Episodes

  • Aphasia Recovery Resources You Need with Angie Cauthorne

    Aphasia Recovery Resources You Need with Angie Cauthorne
    May 26 2026
    Meet Angie Cauthorne, a two-time stroke survivor and host of the Brain Friends podcast as she shares with Nurse Rosa Hart about gaps in stroke and aphasia aftercare and the community-based solutions she has built. Angie describes developing aphasia after working in finance and realizing survivors are discharged medically stable but unprepared to navigate recovery. She shares her work as co-founder and president of the Aphasia Resource Collaboration Hub (ARCH), the R.O.S.A. symposium (Resource Orientation for Stroke and Aphasia) convening at Temple University - now in its fifth year -with panels, keynotes, and activities like line dancing, plus quarterly Science of Aphasia sessions. Angie also discusses creating an Aphasia Fantasy Football League to reduce isolation through shared interests. Both explore scaling these models and answer a “$1B grant” question, emphasizing standardized post-discharge navigation, community access, survivor-centered research, early stroke recognition, improved EMS, vocational rehab awareness, and the non-linear reality of stroke recovery.
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    34 mins
  • Invisibly Allergic with author Zoe Slaughter

    Invisibly Allergic with author Zoe Slaughter
    May 11 2026
    Invisible doesn't mean harmless, and Zoë Slaughter is done letting people pretend otherwise. Zoë Slaughter joins Nurse Rosa for a candid conversation about living with food allergies, navigating a complex healthcare system, and building an advocacy movement through storytelling and policy action. Zoë shares her personal journey from childhood food allergies to adult advocacy, breaking down how community support groups form, why misconceptions about food allergies persist, and what the latest research on early food introduction means for prevention. She also gets into the real financial burden of managing food allergies, including what she calls the "food allergy tax," and makes the case for free, universal access to epinephrine. The conversation also touches on the power of documentary film and graphic content in health education, and how everyday people can move from awareness to action, locally and at the federal level. In This Episode: Zoë's background in healthcare claims and subrogation Childhood vs. adult-onset food allergies Coping strategies and lifestyle adjustments Recent research breakthroughs in allergy prevention Her book Invisibly Allergic and its advocacy mission The "food allergy tax" and the "pink tax" on allergen-friendly products Using documentary film and storytelling to shift public perception How to get involved in allergy advocacy, from local meetups to Capitol Hill Resources Mentioned: Invisibly Allergic by Zoë Slaughter (Amazon) invisiblyallergic.com May Contain My Life documentary congress.gov Connect with Zoë: Instagram @invisiblyallergic Nurse Rosa's INsights is a nurse-led healthcare leadership and innovation podcast hosted by Rosa Hart, RN, available on the Health Podcast Library, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
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    30 mins
  • Building Interoperability with Sandra Johnson

    Building Interoperability with Sandra Johnson
    May 4 2026
    What would you do with a billion dollars to fix healthcare? For Sandra Johnson, SVP of Client Services at CliniComp, the answer is clear: solve interoperability, once and for all. Rosa Hart sits down with Sandra to unpack one of healthcare's most persistent problems, fragmented data environments that slow clinicians down, create gaps in patient care, and quietly fuel burnout across health systems. Sandra brings 25 years of healthcare IT experience to a candid conversation about why interoperability is so hard to crack, what it takes to design technology that actually works for clinicians, and how CliniComp's System as a Service model is shifting the burden of implementation away from health systems so they can focus on what matters most. In this episode: Why interoperability remains healthcare's most foundational unsolved challenge How fragmented data contributes to clinician burnout and care gaps What vendor-agnostic interoperability means and why health systems need it How CliniComp's System as a Service model removes the implementation burden from clinical teams Why workflow integration is the real key to making data meaningful at the point of care Guest: Sandra Johnson, CDH-E, SVP of Client Services, CliniComp 🔗 linkedin.com/in/sandra-johnson-cdh-e-a96b9a CliniComp: clinicomp.com Connect with Nurse Rosa: Follow Nurse Rosa's INsights in the Health Podcast Library Get the Book: Speak Up, Start Now ( Nurses Week Gift of the Year) On social media: @NurseRosaSpeaks Nurse Rosa's INsights is part of the Health Podcast Library. Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review to help more healthcare professionals find this conversation.
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    18 mins
  • Ep 75: Stop the Splash with Sarah Waimon, Nurse Inventor

    Ep 75: Stop the Splash with Sarah Waimon, Nurse Inventor
    Apr 27 2026
    What happens when a nurse gets splashed in the face with biohazardous waste and decides to do something about it? She builds a company. In this episode Rosa Hart, RN, BSN, SCRN, sits down with Sarah Waimon, RN, BSN, CEO of Waimon Innovations Inc. and creator of Looey, a nurse-invented medical device designed to protect healthcare workers from hazardous splash-back during bedpan and ostomy care. Sarah shares her journey from 16 years of bedside nursing across medsurg, oncology, ICU, colorectal, and nursing supervision to becoming a nurse entrepreneur and medical device innovator. She breaks down the moment that changed everything, a contaminated splash to the face on a colorectal postoperative unit, and how it sparked the creation of Looey, a transparent shield that attaches to standard bedpan washers to contain biohazards and protect caregivers. This episode covers nurse entrepreneurship, nurse-led innovation, healthcare worker safety, infection control, and why nursing ideas are the future of medical device development. Topics covered: Nurse-invented medical devices and nurse entrepreneurship Occupational health and healthcare worker safety Infection control and biohazard exposure prevention Ostomy care and colorectal nursing Bedpan washer safety and splash-back prevention Nursing leadership and clinical innovation Mental health gaps in nursing education and patient care From bedside nurse to CEO: the nurse founder journey Connect with Sarah Waimon: Website: www.stopthesplash.com Instagram: @stop_the_splash LinkedIn Pre-order Looey: sarah@stopthesplash.com Connect with Nurse Rosa: Follow Nurse Rosa's INsights in the Health Podcast Library Get the Book: Speak Up, Start Now ( Nurses Week Gift of the Year) On social media: @NurseRosaSpeaks Nurse Rosa's INsights is your go-to podcast for nurses who are ready to lead, innovate, and speak up. Subscribe, share, and leave a review.
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    28 mins
  • Bullying Stops Here with Renee Thompson

    Bullying Stops Here with Renee Thompson
    Apr 22 2026
    The culture killing your career isn't the patients. It's the colleagues. Renee Thompson, DNP, RN, FAONL, FAAN, CSP has spent 32 years in nursing and the last 15 building one of healthcare's most important movements: a structured, proven approach to ending bullying and incivility in the workplace. As CEO and Founder of the Healthy Workforce Institute, she has seen what toxic culture does to nurses, to teams, and to patients, and she refuses to accept it as inevitable. In this episode of Nurse Rosa's INsights, Renee breaks down why incivility is a patient safety issue, not just a morale problem, and what nurses and leaders can do right now to change the culture on their unit. In this episode: Why subtle, normalized workplace behaviors are more dangerous than the dramatic blowups The founding story of the Healthy Workforce Institute How the Healthy Workforce Framework gives organizations a real path forward The direct connection between disrespect, staff turnover, and patient outcomes How AI is expanding the reach of culture change in healthcare Connect with Renee: Website: healthyworkforceinstitute.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rtconnections Facebook: facebook.com/HealthyWorkforceInstitute Follow Nurse Rosa's INsights for conversations at the intersection of nursing, innovation, and leadership. Connect with Rosa and follow on your favorite platform: https://linktr.ee/nurserosaspeaks?utm_source=linktree_profile_share
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    39 mins
  • How Hearing Prevents Dementia ft. Madison Levine

    How Hearing Prevents Dementia ft. Madison Levine
    Apr 20 2026
    Can hearing aids prevent dementia? Hearing instrument specialist Madison Levine joins Rosa Hart to explore the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline, and why treating your hearing early may be one of the most important things you can do for your brain health and longevity. Madison founded "Levine Hearing" 11 years ago, building on her mother's 35-year legacy in audiology. She now leads a full clinical team offering hearing diagnostics, hearing aid fittings, ear hygiene, tinnitus care, and vestibular services, while speaking at national conventions to advance public awareness of hearing health. In this episode you will learn why untreated hearing loss is linked to dementia and cognitive decline, how the ear-brain connection affects memory and longevity, what is driving the stigma around hearing aids and how that stigma is shifting, which innovations are expanding access to hearing care, and why early detection and treatment change long-term outcomes. Connect with Madison Levine at levinehearing.com on Instagram at @levinehearing and @madisonlistens, and on LinkedIn. Connect with Nurse Rosa Instagram: @NurseRosaSpeaks Get her Book: Speak Up, Start Now
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    29 mins
  • Ep 72: Noise-Cancelling Cancer: How One Kentucky Kid Is Rewriting the Rules of Brain Tumor Treatment

    Ep 72: Noise-Cancelling Cancer: How One Kentucky Kid Is Rewriting the Rules of Brain Tumor Treatment
    Apr 13 2026
    What if the reason cancer wins isn't the tumor itself, but the silence it forces on your immune system? Aaron Edwards grew up in Henderson, Kentucky, left home at sixteen for a bold academic experiment, and spent a decade in biotech working on some of the most cutting-edge gene therapies in the world before asking himself a hard question: why does promising science so rarely reach patients? That question led him to Harvard, and then to KiraGen Bio, where he and his team are building what he calls "noise-cancelling headphones for cancer therapy." Using gene editing and AI, KiraGen is engineering immune cells that can finally hear through the suppressive environment solid tumors create, and fight back. In this episode, Aaron and Rosa talk about the journey from a small Kentucky town to the frontier of CAR-T cell therapy, what glioblastoma patients and their families need to know right now, and why the future of cancer treatment should show up in your community clinic, not just at elite academic centers. In this episode: Why CAR-T therapy transforms blood cancers but has largely failed solid tumors until now The "noise-cancelling" science behind KiraGen's approach to glioblastoma Aaron's concept of "Ms. Frizzles," the teachers and mentors who invest in potential before the outcome is certain What an off-the-shelf cell therapy library could mean for everyday cancer patients Why $250 million dedicated to pediatric brain tumors could accelerate progress by years Connect with Aaron: Website: kiragenbio.com LinkedIn X
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    40 mins
  • How One Neurosurgeon would Change the System ft. David Dornbos III

    How One Neurosurgeon would Change the System ft. David Dornbos III
    Apr 6 2026
    Every minute a stroke goes untreated, 1.9 billion neurons are lost. In this episode, Nurse Rosa Hart sits down with neurosurgeon Dr. David Dornbos III to talk about what is changing in stroke care, what still needs to change, and what he would do with a billion dollars to move the needle. Dr. Dornbos is an Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky Department of Neurological Surgery and a specialist in cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery at the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute. With over 130 peer-reviewed publications, NIH funding for early stroke biology research, and a seat on the Executive Committee of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, he is one of the sharpest minds working at the intersection of clinical care and innovation in stroke today. Whether you are a bedside nurse, a stroke coordinator, or simply someone who wants to understand where brain attack care is headed, this conversation will leave you thinking differently about time, technology, and what it means to fight for your patients. In this episode, you will hear about: What drew him to neurosurgery and specifically to stroke The latest innovations in endovascular stroke treatment and where device technology is heading His NIH-funded research into the early biologic environment of stroke and why that window matters Why he believes even a small shift in ischemic stroke outcomes would create a profound ripple across the entire healthcare system His answer to the billion-dollar question: device innovation and adjuvant neurotherapeutics as the highest-impact investment in stroke care How earned media and awareness campaigns can be a powerful tool for stroke prevention How to connect with his work and the CNS community Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Dr. David Dornbos III 01:29 Journey into Healthcare and Neurosurgery 03:52 Innovations in Neurosurgery 06:15 Research and Development in Stroke Treatment 11:29 The Importance of Action in Innovation 13:13 The Billion Dollar Question: Strategic Healthcare Investments 25:39 Connecting with Dr. Dornbos and Closing Thoughts Connect with Dr. Dornbos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-dornbos-iii-27576635a/ X: @DornbosIII_MD Instagram: @david.dornbos Facebook: David Dornbos III Resources Mentioned Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Podcast: https://www.cns.org/newsroom/podcasts Connect with Nurse Rosa Instagram: @NurseRosaSpeaks Podcast: Nurse Rosa's INsights (Health Podcast Library) Get her Book: Speak Up, Start Now If this episode resonated with you, share it with a nurse, a stroke survivor, or anyone who cares about what happens inside the walls of a hospital when time is running out. And if you are not subscribed yet, hit that button so you never miss a conversation.
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    29 mins