Why would I want to be anything else? - Paul Coyne '08

Show Notes

That’s the answer Paul Coyne ’08 gives whenever someone asks him why he chose to become a nurse. 

 

The former Friars Club president shares the remarkable and inspiring story of his journey from PC to Wall Street to his current work at New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery. Now a nurse practitioner and a hospital administrator with four advanced degrees, he is making a further impact as the co-inventor of a device that is improving care for hospitalized patients while making the practice of nursing more efficient.

 

Check out the memorable commencement address he delivered at his 2015 Columbia University School of Nursing graduation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WyQljuhn3Q

Subscribe to the Providence College Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and YouTube.  Visit Providence College on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. 

Creators & Guests

Host

Joseph Carr

Sr. Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communications

Producer

Chris Judge

Multimedia and Live Event Producer

What is Providence College Podcast?

The Providence College Podcast features interviews with interesting members of the Friar Family. These in-depth conversations with PC students, Dominicans, faculty, staff, and alumni provide a rich look into the lives of noteworthy Friars. Occasionally we will also bring you on-campus lectures and presentations. Go Friars!

00;00;00;25 - 00;00;24;23
Joe Carr
Hello and welcome to the Providence College podcast. My name is Joe Carr. Today's guest is Paul Coyne, Class of 2008. Paul is a health care practitioner and entrepreneur working in New York City. He graduated from Columbia University Nursing Schools Master's Degree Program in 2015 and gave a very well-received and often viewed on YouTube commencement address, which would

00;00;24;23 - 00;00;44;06
Joe Carr
encourage you to check out if you get the chance. Paul is among the best credentialed of all P.C. graduates with two bachelor's degrees, three master's degrees, including an MBA and a doctorate in nursing practice from Columbia. In addition, of course, to his professional licenses, he joins us today from New York, where he is an assistant vice president

00;00;44;16 - 00;00;48;13
Joe Carr
at the Hospital for Special Surgery. Greetings, Paul. Thanks for joining us.

00;00;48;23 - 00;00;49;28
Paul Coyne
Thank you so much for having me.

00;00;50;06 - 00;01;05;29
Joe Carr
Well, we've been looking forward to this for a long time and really happy to be able to share your your fascinating and inspiring story with our fellow alumni. Let's start by having you tell us a little bit about what life is like these days an urban hospital at this stage of the pandemic.

00;01;06;17 - 00;01;18;11
Paul Coyne
Yep. So my hospital's an orthopedic hospital, No. one orthopedic hospital in the country. And overnight last March, we transformed pretty much in one weekend to an overflow COVID hospital.

00;01;18;11 - 00;01;23;18
Paul Coyne
Where we where we turned our 200 beds in our wards into a COVID facility and.

00;01;23;26 - 00;01;26;03
Paul Coyne
Went from doing orthopedics to to med surge.

00;01;26;03 - 00;01;29;09
Paul Coyne
And ICU to to care for people with COVID.

00;01;29;28 - 00;01;32;24
Paul Coyne
We've transitioned back now to to a primarily orthopedic.

00;01;32;28 - 00;01;34;14
Paul Coyne
Hospital, which is our main.

00;01;34;14 - 00;01;38;04
Paul Coyne
Function, though we do partner with New York City to.

00;01;38;15 - 00;01;47;19
Paul Coyne
Administer the COVID vaccination. We have two sites in partnership with New York City, where we've vaccinated over 30,000 New Yorkers, including many of our own staff.

00;01;48;04 - 00;01;51;25
Joe Carr
How long ago were you able to make that or begin that transition back.

00;01;52;28 - 00;01;55;02
Paul Coyne
Last fall, last late, last summer.

00;01;55;20 - 00;01;56;23
Paul Coyne
And early fall?

00;01;57;02 - 00;02;13;04
Joe Carr
So it was actually interesting. And you told us a moment ago before we started recording. You're just coming from a vaccination clinic, which you run. What are the sort of individual interactions like for practitioners in in that setting when people are so grateful?

00;02;13;04 - 00;02;23;15
Joe Carr
And one would expect, in many cases, even emotional about the opportunity to get a vaccine to start to work our way past what's been such a very, very difficult year plus.

00;02;23;19 - 00;02;42;05
Paul Coyne
Yeah, no, it's very it's very moving for for me and for everyone involved. As you said, people are very emotional. This is for better or worse, for better and worse the COVID crisis has. Sort of equalized, and many people showed some disparities in many ways, but also.

00;02;42;05 - 00;02;43;26
Paul Coyne
Equalize this in our.

00;02;44;02 - 00;02;46;05
Paul Coyne
Humanity that we're all vulnerable to.

00;02;46;05 - 00;02;49;06
Paul Coyne
Receiving to getting this disease.

00;02;49;17 - 00;03;01;15
Paul Coyne
And as a result, the cure very rarely does. The same medicine that a practitioner is giving to a patient also is also the same exact experience.

00;03;01;15 - 00;03;05;00
Paul Coyne
That they're receiving themselves. So at the onset of the vaccine clinics.

00;03;05;08 - 00;03;09;12
Paul Coyne
We would literally a nurse would give the vaccine to another nurse and then they would switch.

00;03;09;12 - 00;03;11;12
Paul Coyne
And the nurse would give it to the other nurse.

00;03;12;05 - 00;03;17;23
Paul Coyne
So it's been very remarkable, very emotional tears, a lot of tears.

00;03;17;23 - 00;03;18;10
Paul Coyne
Of happy.

00;03;19;09 - 00;03;20;14
Paul Coyne
And relieved people.

00;03;20;24 - 00;03;25;06
Paul Coyne
And it's wonderful to be a part of it and be able to be in a position to do it.

00;03;25;18 - 00;03;32;01
Joe Carr
Can you reflect a little bit more on a year ago when the crisis exploded? What was your day to day role at that at that point in time?

00;03;32;08 - 00;03;41;04
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So one of my responsibilities at the hospital is for occupational health, employee health. So we have 5000 employees. And my role.

00;03;41;04 - 00;03;41;21
Paul Coyne
Was to.

00;03;42;05 - 00;04;01;07
Paul Coyne
Ensure their safety and. Care for them. And so everyone was very scared, myself included, and I took the phone and forwarded it to me 20 47 and the occupational health line was forwarded to me and a couple of other individuals.

00;04;01;07 - 00;04;13;16
Paul Coyne
We took turns answering the calls of employees who contracted COVID or who just were afraid that they had COVID or if they were exposed to COVID. All of the examples that you could imagine would call this would call us.

00;04;13;16 - 00;04;19;24
Paul Coyne
If they worked at our hospital. And for it to ask for guidance. And at the time, we we.

00;04;20;04 - 00;04;23;16
Paul Coyne
We've learned a lot more about the disease over the last the virus over the last year.

00;04;24;07 - 00;04;29;18
Paul Coyne
At the time, we didn't know too much and just tried to offer comfort, and then the advice is as big as we could.

00;04;29;23 - 00;04;40;02
Paul Coyne
So it was again very humbling to to do it. And balance being afraid myself and also trying to tell others.

00;04;40;14 - 00;04;42;07
Paul Coyne
You know, trying to help others when they were infected.

00;04;42;19 - 00;05;04;05
Joe Carr
It must have been incredible to witness the heroic efforts. That word is not overused in this case of your colleagues and so many people who while as you just mentioned, it is so important to remember being scared yourself to have to be just in this crucible day after day after day, an incredible experience.

00;05;04;18 - 00;05;10;23
Paul Coyne
Yes, you know, I really was, and it brought out the best in in a lot of people and colleagues.

00;05;10;23 - 00;05;23;20
Paul Coyne
That you didn't know that well. When you see them do that, it just makes a a great, a great bond, I think, between colleagues and then the organization. So I think we came out stronger. It's not over yet.

00;05;23;26 - 00;05;30;28
Paul Coyne
But but that surge in May and in April of last spring was in New York City was very it was difficult to watch.

00;05;31;27 - 00;05;38;08
Joe Carr
Can you tell us a little more about the Hospital for Special Surgery, a great orthopedic hospital? What kind of work happens there?

00;05;38;22 - 00;05;55;28
Paul Coyne
Sure. We're the number one orthopedic hospital, so hip replacements, knee replacements, spine surgery, foot and ankle, any surgery for anything orthopedic. And then we're also many people just know us for that. But we're also the number three hospital in the United States for rheumatology.

00;05;55;29 - 00;06;10;01
Paul Coyne
So dealing with rheumatologic conditions such as lupus, autoimmune diseases, we treat all of those as well. So it's a it's a it's a it's a remarkable place. We're in partnership with Cornell University for a lot of the orthopedic training and.

00;06;10;12 - 00;06;11;25
Paul Coyne
The academic training.

00;06;12;06 - 00;06;18;02
Paul Coyne
And it's a it's a great place. I've been there for years and really enjoy it. Interesting.

00;06;18;02 - 00;06;25;08
Joe Carr
Interesting. With our alumni guests on the podcast, we'd always like to hear about Person's Road to Providence College.

00;06;25;15 - 00;06;34;17
Paul Coyne
Yeah, no. I was thinking of this today. I had a feeling you were going to ask this question, and I was thinking of it all day to day my road to why I chose to go to Providence.

00;06;34;17 - 00;06;35;22
Paul Coyne
College, right? Because I would.

00;06;35;22 - 00;06;40;13
Joe Carr
Be, where did you grow up and what sort of influences did you have around you that might have pointed you in this.

00;06;40;13 - 00;06;52;14
Paul Coyne
Direction? Yes. Yeah. No. It's the best, best decision I ever. Well, my wife, I'm married now, so there's some other good decisions I've made since then, but it was one of the one of the best decisions that ever made.

00;06;53;04 - 00;06;53;17
Paul Coyne
My wife.

00;06;53;17 - 00;06;54;29
Paul Coyne
Is up there and happily.

00;06;54;29 - 00;06;59;09
Paul Coyne
Married. I grew up in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

00;07;01;15 - 00;07;05;21
Paul Coyne
About an hour away from Providence College, right up 95 and then 495. And.

00;07;07;12 - 00;07;17;11
Paul Coyne
I was raised by my mother and my father and my grandmother all live together, I'm an only child and I had some medical things that are which are pretty public and I'm.

00;07;17;11 - 00;07;18;28
Paul Coyne
Sure we could talk about them, you know.

00;07;19;11 - 00;07;35;27
Paul Coyne
At the so that'll come up. But I had some medical conditions in high school that led me to spend a lot of time in the hospital and spent a lot of time at Boston Children's Hospital. And as a result, I didn't want to go too far away from Boston Children's Hospital for free college.

00;07;35;27 - 00;07;36;29
Paul Coyne
Because I didn't know if I would.

00;07;36;29 - 00;07;51;18
Paul Coyne
Need them again and also didn't want to go that far away from my. My family and I drew on our map around an hour radius map around my house and applied to pretty much every school in that map.

00;07;51;18 - 00;08;06;00
Paul Coyne
I think it was 24 schools. And I remember them all laid out. There was no online applications, then it was a lot of paper. And so I can still see them all of my parents' dining room table with a chair next next to each one for the application fee.

00;08;06;00 - 00;08;17;17
Paul Coyne
And my dad and mom just said, Look, let's see where you can get in and where you want to go. And you know, let's just apply it everywhere. And then you can, you know, why be disappointed if you, you know, let's just do it that way?

00;08;17;18 - 00;08;25;21
Paul Coyne
So we were fortunate enough to be able to do that, and we did. And I visited Providence on accepting students.

00;08;25;21 - 00;08;27;08
Paul Coyne
Day after I got accepted.

00;08;27;19 - 00;08;45;17
Paul Coyne
And I was went to St Dominic's Chapel and there was the mass that was happening. And many Consuela, who is now father Manny is a priest, is a graduate two years above. I mean, he was cantering the mass and I just had this feeling come over me.

00;08;45;18 - 00;08;56;24
Paul Coyne
I can't really describe it. You know, I'm a I'm Catholic, you know, Providence College Catholic. So perhaps it was God, but I just had this feeling come over me that I that I would kind of that. That was the place for me.

00;08;56;25 - 00;09;04;07
Paul Coyne
It felt like home in that in that excited students day mass. And he was singing. And I thought to myself, like, you know, in two years I could sing.

00;09;04;07 - 00;09;05;26
Paul Coyne
The accepted students day mass and be.

00;09;05;26 - 00;09;10;22
Paul Coyne
You know, be like him. And he graduated, you know, two years before me. So the last two years, I.

00;09;10;22 - 00;09;13;09
Paul Coyne
Was the cantor at those accepted students, the masses singing.

00;09;13;09 - 00;09;17;01
Paul Coyne
And you know that just that feeling that I had at St Dominic's, it just kind of came.

00;09;17;01 - 00;09;24;18
Paul Coyne
Together and that accepted students' day. And and that's where that's where I told my parents I wanted to go to go to Providence. That was it was a great decision.

00;09;25;03 - 00;09;42;00
Joe Carr
Well, Father Manny has been a Providence College podcast. Yes. Oh, under close that circle. And by the way, a circle with Marlborough, Massachusetts at the center and a one hour hour away variable there would probably pick up as many colleges and universities as any place in the world.

00;09;42;05 - 00;09;49;01
Paul Coyne
That's right. I had my choice. Not like Providence was the only one in that hour. I really had a lot of choices. In fact, Providence.

00;09;49;05 - 00;09;58;08
Joe Carr
Let's talk a little bit about your PC experience, Paul. You were certainly a student leader, a Friars Club president. It seems like you really thrived in this environment as a student.

00;09;58;16 - 00;10;16;19
Paul Coyne
Yeah, it was. I I did the first, you know, three or four months I struggled to find my way. I remember as a guardsman and I like I said I was in the hospital, in high school. And so the first three or four months was quite an adjustment for me to sort of assimilate into the college life

00;10;16;19 - 00;10;39;02
Paul Coyne
and experience. But eventually, you know, found found liturgical choir found Concert Chorale found Friars Club was fortunate enough to get to get in and ultimately became president friars, like you said, and those are kind of the three big things, you know, Friars Club and singing and just everything else that people do in college is just a great

00;10;39;02 - 00;10;41;16
Paul Coyne
experience. But the main two things for me really.

00;10;41;16 - 00;10;43;09
Paul Coyne
Were Friars Club and and singing.

00;10;43;18 - 00;10;44;23
Paul Coyne
And I really enjoyed.

00;10;46;07 - 00;10;48;12
Paul Coyne
All of it. But those are the two big ones.

00;10;48;25 - 00;10;56;23
Joe Carr
And you earned it, earned a degree in American studies. Who were some of the professors and others who may have influenced you in particular during your time as a student?

00;10;57;12 - 00;11;04;18
Paul Coyne
Professor Manchester was was extremely influential as the as the. Facilitator of the American Studies program.

00;11;06;19 - 00;11;11;14
Paul Coyne
And then if I then ignore Ashaka, you know, even though I only had them in 11 class really.

00;11;11;14 - 00;11;16;18
Paul Coyne
Was a great. Spiritual adviser, I'd go to him for advice and.

00;11;16;29 - 00;11;18;04
Paul Coyne
Mentorship and some of the.

00;11;18;04 - 00;11;20;09
Paul Coyne
Things he said, I think of all the time, even still.

00;11;20;17 - 00;11;23;02
Paul Coyne
And then probably the greatest influence in.

00;11;23;02 - 00;11;25;14
Paul Coyne
Terms of in terms of faculty was brother.

00;11;25;14 - 00;11;25;27
Paul Coyne
Kevin.

00;11;26;28 - 00;11;37;23
Paul Coyne
Who I had just the great fortune of knowing who's since passed away, but great fortune of knowing in his capacity as far as the moderator. And that was the year I was president the year before he passed away.

00;11;37;23 - 00;11;46;19
Paul Coyne
And so he started to get get get a little sicker in that that relationship with me and him being so close really, really had a profound impact on my life, so well.

00;11;46;21 - 00;12;03;20
Joe Carr
He certainly did influence generations of students and Friars Club. Yeah, in particular, by the way, Professor Manchester, her father Nick, are still very active, very much involved, and they'll be glad to hear that you remember them fondly. So from PC, it was off to Wall Street.

00;12;03;20 - 00;12;13;07
Joe Carr
And let's get into that medical situation a bit because you a life changing event that really kind of altered your trajectory at at the age of 22. Tell us about what happened.

00;12;14;08 - 00;12;20;06
Paul Coyne
Yeah, I was some I just a week out, about a month to two to three weeks out after a graduated.

00;12;20;06 - 00;12;32;17
Paul Coyne
Providence College and I had already accepted a job at Goldman Sachs. I was fortunate enough to to be hired there and. Suffered a stroke, I went I was having a chicken.

00;12;32;18 - 00;12;41;25
Paul Coyne
Chicken parm dinner with my girlfriend at the time. And just to my right side went limp and I was an EMT during college.

00;12;41;25 - 00;12;48;24
Paul Coyne
And sort of knew the signs and symptoms of a stroke. And I said, I think I'm having a stroke. And I was rushed to the Boston Children's.

00;12;48;24 - 00;13;07;27
Paul Coyne
Hospital and had had a stroke, so I had to recover pretty quickly. Sort of faced with a choice of delaying the start of Wall Street career and started spending more time to recover or just sort of going all in and seeing what I could do.

00;13;08;11 - 00;13;13;03
Paul Coyne
And you don't get an opportunity to have a great.

00;13;13;03 - 00;13;17;28
Paul Coyne
Job in New York and. Sort of restart that.

00;13;18;19 - 00;13;21;18
Paul Coyne
And so my parents and I just felt it.

00;13;21;18 - 00;13;23;20
Paul Coyne
Was best to try and move to New York.

00;13;24;06 - 00;13;24;29
Paul Coyne
I had a great friend from.

00;13;24;29 - 00;13;36;24
Paul Coyne
College who was the vice president of Friars Club, Vincent Casino, who graduated with me and was my roommate, the first four or five years in New York, who? I don't know if I could have done that without him.

00;13;37;08 - 00;13;50;04
Paul Coyne
But we moved to New York and got a apartment together in Hoboken, and I had a lot of long term memory loss, difficulty speaking a limp. But the worst part was probably the memory memory.

00;13;50;04 - 00;13;53;19
Paul Coyne
Problems and the inability to really speak well.

00;13;54;04 - 00;14;10;14
Paul Coyne
And. Started my job at Goldman, though, and everyone just thought I was shy. I traded derivatives. So as a lot of computer work, three monitors and a lot of work on the computer and not a lot of talking and was able to keep my job, you know, during the.

00;14;10;14 - 00;14;15;10
Paul Coyne
Great Recession of 2008 and kept the job for three or four of.

00;14;15;11 - 00;14;16;22
Paul Coyne
four years while I while I.

00;14;16;22 - 00;14;19;28
Paul Coyne
Recovered and it was it was sort of the.

00;14;19;28 - 00;14;22;16
Paul Coyne
Perfect job for me at that time.

00;14;23;13 - 00;14;25;07
Paul Coyne
Because it didn't require.

00;14;25;21 - 00;14;27;06
Paul Coyne
All of the deficits that I had.

00;14;27;18 - 00;14;28;27
Paul Coyne
I was able to do that.

00;14;29;13 - 00;14;31;21
Paul Coyne
High functioning job, but it didn't.

00;14;31;21 - 00;14;36;13
Paul Coyne
Really show any of my deficits. So it was a perfect job for me to start, start a career.

00;14;36;26 - 00;14;42;05
Joe Carr
What was it that triggered the transition to becoming a medical practitioner?

00;14;42;17 - 00;14;46;27
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So since it's Providence College, I'll give the full truth.

00;14;46;27 - 00;14;47;14
Paul Coyne
Because you guys.

00;14;47;17 - 00;14;53;15
Paul Coyne
Because veritas, but I I developed, sometimes I just say I want it to prove.

00;14;53;15 - 00;14;57;28
Paul Coyne
To myself that I was smart and I wanted to give purpose to what I went through. That's my quick answer.

00;14;58;07 - 00;14;59;02
Paul Coyne
But my honest Providence.

00;14;59;02 - 00;15;00;05
Paul Coyne
College answer is I had.

00;15;00;22 - 00;15;02;16
Paul Coyne
I developed what's called tonic clonic.

00;15;02;16 - 00;15;13;22
Paul Coyne
Spasms, where the lesion in the left side of the brain sort of manifested itself in a seizure like activity where the right side of my body would become very rigid and tense up and shake.

00;15;14;13 - 00;15;15;20
Paul Coyne
And it hasn't happened in a long.

00;15;15;25 - 00;15;19;21
Paul Coyne
And in a long time, in probably seven or eight years now.

00;15;19;22 - 00;15;21;27
Paul Coyne
But it was happening a lot during.

00;15;21;27 - 00;15;26;22
Paul Coyne
That period. four years after I fully recovered, this new symptoms sort of manifested.

00;15;27;08 - 00;15;30;29
Paul Coyne
And so I had worked all very hard to get better.

00;15;31;05 - 00;15;37;10
Paul Coyne
And then here's another setback of not being able to really perform this job because it was happening a lot at Goldman.

00;15;37;28 - 00;15;39;21
Paul Coyne
And we tried a couple of different things.

00;15;39;21 - 00;15;40;05
Paul Coyne
We tried.

00;15;40;11 - 00;15;42;06
Paul Coyne
Monitor screens and they tried.

00;15;42;06 - 00;15;44;02
Paul Coyne
All this different stuff to make them not happen.

00;15;44;17 - 00;15;45;16
Paul Coyne
But they kept happening.

00;15;45;17 - 00;15;56;00
Paul Coyne
And so they put me out on long term disability. And you know, again, I was told that I was sort of disabled and the same thing happened after a stroke. You know, some doctors say you can might not.

00;15;56;02 - 00;15;59;12
Paul Coyne
Come back and all these things and then you come back and then, you know, here it is.

00;15;59;12 - 00;16;04;18
Paul Coyne
Again. They're telling me, and maybe my brain can handle x, y z or whatever, and I can't do.

00;16;04;18 - 00;16;08;24
Paul Coyne
The computer screens. I can't do this. And so anyway, I had these these events, these.

00;16;08;25 - 00;16;14;00
Paul Coyne
These shaking rigid events where I'd fall over on the floor and sort of convulsed and.

00;16;14;16 - 00;16;18;04
Paul Coyne
Without a long term disability and was just sort of feeling like I wasn't.

00;16;19;14 - 00;16;23;29
Paul Coyne
Capable. And I was wondering if I would be able to.

00;16;24;18 - 00;16;25;25
Paul Coyne
To overcome this.

00;16;25;25 - 00;16;30;20
Paul Coyne
Now because I thought I had from the stroke and now this new symptom was manifesting.

00;16;31;06 - 00;16;46;15
Paul Coyne
And it was a. It was a it was a a time of a lot of prayer, to be very honest, where I really thought about where Providence, that part of Providence really came back and helped me.

00;16;47;16 - 00;16;51;18
Paul Coyne
And my friends from Providence, all you know.

00;16;52;15 - 00;16;53;06
Paul Coyne
Emailed me.

00;16;53;06 - 00;16;57;00
Paul Coyne
And stayed in touch with me because they knew I was going through a low.

00;16;57;00 - 00;17;01;23
Paul Coyne
Time. And one of the things I don't talk about very much.

00;17;01;23 - 00;17;05;09
Paul Coyne
But my girlfriend from Providence College passed away that year, actually, so there was.

00;17;05;09 - 00;17;07;21
Paul Coyne
Another sort of tragedy in all of that.

00;17;08;13 - 00;17;13;23
Paul Coyne
We had a separate story, but she she passed away. So that was very.

00;17;14;14 - 00;17;21;16
Paul Coyne
Upsetting to so it's just a very, very tough time. And I wanted to overcome and also prove to myself that I was.

00;17;21;16 - 00;17;22;25
Paul Coyne
Smart and give purpose to what I went through.

00;17;22;25 - 00;17;35;16
Paul Coyne
So that's the full story. And I thought, you know, what can I do to sort of never have all of this be a question again where somebody is interviewing me on a podcast? They don't just say, Oh, well, that's, you know, you really tried.

00;17;36;13 - 00;17;44;10
Paul Coyne
I wonder if your brain is back. I just couldn't live with that question I wanted in a question of of knowing.

00;17;44;10 - 00;17;56;23
Paul Coyne
To myself that I was back and that I found new parts of me that that that weren't even there before the stroke and that all the other parts of me was back as well as they could, and that I was could be a fulfilled human human being.

00;17;57;19 - 00;17;58;12
Paul Coyne
And I just knew the.

00;17;58;12 - 00;18;09;16
Paul Coyne
Only way that I could do that was to go to school. And that's really the full truth. I've actually never said it on a on a podcast like this, but I providence is the place.

00;18;10;08 - 00;18;14;19
Paul Coyne
So that's the the the truth. And I just wanted.

00;18;15;07 - 00;18;29;21
Paul Coyne
I just didn't want to be sick. Is that is the honest truth. And I went back to school and I got a bachelor's, like you said, a masters and a doctorate from Columbia. And at the same time, I went to northeastern and got an MBA and a master's in finance, and I completed all five of those degrees

00;18;29;21 - 00;18;30;17
Paul Coyne
in four years.

00;18;30;17 - 00;18;34;06
Paul Coyne
And it really was as if every time.

00;18;34;06 - 00;18;35;01
Paul Coyne
I got.

00;18;35;01 - 00;18;42;11
Paul Coyne
A new diploma, every year, my parents would go to the commencement and I would be like, Not, not yet. And really, that doctorate, when I walked across the.

00;18;42;11 - 00;18;44;04
Paul Coyne
Stage, it was like I went to.

00;18;44;04 - 00;18;47;01
Paul Coyne
Sleep. The way I describe it is, you know, crying, crying one.

00;18;47;01 - 00;18;57;03
Paul Coyne
Night that I wouldn't be what I dreamed of becoming. And then just kind of walking across the stage as someone called me Dr. Paul Coyne. Those four years are kind of.

00;18;58;15 - 00;19;05;03
Paul Coyne
You know, I remember there it's it feels sort of like a different it really kind of feels like different people along along the way, and sometimes.

00;19;05;03 - 00;19;06;12
Paul Coyne
I have to stop and be like, they're all.

00;19;06;23 - 00;19;11;23
Paul Coyne
They're all men, because now I have a wife and a son. And you know, it's it was a different period in my life. But at that.

00;19;11;27 - 00;19;18;13
Paul Coyne
Time, that's what I needed to do to to to be to be fulfilled in the future. And I knew it, and so I did it.

00;19;18;21 - 00;19;33;13
Joe Carr
What an incredible and inspiring story. Thank you so much for sharing that with us, Paul. It's amazing. five degrees in four years. I never heard of that before. And top of everything else. It's incredible. So why nursing?

00;19;34;05 - 00;19;44;18
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So the role of the nurse is the is the role that I think is best able to heal the physical and the emotional aspects of a patient. You know, I think, you know, I.

00;19;44;18 - 00;19;45;17
Paul Coyne
Just alluded to some of my.

00;19;45;17 - 00;19;50;29
Paul Coyne
Own emotional struggles. I think everybody has emotional struggles. Certainly people with lifelong heart.

00;19;50;29 - 00;19;52;02
Paul Coyne
Diseases like like.

00;19;52;02 - 00;19;55;21
Paul Coyne
I have. I need a new pacemaker in June, and it's.

00;19;56;04 - 00;19;58;19
Paul Coyne
You know, my life is, is, you know.

00;19;58;19 - 00;20;11;25
Paul Coyne
Triumphant in what I just described. But I still have a heart disease and I need a new pacemaker in June. So, you know, there's life. Everyone loves a story of here's the struggle, and here's the triumph. But there's still a struggle for anyone.

00;20;12;01 - 00;20;13;01
Paul Coyne
Who has even triumphed.

00;20;13;10 - 00;20;19;14
Paul Coyne
So I still struggle sometimes, and, you know, everybody struggles. So I think the role of the nurse is the best able.

00;20;19;14 - 00;20;23;24
Paul Coyne
To to both address the physical and the emotional aspects of what is needed to truly.

00;20;23;24 - 00;20;26;02
Paul Coyne
Heal. And that certainly was the.

00;20;26;02 - 00;20;27;01
Paul Coyne
Case for the nurses that.

00;20;27;06 - 00;20;28;27
Paul Coyne
Helped me, and I wanted.

00;20;28;27 - 00;20;39;03
Paul Coyne
To be able to do that for other people. And so that area of medicine where, you know, I'm mean, I'm a nurse practitioners, I'm a prescriber, I can prescribe medications and I'm a prescriber.

00;20;39;11 - 00;20;42;02
Paul Coyne
So, you know, diffusion of of medicine.

00;20;42;02 - 00;20;50;13
Paul Coyne
And nursing in the role of a nurse practitioner I thought was the best avenue for me because I thought I could make the most impact.

00;20;51;00 - 00;21;06;13
Joe Carr
My life to come back to a little bit more about the nursing profession and a couple of minutes. But I do want to make sure that we talk about your your role as an innovator and inventor. Tell us about in and inspire the company where you're a co-founder.

00;21;06;19 - 00;21;20;19
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So about five years ago. I met two people in Colombia that changed, changed my life. one is my wife who I alluded to earlier. She's she's wonderful and she was a nurse practitioner now as well. And the second is Mike Juan, who.

00;21;20;23 - 00;21;22;01
Paul Coyne
Was the CEO and founder of.

00;21;22;01 - 00;21;31;14
Paul Coyne
Inspiring. And the two of us co-founded this company together about 55 years ago now. And our CEO is Ben Casita, who I mentioned earlier.

00;21;31;14 - 00;21;37;11
Paul Coyne
Who was my roommate was a brilliant software and implementation consultant and now an excellent CEO.

00;21;37;21 - 00;21;43;05
Paul Coyne
So the three of us sort of co-founded this company together. first, Mike and me, and then very quickly, then.

00;21;43;24 - 00;21;45;10
Paul Coyne
From Providence as.

00;21;45;10 - 00;21;52;10
Paul Coyne
Well. So the device we partnered with NASA and MIT engineers to create one device that would go on the.

00;21;52;10 - 00;21;53;23
Paul Coyne
Wall behind a patient bed.

00;21;54;19 - 00;21;58;28
Paul Coyne
And we use computer vision and machine learning.

00;21;58;28 - 00;22;00;02
Paul Coyne
And artificial intelligence.

00;22;00;15 - 00;22;01;25
Paul Coyne
As well as Bluetooth low energy.

00;22;01;25 - 00;22;06;00
Paul Coyne
Which is the same signal that your cell phone pairs to your car radio speakers.

00;22;06;17 - 00;22;08;05
Paul Coyne
To analyze the physical.

00;22;08;05 - 00;22;12;01
Paul Coyne
And digital environment of the entire patient care space.

00;22;12;02 - 00;22;20;06
Paul Coyne
So it's it's a very innovative piece of hardware, I guess is the short way to describe it. The longer way is what.

00;22;20;06 - 00;22;23;20
Paul Coyne
I just said, but the short way is an innovative piece of hardware that goes inside the patient.

00;22;23;20 - 00;22;24;01
Paul Coyne
Room.

00;22;24;08 - 00;22;29;17
Paul Coyne
To improve patient safety, patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, really to augment.

00;22;30;05 - 00;22;31;05
Paul Coyne
The care team.

00;22;32;04 - 00;22;35;19
Paul Coyne
And and unite the care team with the patient and their family.

00;22;36;05 - 00;22;40;03
Paul Coyne
Alleviate the burden of charting and manual work that a clinician has to do.

00;22;40;10 - 00;22;46;15
Paul Coyne
So that they're able to spend more time helping the patient heal rather than documenting what they're doing.

00;22;46;23 - 00;22;52;25
Joe Carr
What sorts of things can be charted by this device? What what does it spare the practitioner from having to take care of?

00;22;53;00 - 00;22;56;24
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So we know a great example is a turn in positioning.

00;22;56;24 - 00;22;59;08
Paul Coyne
So a patient in ICU or a patient that's.

00;22;59;25 - 00;23;00;23
Paul Coyne
Not capable of.

00;23;00;23 - 00;23;08;08
Paul Coyne
Getting up on their own needs to be turned and positioned every two hours. That means a patient a nurse goes in return them to the right side of the body, to the pressures on the right.

00;23;08;08 - 00;23;10;11
Paul Coyne
Hip so they don't get a pressure ulcer.

00;23;10;17 - 00;23;12;11
Paul Coyne
two hours later, they go and they turn them to the left.

00;23;13;02 - 00;23;17;14
Paul Coyne
So that that currently our device looks down at the bed sees if.

00;23;17;14 - 00;23;26;02
Paul Coyne
A patient is hasn't been turned into hours. We actually know through skeletal computer vision tracking and artificial intelligence, we can tell if the patient hasn't been turned.

00;23;26;06 - 00;23;26;21
Paul Coyne
We alert the.

00;23;26;21 - 00;23;27;08
Paul Coyne
Nurse to.

00;23;27;16 - 00;23;28;27
Paul Coyne
Go turn them, and then once they.

00;23;28;27 - 00;23;33;02
Paul Coyne
Do, we're able to say the patient has been turned. So that whole process of needing to remember.

00;23;33;02 - 00;23;40;18
Paul Coyne
To do it, doing it is not to do it, but needing to remember to do it and then documenting that you did it. Currently, they would then go back out.

00;23;40;18 - 00;23;49;25
Paul Coyne
In the hall and say, I turn this patient had expired. So now that's just sort of done. Another very easy thing, as is for falls. If a patient is getting out of bed, we can alert and save patients getting out of bed.

00;23;49;25 - 00;23;50;06
Paul Coyne
So there's.

00;23;50;15 - 00;23;57;02
Paul Coyne
There's a there really isn't anything, any piece of digital equipment that comes into the room or any manual.

00;23;57;02 - 00;23;59;29
Paul Coyne
Action that a nurse takes. We're able to harness with that.

00;24;00;29 - 00;24;03;19
Paul Coyne
Data hub the device and.

00;24;03;19 - 00;24;06;29
Paul Coyne
Then transmitted to a cloud and then to the electronic health record.

00;24;07;04 - 00;24;16;17
Joe Carr
Now there's reading about this and saw some discussion of the fact that it keeps track of who has been in the room, so who has visited the patient. And there's value in that too, right?

00;24;17;02 - 00;24;25;23
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So I mean, I have a, you know, I mean, from a patient level, you know, I had a stroke, but you don't need a stroke. It's very confusing, even if you have a full brain when you're in the hospital.

00;24;25;23 - 00;24;34;20
Paul Coyne
Of all these people coming in and out, you don't know who they are. And so even for the patient to service that information to a patient.

00;24;34;20 - 00;24;39;05
Paul Coyne
So they can see, you know, physical therapist Bob SCIU, nurse Paul saw you, Dr. Smith.

00;24;40;13 - 00;24;42;21
Paul Coyne
And then they can share with their families, perhaps remotely.

00;24;42;21 - 00;24;44;28
Paul Coyne
The family can see everyone the check on the patient that day.

00;24;45;07 - 00;24;55;06
Paul Coyne
That's for the patient level and then for the hospital itself, the implications to staff efficiency to give assignments based on time spent.

00;24;55;16 - 00;24;58;20
Paul Coyne
So if a nurse has five patients, if there's two nurses in, there's ten patients.

00;24;59;03 - 00;25;01;24
Paul Coyne
You have to give five to each of them, which five do you give and how do.

00;25;01;24 - 00;25;02;21
Paul Coyne
You allocate that?

00;25;03;00 - 00;25;04;26
Paul Coyne
So we're able to say, OK, let's shift.

00;25;05;02 - 00;25;09;08
Paul Coyne
These five patients took up X amount of time. These five took up X amount of time.

00;25;09;08 - 00;25;10;02
Paul Coyne
And then balance.

00;25;10;02 - 00;25;11;03
Paul Coyne
The workload.

00;25;11;03 - 00;25;14;04
Paul Coyne
Among time spent in patient demand so.

00;25;14;04 - 00;25;18;15
Paul Coyne
That the people so that one nurse doesn't get all of the patients to take up the most time.

00;25;18;23 - 00;25;24;27
Paul Coyne
So there's there's a lot of staff efficiency tools that we can do with some of those metrics. We also have a gamification app.

00;25;25;06 - 00;25;31;01
Paul Coyne
Where we reward nurses for spending more time with patients. We give virtual trophies to the nurse who spent more time with patients that week.

00;25;31;01 - 00;25;33;21
Paul Coyne
So like I had said about why I wanted to get into nursing.

00;25;33;22 - 00;25;38;02
Paul Coyne
one of the reasons why I was sort of disappointed a little bit when I got into the field is that a lot of the work.

00;25;39;18 - 00;26;00;09
Paul Coyne
I felt the technology was pulling. The everyone sees this. If you go to a primary care, visit the Typekit, you know, the technology is standing as a barrier to or as actual a deterrent where where they're not there, where technology is driving the clinician away from the patient rather than uniting them.

00;26;00;09 - 00;26;09;16
Paul Coyne
And so this piece of technology very deliberately behind the bed, serving as a uniter to to eliminate that barrier and then encourage.

00;26;09;20 - 00;26;25;17
Joe Carr
War interaction is really interesting to note that this is invented by nurses, and obviously the fact that you have that exact set of experiences that led you to understand exactly what's needed here, really, it really fits with the future of this product.

00;26;26;29 - 00;26;38;16
Paul Coyne
So we have a team of nine full time now, about 30 contractors. We're currently expanding pretty rapidly into hospitals, nursing homes and in the home.

00;26;38;21 - 00;26;43;06
Paul Coyne
There's some, there's some real there's there's a need in the home market for it as well.

00;26;43;29 - 00;26;48;21
Paul Coyne
So it's just I just want to get it into as many places as I can.

00;26;48;29 - 00;26;55;20
Paul Coyne
I really I believe in it. I think it will change the way that care is delivered and in so many ways and can bring.

00;26;55;25 - 00;26;58;26
Paul Coyne
Better for patient safety, which is why it sells, to be.

00;26;58;26 - 00;27;09;01
Paul Coyne
Very honest, because there's a hard rely on stopping falls, stopping pressure ulcers. Columbia University under this and did a big research that's coming out next next month on.

00;27;09;21 - 00;27;13;01
Paul Coyne
In academic journals on on how just just how much.

00;27;13;16 - 00;27;19;19
Paul Coyne
You know, improvement is made in the hospital by having this device there in terms of hard rely on safety protocols.

00;27;19;28 - 00;27;24;03
Paul Coyne
But really, for me personally, just to create an environment like the one I just described.

00;27;24;11 - 00;27;33;19
Paul Coyne
You know, I'm very passionate about it and I think keeping patients safe is is number one. But if we can also keep them safe and then have a better experience simultaneously. It's just it's a it's a win win.

00;27;33;19 - 00;27;38;03
Paul Coyne
And so I'm excited to get it in more as many places as we can.

00;27;38;03 - 00;27;49;02
Paul Coyne
So there's there's probably, I think seven hospitals that have signed letters of intent were deploying all throughout this spring. During COVID, we deployed a couple of hospitals in New York and we actually used it as a contact.

00;27;49;02 - 00;27;53;08
Paul Coyne
Tracer because the same computer vision that knows all that that I described also knows.

00;27;53;25 - 00;27;55;19
Paul Coyne
Who comes in the room, how long they stay.

00;27;55;19 - 00;28;08;22
Paul Coyne
If they had a mask on and if they were within six feet of the source patient. And so we're able to do contact tracing for infection prevention like COVID. So that's that's another use case of why it was deployed during the pandemic in New York.

00;28;08;29 - 00;28;13;12
Paul Coyne
But now all of these other use cases are being able to be realized. And so I just.

00;28;13;13 - 00;28;15;21
Paul Coyne
Yeah, I just want to get in as many places as I can.

00;28;16;00 - 00;28;31;07
Joe Carr
We should point out that this is getting a lot of favorable review by tech organizations and your peers. You are honored at South by Southwest, and you personally were named one of Modern Health Care's top 25 innovators. So getting some well-deserved notice for this?

00;28;31;24 - 00;28;35;17
Paul Coyne
Thank you. Yeah, no. It's been a great, a great journey. And like you.

00;28;35;17 - 00;28;45;05
Paul Coyne
Said before, as a nurse invented company, I think a lot of these products are derived out of out of a boardroom of people who want to make.

00;28;45;08 - 00;28;45;22
Paul Coyne
Money.

00;28;46;20 - 00;29;06;01
Paul Coyne
Which is always great, I guess. But but this was really borne out of clinical necessity and a problem that the nurses saw. So it's wonderful for for our company, but it's also wonderful for any clinician or really any person to believe that they that they can start something and and do do something.

00;29;06;01 - 00;29;06;22
Paul Coyne
That's that's.

00;29;06;22 - 00;29;07;08
Paul Coyne
Remarkable.

00;29;07;08 - 00;29;15;08
Paul Coyne
Because I don't like I said at the beginning, it was just me and one other nurse, and we raised money and we found NASA engineers.

00;29;15;14 - 00;29;16;29
Paul Coyne
And we just emailed everyone we could.

00;29;16;29 - 00;29;23;03
Paul Coyne
Until we got enough of the right people together to sort of make it happen. There wasn't anything the most.

00;29;23;12 - 00;29;25;21
Paul Coyne
The most remarkable part about it was the grit and.

00;29;25;21 - 00;29;45;19
Paul Coyne
The will to keep sending those emails and finding people. Not that I'm a brilliant hardware engineer who can, you know, put the computers pieces together in this device that somebody else does that at our company. But so I think it's a great story of of of anyone who doesn't think they can do something that they can.

00;29;46;13 - 00;30;00;06
Joe Carr
In the introduction, I mentioned the talk you gave at your master's degree graduation at Columbia in 2015, and we'll put the link to the YouTube video in the chat. It's really in the show notes. I should say it's really worth watching, but there's a great line in there.

00;30;00;14 - 00;30;12;03
Joe Carr
When you were talking about responding to the people who asked you, why would you want to be a nurse, especially after having worked on Wall Street and having done some other things? And you said, why would I want to do anything else?

00;30;12;16 - 00;30;16;03
Joe Carr
So in that context, what kind of satisfaction does this job bring to you?

00;30;16;26 - 00;30;18;01
Paul Coyne
Being a nurse, yes.

00;30;18;01 - 00;30;19;29
Joe Carr
Or being a nurse, I'm sorry. Yes. Yeah.

00;30;20;01 - 00;30;21;10
Paul Coyne
No, because we talked about.

00;30;21;10 - 00;30;22;09
Joe Carr
Teaching, right? That's right.

00;30;22;24 - 00;30;32;29
Paul Coyne
They both bring me great satisfaction. But being a nurse brings me great satisfaction to see more directly the impact that.

00;30;33;10 - 00;30;35;21
Paul Coyne
That I can have on on humanity.

00;30;36;08 - 00;30;49;21
Paul Coyne
What in the financial markets there needed for the world to function as well. So any one job not to not to minimize any, any role, every job in in the world adds.

00;30;49;21 - 00;30;51;00
Paul Coyne
Value to humanity.

00;30;51;23 - 00;30;53;24
Paul Coyne
But for me, I felt as.

00;30;53;24 - 00;30;55;11
Paul Coyne
Though I needed to see more.

00;30;55;11 - 00;30;56;01
Paul Coyne
Directly.

00;30;56;11 - 00;31;18;04
Paul Coyne
The the impact that I had on a one to one basis with with with with other human beings to to help them and then in turn realize more about myself and grow grow together. And I've done that with my career, with the people I manage with this product and also during our direct clinical practice.

00;31;18;04 - 00;31;28;02
Paul Coyne
And so I think any that that's really that's why it's been most fulfilling because it is the role that allows people to be. Honest and sincere and.

00;31;28;02 - 00;31;29;17
Paul Coyne
Vulnerable a little bit and.

00;31;29;21 - 00;31;30;29
Paul Coyne
And really.

00;31;32;01 - 00;31;34;06
Paul Coyne
Get to the core of what being a human beings.

00;31;34;06 - 00;31;34;15
Paul Coyne
About.

00;31;34;16 - 00;31;48;17
Joe Carr
Medical professionals, Paul have always been afforded a measure of respect, but that's been significantly elevated during the pandemic, and rightly so. Have you been able to notice and experience that? Or are you still kind of in the moment?

00;31;48;26 - 00;31;55;27
Paul Coyne
Yeah, no. I kind of get emotional now. I just filled up. I think, yes, I have. Ah, my.

00;31;55;27 - 00;31;56;11
Paul Coyne
Husband and.

00;31;56;27 - 00;32;04;13
Paul Coyne
I one of the most moving things. We just moved my wife and I.

00;32;04;26 - 00;32;06;25
Paul Coyne
To to a home so that my son has more.

00;32;06;26 - 00;32;10;10
Paul Coyne
More space. But when the pandemic started, we were we were living on the Upper East.

00;32;10;10 - 00;32;33;14
Paul Coyne
Side of of New York and in Manhattan, and every night at seven, they would clap. And it was just it was it was extremely moving to feel like the the world was was recognizing what we were trying to do and coming together that way.

00;32;33;24 - 00;32;46;21
Paul Coyne
And I remember holding my my son, who was like six or seven. My wife is a frontline nurse practitioner. So, you know, I'm more in administration. So I do see patients since I have to have to wear, you know, mask when I go to work and they're in the elevators and stuff.

00;32;46;21 - 00;32;52;01
Paul Coyne
But I don't spend 30 or 40 minutes with them at a time anymore because I'm the administrator.

00;32;52;12 - 00;32;53;01
Paul Coyne
But my wife is.

00;32;53;01 - 00;33;05;25
Paul Coyne
A is a frontline guy. Got thrown for all of you nurse practitioner who has an N95 all day with the goggles and comes home with her face looking like you see on TV with the, you know, she's still beautiful, but she's still, you know, she has.

00;33;05;25 - 00;33;06;13
Paul Coyne
The the.

00;33;06;13 - 00;33;08;27
Paul Coyne
Goggles and everything and the lines from the goggles.

00;33;09;10 - 00;33;12;14
Paul Coyne
And I just remember holding my my son in in the.

00;33;12;14 - 00;33;22;19
Paul Coyne
Window and seeing, you know, because it's New York. So as you can see everybody, it's not like you live in the rural area. You see thousands of people just looking out the window and everybody just stopping and clapping.

00;33;22;19 - 00;33;26;18
Paul Coyne
And you know, I just remember holding my son sitting there clapping for mommy.

00;33;27;00 - 00;33;34;23
Paul Coyne
Mommy. And it was just so I and a little bit for me. I feel like, you know, more for my wife because she's like, really the front line and then me a little.

00;33;34;23 - 00;33;35;22
Paul Coyne
Bit in a support role.

00;33;35;22 - 00;33;36;22
Paul Coyne
So but really.

00;33;36;22 - 00;33;39;01
Paul Coyne
I did get to feel it with that with the clapping.

00;33;39;07 - 00;33;52;26
Joe Carr
Well, it was an emotional thing for all of us to observe from from a distance. So it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be really in that and to be part of it and in fact to be one of the people being saluted at and recognized.

00;33;52;26 - 00;34;05;12
Joe Carr
And, you know, thank you for what you do and what your wife has done. I don't think we can say that enough. What impact do you think this will have on the nursing profession? Will draw more people in or could it have the opposite effect?

00;34;05;14 - 00;34;09;28
Paul Coyne
Yeah. So I mean, I've been studying this very closely and I'm involved, you know, at the national level with.

00;34;09;28 - 00;34;10;28
Paul Coyne
Various organizations.

00;34;11;05 - 00;34;12;08
Paul Coyne
Of nurse innovators.

00;34;12;08 - 00;34;14;10
Paul Coyne
And there's a lot of stuff happening in the.

00;34;14;20 - 00;34;23;23
Paul Coyne
In the space. That's remarkable. I think it's there's a I hope it draws more people in. I think, you know, if you read the.

00;34;25;00 - 00;34;28;18
Paul Coyne
Articles of Washington just today, there was an article that was that came out about three in ten.

00;34;29;05 - 00;34;31;01
Paul Coyne
Health care workers, you know, a burnt out and.

00;34;31;01 - 00;34;32;22
Paul Coyne
Are looking to go to another profession.

00;34;34;14 - 00;34;41;02
Paul Coyne
I hope not. I think there's already a shortage. You know, the baby boomer population is aging.

00;34;41;02 - 00;34;46;01
Paul Coyne
This is all very well documented and known that the that there there needs to be more.

00;34;46;12 - 00;34;54;18
Paul Coyne
Caregivers to care for the aging population. And I think. I hope I hope more people.

00;34;55;04 - 00;34;56;10
Paul Coyne
Are drawn drawn into it.

00;34;56;19 - 00;35;05;15
Paul Coyne
I do think some companies are taking the opportunity to great innovation that comes from any, you know, challenge. Concern my.

00;35;05;15 - 00;35;07;26
Paul Coyne
Company. I just described how we are.

00;35;08;15 - 00;35;10;23
Paul Coyne
You know, creating technology that.

00;35;10;29 - 00;35;11;21
Paul Coyne
That unites.

00;35;12;01 - 00;35;12;29
Paul Coyne
More more.

00;35;14;11 - 00;35;32;02
Paul Coyne
There's a concern like they have with technology that goes in the other direction where we have less connections, more technology. And the problem that I just described is worse. And it's one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about creating a technology and helping create other technologies that.

00;35;33;13 - 00;35;33;28
Paul Coyne
Allows.

00;35;33;28 - 00;35;35;09
Paul Coyne
The conditions that are here.

00;35;35;20 - 00;35;40;02
Paul Coyne
Even if there aren't as many of them proportionately where there is a technology that really augments.

00;35;40;02 - 00;35;46;29
Paul Coyne
The care that they can give so that they are able to care for more people in a meaningful way so that their time is spent caring rather than.

00;35;47;05 - 00;35;50;12
Paul Coyne
You know, charging. And so I hope I hope it's both. I really do.

00;35;50;12 - 00;35;53;24
Paul Coyne
I hope more people get into the profession extremely rewarding. I would recommend it for anybody.

00;35;54;02 - 00;35;55;00
Paul Coyne
Anybody from Providence.

00;35;55;00 - 00;36;11;27
Paul Coyne
Please, you know, reach out if you're listening and you want to go into the health care profession. I'm happy to speak. I hope everyone. I think it's very it's extremely rewarding. But if it is, if it is the other way, I hope that that that that the technology part doesn't drive it even further away and that there's

00;36;11;27 - 00;36;16;12
Paul Coyne
more technologies like mine created that allow that great caring of the caregivers that.

00;36;16;12 - 00;36;18;00
Paul Coyne
Are there to care.

00;36;18;01 - 00;36;19;01
Paul Coyne
For the people, even even.

00;36;19;01 - 00;36;38;15
Joe Carr
More. You've been very generous with your time, Paul. After a long day's work, we should point that out, and we want you to have some time this evening with your urine in the little guy. But one last thing I wanted to ask you about and you're a person of science, the medical practitioner, and you've studied this exhaustively

00;36;38;15 - 00;36;56;16
Joe Carr
and everything related to to your profession. Talking about this clinic that you were working at today and the vaccinations. Can you put into perspective from your point of view, what an achievement of science it has been to create these vaccines in this time frame?

00;36;57;08 - 00;37;01;29
Paul Coyne
I think it'll be remembered as one of the most significant scientific.

00;37;02;23 - 00;37;03;07
Paul Coyne
Feats.

00;37;03;22 - 00;37;05;24
Paul Coyne
In the history of mankind.

00;37;08;14 - 00;37;23;05
Paul Coyne
The amount of things that have to happen for the for, for for us to receive a vaccine. It is is is is remarkable, I would be on for another hour.

00;37;23;05 - 00;37;26;14
Paul Coyne
If we tried to dissect all of them. But, but you know.

00;37;27;13 - 00;37;29;02
Paul Coyne
To to create it. Number one.

00;37;29;25 - 00;37;38;09
Paul Coyne
There have to already be a lot of years of past scientific discovery and progress that was made. There was now accelerated.

00;37;39;15 - 00;37;41;00
Paul Coyne
The amount of hyperfocus.

00;37;41;00 - 00;37;41;22
Paul Coyne
Of an entire.

00;37;41;28 - 00;37;43;29
Paul Coyne
World on one thing.

00;37;46;19 - 00;37;55;12
Paul Coyne
I don't know when that hasn't happened since, probably World War two, where everyone is. The entire world is. And not even that because some countries were involved in World War two, I mean this.

00;37;55;17 - 00;37;56;25
Paul Coyne
Every every country.

00;37;57;09 - 00;37;59;08
Paul Coyne
The entire world was focused on Kobe.

00;38;00;14 - 00;38;11;17
Paul Coyne
You go anywhere in the world and say COVID and someone will know it. That doesn't happen really ever. And so the amount of effort in the scientific community to be able to be hyper focused.

00;38;11;17 - 00;38;12;13
Paul Coyne
On this one thing.

00;38;12;25 - 00;38;13;27
Paul Coyne
And all work together.

00;38;15;10 - 00;38;19;23
Paul Coyne
And break down the barriers that different nations and business gains, all these things.

00;38;20;25 - 00;38;27;27
Paul Coyne
Just just geopolitically is remarkable. And then to create the supply.

00;38;27;27 - 00;38;29;18
Paul Coyne
Chain in the manufacturing and all of that.

00;38;29;29 - 00;38;35;00
Paul Coyne
And then for the businesses to say, all right, we're not going to think about money, we're going to.

00;38;35;04 - 00;38;37;12
Paul Coyne
Partner with each other and we're going to do these different things.

00;38;37;22 - 00;38;41;06
Paul Coyne
And I guess they still think about money somewhere in there, but their primary goal is.

00;38;41;06 - 00;38;42;29
Paul Coyne
Really to fix this. Fix this.

00;38;44;09 - 00;39;05;03
Paul Coyne
Is remarkable, and then for all these, the end people like me who are helping run vaccine centers and the clinicians to really, I mean, people all have another job, I think, you know, there wasn't just magically more doctors and nurses to administer vaccinations because we had to.

00;39;06;13 - 00;39;17;14
Paul Coyne
All of these people have other things to do. So it's been so the amount of effort that they have to do to do whatever their real their regular job was. Plus now give time to.

00;39;17;14 - 00;39;18;13
Paul Coyne
Vaccinate, you know, the.

00;39;18;13 - 00;39;26;01
Paul Coyne
Leadership at HSF. All of the directors, vice president, whatever level there are, if they're clinical, they're involved in this vaccination.

00;39;26;01 - 00;39;28;03
Paul Coyne
Effort, they're going at least one day a week.

00;39;28;15 - 00;39;43;18
Paul Coyne
They're vaccinating while they're running the hospital. So, you know, I think, you know, the amount of time that people have to give to do this, even if at the end is remarkable. But all of it, particularly the creation of.

00;39;43;18 - 00;39;46;07
Paul Coyne
The of the vaccine itself is is.

00;39;46;20 - 00;39;47;10
Paul Coyne
Remarkable. And I'm sure.

00;39;47;10 - 00;39;53;05
Paul Coyne
Your second question is what advice would I have to people who are still not not getting vaccinated?

00;39;54;06 - 00;40;08;27
Paul Coyne
I, I, I, you know. You know, I hate to say something is, you know, is safe and, you know, I run for governor like 20 months, 20 years from now and they go, Oh, you know, Colin Powell is wrong, you know?

00;40;09;18 - 00;40;25;01
Paul Coyne
But you know, I think if people trust, if people trust taking a Tylenol, if people had trust in getting the flu shot before, if people, unless you're completely like, I don't believe in medicine at all and you know which is your right as a.

00;40;25;01 - 00;40;27;16
Paul Coyne
As a person, I guess in America to believe.

00;40;27;16 - 00;40;33;15
Paul Coyne
What you want. But if you believe in any part of medicine, I don't understand why this one would be any.

00;40;33;15 - 00;40;37;27
Paul Coyne
Different is my honest. It's my that's 100% honest answer.

00;40;38;18 - 00;40;57;05
Paul Coyne
And that's how I, you know, everybody's a little this is new. You know, its emergency use authorization, the FDA, you know, there's there's all kinds of reasons why people, I guess, would would not. But if that's my advice to people is if you if you didn't, if you take Tylenol, if you've had the surgery, if you if

00;40;57;05 - 00;41;00;03
Paul Coyne
you've taken any medication in your life or if you've gotten any.

00;41;00;03 - 00;41;03;19
Paul Coyne
Vaccines, I don't know why this one would be any any.

00;41;03;19 - 00;41;21;28
Joe Carr
Different. Well, thank you for that, Paul. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate that we appreciate your, your candor and your insights. And most of all, we really appreciate what you do and in your professional life and your innovations that are aimed at helping people, helping people make people's lives better.

00;41;21;29 - 00;41;32;02
Joe Carr
And that's a great thing to be able to focus on in one's life and to be able to achieve as much as you have and as much as you will. There's wonderful reflects very, very well on our alma mater.

00;41;32;02 - 00;41;33;16
Joe Carr
So thanks so much for your time.

00;41;33;17 - 00;41;35;07
Paul Coyne
Yeah, no, I wouldn't. I wouldn't have been able.

00;41;35;07 - 00;41;41;08
Paul Coyne
To do it without Providence College. I really mean that. So it's an honor to to to have the opportunity to speak with you.

00;41;41;16 - 00;41;44;24
Joe Carr
You too. I will stay in touch and maybe we can catch up again sometime down the road.

00;41;45;03 - 00;41;45;08
Paul Coyne
Good.

00;41;45;11 - 00;41;56;09
Joe Carr
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. You can subscribe to the Providence College podcast to all the usual places, and they're available on the college's YouTube channel. Feedback is welcome at podcast at Providence studied you.

00;41;56;21 - 00;42;00;02
Joe Carr
Thanks to our producer Chris Judge, I'm Joe Carr until next time.