Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD – MacArthur Fellow, Psychologist, and Author
By Admin | September 9, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison is a psychologist, MacArthur Fellow, and world-renowned specialist in bipolar disease. She has also been diagnosed with this condition. We recently had a chance to speak with her by phone about her life and her unique perspective on the disease.
Have you read your Wikipedia biography?
Some time ago, yes.
What did you think of it? Was it accurate?
As I remember it was quite accurate. You know, I don’t remember all the details but I remember it being pretty accurate.
Do you google yourself periodically?
I have a couple of times but not very much, no.
Where are you from?
It’s hard to say. My father was in the air force, so we were posted many different places.
I was basically brought up in Washington and then I moved to California when I was in high school. But, I lived alot of places.
I googled you and it looked like you were at UCLA for a lot of years and I wondered if you were a West Coast person.
No, not at all. I mean to say not all. My upbringing for the first sixteen years of my life was mostly in Washington, DC.
Did you ever think about the military as a career?
Not very seriously.
I am interested in how you got into psychology. Why not psychiatry? Why not medical school?
Well, I did premed. I started off in premed and I loved medicine. Actually, I was very interested in becoming a veterinarian for quite awhile.
I read some things. Basically I read William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experiences and it’s questions of psychology seemed very interesting.
So, you just let medicine go based on that one book?
I wouldn’t say I let it go. I have been practicing and teaching in a medical school for thirty years.
So, I haven’t exactly let medicine go. I don’t believe there are these territorial divides.
I think alot of psychology is extremely biological because of neuroscience. Alot of psychiatry is quite psychological in nature.
I wouldn’t draw those distinctions. I maintain an enormous respect for my colleagues in psychiatry. But, I just went a different way.
How do you like Hopkins?
I love Hopkins. I adore Hopkins. I think it is a great honor and a great privilege to teach there. I enjoy it every time I go to Hopkins. I love it.
What is the downside about Hopkins? What don’t you like about it?
I don’t have a downside. I really don’t. I love it.
Do you think you will finish your career there?
It depends on what you mean finish your career. I don’t have any plans on retiring.
I write and I assume I will be active until I die. I plan on maintaining an affiliation with Hopkins. I can’t imagine otherwise.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: MacArthur Fellows (The "Genius Grants"), Psychologists | No Comments »
Victoria Kemp, RN – Manufacturer Sales Rep
By Admin | September 4, 2008 at 1:16 am
Vicki Kemp is a sales rep for medical device maker LifeCell. We recently had a chance to meet with her and talk about her job talking to physicians.
Where are you from?
Clarksburg, West Virginia
Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?
Fairmont State University. Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing.
What has been your career path from college to your present position?
I first worked as a nurse at United Health Care on 5N, maintaining floor nursing duties and then went to WVU Hospital where I worked as a nurse in the O.R.
I moved in 2002 to Augusta, GA to follow my husband’s career move and worked at a few facilities down there in the O.R. as a travel nurse. I really loved this!
We then moved to Pittsburgh in 2004 for another transfer for my husband’s career and have settled in. While waiting for a long 5 months for the state of PA to do the paperwork for my license, I decided to give pharmaceutical sales a try.
I got a job right away and it was a roller coaster ride from the beginning. Two weeks after they hired fourteen of us, they did a mass lay off and laid off more than half the sales force.
Out of the fpurteen they hired, they only kept three of us. I continued to work for this company for another eight months until I decided to leave and go back to nursing.
The company which I will not name is no longer around and was very unstable. In trying to do what was best for our family, I went back to travel nursing in the O.R. I did this for about another year or so before I was approached and asked to come back to sales, but this time for medical device.
I took a chance and went into the sales arena again. I ended up loving it and have been doing med device sales for over 2 ½ years now. My second job is a mother of an adorable little boy named Jaxson. He is 10 months old.
What is the most important attribute a sales rep has to have to be successful?
Willingness to support your clients needs while maintaining the safety needs of all patients.
What are your strategies for coping with rejection?
Not taking it personally and evaluating myself to see what I may need to improve upon. It is a constant learning curve.
What is your strategy when talking with physicians who you sense really don’t want to be talking to you?
Trying to put myself in their shoes and recognize when they are interested and have time to talk and when they are not interested and I am wasting both parties’ time. I also try to find some sort of common ground to relate to and grow from there.
How many hours a week do you work?
I have never really have counted. It varies week to week depending on the entertaining, education and how much I do on the weekends and evenings.
In sales your job is never really done. Having constant email coverage on a cell phone, keeps me working constantly.
How important is appearance in your job?
I think professionalism, a professional attitude, and professional attire (when not wearing scrubs) is important. For me this is what makes appearance important, not one’s physical attributes.
Studies have shown that as women sales rep age and lose their looks, they get marginalized into less and less desirable jobs. How would you respond to that?
I, personally, have not witnessed this. Most of the women I have worked with, both young and middle aged, have been very successful. I believe it was their hard work and dedication to the job, not their looks that helped attribute to this.
How do you get paid? Straight salary, straight commission or a combination?
A combination of both.
Are you currently doing any clinical nursing?
Not at this time. I will say though, it is very hard to not put in a helping hand when I am in the O.R. I have to remember to ask if they want help first before I let my old habits kick in. I don’t want to step on any toes or offend anyone.
Who determines what gifts and payments you can make to physicians? Are tickets to ballgames allowed? Are dinners at nice restaurants allowed?
There are policies, procedures, and laws that govern what we can and can’t do. Games are not allowed, dinners are, if it is for educational or sales purposes. Our company is very good at maintaining strict guidelines and helping us determine what we are and aren’t allowed to do.
What do you like most about your job?
It gives me the mix of both worlds. I can do sales and use my nursing background at the same time.
Most of the time, my nursing background is helpful in allowing me to succeed. I am able to work my own schedule and drive myself to do well.
It is very fun to meet new people from all walks of life and gain great amounts of knowledge from each individual. I believe this career path has helped me to become a more rounded individual.
Disclosure: Ms. Kemp has paid a professional sales call to the interviewer to discuss her products.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Nurses, Sales Reps | No Comments »
Denise Choiniere – RN, BSN and Hospital Environmentalist
By Admin | August 3, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Where are you from?
I grew up in Connecticut
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
I graduated from Syracuse University twice, with a BA in Psychology and a BS in Nursing.
What has been your career path from college to your current position?
I traveled the US after graduating with my psych degree, returning to nursing school three years later.
I graduated nursing school in 1995 and took my first nursing job at Fletcher Allen Health Care in Burlington, VT. I worked there for 2 years and then moved to Maryland, where my husband was starting graduate school.
Our intention was to live in Maryland only temporarily. We planned on moving back to VT after he finished his degree. Well, 11 years later, we are still here.
I have been working at University of Maryland Medical Center since arriving in Maryland 11 years ago.
What is your weekly schedule like? How much of your time is clinical nursing and how much time do you spend on your environmental duties?
Unfortunately, I do not have time to do much clinical nursing. I am a full time graduate student with 2 part time jobs and a family.
I tend to return to the bedside during my semester breaks. I spend about 8 hrs a week working on coordinating environmental initiatives. I also work for Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (MDH2E) part time.
How did you get interested in heightening awareness of environmental concerns at UMMC?
I have always considered myself an environmentalist. In Vermont, recycling was just common practice. I was surprised when I came to Maryland and nobody was recycling.
Before getting started, I heard Dr. Barbara Sattler give a talk on the environmental risks that were present in the health care setting. It just did not make sense to me that hospitals were causing harm to patients, employees and the community.
As a health care provider, the last thing I wanted to do was to cause harm, and I believe all health care providers share that commitment, they just do not know they are contributing to the risks. That was the turning point in my career.
One of your projects has been to implement a battery recycling program in the hospital. How would you rate your success?
The rollout was successful. Our facilities director manages the collection and pickup of the batteries, as well as the data. He would be able to speak better to its “success.”
Do you have any outcome data that support that the quiet hour in your unit from 2 to 3PM has improved patient’s health?
I do not have data supporting improved patient health, but I do have data supporting improved patient satisfaction in regards to quiet hour.
The noise level in the unit was always a patient dissatisfier, as well a staff complaint. Patients remark that they love quiet hour, they appreciate the one hour of uninterrupted time.
One patient even said, “Thank you for asking my visitors to step out, I did not want to be rude and tell them that I needed a nap”.
Staff comment on how they like the time to catch up on paper work, check orders, or just a moment to sit down and eat something.
Did you meet any resistance from caregivers or management who maintain that units are set up for 24 hour care and that declaring care to be “off-limits” for one hour is not acceptable and dangerous to patients?
Patients require rest to recover, so “care” does not stop during quiet hour. Of course, I have met resistance and ridicule, usually from those who are working according to their own personal schedule in order to get things done, not according to the patient’s schedule.
What advice would you give to someone in the hospital who would like to get started working on environmental issues?
To start form a Green Team. There are many resources out there such as Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth. I bet there are many folks in hospitals that would like to support such an important initiative. I suggest starting with smaller projects; quick, easy wins will help motivate the group.
What are your career plans in the environmental/green industry?
To continue “greening” UMMC and other Maryland hospitals. I would like to engage more nurses in this movement.
Nurses have the highest rate of work related asthma and are at risk for many health problems due to their continuous exposures to chemicals and carcinogens. I would like to make nursing practice safer, if we can make hospitals safer for nurses, then it is safer for the patients.
What is your next project in the hospital in the environmental health area?
I am working on coordinating a farmers market to take place in a park across the street from the hospital. This would be an opportunity for staff, visitors and patients to purchase locally grown produce and support the local farming community.
Have you calculated your own personal or household carbon footprint?
No
What type of cars do you own and what type of car do you drive to work?
I decline to answer this question, for many reasons.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Environmentalists, Nurses | No Comments »
Judy Wicks – Environmentalist and Owner of the White Dog Cafe
By Admin | August 3, 2008 at 2:46 am
Judy Wicks is the owner of Philadelphia’s legendary White Dog Cafe. A perennial member of the “Best Places To Work” lists, she also travels extensively in her role as activist, environmentalist, and lecturer. She recently took time out of her busy schedule to speak to us.
Where are you from?
I was born in Pittsburgh and have lived in Philadelphia since 1970.
Where did you go to college and what was your academic major?
Lake Erie College, BA in English, 1969.
What was your career path from college to opening the White Dog Café selling muffins in your front parlor?
I was a VISTA volunteer in an Alaskan Eskimo village for a year. In 1970, I co-founded the Free People’s Store, now called Urban Outfitters.
I co-founded a non-profit publishing company called Synapse, and was the editor of two editions of The Whole City Catalog in 1972 and 1974, and the Philadelphia Resource Guide in 1981.
I was the General Manager/co-proprietor of Restaurant La Terrasse 1974-1983, and founded White Dog Cafe in 1983 and the Black Cat in 1989.
Why did you decide to open your restaurant?
I wanted to start a business on the first floor of my house once I purchased it, and that was the business I knew, besides retail, and I started the retail store a few years later.
What dish or specialty is the White Dog Café’s best? What are you known for?
We are known for buying from local farmers and serving farm fresh food in season. We are known for grass-fed steak and hamburgers, pastured pork, and free range chicken and eggs, as well as organic fruits and vegetables.
Other than your own restaurant, what is favorite restaurant in the Philly area?
Horizon.
You have won numerous awards and special mentions. Which is most important to you?
James Beard Humanitarian of the Year Award and Business Enterprise Trust Award.
Your organization has been named as a “top place to work” and as being very employee friendly with great pay and benefits. How did you come to adopt this business model?
I want to work with people who are happy and secure, so the better the business did, the more I shared with them. I don’t like the idea that employees in the restaurant business don’t usually get benefits, as though we are a second rate industry.
How long have you been interested in eco- and sustainable growth issues? What prompted you to become interested in this area?
I have always been interested because I have a love of nature and realize that the long term health of all life depends on working in harmony with nature. I became more interested when I would read about climate change because there is an urgency now.
Do you think you will ever run for political office?
I doubt it. I don’t think I would like campaigning and asking for money, and I think I would feel frustrated by the slow moving of government. I prefer the private sector.
How many hours a week do you work? What is your normal work day like?
I work an average of 12 hours a day during the week, and usually 4-6 on Saturday and Sunday. So I guess that’s about 70.
But, I work mostly on non-profit work. I spend about a third of my time on email, a third on conference calls and meetings, and a third writing, public speaking, thinking, planning.
The (restaurant and gift shop) business takes up about 25% of my time at most, and the rest is non-profit work with several organizations.
What areas in any of your businesses what you like to improve on?
At this point in my career, I’m working on helping my staff take over the business, so I guess I would say leadership development on the management team.
What is your next new project going to be?
I have launched an Economic Justice Initiative at the national group I co-founded (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) and am doing the same project locally through the non-profit White Dog Community Enterprises.
I believe we are moving from a corporate controlled industrial global economy based on exports and imports to a global network of community-based sustainable local economies.
Climate change and peak oil are adding urgency to this transformation. We need many new local businesses that help build community self-reliance in food, energy, housing and clothing.
Now is the time to see that those left out of the old industrial economy have the opportunity for ownership positions in the new green economy.
I am also working on a book about the White Dog Cafe and the local living economy movement.
Copyright 2008 DailyInterview.com
Topics: Activists, Businesswomen, Environmentalists, Restaurant Owners | No Comments »
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