Nurse Converse, presented by Nurse.org

A small-town newspaper headline blamed a school nurse for delaying classes. The real story is much bigger. In this investigative episode of Nurse Converse, nurse journalist Jana Price sits down with Moriah Benjamin, a Pennsylvania LPN who was fired after refusing to work as a school nurse without proper supervision — a violation of her scope of practice under state law. Moriah shares what happened the night she called off, the 95-page school board hearing where she represented herself, the charges that changed between letters, and the closing statement that's now rallying nurses everywhere: "I'd rather lose my job today than my license tomorrow." A must-listen conversation about scope of practice, license protection, school nurse staffing, and what it costs to stand up for what's right.
Jump ahead:
00:36 – Jana introduces the investigation and guest Moriah Benjamin, an LPN and former school nurse in Millville, Pennsylvania
02:15 – How a local newspaper headline sparked a months-long investigation — and why the paper never got Moriah's side
05:27 – Moriah walks through April 16th and 17th: the coverage gap, her repeated concerns, and the proper call-off
09:05 – Jana reads the original news article and breaks down Pennsylvania's LPN supervision laws and PDE guidance for school nurses
13:16 – The "backup" nurse in the neighboring district turns out to be another LPN
14:29 – Life as a single mom on $28,000 a year with no benefits — and where her ten absences really came from
18:41 – The 95-page school board hearing: Moriah represents herself after a $250 consult was all she could afford
23:22 – Approved to work the summer program on April 20th — then served with charges on May 4th
25:59 – Testimony changes three times on whether a CSN was ever made available
30:58 – The safety math: one CSN, two LPNs, two districts, and up to 1,500 students per nurse
38:09 – The charges that changed between May 4th and May 9th — and the objection that got shut down
44:03 – "This was retaliatory": why Moriah believes the hearing was never about attendance
50:25 – The closing statement: "I would rather lose my job today than my license tomorrow"
52:57 – Life after termination, Studio 143 Designs, and the call for accountability in Millville and beyond
59:06 – Moriah's message to nurses: stand firm, protect your license, protect your patients
The investigation this analysis grew out of
School Nurse Fired After Refusing Assignment; Investigation Questions Staffing and Scope — Jana Price, Nurse on the Record
School Nurse Fired After Refusing Assignment: "I'd Rather Lose My Job Than My License"
School Nurse Rules
Part 1: School Nurses Must Refuse Unsafe Work. Few States Protect Them When They Do.
Part 2: School Nurses Are the Lowest-Paid LPNs in the Country. Here's Why.
Part 3: A School Nurse Ratio Can Be a Floor, a Ceiling, or Nothing at All (you are here)
More on school nursing
School Nurse Salary
School Nurse Burnout and Retention Report
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Flight nurse Claire Barnett joins host Jana Price on Nurse Converse to share one of the most intense survival stories in flight nursing.
Claire is a quadruple board-certified emergency nurse and the chief flight nurse for an international medevac company. About a year and a half ago, she and her trainee partner accepted a flight to pick up a young man with possible hantavirus. The plan was solid. The weather looked manageable. Then everything changed.
Fifteen minutes into the flight, the storm closed in behind them. The pilot was forced to land in the middle of nowhere as a blizzard rolled over them. With a critically ill patient, limited oxygen, no cell service, and search and rescue unable to reach them, Claire had to make decisions that went against every protocol she had been trained on — including giving Ativan to slow her patient's breathing and save what little oxygen they had left.
This episode is about more than survival. It's about what flight nurses face every shift, the weight of being someone's only hope, and the six Navajo search and rescue heroes who spent five hours building a road to reach them. Claire also shares the advice every new nurse needs to hear: don't lose your voice.
Jump Ahead: 
00:38 — Welcome and introducing Claire Barnett
01:45 — From concrete dispatcher to nurse: the story that started it all
04:27 — Why flight nursing was always the dream
06:01 — The setup: a young patient with possible hantavirus
09:00 — Weighing the storm and the patient's oxygen needs
11:30 — At the bedside: hypoxic, tachypneic, alert and oriented
13:00 — Lift-off and the storm closing in
14:30 — Landing in a whiteout in the middle of nowhere
17:00 — The oxygen problem and an out-of-protocol decision
20:19 — The RAM cannula and the BiPAP workaround
22:00 — Giving Ativan to slow the patient's breathing
24:21 — The helicopter confessional
26:00 — The call to prepare for the worst
27:30 — Headlights in the storm: the Navajo rescue team
29:00 — Wrapping the patient and sliding down the mountain
30:30 — Claire's first intubation in the back of an ambulance
32:30 — What it feels like knowing every flight could be your last
36:07 — Claire's advice to new nurses: don't lose your voice
37:30 — The nurse who became a nurse because of Claire
38:44 — Closing thanks
Listen now at nurse.org/nurseconverse.

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This is episode one of a two-part series. 
Flight nurse Dave Repsher and his wife Amanda — also a nurse — join host Jana Price on Nurse Converse to share one of the most powerful survival stories in nursing.
On July 3rd, 2015, Dave was working a shift on a Flight for Life helicopter when it crashed 32 seconds after takeoff. Covered in jet fuel and on fire, he suffered burns over 90% of his body. The pilot did not survive. Doctors did not expect Dave to make it through the night.
Almost a year later, he walked out of the hospital alive.
Jump Ahead: 
02:09 — Introducing Dave and Amanda Repsher
02:53 — Dave's path into nursing: from ski bum to flight nurse
04:29 — Amanda's path: raft guide, EMT, paramedic, ICU nurse
05:58 — How Dave and Amanda met at an ACLS class
06:43 — Setting the scene: July 3rd, 2015, the helicopter crash
27:55 — The lifetime impact of small acts by nurses
30:26 — Arriving at the burn unit in Denver and being let into the "tub room"
34:18 — Severe inhalation injuries and renal failure
35:42 — The everyday battle for survival
37:28 — "The perfect storm of good"
39:08 — Dave wakes up after five and a half months
42:53 — Amanda fills in what really happened: emergent thoracotomy and SVC syndrome
49:58 — Wrap-up and tease for part two
In part one of this incredible two-part conversation, Dave and Amanda walk through the day of the crash, what those first hours in the burn unit looked like, and how Amanda fought to be part of his care team. They share the small moments from nurses — a phone call, a hand on a shoulder, a tech explaining each burn degree — that changed everything. Dave also opens up about what it was like to wake up after five and a half months and beg his wife to let him die, not knowing the medical crisis that had just nearly killed him.
This episode is for every nurse who has ever wondered if the small things they do for patients and families actually matter. They do. Sometimes for a lifetime.
Listen to part one now. Part two coming soon. Learn more at nurse.org/nurseconverse.
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This is episode two of a two-part series. 
Part 2 of one of the most powerful survival stories in nursing. Host Jana Price welcomes back flight nurse Dave Repsher and his wife Amanda — also a nurse — to continue the story they started in part 1.
After a helicopter crash left Dave with burns over 90% of his body, the fight to survive was only the beginning. In this episode, Dave and Amanda pick up where they left off and walk through the long road of recovery: a year of home dialysis, a kidney transplant from a stranger named Matt who has now become family, getting married in the ICU after 16 years together, and what life looks like on the other side of it all.
Jump Ahead: 
00:38 — Welcome back and recap of part 1
03:40 — Dave's decision to fight: "We can't be angry"
08:05 — The power of hope and small acts from staff
11:21 — A nurse-patient's plea: talk to your sedated patients
12:45 — What separates new nurses from experienced ones
15:20 — A year of home dialysis: "Dialysis keeps you alive, but it's no way to live"
17:18 — Amanda's stress and the first 911 call from home
17:51 — Finding humor and independence on a tricycle with a bell
21:11 — The phone call: a donor named Matt
23:13 — Choosing to know your donor — Matt becomes family
25:56 — Married in the ICU after 16 years together
28:02 — The documentary "D-Rep" and the milk-jug fuel system
30:37 — A 2014 helicopter built to 1965 safety standards
32:19 — Why military helicopters got safer after Vietnam but civilian ones didn't
34:00 — Two federal laws in five years thanks to advocacy
35:52 — "Dave was the least physically injured from the crash"
37:57 — A company's staff who refused to fly without crash-resistant fuel systems
40:03 — 85% of the non-military fleet had no crash-resistant fuel systems at the time of the crash
41:23 — Life today: running a community ice rink in Colorado
42:23 — Continued advocacy and burn survivor support
44:32 — Closing thanks and where to find resources
They also share the advocacy work that came out of the crash. Dave's helicopter was brand new, but its fuel system was built to 1965 safety standards. The same fuel system has been described as no stronger than a milk jug. Together with the pilot's widow Karen, Dave and Amanda helped push two pieces of federal legislation through Congress to require crash-resistant fuel systems on newly manufactured helicopters. A medic recently texted them after walking away from a crash because of the very system they fought for.
This is a conversation about hope, advocacy, and what it really means to make good come out of tragedy. Listen to part 1 now at nurse.org/nurseconverse.

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Your nursing license is everything—but most nurses were never taught how easily it can be put at risk.
In this episode, Nurse Converse host Jana Price sits down with legal expert and nurse practitioner Jaime Weiland (aka “The Legal NP”) to break down the real-world legal risks nurses are facing today—from social media missteps and documentation gaps to drug diversion and off-duty conduct. 
They unpack what actually triggers board investigations, why good intentions won’t protect you, and the critical mistakes nurses make without even realizing it.
If you’ve ever assumed “that would never happen to me,” this episode might change your perspective—and how you practice—forever.
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Full transcript and videos: Nurse.org/podcast
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