Two Kingston nurses and a doctor launched a new podcast this past weekend.
The show, called 2RN1MD, is meant to be a combination of medical education and advocacy.
Local nurses Debra Lefebvre, Jennifer Waite, and Dr. Joy Hataley got their first taste of broadcasting carefully guided by veteran broadcaster Erica Ehm.
“I’m doing my part to support health care workers by putting my gift of gab to good use for the inaugural episode of this podcast,” said guest host Ehm at the opening of the inaugural cast.
“What better person to teach us, to interview us, to give our listeners an idea as to who we are, what we’re about and what we hope to accomplish,” Lefebvre said.
Lefebvre said combining Ehm’s expertise with the backgrounds of the three medical professionals will allow the podcast to cover a wide range of topics in the medical field, like acute care, surgery, the emergency room and mental health, to name a few.
“We believe that we’re able to address some of the most pressing issues in health care today, which have only been magnified by the pandemic,” Lefebvre said.
Waite, a registered nurse, says health care workers are focused on caring for their patients, many times at the expense of their own physical and mental health. This has only become more pertinent in the current climate, and she says this is something she would like to address through the podcast.
“Nursing students, nurses in the profession now to take a look at how they care for themselves, how we can help them learn to face emotional difficulties,” Waite said.
Along with identifying issues faced by both health care workers and patients, the three hosts will also be looking at solutions and advocating for their implementation.
“How do we engage the Ministry of Health? How do we engage the minister of health? How do we engage local administrators of our health care system,” Hataley said
All these conversations will be upcoming episodes of 2RN1MD.
The second episode, available May 6, will feature guest host Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington. Moore will be discussing the successes, partnerships developed and lessons learned over the past year responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.