Ann Vega
Episode 54

Narrator: Welcome friends to another episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. Join your host Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Welcome friends to the episode of The Story & Experience Podcast. We are here at Adventist Health Castle, and I have a new guest this week, and I'm very excited to be able to introduce you to the guest, but for anybody who's listening to this for the very first time, the way it works is that we have 100 questions. They become more vulnerable towards number 100, and they are lighter in the tens and upwards. And the first 10 questions ask, and then my guest will be able to say, this is the number we'd like to go for and we'll see where the stories and experiences that shaped her into the leader that she is today. Will be things that we can learn from as well. So let's begin. She's smiling, so this is a good sign. It's going to go well. What's your name and does anybody ever mess it up or mispronounce it?

Ann Vega: My name is Ann Vega. They call me Vega all the time. Totally wrong.

Japhet De Oliveira: I think I did that.

Ann Vega: And that's OK. I go by Vega.

Japhet De Oliveira: But you prefer and it goes correctly.

Ann Vega: The marital name is Vega.

Japhet De Oliveira: Vega. Brilliant. All right. That's great. So, Ann, what do you do for work?

Ann Vega: So I'm a nurse manager on a telemetry unit.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, well now kind of unpack telemetry for us, would you?

Ann Vega: So telemetry is a location where inpatients go to have their heart monitored. So we see anything from somebody coming in with an MI or a heart attack.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: To congestive heart failure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: To uncontrolled diabetes. It's anything that the physician that's admitting deems necessary to have the patient's heart monitored.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. Wow. And how long have you been working in that area?

Ann Vega: 20 years.

Japhet De Oliveira: 20 years!

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic.

Ann Vega: I started in telemetry and just kept right on going.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're a Jedi at this then?

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's brilliant. That's brilliant. OK. So couple of personal questions here, let's begin with in the morning, what's your drink of choice? Do you have coffee, tea, water, liquid green smoothie?

Ann Vega: I have salted caramel tea.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you really? Salted caramel. I don't think I've heard of that combination. Salted caramel tea.

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. Nice. Right. Where were you born?

Ann Vega: Michigan.

Japhet De Oliveira: Really?

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: I lived there for like seven years. I know.

Ann Vega: Wonderful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, yeah. Oh.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. So do you miss Michigan?

Ann Vega: I miss my family in Michigan.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah. Yeah.

Ann Vega: But I do not miss the four seasons. I do not miss the cold weather. I do not miss shoveling snow.

Japhet De Oliveira: I have no idea what you're talking about. That lake effect. Oh my goodness. No, I'm with you about that. Brilliant. So when you were a child in Michigan, what did you imagine you would grow up to be?

Ann Vega: I think in the back of my mind, I kind of thought something in medical. Kind of an off story, as a child, we played hospital in our basement, and I remember one time making casting material out of toothpaste, body powder, and water.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, OK.

Ann Vega: And we hooked up yarn and attached it to the drop ceiling in the basement for the IVs.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, nice. yeah.

Ann Vega: This is good. And I will never mix that combination up and put it on my body again. I had this horrible rash all up my arm. But, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Which drove you to medicine anyway.

Ann Vega: Yes, exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. I like that. I can visualize that in the basement as well. That would be great. That's great. Now personality, if people were to describe as an introvert or an extrovert, would you agree with that?

Ann Vega: I would definitely be extrovert, I believe.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really? OK. Definitive, all right.

Ann Vega: I'm not super shy.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're not super shy.

Ann Vega: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. All right. And what about habits? Are you an early riser or a late night owl?

Ann Vega: A lot of times we go to bed at eight, nine o'clock.

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh (affirmative), uh-huh (affirmative).

Ann Vega: And I'm usually up even on my days off by five, six.

Japhet De Oliveira: Ooh. OK. So then this morning, five, six, what was the first thought that went through your mind?

Ann Vega: I have five more minutes.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like that. That's great. Are you one of those people who pushes a snooze button a lot?

Ann Vega: No. No, no, no, no, no.

Japhet De Oliveira:

You just-

Ann Vega: No, I usually wake up before the alarm goes off.

Japhet De Oliveira: You beat the alarm. All right, all right. That's really good. That's really good. All right. Here's a leadership question. Are you a backseat driver?

Ann Vega: There are times when I think I'm micromanaging.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And my team will say no, if you were micromanaging, you would be doing X, Y, and Z.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: So apparently I'm not a backseat driver.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great. That's great. But you're engaged in it.

Ann Vega: Yes. I'm very engaged.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. Brilliant stuff. Oh OK. So we've done the intro. So now it's your turn to pick between 11 and 100 where you'd like to go, where would you like to begin?

Ann Vega: 15.

Japhet De Oliveira: 15? All right. What's the one thing that you always misplace? I'm curious whether you're like, I don't misplace anything.

Ann Vega: Actually, in the beginning of COVID I would bring a change of clothes.

Japhet De Oliveira:

Yeah.

Ann Vega: And I would change my clothes in my office before I would leave to go home.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Ann Vega: And I would always lock my badge with my office keys in the office.

Japhet De Oliveira: No.

Ann Vega: And then I would stand around for 15, 20 minutes waiting for security to come let me in.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah. Oh, that would be fun. That'd be fun. That's a new routine. Brilliant. All right. So after 15 up or down?

Ann Vega: Down.

Japhet De Oliveira: Down. OK. Which number?

Ann Vega: Oh, let's go 20.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, no. Sorry. I mean like, do you want to go, so you want to go 20? That's up?

Ann Vega: Sure.

Japhet De Oliveira: For us. All right. Brilliant. OK. Now you're with me on the game and the way we go, and tell us about something you would rate absolute 10 out of 10. Huh.

Ann Vega: I don't understand the question.

Japhet De Oliveira: So if there's like something you saw or you experienced and you said that deserves a 10 out of 10. Is there anything?

Ann Vega: Dove chocolate.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? Milk or dark?

Ann Vega: Milk.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. That's good. That's good. I like Dove chocolate. That's good. All right. All right. Where do you want to go after 20?

Ann Vega: Let's keep going.

Japhet De Oliveira: Up?

Ann Vega: Up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. OK. You have to pick the number.

Ann Vega: That was 20. So let's go 25.

Japhet De Oliveira:

25. All right. Here we go. Share the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

Ann Vega: I would have to guess the birth of my children.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, yeah. How many kids do you have?

Ann Vega: I have two. Boy and a girl.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, beautiful. That's beautiful. Yeah. Transformative. I understand. 25. All right. So where after 25?

Ann Vega: 30.

Japhet De Oliveira: 30. Tell us about something that you are really looking forward to.

Ann Vega: Summer.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah? Isn't it summer always?

Ann Vega: It's not summer always. No. I'm looking forward to walking outside in the morning with the dogs and at five o'clock in the morning it not being 69.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's terrifying.

Ann Vega: That's not cold in Michigan standards, but when you've been here for 10 years, it's cold.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's cold. So what would it be in the sun then? Like early in the morning?

Ann Vega: Like 80.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh my. OK.

Ann Vega: I moved here for the heat.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. You did. You did. All right. Where would you like to go after that then?

Ann Vega: What number was that? 25? Let's go 32.

Japhet De Oliveira: 32. All right. If you were featured on the local news, what would the news story likely be?

Ann Vega: Woman saves dog from burning building.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. That's good. I'm glad. Anyone else in the building?

Ann Vega: Just dogs.

Japhet De Oliveira: Just the dog. OK. Right. All right. So after 32, where next?

Ann Vega: 40.

Japhet De Oliveira: 40. All right. Would you be willing to tell us about a time that you failed?

Ann Vega: Time that I failed.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: The position that I'm in right now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I interviewed for, and I was not the first pick.

Japhet De Oliveira: Huh.

Ann Vega: And in my opinion, that was failing.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure. Sure.

Ann Vega: That was a very big failure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And the person that was offered the position decided she didn't want to put the time and energy into what was going to be required for the position. So she decided that she did not want to take the position.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: So I was runner up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And they offered me the position and I kind of hemmed and hawed around, I don't want to be second fiddle to anything. And my boss at the time who was taking care of the retirement.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Kind of talked me into taking the position, and I'm grateful. I'm very grateful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was a change. A massive change for you?

Ann Vega: Yes, I went from working night shift. Three 12-hour shifts.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: To day shift.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Which is a total different game altogether and working five days a week. 10, 11 hours a day. So it was a big change.

Japhet De Oliveira: But you were willing to put the hours and the time in. Yeah.

Ann Vega: And I still am.

Japhet De Oliveira: And you still are.

Ann Vega: Three years later, I'm still in it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, thank you. Thank you. That's great. All right. Hey, appreciate that. So after 40, where next?

Ann Vega: 45.

Japhet De Oliveira: 45. When people come to you for help, what are they usually asking for?

Ann Vega: I think it's more along the lines of guidance for maybe this is going on with the patient. What do you think we should do? This is what's going on with the patient's family member. What do you think we should do? There was a lot of that in the middle of COVID.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Trying to look at-

Japhet De Oliveira: It's an unknown.

Ann Vega: What are we doing with visitation? What are we doing with patients? What are we doing with staff?

Japhet De Oliveira: This is not one of the questions here. This is 45a. Talk to me a little bit about if you would, and with everybody's listening as well, what your COVID experience was like. I mean, that's a frontline heavy.

Ann Vega: I didn't feel uncomfortable with COVID being at the hospital.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah.

Ann Vega: Because I knew that we had all the PPE and the precautionary measures in place before we even got our first patient.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: That being said, when I got a call at four o'clock in the morning that we had a COVID patient in the ER.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Ann Vega: And they were going to be admitted to my unit, I flew out of bad.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Threw myself together, got in the car. I left Waikiki. I kind of did the slow roll through a red light and got stopped by a police officer.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. Oh dear.

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: He came up to me and asked me, four o'clock in the morning, what's your big hurry, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I said, I'm a nurse manager, we're getting our first COVID patient. My staff are kind of panicking and I just want to go in and just reassure them that we have this. We have the processes in place. We're going to take good care of this patient. We're going to be fine, he's going to be fine. And he said, "OK, thank you." And he gave me my ID back and he drove off.

Japhet De Oliveira: Bless him.

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Bless him. Oh, that's good. Hey, I mean, it has been an intense journey for many.

Ann Vega: It has.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you for that. All right. Where next? That was 45a. It was a bonus.

Ann Vega: 50.

Japhet De Oliveira: 50. All right. Share about who has influenced you professionally?

Ann Vega: I have some people that have influenced me on the plus and on the negative.

Japhet De Oliveira: Huh?

Ann Vega: My boss.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah.

Ann Vega: Is actually a very positive influence. As a nurse director, she still rolls up her sleeves and jumps in ambulating patients to the bathroom.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Doing what needs to be done. She's not too big to remember her bedside care.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Ann Vega: And that's a big impact to me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Great model.

Ann Vega: Very great model.

Ann Vega: I had a boss once who was absolutely horrible. She led with a steel fist and was really not a great leader.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And a great role model.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And that's why I took the position that I took, because I was panicked that I didn't want that kind of a leader.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah.

Ann Vega: To take over our unit.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: This is like my family.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Ann Vega: And so that's why I stepped up for the leadership role in the first place.

Japhet De Oliveira: I've actually heard that quite a few times from different people in my time here at Adventist Health Castle, that many people describe it as a family. Are you required to say it's a family or no?

Ann Vega: No. No, no, no, no.

Japhet De Oliveira: So, tell me, unpack that a little bit for us and let some of our listeners understand, what does family look like for you here?

Ann Vega: Well, if I have a situation or a concern.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I can take it to our chief nursing officer. If I have a concern, I can take it Ryan, the president.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: It isn't like the military where...

Japhet De Oliveira: OK, fair enough.

Ann Vega: You don't want to reach out to the president.

Japhet De Oliveira: Be on the rank.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And that's a really good feeling.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I see a lot of my staff doing things, now that COVID is semi-subsided.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Ann Vega: Doing things together. They had a group baby shower for one of our nurses on night shift who is expecting in the next month and a half.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And it's just nice that they get together outside of work and they do things.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's true. That is beautiful. Hey, that's a great picture. Thank you for sharing that. All right. So where next? That was 50.

Ann Vega: Let's 55.

Japhet De Oliveira: 55? 55 it is. Share about something that frightens you. Ann's looking at me like no, no.

Ann Vega: The drivers on Hawaii.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh really?

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: They test your patience or...

Ann Vega: They call it driving with aloha, but they assume that the other driver's going to stop and they're just going to pull out.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. OK.

Ann Vega: We actually had a statistic the other day on the news and Hawaii is ranked sixth.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: For the worst drivers.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: In America.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. OK.

Ann Vega: I believe Texas was first.

Japhet De Oliveira: We didn't have to go there, but I understand. Yeah. There's enough complications, all right. That's brilliant. All right. Where next?

Ann Vega: 55?

Japhet De Oliveira: That was 55.

Ann Vega: OK.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: 60.

Japhet De Oliveira: 60. All right. When in life have you felt most alone?

Ann Vega: In this world I just don't know that we feel alone anymore.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's an interesting thought.

Ann Vega: Because you can reach out to Facebook.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Ann Vega: Teams.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Ann Vega: Anything and not be alone.

Ann Vega: I think we're going to pick a different question. I can't think of anything that's-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's OK.

Ann Vega: Let's go to the next one.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's OK. That's OK. All right. No worries. All good. So after 60 then, where would you like to go next?

Ann Vega: Let's just do 61.

Japhet De Oliveira: 61. Tell us about a time in your life that required incredible courage.

Ann Vega: We had a patient here that was COVID isolation, and I think he was a behavioral health patient. And he was yelling at a nurse in the room and people were kind of crowding outside the door, but nobody was running in to help her.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And I just didn't want her to be in there by herself with this man.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, sure.

Ann Vega: So I put on the garb and ran in.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And put him in his place.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: So to speak.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I just wanted to make sure that the nurse was going to be OK.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. It is complex, right? To take care of those and at the same time to make sure that we are safe at the same time.

Ann Vega: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. And balancing that all the time. So yeah. No, I understand. Good. Right. Where after 61?

Ann Vega: 65.

Japhet De Oliveira: 65. Share one word that you could describe your past, then could you unpack that one word for us? So you think about your entire past. What would be the one word that would describe it? And then could you unpack that?

Ann Vega: I kind of think I'm a little bit predictable.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? OK.

Ann Vega: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: So you're past has been predictable, right?

Ann Vega: Yup. I have taken baby steps all along the way. When I first got out of high school, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. So I joined the Army.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: I did X-ray.

Japhet De Oliveira: When you referred to the Army earlier, you have a first-hand experience. OK, good.

Ann Vega: I didn't like the job in the Army. My husband came and I soon found to be with my first child, and my position was radiology, x-ray tech.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And it's a little challenging to do your job when you're pregnant.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: And in the military, you have the option to get out or stay.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Ann Vega: So I left.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I went home. Then I went to school for medical assistant.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Did that for 10 years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Then I went to school for nursing. Did that for 10 years. My kids were grown and moved out, moved to Hawaii.

Japhet De Oliveira: And you feel that's predictable?

Ann Vega: I think it's predictable. It's just baby steps.

Japhet De Oliveira: I like this. I like this.

Ann Vega: But I've not dropped everything and gone and done stuff, you know?

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. Hey, that's good. That's good. That's an interesting description of predictable. But what a varied length, that's good. All right. Where would you go next?

Ann Vega: 70.

Japhet De Oliveira: 70. Tell us about one thing that you're determined to accomplish.

Ann Vega: I'm determined to get my unit's scores up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, hey. That's great. Well, I mean, you guys have an incredible reputation here. Always achieving everywhere. So yeah. So your unit scores. All right.

Ann Vega: Unit scores. They changed the-

Japhet De Oliveira: Metrics?

Ann Vega: Metrics on us. So, we have a little bit of work to do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's great. That's great. Is there something that you can, off the top of your head, that you think of that you're specifically focusing on to raise that score?

Ann Vega: I would like to say AIDET, and I don't know if people know what AIDET is.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, but you should explain it.

Ann Vega:

AIDET is kind of an introduction. You introduce yourself, what you're here for.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: How long you're going to be here.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And then thank them for the time afterwards.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's really essential.

Ann Vega: It is.

Japhet De Oliveira: Especially when you're the patient.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: It is really essential. No, that's great. Hey, it's super. All right. Brilliant. Where next?

Ann Vega: 73.

Japhet De Oliveira: 73. Share something that you've had to unlearn in your life. In your predictable life.

Ann Vega: In my predictable life, what I've had to unlearn. Had to learn so much. Had to unlearn. Well, this is kind of a weird one. I had to unlearn poor body mechanics for running. A few years ago, before the pandemic.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Ann Vega: I did the Honolulu marathon.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK. All right. All right.

Ann Vega: I was 49 years old and I decided I'm going to do a marathon before I turned 50.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well done. Well done.

Ann Vega: And I actually had to go through physical therapy to learn different mechanics on how to run.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, interesting.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Did you know that before you did the marathon?

Ann Vega: It was like in the middle of the training that I realized I'm not doing something right. I don't know how to run.

Japhet De Oliveira: You would think it would be simple.

Ann Vega: Exactly. You just go, right?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Just go.

Ann Vega: Walk fast.

Japhet De Oliveira: Just walk fast. Yeah. Yeah. Walk very fast. But hey, that's really-

Ann Vega: Not so much.

Japhet De Oliveira: No, no. That's good. And did you retain it? Do you still run every day?

Ann Vega: No.

Japhet De Oliveira: No. OK. All right. But you did it, you did the marathon.

Ann Vega: I did my one marathon and when I crossed the finish line, I said, I will never do that again.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fair enough. That's fair enough. All right. OK. Where next?

Ann Vega: What number was that?

Japhet De Oliveira: That was 73.

Ann Vega: 76.

Japhet De Oliveira: 76. Tell us about where you feel the safest and why?

Ann Vega: Probably in my house, in my home. I have two little Pomeranians and my husband and I just-

Japhet De Oliveira: Feel safe.

Ann Vega: Feel safe. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good. Hey, that's good. That's good.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. All right. Where next?

Ann Vega: 80.

Japhet De Oliveira: 80. How would you like to change in the future?

Ann Vega: I'm calling it COVID pounds.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: I would like to lose my 15 COVID pounds.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's fantastic. Well done. Well done. Hey, that's pretty good. I think everyone found those 15 COVID pounds.

Ann Vega: Well, it was a combination.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Of COVID and working extra hard, working longer hours.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And on top of it all working on my MBA.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? Did you finish?

Ann Vega: So I did. I turned in my last assignment Saturday. So, yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Congratulations. Oh, that's fantastic. Well done. Well done.

Ann Vega: Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's beautiful. Good. Good. All right. So that was 80. Where next?

Ann Vega: How many more we got?

Japhet De Oliveira: A few. We have enough, I believe enough for three.

Ann Vega: 85?

Japhet De Oliveira: 85. All right. I feel like Ann's calculating something here. 85. Describe a role model you aspire to be like.

Ann Vega: A role model I aspire to be like.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I have worked with a nurse manager in the past.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: That was very open and very meticulous. And her way of coaching and educating staff was amazing. And I would love to be half the person that she was.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, it is not easy to teach, right?

Ann Vega: Teaching sometimes can come across like badgering.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Ann Vega: There's a fine line between coaching, teaching.

Japhet De Oliveira: Sure.

Ann Vega: And badgering.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Ann Vega: So it can be a little bit challenging sometimes.

Japhet De Oliveira: And depends on the student, and the circumstances, and the pressure point, and all those things.

Ann Vega: Exactly.

Japhet De Oliveira: But actually just aspire to be a good teacher is wonderful.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. Yeah. I think that all of us have teachers, whether it's a school or university that just touched our lives in some way. And so, it's great that you had somebody else at work. That's beautiful. That's good. Where next for the last two? And you don't have to tell me the last two numbers, but you could choose the first one and then the last one.

Ann Vega: That was 85?

Japhet De Oliveira: Uh-huh (affirmative).

Ann Vega: 90.

Japhet De Oliveira: 90. All right. Tell us about how you overcame a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Ann Vega: I was 30 years old.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah.

Ann Vega: Working as a medical assistant, and I found out my husband was cheating on me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh.

Ann Vega: So here I am, 30 years old.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Ann Vega: I'm kind of in a dead-end job.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Ann Vega: I have two kids.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And now what am I going to do?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I just thought, wow, this is really hard. What am I going to do?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: So I picked myself up. I signed up for nursing school. I worked full time. I went through nursing school. I took care of my children and carried on with my life.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh my goodness. Ann, that's remarkable.

Ann Vega: If you take it day by day and you don't think about what am I going to do next week? What am I going to do next month? What am I going to do in three months from now? It's doable.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's a tall order. I actually like the way that you broke that down. It's a tall order though. So you juggled life and school, new career, everything, and made it.

Ann Vega: And made it.

Japhet De Oliveira: And made it. Did you have some particular people who were incredible support for you through this? Or did you kind of feel that you...

Ann Vega: No, we lived in an apartment complex.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And my mother actually lived in apartments up in the front building.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh yeah.

Ann Vega: And then the kids were always in the back end of the building. So we lived like in the back end of the complex.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And so, there were times where she would babysit for me if I was like delayed at school or delayed at work.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: So, yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. Well, well done. Well done.

Ann Vega: Thank you. Thank you.

Japhet De Oliveira: That would be a tremendous role model as well, two kids.

Ann Vega: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah. Perseverance and surviving and doing it. Good.

Ann Vega: And my daughter is 26, 27. She has changed her career decisions three times.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: And she is now in nursing school.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, bless.

Ann Vega: Yeah, so proud.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's fantastic. Hey, that is fantastic. That's great to hear. Oh, well congratulate for her as well. That's super. Good. All right. So then just your last one. Where'd we like to go?

Ann Vega: 99.

Japhet De Oliveira: 99. All right then. What's the most difficult truth that you've ever had to tell. What's the most difficult truth that you've ever told?

Ann Vega: I think when I sat my kids down and told them about the divorce, that was one of the hardest things to have to tell somebody.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Ann Vega: Yeah. It was very personable. They didn't understand.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: And then later on, after the fact, probably five, six years later, my son had asked me why. And at the time of the divorce, he was probably eight or nine years old. And I think I just sat down and said, well, do you remember?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I said a name.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: I said, well, he wasn't just dad's friend.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: So yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's complex. Yeah.

Ann Vega: Little bit.

Japhet De Oliveira: For those who actually are going through something similar like this, do you have any words of wisdom or advice?

Ann Vega: I would have to say the same advice I gave before.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: Just take it one day at a time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Ann Vega: One step at a time. At the time I was going through that, I had a really good friend.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ann Vega: And she was going through a divorce.

Japhet De Oliveira: OK.

Ann Vega: So, just get with people that you can lean on.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good.

Ann Vega: It's going to help get you through the tough times.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is good. That is good. I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that.

Japhet De Oliveira: So thank you, Ann, for your time.

Ann Vega: You're welcome.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, absolutely. And I just want to encourage everybody who's listening to this, to do the same thing, actually. To share your stories with each other, to hear stories as well. And I do believe that we actually, we not only learn through this entire process, but I actually believe that we become better people for it. And so, appreciate your time.

Ann Vega: You're welcome.

Japhet De Oliveira: And your service as well. So blessing to everybody. God bless. We'll be back for another episode another time.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Story & Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at AdventistHealth.org/Story. The Story & Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventist Health.