again, I’ve organized my lifestyle as a work at home rockstar.

Right. Work from home.

If I’m not feeling good, I take a nap. I, I don’t think a whole lot of people are in this situation where they can just sleep it off.

Right. Or they’re in a situation where they have to go to work, there’s no other choice. Right.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. And, um, you

know, like when we different, uh, businesses have gone through layoffs and the spouse is laid off and it’s like they come and they talk to you. It’s just like, like, I just need to make sure my job is secure because,

you know,

we’ll lose our home if I don’t work. And,

you know,

I mean, people have very, very stressful situations.

I think life’s very stressful. You

know, I just, I was just thinking about this today. Like

when I think about.

My definition of a [00:29:00] family when I was growing up and when I was, you know, first in nursing school is a mom and a dad that are married, that have 2.2 kids, a house and a pick fence. Well, the, the definition of a family is just so different now.

And, um, you know, there’s just like, things are just changing so much and, and I think that a lot of times these things are very stressful. People are, and the cost of living in Canada is really high, so. We’re looking for better days ahead with things moving in a different direction.

Tim Melanson: I

don’t know. It seems like it’s moving the same direction, but whatever.

I dunno,

Helen Redekopp: didn’t happen by accident. People voted.

Tim Melanson: people did vote. Yeah. So, we’ll,

I, I’m I, what I’m hoping for, and I don’t want to get super political, but it seems as though, uh, if people could hold our elected officials [00:30:00] to the same accountability that they were holding other people on social media. Imagine where we would be, you know, I mean, uh, you know, it seems as though most of the reasons why people were voting, I, I mean, I’ve been kind of a little bit vocal about that have been in misinformation on both sides.

So they’re voting for the guy that they think is gonna do whatever it is they think they’re gonna, like. I, I think people are voting for hope. They, they, they think that the person that they voted for is gonna do something that’s gonna be good and that’s great. They also thought that the other guy was gonna do something that was bad.

Correct.

And,

and, and like, unfortunately, most of those reasons were actually, were actually fake. So, you know, the, the misinformation campaigns that both parties like employed actually worked. They got people to not vote for the other guy. Right.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

Tim Melanson: But now what I’m hoping for is that. All the reasons why you say you voted for the person that you voted for.

[00:31:00] Let’s hold them accountable for those reasons. You know, you think that this is gonna lead us to a better place, then let’s make sure that that happens. And you know, I think part of that is, I mean, healthcare has been an important piece of this, of this whole puzzle, and it seems to me that we’re not really actually holding anybody accountable to improve healthcare because don’t think it’s better than it was 10 years ago.

Helen Redekopp: I think that there’s technology that has made certain practices better. Um, like, you know, I think about, um, 25 years ago, I remember patients like who had, uh, bone cancer and have their leg amputated

and

most of them died and now

it’s a

small percentage that, that doesn’t need, that needs, uh, trans um, an amputation.

Tim Melanson: Yep.

Helen Redekopp: Hip replacements used to stay in the hospital. I mean, I know of some of them that stayed in the hospital for 21 days. Now it’s daycare, and so there’s te [00:32:00] the technology has been phenomenal. Having said that, the person who’s in the bed is really sick

Tim Melanson: Yeah, yeah,

Helen Redekopp: and so, and, and that’s hard.

Tim Melanson: yeah. I think what, what I hope is gonna happen, uh,

because

like when I think

about. The,

the, the, the healthcare system, the way it is right now. I think that, uh, when it comes to like acute care, like meaning, like you say, you got into an accident or something like hap Well, I think that they’ve, we’ve got a pretty good system opposed to 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.

However, when it comes to preventative care, I think we’ve got a way worse situation right now. I, I think that a lot of people will, like you say, just go to a doctor, get a pill and call it a day, but that doesn’t solve anything if you keep on doing what you’re doing. So what I’m hoping is gonna happen, and I mean, you’d think that that.[00:33:00]

This would be supported by, by the, you know, powers that be, but a lot more preventative care. And I’m not talking about a pill, I’m talking about just lifestyle changes that I think would make a huge difference. And, you know, if our governments could sort of jump on board and, and say, Hey, what if we just kept people away from the hospital in the first place unless something happens, they get into an accident.

Maybe that might free up some resources. ’cause I know that wait times in your emergency rooms are pretty long, and I imagine a lot of that would not happen if we had better preventative care, maybe with more holistic type medicine. I don’t know. We’ll

see.

Helen Redekopp: Yeah. and, and and I, I’m gonna say when they seek. I think some people don’t even really understand what that would look like.

Tim Melanson: I agree.

Helen Redekopp: I think that, I think they need to specify like, we should do this and we should do that, and then really make it happen, as opposed

to just

leaving it up to somebody. But like, for [00:34:00] example, one of the things that, you know, uh, I worked where we had done a lot of these, uh, bariatric

uh, surgeries

on patients, you know, to lose weight and it was like.

You meet the weight criteria to have the surgery, and you have the surgery, but there’s no follow up in terms of psychology. There’s no follow up in terms of like working with a dietician. You have the surgery, well, you know what, that weight’s gonna fall off real fast and then it, it stops.

And

if you don’t change, if you don’t change your habits of eating habits and you don’t change your exercise habits, it’ll come back on.

And you see that so many times people going for a second type of procedure and whatever. So. I’m just using that as an example in terms of like, what should people be doing and um, how do you help people?

Tim Melanson: Yep. Well, it’s an excellent example and I, I know that I, I recently changed the, my diet, um, over the last six months or so, my wife and I ’cause, uh, uh, she wanted to improve her blood test [00:35:00] results and I. Just changing that diet and, and a lot of it was taking out processed food. And unfortunately our food supply is terrible.

Like I remember when I first started learning about this and I would go to the grocery store and I would look at the labels on, and, and you could not find anything in the grocery store

that

didn’t have something fake added to it. And I’m like. I don’t like, how, how did we get here? If we can’t even buy real food in the grocery store, then how are we gonna,

how

are we gonna move forward?

And, you know, it turned out like, I mean now, I mean, I do my best to support the local farms and actually buy real

food,

but that’s not even a normal thing to talk about. I mean, I talked to my friends about it and they’re, they’re just like,

what? Like

this should be part of our main conversation is how do we, how do we get real food instead of all this [00:36:00] process stuff?

And you know, imagine what would happen if we maybe started to look into that direction. Like it’s just, it’s harder than it needs to be, I think. Right.

Helen Redekopp: And I think it’s the same thing for people. I’m just gonna say in hospitals who wanna be promoted. It’s not about, like, what we used to do is if you were, I’m gonna say a really good nurse, um, oh, well, you must be a good manager. So they put you in management and, you know, I mean, you can be, but I’m not saying it’s, um, they, they can’t, it can’t work.

But it’s kind of like everybody can be a mother, everybody can be a manager. And so, you know, once things get really bad and you know, you get removed from your job. Well, I. Number one, it’s devastating for you. There’s a mess on the unit. And, um, so, and what that does to that person’s self-esteem.

But

so much of what I work with people on, I feel sometimes almost like a psychologist, because

it’s about

your [00:37:00] mindset.

Tim Melanson: Yeah.

Helen Redekopp: You, what you don’t believe you have, you can have. And um, you know, the, the universe runs by laws. What you put up comes back to you. So be careful when you think about treating someone badly, it’s gonna come back to you. So I. Every day go out and make sure everybody feels, everybody that meets you has an interaction that they feel like lucky that they met you today.

And so when I think of how, um, when I was listening to some of these things in this conference, they were talking about incivility. People call it bullying, but it’s incivility. My group speaks a certain language. ’cause we came from some country, we speak our certain language in front of you and it leaves you out and you’re brand new and you feel isolated and whatever you’re gonna

leave.

So it’s like a lot of these things or they, I roll my eyes because you’re new and you’re asking me questions, the same questions over and over again. So it’s all of those things. You can’t fire somebody for that because they

haven’t killed

anyone or hurt anyone really. Right. But it’s, um, it, it causes people to leave.

So when you’re the manager and what they’re saying is HR didn’t know how to deal with it. So she [00:38:00] actually wrote this book and sent us some, uh, or gave us some scripts on how to deal with this. Because we, we let it become a norm. But when I think about so many things is

about,

and if you had a manager who behaved a certain way, it’s likely that you behave that way.

And if they’re great, fabulous. But if they were mean to people, then you might be mean to people. And so, like I say,

it’s.

How, how to write up a budget, look at what they did last year. I mean, it’s kind of simple and, uh, lot of skills. You could teach somebody how to deal with people. It’s about relationships.

You want physicians to work with you. You better have good relationships. You want your staff to work with you. You better have good relationships. You better treat people fairly. Everybody’s watching and do you treat all that, all the ethnicities the same way? Because people always came to me and said, well, we’re waiting to, we were waiting to see how you were gonna handle that.

Did you, do you treat this person who did this? If they were Canadian, would you treat them the same way? Because that’s the test, because they’re watching how you treat [00:39:00] people. And if you don’t treat them the same way, you’re a racist. And that’s a very emotionally charged statement. And it just has to come out of the, out of somebody’s mouth that works with you, and it becomes your reputation.

Tim Melanson: Wow.

Wow.

Helen Redekopp: It’s

all of those things. And that’s why I say I think it’s, it’s tough and uh, and people think, like

for

example, in North America, we think it’s, uh, white people not liking people of, um, another color. When you deal with people from all over the world, it’s, that’s the tip of the iceberg because it’s people from the same culture that have different religions or um, different social stratas and oh, just.

I mean, just so many things that, I mean, I just had my eyes open when I lived in the Middle East. It was just amazing.

Tim Melanson: Yeah, I think we’re. And we’re, we’re, we’re importing so many people from other company countries so quickly that it’s given. [00:40:00]

We’re probably gonna have a hard time kind of catching up all that stuff too, as uh, and then of course you get, you get it on both sides too. It’s not just us, the white people, it’s also other, other ethnicities that are now being brought in, in massive groups that might be treating everybody else differently just because of language or whatever it is.

It’s complicated, I think, right?

Helen Redekopp: Yeah.

And, and people who come from poorer countries, they sometimes feel very, um, people are angry or jealous because, I mean, we’ve had great education, you know, freedoms. And they haven’t, and so, or, or not necessarily. And so there’s this element of jealousy with, um, you know, people from other countries

Tim Melanson: I

Helen Redekopp: that I just never imagined.

Tim Melanson: Well, you got your workout cut out for you. That’s for sure. So thank you so much for rocking out with me today. This has been a really, really interesting conversation.

Helen Redekopp: Thank you.

I, I really enjoyed it as well.[00:41:00]

Tim Melanson: Cool. And to the listeners, make sure you go to workathomerockstar.com for more information. We’ll see you next time on the Work At Home Rockstar Podcast.