Bonus Episode: Mindful Chat with Charlene Platon- CEO/Co Founder Fifth Window

In regards to Nurse Week
Here is a lovely company helping nurse with their wellness
.Director of  Sanford Health
Charlene Platon, MS, RN, FNP-BC is Director of Ambulatory Nursing at Stanford Health Care and a Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellow. In addition, Charlene is CEO & Co-Founder of Fifth Window, a nursing well-being platform. Charlene aims to transform healthcare at the intersection of compassion, innovation, and technology.


Download the App May 6th, 2021
 For Wellness & Well Being
@  http://fifthwindow.com/
Here is how you get to Connect with  Charlene
http://linktree.com/charleneplaton
https://twitter.com/CharlenePlaton
http://fifthwindow.com/




Dr. Damaris G. is an Integrative Doctor of Nurse Practice Family Nurse Practioner Mom, Veteran,. BC Family Nurse Practioner & Holistic Integrative health, Studies Functional Medicine 
Email Me at info@damarismaria.com
Website- https://damarismaria.com/​
Founder- Mindful Integrative Healthcare https://mindfulcomforts.com/
​Office Text/Call-732-355-3469
Social Media🔗Linked In- https://www.linkedin.com/in/damarisdnp/​
Collab/Interview/Say Hi/Email Me at info@damarismaria.com

Get YOUR Own
Joburg Protein Snacks

Discount Code: Damaris15 Or Damaris18

Feeling need to Lose Weight & Become metabolically Healthy

GET METABOLIC COURSE GLP 1 REseT

This course is designed for individuals looking to optimize their metabolic health through integrative and functional medicine approaches. Whether you're on a GLP-1 medication or seeking natural ways to enhance your metabolic function, this course provides actionable steps, expert insights, and a personalized roadmap sustainable wellness.

Are you feeling stressed, tired, or Metabolism imbalanced?
Take advantage of our free mindful steps to help improve your well-being.
ENJOY ONE OF our Books


Mindful Ways Health Wealth & Life
https://stan.store/Mindfullyintegrative

Join Yearly membership ALL IN ONE FUNCTION HEALTH

Ask Us for help with Medical Weight Loss & Improve Metabolic Health
Www.mindfullyintegrative.com

Le...

Transcript

Damaris Grossmann: 0:24

Hi, how are you? This is Dr. Damaris G. And this is the mindfully integrative podcast. And today we are having a wonderful guest and mindful chat with Charlene pulutan. She is director of Stanford health and ambulatory services, as well as the Johnson and Johnson innovation fellow. And she's also started CEO at a company called fifth window. It was well in wellness. And she'll tell you a little bit more about that, and how she implements mindful ways in her practice in her life, and in her work. So thanks so much, Charlene, for joining in on this podcast.

Charlene Platon: 1:07

Thank you so much for having me. Damaris. I'm so excited to be here. Yay.

Damaris Grossmann: 1:11

I'm glad I see your picture is what San Francisco Are you come? Are you calling from and on the YouTube channel for? Like from San Francisco?

Charlene Platon: 1:20

Yeah, I'm based in the Bay Area. I'm in Redwood City. So I guess that's technically Silicon Valley.

Damaris Grossmann: 1:26

Right. Okay. Because of Stanford health. That makes sense. I was out there a few years ago, and I loved those redwoods. I know what the fires and stuff it was a lot. So tell us, um, like, first off, what's a little fun fact about you that people may not know if they looked? Yeah.

Charlene Platon: 1:45

Yeah, one fun fact about me. Well, people may or may not know this, but I'm actually a twin. And oh, cool. Yeah, I

Damaris Grossmann: 1:52

didn't know.

Charlene Platon: 1:53

Yeah, I'm an identical twin. And it's funny because my twin sister is also a nurse. And she was practicing as a psychiatric nurse for many years at UCLA. And it's just funny, because when I was practicing at the bedside, I had always done more towards medicine. So we've we always joked about that.

Damaris Grossmann: 2:15

And she's more bedside and you're more? That's cool. Yeah, I know. It's it's like, you know, like, siblings. But that's cool that you guys both were in the medical field. And that and you guys, she's still practicing.

Charlene Platon: 2:26

You know, she actually transitioned out of the bedside not too long ago to go full time into her own business. So now she's full time working as a weight loss coach. And that's Yeah, her business is called sugar free self care. So it's not too far from

Damaris Grossmann: 2:44

Yeah, I have her on the show, too. At some point.

Charlene Platon: 2:47

She'd be great. Yeah, she's an inspiration for sure.

Damaris Grossmann: 2:50

Oh, very cool. Very cool. Um, so, you know, tell us a little bit about yourself kind of where, you know, your story starts. Some people talk about their childhood, you know, all the way through up, where kind of brought you into this kind of thinking, because the integrative health space and the wellness space is, you know, kind of a certain realm of us that want to, you know, make change, we're still, you know, trying to teeter between traditional and a different path, you know,

Charlene Platon: 3:19

yeah, thank you so much for asking Damaris. And, you know, in terms of my nursing journey, I come from a family of nurses. So my mother's also she's an ICU nurse. And there's many relatives in my family who are in nursing. And that's how I was introduced to the profession. But I had started in, you know, in bedside, I was working as an acute care nurse and the telemetry unit. And, and I just realized that throughout my, throughout my nursing career, I had actually been involved in innovation in some way. But I never, I never called it innovation just until recently, I really only thought of it as innovation. Actually, after I watched, Rebecca loves talk about nursing innovation. And after seeing her on the TED stage, I was thinking to myself, wow, this is actually innovation that I've been doing all this time, but, but throughout my nursing career, I had done different types of innovation, whether bigger or smaller, but but I think it all really stemmed from seeing different patterns within the healthcare system and wanting to do, you know, the best that I could to improve the experience for both patients and for staff. And, you know, I really wanted to focus on how we could impact patients or the healthcare system on a broader level, because I did see that as a gap at the bedside. But I but I also saw that as a big opportunity for nurses in particular to fail because there's just so much expertise that they have, and they they really know how to, they know the problems in and out and they really know how to fix them. And I think that's what led me to the successes that I've seen in my innovation journey. But I would say that that's really where that stemmed from Justin, just in a nutshell. In a nutshell. I

Damaris Grossmann: 5:03

mean, just in a nutshell. I know transferring. And then so have you like So what exactly is your innovation that because you were in when I met you Charlene well through sanzio, which is a wonderful leadership group and also through urs Or a Johnson and Johnson fellow innovation fellow. And I'd love for you to explain that to our audience.

Charlene Platon: 5:30

Yeah, thank you for bringing those up. And those are great initiatives, passion, passions, and the work that you guys are doing. So please talk about it a little. Yeah, of course. And, you know, I first heard about sunsail through the Johnson and Johnson nurse innovation fellowship and, and what that program is, it's a two year program that's focused on it on equipping nurses with entrepreneurial innovation and leadership skills. And so it's a really unique program, because it's, it's one of the first of its kind, I think, in the nation that has been brought to the forefront and, and the aim for the program is really to promote nurse led innovation across the global stage. And so there's 12 of us in the fellowship, and we are all part of this first cohort. And it's just been so amazing, because I really feel like I found my tribe in nursing, you know, everyone who's in the j&j nurse innovation fellow, a lot of them are in San CL, as well. So, you know, that stands for this society of nurse leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists. And so there's, you know, there is just so much passion and energy just connecting with a lot of these nurse innovators. And so sunsail really has, it's really like this collective of inspiring nurse leaders and nurses who work in all various aspects of the profession. And that, you know, we all come together in various different ways to share ideas to start initiatives, and they just have so many different opportunities. So it's a really great organization as well.

Damaris Grossmann: 7:01

Yeah, I completely agree with you, I love both organizations. And I'm, I'm not a fellow, but I definitely am part of sanzio. And I've met so many wonderful leaders, and so many wonderful people through the group, and I'm so grateful to each one of you, in some aspect, I feel like we've all kind of making impact and trying each and every day to do something more in the nursing field. And then like you're saying on a global stage, it's quite, quite phenomenal. Um, so going on that point of, you know, you're, you're innovating. You know, you're not only an innovator, but you're a director of ambulatory services at Stanford health, which is not a small task in itself. How are you getting through that, like that? Is it Do you have any struggles through that? Have you kind of, um, what made you kind of, you know, go through that path?

Charlene Platon: 7:53

Yeah, you know, leadership is something that I've always been passionate about. And I don't know, you know, sometimes it's just funny how these different opportunities just come to you. And it's, I just, you know, you can't explain it, it just somehow falls in your lap throughout your life, and you're like, oh, maybe I should do this. But, um, but throughout my, throughout my life, even you know, from when I was younger, I just always found myself in leadership opportunities. And it just felt, you know, natural for me to assume these types of positions, but more so because I was passionate about helping with a challenge or helping with a problem and wanting to fix that. So it really ties in closely with my passion for innovation as well. And I transitioned into this role as director of ambulatory nursing, at the beginning of the pandemic last year, actually, Oh, wow. So it was

Damaris Grossmann: 8:41

time to transition to pandemic, that's when you got it. Wow,

Charlene Platon: 8:45

that's got to be a lot. It was so funny, because I distinctly remember in early 2020, I was like, Oh my god, this is gonna be the best year ever because I had just been, you know, I had just been promoted to this new position. And I had been, I had been actually accepted as an instructor for this for this Fitness Studio that I love. And they're just, and then I was still riding the wave and still reeling in the whole being accepted into the Johnson and Johnson nurse innovation fellowship. So there was a lot of big things happening and in early 2020, and I accepted that job offer for the ambulatory position in March. So right before all this happen, so I didn't know what was to come. But, um, but it was definitely a challenge. You know, before before being in the director of ambulatory nursing, I was working as manager of advanced practice supervising nurse practitioners and physician assistants on the inpatient side, right. And then just so I'm really grateful, actually, that I got to see the difference. navigating through now, so I,

Damaris Grossmann: 9:51

I've been managing.

Charlene Platon: 9:55

Oh, my gosh, yeah, there were so many wonderful APS or advanced practice providers, and I really miss working with them. And it was it was really great to actually see the difference between the inpatient side and then now transitioning to the outpatient side, especially while navigating COVID. And in the inpatient side, I mean, there was so many challenges just first trying to navigate What is this, you know, virus, what is this? Like? What do we have to do for our policies and procedures, so that was really challenging. And then transitioning to ambulatory, it's a lot of different challenges, you know, and just a lot of them are still policy and procedure related. But now now you have to focus on other things like vaccinations and clinics, do you close the clinics, open the clinics, you know, so there's a lot of operational challenges to in the outpatient side. So I feel like I got to see a really great scope and, you know, lens for healthcare operations during this transition during the pandemic. But yeah, it's it's definitely, you know, it's, it's been challenging, but I actually really love being in this role with ambulatory nursing and helping to support ambulatory nurses, because this is still fairly new terrain for nurses to be to be in the outpatient setting and for people to know about nurses in the outpatient setting, so I'm glad to be a part of it.

Damaris Grossmann: 11:11

No, I think it's so important, especially because of this last year at the pandemic. And like, I mean, I'm an outpatient provider. And, and I know that it's like there's a big gap, you know, and you're kind of filling, have you noticed, there's probably not even just on an integrative side, there's probably a lot of other innovations to come. I do a lot of telehealth stuff, too. And I feel like there's a lot of innovation things that are needed to get this, you know, these nurses cared for. So let's talk a little bit about your innovative. You had you was like wellness nurses. Fifth window, please like talk a little bit about that, because it seems really cool.

Charlene Platon: 11:59

Yeah, thank you for bringing that up. And I'm so happy to chat about it. Because, you know, all of this first stemmed from the COVID-19 virtual hackathon on the from the nurse hack for health that took place in May 2020. So, so last year, Johnson and Johnson, right, right, right. Yeah, right in the middle when everyone I mean, it's still really challenging and, and but that first wave and you know, all the the unknowns, it was particularly challenging. And so, you know, Johnson and Johnson collaborated with Microsoft and sand, CL and Deb up conference to launch this virtual hackathon. And I immediately saw that there was a resiliency and self care track for this challenge. And I was so drawn to it. Because, I mean, throughout my nursing career, I've been brought out several times, I feel like any nurse or most nurses would tell you the same, it's a challenging profession, and there's a lot of opportunities, you know, for that are rewarding, but there's also a lot of areas that might cause some burnout. So, um, so, you know, I found out about the hackathon. And I really wanted to join because I, I knew that this was going to be a challenge for nurses, it was already a big challenge back in May of last year, it's still a big challenge. And we are still not, you know, recovered from all this. And burnout has been documented in nursing or in healthcare since the 1970s. Probably earlier and right. And yet, it's only really been with this global pandemic, which is a huge, you know, global healthcare crisis that finally we're starting to move the needle somewhat, but I want it to be, I want it to, I don't want us to lose momentum on it. So I really wanted to be part of the solution for how we could change the narrative when it comes to health care and mental health and, and really self care, because there's just so much stigma. So when my team and I participated in the hackathon last year, we were really fortunate to win that, that track for self care and resiliency. And so ever since we've been working on it, yeah,

Damaris Grossmann: 14:01

yeah, definitely. So I love it.

Charlene Platon: 14:04

Mm hmm. And we were called wellness wellness app before. And so now we've we are in the process of transitioning to a new name, which is fifth window. And I'm happy to share more about that, too.

Damaris Grossmann: 14:17

I know I mean, I it's a different it's a totally different word. So you know, what kind of brought that like, that's not just something you just kind of come to so you guys must have come or it was this more on you because you're the CEO of the company now. Correct.

Charlene Platon: 14:31

Right. And actually, the company has RF that we have four co founders, including myself, and three of us are nurses, and the three of us met during the hackathon. So it's really great to still have some of the original team members who are in our group from the hackathon. And it just really is a testament to how how much passion we have, because one year later, we now actually have a tangible app, which is really, really cool.

Damaris Grossmann: 14:56

That's really neat. Can people can listeners like download it? Is it available?

Charlene Platon: 15:02

Yeah, actually, it's really exciting because, and I'll talk about the name too. And yeah, but it's really exciting because we are launching our open beta tests for our app on nurses week. So on the first day of National Nurses week, on May 6, we're going to open up our app for download for both Android and iPhone users. And so You know, we had been doing some rounds of testing. And this will be the first time that we'll be able to open the doors to a much broader group of nurses who want to try and test the app. But if anyone is interested in that, you could just visit our website at www dot fifth window COMM And that's spelled out f i f th window calm. And we have, you know, we'll have all the information there for how to sign up for our beta tests, but we could have up to 10,000 nurses join. So we're really looking for as much feedback and as many people to try it out and let us know how, you know, we can make the best app as soon as possible for for our nurses.

Damaris Grossmann: 15:59

Oh, that's so cool. I can't wait to share the some, you know, with the listeners, and, you know, put sound bites and put it out to you know, get it out there for everyone. So, um, how exactly did you come up with this window?

Charlene Platon: 16:14

Yeah, and, you know, we wanted to, we had to change? Well, first, I'll just share that when it comes to entrepreneurship, there's a lot of different challenges that come up. And, oh, I am sure that, as you know, and we could talk for like hours, there's not enough time right now to talk about

Damaris Grossmann: 16:33

talking about that. Leadership and entrepreneur, there's always something that I'm changing or innovating and changing.

Charlene Platon: 16:39

Yeah, there's no shortage of of different things that will come up, but but one of the challenges that we faced in our team was actually our name. And, and for those who are trying to start their own business or company, or startup, I feel like choosing the correct name is perhaps one of the most important and one of the most challenging decisions that could come up for the, for the lifespan of the company. And so when we had titled ourselves, or called ourselves well, nurse, before, we didn't realize until later down the road, that there was actually another company called the wellness, which, you know, is great. However, you know, they were, they're in the process of trademarking the name. And so, we had to change our name. And, and I could understand that, because we don't want to confuse, you know, we don't want to confuse different people who might be interested in the different types of companies. So, so it's, you know, it's something that a lot of entrepreneurs go through, actually is choosing different name. And I've talked to a lot of my friends who are entrepreneurs, and almost all of them have had to change their name at some point.

Damaris Grossmann: 17:42

Oh, 100%. I think I've gone through three names and different things. Yeah.

Charlene Platon: 17:48

Right. So fifth windows, actually, our third name. Yeah, there was another name we thought of. And then we found out we did a trademark search. And we found that there was another company that was similar to that one. And so and so we landed on Fifth window, which is, which is interesting, because, you know, we actually are referring to the different dimensions of well being. And so when we say if if window we're looking at, you know, when we talk about the different dimensions of well being, there is your physical well being, there's your psychological well being. But then in terms of healthcare, there's also your professional wellbeing and organizational well being. And so the fifth window is really encompassing all these different aspects of wellness altogether. So it's really just the balance of all these different types of wellness and well being so so. And of course, that that might evolve over time. And we're still trying to see other avenues for in terms of how the meaning for that, but that's, you know, we really want to embody the different areas of wellness that nurses and nurses encounter throughout their career

Damaris Grossmann: 18:52

through their current that Yeah, that sounds really cool. And so now your app is launched already, or you're in the beta test, right?

Charlene Platon: 19:01

Yeah, we're in the beta test. And after, you know, it'll be on May 6, and we'll, we'll open up the app for free for nurses to try just in exchange for some feedback. And, you know, we have some surveys that are associated with the beta test. So if you're really, you know, willing to try it out, we would love to have your feedback. And of course, with the feedback, we've been able to improve our app at this point to what it is so far. But after that we do plan to launch our app in the app store for both Apple and for Google Play. We're aiming for the summer, so we're just trying to see, yeah, it's really cool. And it's just

Damaris Grossmann: 19:40

like purchases, or is it gonna be a free app, and then like in in price, you know, in purchase, or we're gonna have it for like, people are gonna buy the app.

Charlene Platon: 19:48

Yeah, so it'll be a freemium version. So we do want to first and foremost, we want it to be available to as many nurses as possible. So we do want to have a free version so that there is a like a level of content that's available to all nurses who are trying the app. And then for the premium that would include extra features that you would pay for. And that would include things that would help make the experience better in terms of, you know, your wellness and well being there's there's different features that we're looking at to so and so that's how that's how we're planning to price it at this point. Of course, you With entrepreneurship, all these things can change. So so we're continuously going to work on that.

Damaris Grossmann: 20:27

That's really exciting. I mean, I can only, you know, it's just it's one step, right? And then it goes, and then you never know how much more it'll it'll grow. That's really cool. Um, so when you like through your life and or through your work, Was there anyone that inspired you kind of to get into this, you know, into this work, not just nursing, but like, obviously into this wellness thinking, you know, the burnout, Trent, you know, obviously, we're saying you transitioned and thinking about burnout because of things that were going on. But was there anyone that inspired you or a quote that you kind of reach out for when you need a little extra?

Charlene Platon: 21:05

Yeah, you know, that there are so many different influences that have led me to this point. And one of the things or one of the one of the people that has been really inspiring or one of the foundations is actually the the cayley Foundation. And it's a it's actually focused on meditation. It's one of the it's one of the practices in terms of meditation and helping with the idea of detachment. That's one of their main focuses. And that's, and that's a practice that I've been doing, you know, for the past several months, including last year of the pandemic. I've been practicing Kili, Kili meditation. And so I do this meditation for five minutes in the morning, five minutes at night. And it's really been phenomenal the difference, you know, in addition to mindfulness and, and other self care projects, they're so great, right. And there's so many different types of meditation practices, and this is one of them. And, yes, I'm from the kewley Foundation, the founder is Ron Rathbun, and he actually created a book, he wrote a book called The way is within. And that's actually been a really great book, just in terms of spiritual teaching, and helping with promoting self care and just helping to promote this idea of really looking inside yourself and figuring out who you are, and, and how that helps promote your own, you know, your own well being so, so that's been something I've been reading and, and utilizing, just recently, but, but in general, there's, I've really, in terms of meditation tools, I've downloaded, like all the different apps, and I've been, and, you know, one of my goals is to use all the different things that I liked from all these apps and combine them into one and and use that for a fifth window. So

Damaris Grossmann: 22:53

yeah, I mean, that's, you know, then, and as you're, you know, working, you know, working through this, it'll, it'll come up and, and as you're sitting in your quiet, you know, times with your meditation, it's, you know, more is gonna unfold, I can only imagine what's gonna happen for you, and for your business, and just for you, and in life, I it sounds like you're doing such wonderful work and just keep up at it. I'm like, so excited that you've been a guest on the show, I wanted to say, Is there one thing that, you know, one mindful way, or one tip that you'd like to share with the audience today?

Charlene Platon: 23:31

Yeah, I would just say, you know, when it comes to your well being, I would really just encourage you all, to really just spend the time, you know, something that really helped me with this, because I wasn't always a practitioner of meditation. But something that really helped me was starting really small, like, seriously, I would only do meditation for like, one minute, and then I would increase it to five minutes, and then I would increase it to 10 minutes. And, and that's been a really great sweet spot for me. And, and I think, just in terms of any practice, starting small and, and, you know, that really helps and, and that goes for all types of self care. So I'm, I'm, I'm trying to go back now to my physical well being because, you know, with, with the pandemic, it was hard to go to the gym, but now I'm, now I'm starting to look into that again, and starting really small, like small bites, and over time, it really leads to some amazing progress. So I would, I would really share that as my tip for today.

Damaris Grossmann: 24:28

I love it. No, I mean, it's, it's because people need those. I call them mini wins, and the small wins, and you're, you know, you're giving them a little taste of that. And I appreciate, you know, bringing that and telling them a little bit about your story and your tips. And I cannot wait for them to learn more about you. I'm going to have all your information in the show notes and, and links. But is there anything? I mean, you were talking about the nurses week? Um, if you want to talk further about that before we go.

Charlene Platon: 24:59

Yeah, sure. Thank you so much to Maris and just what as we were mentioning before, fifth window is launching our open beta tests. It'll start on May 6, which is the first day of National Nurses week. And we invite all nurses to download our beta app and and basically have you try it out, try out the different features for free and we would love to hear your thoughts and we'll have a lot more information. about that as we approach nurses week but but if you're interested in joining our open beta tests please visit www dot fifth window COMM And that's f i f th window COMM And we will have a lot more information there but we really look forward to you know, revolutionising nursing well being and really, really promoting the safe space for nurses.

Damaris Grossmann: 25:48

And love it. You'll keep up all the great work, and I loved having you on the show. Thank you so much. And, and then I just wanted to, you know, tell our audience they know they're gonna reach out to you at please do and I hope ending on this show mindfully integrated podcast. audience. Thanks so much. And thanks, Charlene. I hope each and every day you guys find a mindful way. Not Miss de Thank you, Charlene.

Unknown: 26:20

Thank you so much Damaris. It was such a pleasure.

Damaris Grossmann: 26:22

Anytime. I'd love to have you back on the show.

Unknown: 26:26

Oh, yes, anytime.