Why Sepsis Awareness Matters: Inside RJEC Medical Clinic’s Mission to Educate and Protect

RJEC Medical Clinic will be hosting a special Community Health Talk on March 7, 2026, focused on an important and potentially life-threatening condition—sepsis. In this episode, our medical Clinic Nurse Jelisa breaks down what sepsis is, how to recognize the warning signs, who is most at risk, and what steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. Early detection can save lives, and knowing the symptoms could make all the difference.

Tune in, learn what you need to know about sepsis, and be sure to share this episode with your family and friends. Your awareness could help save a life.

Transcript

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You're listening to Project Redcord Chronicles, a podcast of the Renee Jones Empowerment Center. Welcome to this edition of Project Red Core Chronicles today. Our episode is titled, why Sepsis Awareness Matters Inside the RJEC Medical Clinic's mission to educate and protect. Our special guest today is jsa, our own nurse in our medical clinic. Welcome, jsa. Hello. Thank you. I'm gonna start off by letting you share a little bit about why we picked this topic, from what you're seeing in our cl in our medical clinic. I think that would be good for our audience to know. Okay, so the reason I thought that, sepsis would be a good topic is because, when our clinic is open, usually we have a lot of people that come. For first aid kits or a lot of people that are like homeless and they are drug users or they use needles and things like that. And usually they have, they come and show you a wound and they be like, oh, I don't know what's going on. And it's infected. So sometimes it's like a lot of education. Telling them about if they don't go and get it taken care of now, how it can lead to, sepsis or even septic shock. So that's why I thought this would be really good, because it has been like so many people with, like infections from like the needle use. Wow, that's important. So I wanted the audience to know, how we came up with this topic. We want to actually acknowledge, the three Arches Foundation for providing the funding to make the clinic possible and open to our clients as well as the community that we are located in this area. So thanks for sharing that. So, we are having a talk for the community on March 7th, so that's why we wanted to do a podcast as well. So I'm gonna start off, by asking you a few questions so that our audience. Gets a better understanding of, what sepsis is. For those who may not know, how would you explain what sepsis is in simple non-medical terms? Okay, so I would say that it's like a life threatening medical emergency that happens when the body like immune system has like, I would say a extreme or like a overactive, response to infection. It's kind of like something like, I, like you have an infection, but it's when the infection kind of gets like totally out of control. Wow. It starts to affect like the organs in our body. Okay. That's very important. Why do you believe it is so important to talk about sepsis in our community? I feel like it's really important not only for, like the homeless or the people who are active drug users or anything like that. Also, we have people, older people in our community, and sometimes, they are more acceptable to getting urinary tract infections or something of that nature. And we just wanna let'em know like the signs and symptoms and the things to watch for, just to kind of save a life. Yes, that's important. Many people think sepsis is just an infection. What is the critical difference between a regular infection and sepsis? So, to make it kinda simplified is basically you can have a regular infection, and it affects the body, but when it starts to affect the organs and it's like in our whole body, like it's a medical emergency, it's like life threatening. You can actually like, you know, pass away from it. Yes. So that's very important to know. How do you as a nurse, define early recognition in the context of sepsis? I would say it is just so, so important to know the difference signs and symptoms of infection. Okay. the time is very important. You wanna know temperature uhhuh, most likely you'll have like a, a fever resulting from like the body, trying to fight off the infection. But also you may have a, if it kinda go a little further than septic and you have septic shock. It might, you might have a lower, temperature will like indicate that the body is like exhausted and it's, it's just overwhelmed. Okay. As far as with like, so I'll just give like examples with like two of the main things that I see. With needle use. You might have like a red swelling, warmth, pain, puss. So that's something you wanna watch for. With UTIs, in our older community, it might start with like a confusion, slur, speech. They might have like a change in their mood. They might have like a loss of appetite. Sleepiness, they may have like a abdominal or like a lower back pain. So those are some of the things to look for. Dark urine, like bowel smell, cloudy.'Cause some, some older adults have like a Foleys or catheters. Okay. And they makes them very s susceptible to getting, an infection, which we don't have early can lead to sepsis. Yeah. Sepsis. Yes. What are, the most common early red flags that a family member should look for in a loved. I would say, the main thing is just, knowing the signs and symptoms. Okay. Not every single person is going to have the exact signs or symptoms down to the, you know, to the science or anything. It's just those things where you have to be comfortable with knowing like anything that you know is not normal. Yes. You know, and with some of the signs and symptoms that, we went over and also having a relationship with, your doctor. Yeah. We have like, or even a hospital have like nurse on call. So anytime you have any questions, any confusion, they are available like 24 7 to you call, yes, you are able to call, give them the signs and symptoms that your loved one is experiencing and they'll be able to help you take it to the the next step. Okay. That's good. Thank you for that. Sepsis can look like the, the flu. What are some specific symptoms that differentiate a mild illness from a potential case of Sepsis So, you know, the flu usually is like a common cold. You may also have a fever, which is common with sepsis. You may have, body aches, which is also common with sepsis, runny nose. And you may even be tired. The same with sepsis, but you, are aware and like alert. with sepsis you may be like very weak, confused, or like, sometimes they're like hard to wake up. Okay. You know, fast breathing and heart rate, dizziness. So, and with the flu you kinda start to get better. With sepsis, that's not the case. You will not get better. You are only gonna get worse. Okay. are the signs different in children versus older adults? Yes, actually they are, they are a little different. So with children, they may have like a respiratory change. They skin maybe like pale, cold to the touch, behavioral changes. Or they may be sleepy too, and they may have like a decrease in appetite and urination or even vomiting. Oh, wow. Yeah. But the only thing is kids may not have like a blood pressure problem usually until it's, they kinda like, bad. You know, it's kind of like a little worse for'em towards the end. Okay. Versus adults. You, you kinda, you definitely have like a terrible, like a fever, a low blood pressure. What else? With adults, the symptoms can kind of vary. So I don't want'em to like look for, like, oh, do I match every single one of these symptoms? You know? Yeah. Kind of to know just like the generalized symptoms and then maybe see. If anything kind of matches up with what they're feeling, so they're able to contact their, doctor or, you know, the nurse and get, you know, be able to explain to them what's going on so they can get more help with the next step. That's great. who, who is most at risk for developing sepsis in our communities? To be honest, anyone can become sepsis. Mm-hmm. Any, yeah, anyone. But in our, in our area that we're in right now. Yeah. I would say are, people who are like actively using drugs. Like needles. We have a lot of people that visit here and it's just like you see the infection. They may show you an area, you may put'em like a first aid kit together, but I like super encouraged'em. Like, please go to the hospital and get it taken care of now. You know, you are gonna be in the hospital probably, you know, you could be in there for up to six weeks. It get terrible, you know? A lot of people sometimes when with the needle, use this experience something called like a endocarditis, carditis. Very life threatening. It's, it's an infection. Okay. Like where the bacteria enter, like, the bloodstream, like through needles or like skin and it travels to the heart and the valves. Wow. And it's just a mess from there. Yeah. So just trying to encourage them to just go and just get you an oral antibiotic before it get like, out of, you know, out of control. Yes. And I know that you see a lot of, people here, like you said, in our community, that are, you know, drug users and I'm, I'm just glad that they are comfortable enough to come into our medical clinic and you be able to share that information and encourage them, to get, seek further help if needed. Oh, yes, for sure.'cause, you know, sometimes it's like a, a gap. They, they are, embarrassed sometimes. And they be like, oh, I don't wanna go in there. Or like, you know, what am I going to say to'em? So, you know, you just kind of like build'em up and you let'em know like you are okay. You know, you wanna save your life. And you tell them, this is the area that I have, you know, I think I might have an infection, or I may need some antibiotics. And some people come back and you know, they thank you. They'd be like, oh, thank you. You know, I went over here and I was able to get some antibiotics. And that's actually great because they're, first of all, you confirm, you make them realize. I think this is something that people that are listening, it's good to know that, you know, people that have addictions, sometimes they feel ashamed, they don't want to, they may be suffering, from infections or things that are happening to them, but they feel afraid or feel like they'll be treated. Unfairly because they have an addiction and, so we're glad that people feel comfortable to come in. And talk to you about it and, and actually listen to your recommendations to go seek further help.'cause I know that you've had lots of these type of cases. So thank you for that. And thank you for being the type of person and the nurse, that the, community is willing to come in and talk to you about. How does, proper wound care or taking, the full course of antibiotics. Play a role in prevention? Oh, yes. That is like very, very important. So I was explaining, you know, sometimes you can't, so I'll just use this as an example. Like, sometimes, with people that come to the clinic who, use needles, it's like they, they kinda go for like the, So it's like you, you try to explain to'em No, you know, you keep it clean, you know, so we pass out like alcohol, wipes and keep it covered and, you know, so, that type of education. Yeah. And also it's like, for example, if you take a antibiotic and you don't finish the whole set, you probably nine times outta 10 are not getting rid of the whole infection. Mm. May have you to start the thing completely over or for the infection to get worse than it was before and lead to sepsis. Wow. So it's very important to finish a medication as prescribed. And then how, you know, I like what you said, how you have seen them. They keep, using the needle in the same area and it's, that's just making it worse and worse. Sometimes they probably don't even realize it, you know? Yes, they don't. So I'm so glad that you're sharing that.'cause that's something for people to be aware that hey, they may be working with someone who is struggling with an addiction and, don't have any idea about how this can affect their bodies even worse, going into these areas. So I know that those kits that you give out are very appreciated to the population that we serve in our community. So thank you for putting those together. And offering, the opportunity for, someone who doesn't have a regular doctor or, you know, most of them don't have healthcare. How does, if someone suspects that they or their loved one has sepsis, what is the very next step they should take? I would encourage anyone to call the doctor. Okay. Call the doctor. If you can't get in touch with the doctor, you call a nurse on call. You can go to a urgent care, whatever you have to do.'cause like time is very important with us. Okay, that's good. So they should be aware of those symptoms if they have it. Don't wait around, seek help, immediately. That's, that's good. What should a patient, or family member say to the emergency doctor or nurse? To ensure that they, they take their concerns seriously because a lot of times these are people that don't visit, that we see the population we see, they don't go to the doctors on a regular basis. And sometimes, you know, they feel like they're not heard. So what would you say to them so that when they go to the doctor and talk about what's happening with their bodies, that they would be taken seriously? You know what every, I do this for every single patient. I always encourage them to write down every symptom question or sign or anything that's going on. I encourage'em to write it down. Because sometimes we get to the doctor and some people get like a little overwhelmed or, you know, when you thinking about one thing and then you get home and you be like, oh my goodness, I forgot to say this, or I forgot to say that. So I always encourage people, or sometimes we, give out little, journals or booklets and encourage them to write every single thing down so that way when you get in there, you able to get all your questions answered and all your concerns answered, you know, right then and there. So that way you don't leave and then you think about like, oh, I forgot to show'em this little spot on my foot. That way you'll have everything ready to ask. Just tell'em exactly what's going on, how it's going on feelings, you know? Yes. Just have it all written down and you're empowering them to take charge of their health. So I think that is awesome. I know you have, journals for their blood pressure. I mean, that's empowering the people and so that's another good thing to share, with our audience. If you do have a clinic, if you are serving these various, underserved populations. Things that are helpful to empower them to take control of their health. If you could give one piece of advice to community listeners about sepsis, what would it be? So first I would say know your body. Take control of your body, and learn the signs and symptoms of infection in general. Okay. And that will help you even prevent getting to the sepsis state. Okay. And my last question is I would love for you to share, a just a experience, a patient experience, that made you really consider using this as a topic for your health talk for the community. So what really made me wanna educate is, I have, well, two is probably two, people that, come to the clinic, very young. And he, he was like, I just, you know, he came and he was like, oh my goodness, I'm so glad you're here. Like, I really, I've been waiting. It was like super early. He was like, I really need to talk to you. And I was like, okay, sure. You know, come on in. And, he's homeless. You know, he, he's actively, you know, using drugs at this time, needles. And he said, I just need, you know, I just need to, show you, like I need to show somebody this. I, I really need your opinion. And he showed me the area and it was like. It was like really infected. And he was like, I don't know what to do. Could you just gimme some bandaid? Or like some peroxide. And I had to sit'em down. Like, no, I mean, I can get you those things, but that's not gonna, you know, it's, it's not gonna heal. It is not gonna heal. You need to go to the ER because he didn't have any insurance or anything. But, the hospitals will rate you, you see a financial counselor and they'll help you to get some type of, you know, coverage. Yeah. So I encouraged him to go to the ER and get everything taken care of. And he said he did go, so that's good. So seeing him go to the hospital and just actually not knowing. Like how that small area can just get really bad. Yeah. So that like made me wanna educate the community. That's great. I have someone who comes and, he gets like cellulitis mm-hmm. Cellulitis on his legs, like really, really bad. And we always, and always, every day I see him, I try to like, educate him. And they, and you'd be surprised, like, they like super shocked. Like, oh my goodness, you really think it's infected and you know, being a nurse, you looking like, oh yeah, you know, it's infected. But then you have to think like. No, he, he don't know. You know, he just don't know. So I thought it would be important to just talk about, signs and symptoms of infection and how it can progress to like sepsis. Yes. Well that, that is awesome. And I thank you so much. Jalisa for joining us for this episode of Project Rare Chronicles, talking about this very important topic and making sure we educate those who come to our clinic. So thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.