In this episode, we talk with Danielle Dorschner. Danielle shared about the moment in time when she knew she wanted to be a nurse, how she moved into leadership roles, and how engaging in volunteering supported her own learning and growth in leadership.

Danielle is a bilingual healthcare leader with over 30 years of healthcare experience, from local service delivery to the international front.  She has recently retired as the Executive Director of OHSNI, a community-based organization coordinating and managing care for Nunavummiut medical travellers and their families coming to Ottawa for health care services. After working in a hospital setting for a few years, she then worked in public health and then moved to Accreditation Canada where she worked for 16 years in various positions, progressing to the Executive Director of the Canadian Accreditation program. 

On this episode, Leah is joined by Cory Jenks, an ambulatory care clinical pharmacy specialist and formerly a retail pharmacist, outpatient clinical pharmacist and inpatient clinical pharmacist. Corey is also an accomplished improv comedian and travels around the country, speaking to other healthcare professionals and teaching them how to apply the skills of improve comedy to create a more adaptable, empathetic and humanising healthcare experience.

Every day we make choices on how much time and energy we invest into our work. Often, those choices are rooted in the belief that if we "just" work harder things will get better. Host Leah talks with Kathy Howe, Executive Director for the Alberta Association of Nurses, on how this belief is baked into the healthcare culture, how things are changing, and what you need to do as a leader to change this for yourself and others.

Whether we mean to or not, we sometimes behave in ways that create walls between ourselves and our teams. However, as leaders, it's important to remember that your people usually know when things are going off the rails or when you are not being vulnerable. They want to see whether you have the courage to tell them and to show your authentic self.

In this episode we hear from Todd Buchanan, Business & Operations Manager, Peer Support South East Ontario, unpacks the idea of being vulnerable in a leadership role and how that inspires people to do their best work. 

Many healthcare organizations, already beleaguered by staffing shortages among many other challenges, sailed into a storm of all storms, the COVID-19 pandemic. Tresha Moreland, a 30-year experienced HR leader in healthcare who specializes in strategic planning, workforce planning, and employee engagement, shares that it’s never too late to start again and build a resilient organization and 10 steps on how to get there.

On today's episode we hear about the lived experience of Kristine Russell and how she used this experience as a catalyst for her involvement and career in healthcare. After the birth of her third child, a daughter named Ellie, Ellie and Kristine developed septic shock from Group A Streptococcus. This severe illness required life saving measures for both her and Ellie. With little to no research around long term implication from sepsis or severe infection at birth, Kristine dove head first into the world of health research, patient quality improvement and patient engagement not only in a healthcare setting but beyond. As a result, Kristine offers a unique perspective on how healthcare leaders can partner with patients and clients in care, specifically in research. Additionally, Kristine offers practical ideas on how healthcare professionals can value the lived experience of their patients and clients.

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Laura Janusik. Dr. Janusik is known throughout the world as a leading expert in teaching and training listening. Her PhD in Communication and her MBA assist her in using research-based information to help people change their daily communication interactions to develop greater cohesion, increase trust, demonstrate empathy, meet deadlines, and increase productivity...all through the power of listening! In our conversation Dr. Janusik talks about the challenges with communication in healthcare, how words don't create meaning; people do, and four ways healthcare leaders can listen and understand better.

In today's episode Leah talks with Registered Nurse Caroline Brunt. Through her experience as a Street Nurse/ Outreach Nurse working with marginalized populations in Vancouver's Downton East Side, the gay community in the West End and migrant farm workers in the Fraser Valley providing STI/HIV care Caroline has learned the critical value of creating connection. Based on this experience Caroline shares her perspectives on how to instil humanity into care and to connect with people in a way that meets them where they are at.

As part of her career Caroline spearheaded an award winning nursing documentary about people who use drugs - talking about the complexity of the nurse patient relationship, health access, equity and respect. The documentary is titled Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing. Bevel Up is used in nursing schools across the country and has helped change how we treat people who are marginalized, not only in Canada, but in other countries around the world.

On this episode of Central Line, Leah is joined by Dr. Ann Messer, the founder, executive director and board chair of One Good Turn, a global non-profit which travels to the most remote areas of the world. One Good Turn gives health workers worldwide the resources and knowledge to help build self-sustaining and healthy communities by providing the local health staff the physical exam skills, diagnostic reasoning skills and the health knowledge to approach rational treatment to better serve their communities.

If you would like to learn more about One Good Turn and find out how you can help go to www.onegoodturn.org

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Today we chat with Michelle Troseth and Tracy Christopherson. Michelle and Tracy are co-founders of MissingLogic®. They help healthcare organizations and healthcare leaders combat burnout through the power of a framework driven approach founded on Polarity Intelligence™. The core of their work is leading healthcare organizations through transformational change that results in the best place to give and receive care, and for leaders to live their best lives both personally and professionally.

We talk about leadership for when there are no answers, which often comes down to managing the polarities that are so common in healthcare. Michelle and Tracy share how their work supports healthcare leaders to thrive and be resilient. We also talk frankly about the mental strain that is on healthcare professionals, particularly during this pandemic, and what needs to happen to address and ease that strain.

Michelle and Tracy are offering a free three-part leadership masterclass series, which includes: