Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey listeners.
Speaker 1: The following is a bite sized version of an episode
Speaker 1: of On the Job, a podcast from Express Employment Professionals
Speaker 1: that shares the experiences of everyday Americans finding their life's work.
Speaker 1: These clips can be humorous and heartwarming, sometimes both at
Speaker 1: the same time, and they're always insightful.
Speaker 2: Enjoy Oddly enough, and this is gonna sound so funny,
Speaker 2: I am a baseball field person, like I look for
Speaker 2: a baseball field every time we take off.
Speaker 3: Oh, look, there's a baseball field.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's the softball player in me, but I love
Speaker 2: to see them from up high.
Speaker 3: That's Asia b. She's thirty years old, lives in Maryland,
Speaker 3: and technically speaking, she's a critical care transport nurse at
Speaker 3: a large pediatric hospital in Philadelphia. But Asia's version of
Speaker 3: critical care transport nursing is quite unique because she's what's
Speaker 3: referred to in her line of work as a flight nurse.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, a flight nurse is someone who essentially goes
Speaker 2: and picks up patients in aircraft that can either be
Speaker 2: a helicopter, it could be a fixed wing or any
Speaker 2: of those kind of vehicles that.
Speaker 3: Fly in honor of International Nurses Day. I spoke with
Speaker 3: Asia about her job as a flight nurse, why she
Speaker 3: fell in love with such a risky career, and how
Speaker 3: she balances the demands of such an intense job with
Speaker 3: motherhood and everything else she's got going on in life.
Speaker 3: And if you've never heard of flight nursing, you're not alone,
Speaker 3: because prior to taking this job, neither had Asia. But
Speaker 3: as an experienced er nurse and a self described thrill seeker,
Speaker 3: Asia knew the moment she heard that you could take
Speaker 3: care of patients while soaring through the air that she'd
Speaker 3: found the job for her. There was only one little issue.
Speaker 3: She'd never been in a helicopter before. Tell me about
Speaker 3: that first flight you took. Were you nervous?
Speaker 2: So we got a page and they send you an
Speaker 2: alert saying this is dispatch, this is the patient. And
Speaker 2: they're like, yeah, you guys are going to go out
Speaker 2: for a flight today.
Speaker 3: And I was like what.
Speaker 2: They're like, Yeah, you're going to go up in the
Speaker 2: helicopter today.
Speaker 3: And then, as she explained it, things started getting real.
Speaker 3: She and her team take the elevator to the top
Speaker 3: floor of the hospital and then walk out to the helipad.
Speaker 3: It's cold and it's windy, and her adrenaline is pumping.
Speaker 2: And then the nurse who had came with that crew
Speaker 2: is like, oh, is this your first flight.
Speaker 3: I'm like yep.
Speaker 2: She was like, oh okay, Like here's the you know,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna show you the parts of the helicopter. Stay
Speaker 2: in the front, don't walk towards the back. It's kind
Speaker 2: of like when you're having a baby. They're telling you
Speaker 2: all these things and you're like, I can't focus, Like
Speaker 2: and then I must have got too far away. She
Speaker 2: was like, stay close. I was.
Speaker 3: I forgot already for Asia. That uncertainty, that big question
Speaker 3: mark at the beginning of each day is one of
Speaker 3: the best parts of the job. But it's a job
Speaker 3: not without risks. You have a son, right, I do.
Speaker 2: He's a five year old, and my son's name is Tate.
Speaker 3: Does your son worry about you going up in the helicopter?
Speaker 2: He's My son is five, So I don't know if
Speaker 2: he actually has grasped the idea that I am like
Speaker 2: that it's so dangerous in his mind. You know, when
Speaker 2: you're that young, Oh the beauty of innocence. You just
Speaker 2: don't understand this is dangerous. Mommy's job is dangerous.
Speaker 3: So here's the thing. Well, this episode is about Asia,
Speaker 3: It's also about nurses everywhere. It's about those millions of
Speaker 3: men and women who put on their nurses scrupts each
Speaker 3: day and do their jobs, no matter how difficult or
Speaker 3: exhausting or downright dangerous it might be. At the height
Speaker 3: of the pandemic, entire cities came to a standstill as
Speaker 3: people banked pots and pans and screamed in praise of
Speaker 3: nurses and doctors and other frontline workers. Maybe you were
Speaker 3: one of those people who, at seven o'clock every night
Speaker 3: shouted out your window or stomped up and down on
Speaker 3: your fire escape in praise of our frontline workers, in
Speaker 3: praise of our heroes. And as things returned to a
Speaker 3: sense of normalcy, I'm wondering if we can't find some
Speaker 3: way to continue thanking those people, people like Asia, who
Speaker 3: we turned to in are times of need. If you'd
Speaker 3: like to thank Asia, you can check her out on
Speaker 3: our website Motheringdemama dot com for on the job. I'm
Speaker 3: Avery Thompson.
Speaker 2: A strong work ethic takes pride in a job well done.
Speaker 1: This is the kind of person you need.
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Speaker 3: we understand how critical it is to manage your business
Speaker 3: for today with the right workforce.
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