You're listening to the BBM Global Network with 25 years in broadcast audio and video production, our passionate team creates content and marketing for the world of Internet Talk Radio. If you've got a passion, come join us at BBMGlobalNetwork.com. The BBM Global Network, your voice is now heard. Welcome to All About Nursing with your host, Dr.
Joyce Vacherly, executive nurse advisor, Dr. Vacherly, who will present the significant role nurses play in providing healthcare in a multitude of healthcare settings. Listen to some of today's key nurses who work in practice in academia settings and talk about the challenges they face in today's modern medical world. So please welcome the host of All About Nursing, Dr.
Joyce Vacherly. Good evening. I'm your host, Dr. Joyce Vacherly, and we're live on the BBM Global Network in Tune and Radio.
And I have a very interesting guest on my show this evening, who is Mike Singer, and I'd like to tell you all a bit about him. Mike Singer is the CEO of Cares Medical Brands, which was formerly called She2Partners. Cares Medical is the industry leader in medical uniforms, medical footwear, and accessories. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes medical apparel under the chair key, dickies, heart soul, infinity, scrub star, Disney scrubs, and medical footwear under the infinity and anywhere brands.
The company has just celebrated its 25th anniversary in July. As a child with supportive nurses, Mike has driven Cares Medical Brands to champion the people behind the scrubs. And one of the nursing profession's highest honors, bestowed to someone who is not his nurse, the American Nurses Association in October, will recognize Mike as a sole recipient of the 2020 Champion of Nursing Biennial Award. Mike has led efforts to honor and celebrate the extraordinary work that nurses and healthcare professionals perform on every shift.
He created and published Scrubs Magazine in both English and Spanish. The publication has led many initiatives, including the Prevention of Nurse Bullying and Nurse Suicide. ScrubsMag.com has been a leading voice for nurses and nursing since its inception, powerfully illustrated by its advocacy on behalf of nurses and other healthcare workers during the pandemic. Scrubs Magazine.com has elevated and amplified the need to create a healthier America by encouraging nurses to serve on boards and other leadership bodies in their communities and throughout their series of influence.
CaresMag brand sponsors, scholarships for future nurses, funded a nurse IEM, a landmark documentary to encourage and instruct nursing students and new and experienced nurses, and is the sole Apparel sponsor of the Daisy Foundation. So welcome to the show, Mike. Thank you so much, Joyce. I appreciate you having me.
So why don't we go ahead and start with you telling the audience a little bit about how and when you decided to get into the Scrubs Manufacturing business? Well, I've been doing this a long time. I actually joined an apparel company called Cherokee in 1989 and started working with them. And in 1990, I had the opportunity to take over a very small business that they were thinking about closing at the time, which was making Scrubs pants and tops.
So I've been doing this since 1990. So what do you think has really helped to make the Cherokee brand so popular that you have done so much work with? Well, I think Cherokee was the first brand that really had a sportswear background. And Cherokee actually came into the market in the 1980s at a time when the scrub market had just changed, you know, prior to this, nurses were wearing dresses and skirts and pants and tops.
And tops became very popular. And Cherokee had a big following. And so at first, the company was able to leverage their existing styles into medical uniform fabrics. But along the way, we just simply asked nurses what they wanted in their scrubs, and we gave them what they requested.
We surely was durability, functionality, comfort, elements of fashion, wide assortment of colors and prints. We even developed cartoon themed prints for pediatrics, where it was appropriate, which really made a big impact on children and parents. We paid attention to the details. You know, their nurses come in so many shapes and sizes from, you know, double extra small to 5x, from petite to tall men and women.
And so, you know, the business of scrubs on the surface seems like a really simple business, but it's incredibly, you know, what we call skew-intensive. We manufacture over 80,000 different types of style color sizes. So, you know, I think pockets, we were very focused on making pockets, nurses love their pockets, and making sure those pockets were really functional and plentiful. And then I think, you know, based on our distribution network of really amazing local retail partners and local communities across the country and enormous inventory that we keep in stock, nurses could depend on Cherokee scrubs really to always be there when they were needed.
And as a result, you know, our products have really become the standard within the healthcare industry. So, can you share some highlights of your overall career? Sure. You know, when I first started, actually in the publishing business, and I created a national publication for college students, did that for about four years.
And then an opportunity came up to join Cherokee, the apparel company. And so, I went from college to creating this publication for four years, right into the apparel business for a year, and then I joined, you know, was able to take over the medical uniform business in 1990. So, I've really been doing this my whole career, just about my whole career. So, Mike, what do you think has, oh, I'm sorry, I was going to ask a different question.
Yeah, I was going to say, you know, when I think of it, you know, the career doing this, you know, it's really been a highlight for me, you know, to lead a really amazing team here, of dedicated, intelligent, you know, really hardworking people who've given their best, you know, their creativity and their diligence. And I think that's, you know, the way they listen to consumers and develop amazing products and service, the relationships we've built with retailers and with nursing executives across the country. All those things have been incredibly rewarding for me. As you were talking about this, I was thinking about how I have been in the profession long enough that I remember white uniforms, white hoes, white shoes, caps.
And so, when you started talking about just different colors and then prints and all that, I was just amazing to be able to move in that direction. And so, you really have been able to diversify as the profession has changed over time, which is to your point, some of the things that haven't helped to make you successful. Are there other things that you think have really contributed to your success? Well, I think, thanks.
And by the way, I remember when it was, you know, virtually everything was white. And I remember it was working at this, you know, apparel company and the folks who were working in the sportswear part of the business used to tease me that are three best-selling colors this season were white, white and white. So that was a big joke back then. So I do remember those days.
And thankfully we've evolved into a world with a lot more fabrics and colors and prints. And it's been very, I think it's added to the healthcare environment in creating a warmer, friendlier place for patients who come into healthcare. But when I think about what's helped us, in addition to our great employees and these amazing retail partners we have across the country, I'd have to say that our ability to innovate and pivot has been really critical. Because we've seen so many evolutions in the market.
Scrub market has evolved. You know, when we go back to 2010, almost half of our business were prints. And, you know, today, prints are still an important factor in the market, but nowhere as large as they were at that time. So I think the ability to innovate and pivot, you know, has enabled us to solve and be successful.
I think of, you know, just since the pandemic hit, you know, we've evolved to create masks. We have a great antimicrobial technology called certainty. And so we've incorporated that and fluid resistant technology into our masks. We also created a laundry additive called Smart Boost that allows workers to make their scrubs antimicrobial, you know, between washes.
And so it helps to reduce and inhibit, eliminate odor causing bacteria and things that degre-date the fabric. Well, that's wonderful. This is all about nursing. I'm Dr.
Joyce Batchley. We're live on the B-B According to the American Nurses Association, there are approximately three and a half to four million nurses in the United States. So where do all these nurses work? What kind of roles do they have?
What kind of education and training help to prepare them for so many different settings? What kind of impact nurses have on patient outcomes? The World Health Organization has announced that 2020 will be the year of the nurse, honoring the 200th Earth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. An international initiative called Nursing Now is underway to raise the profile of nursing.
The National Academy of Medicine has convened a committee to create the future of nursing 2020 to 2030 that will focus on how the nursing profession can create a culture of health. Reduce health disparities and improve the health and well-being of the U.S. population. Learn more and join Joyce Batchler on All About Nursing, Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m.
Central Standard Time on the BBM Global Network. Welcome back everyone. You're listening to All About Nursing live from the BBM Global Network in Tune Radio. I'm Dr.
Joyce Batchler, the host of the show, and I have Mike Singer with me this evening as my guest who is the CEO of Charisbatic Brands. And Mike was sharing with us a lot of the great work that he and his team have been doing when it comes to the scrub industry and supporting nursing overall. And you were talking a little bit about your success factors and your ability to innovate and pivot. And certainly you've been doing some of that as a result of the pandemic and you had started to talk about some of the great new products that you had come into the markets.
So maybe we can go back to just what does go into designing, making and distributing scrups and other healthcare apparel. How do you make those decisions? It's a great question, Joyce. There's a lot that goes into it.
You know, we have 650 people working from the design process into the manufacturing process, marketing, distribution. We manufacture the products around the world. So it really starts with fabrications. And for the scrubs market, you know, we have to design fabrics that have unique quality characteristics that really don't exist elsewhere in apparel.
You know, if a nurse buys her scrubs today and begins washing them, and nine months from now another nurse is hired, and that person goes and buys a brand new set of scrubs, the two of them show up to work the next day, those scrubs should still match. They should be the same color. And that standard is a hard standard to reach in apparel. So it starts with fabrics, and then there's so many differences.
You know, we have nurses who love, you know, a basic poly-cotton bulletproof fabric that comes out of the wash and doesn't wrinkle and last forever. And then there are other nurses who may want stretch and spandex and rayon in a different kind of drape. So we make a wide variety of products, a wide variety of fabrics to fit those various choices that nurses have depending on the look that they want. And then across all those lines, we match the colors.
So if a group wants to be in a particular color, they can have multiple choices, not only in fabrications, but also in styling, because depending on the function, the job that they do, some they want back pockets, some they want patch pockets on their pants, some they want a jogger with a certain kind of elastic bottom. So there are all different types of scrubs with zippers, scrubs with drawstrings, different types of zipper pockets. So there's a wide variety of needs, and a lot goes into it. So we spend a lot of time talking with nurses, talking about with other healthcare workers too, and understanding their job functions and what they like and don't like.
And then we have a manufacturing that takes place in different parts around the world. We have an extensive quality control process to make sure that the products are made to specifications, so they last. And the pockets last and they can withstand the bending, the lifting, all the functions that nurses do to take care of their patients. As you were talking, I was thinking about the fact that we have about 4 million nurses in the United States and there are other healthcare workers that also wear scrubs.
How do you really ensure that the healthcare workers and employers around the world are getting the products they need? Because I think it's like 30 million or some kind of really big number when you look across in terms of the numbers of healthcare providers we have out there across the world. I think this is the one point that most people don't think about and don't realize that if you think about men and women, you think about the teat sizes all the way to tall. If you think about extra small to 5x, you think about all the fabrics, all the colors, all the styles.
It's a massive amount of inventory that we carry. We have a 300,000 square foot distribution center, which is pretty automated in Dallas. We keep more than $100 million of inventory in stock at all times and constantly making more and flowing it, so we have a team that is constantly forecasting. The biggest issue is really being in stock because when a healthcare worker gets hired or needs a new uniform, they can't show up in their street clothes.
They have to have the scrubs that they need in their size, in their color. We make that product available through multiple distribution channels. You can pick it up at a local retail store. You can purchase it online at a wide variety of places.
I think going back to really what's made the Cherokee brand grow and be so successful, the quality of the product innovation is really the know-how of how to plan, how to forecast, how to run the operations to keep the products in stock so that when healthcare professionals need it, it's available and ready to be purchased, ready to be shipped. We get an order today and the vast majority of the time that order ships the same day. It'll ship out to our retailers or to a consumer who's ordering online. That's pretty impressive because you have to meet the needs too that the market puts upon you.
When nursing students are going to start coming back and decide to change colors that they want, or as many organizations have gone to standardizing the color of scrubs at RNSWARE versus a clinical assistant as a way to help people identify them. Those impacts also, I would imagine, are things that you're trying to make sure you keep your information up to date on, correct? Correct. I think the most challenges that healthcare workers have, and the thing that makes them the most frustrated is when they can't get the uniforms they want.
We've really built a business on reliability and fashion and quality, but you can't leave out the reliability. You have to have that. For a nurse executive who's overseeing people, those people are expected to come in and uniform, and they make decisions that impact what people wear. I just want to emphasize that point because if sometimes you can come in and make a fancy presentation, and show a great product, but can you back it up with the inventory that's needed to support keeping the teams in uniform?
Absolutely. I can remember when I went to nursing school initially, it was a hospital-based program, and I used to feel sorry for the hospital because when we rotated through the operating room, the tradition was that you needed to come back with a hair scrub. You could have them in the dorm because they made great job at night and stuff, and I thought, well, it's not helping them with their costs, but it was a tradition. I'm sure you have encountered those sorts of things.
Is there anything else that you would like to share about how you really keep up with the changes in the market? And we might need to hold that question actually until the next segment. Okay. We are coming to you live from the B-Dimbal network in Tune Radio.
This is all about nursing. Dr. Joyce Bachelum will continue this conversation when we come back. The Opiate epidemic has reached crisis levels, and with so many families affected by addiction, Opiate related drug overdoses and death.
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And before the break, Mike Singer, who is the CEO of Cares Manic Brands, was telling us about the incredible work he and his team do to really keep up with what the different healthcare workers across the world really want and need, and a lot of the success factors. And I think that it's pretty exciting to hear that, and congratulations on being chosen to receive the American Nursing Association's Champion of Nursing Award this year. You're the only person who is not a nurse who received an award from ANA in 2020. What does it mean to you and the company to receive this kind of award?
Well, first of all, I have to tell you that I was absolutely floored when I opened up the envelope and I received this letter from the American Nurses Association. I was in shock because, you know, we love what we do. We're so honored to serve these amazing people that we served. And the last thing in the world we would ever expect would be to win on award like this.
And I never even knew I was nominated. So, you know, I think we've invested a lot of resources to celebrate nurses, to increase awareness of their immense value, you know, to patients, to other nurses and really to the communities where they live and serve. And so, I have to say that receiving this award is one of the most meaningful things that's ever happened to me, and I'm just deeply humbled to receive it and still in shock. Well, from all the things you've been describing, I can see though, but why you would have been chosen because keeping up with what the demands are and being open to really talking to everybody and the CNOs and other people in the healthcare industry, that takes a lot of work.
So you're doing great work. So thank you very much. I also have read in the Mark and Bonnie Barnes book, Shining the Light on All the Right, that chair of Chem medical uniforms has been an industry partner of the Daisy Foundation since 2010. For the audience that's listening, Daisy Foundation has done amazing work to help really recognize nurses across the country.
And I believe you also fund a scholarship for Daisy Award honorees. What does it feel like to have a role in helping to honor the extraordinary work and compassion of nurses as well as help fund nursing research? Partnering with Mark and Bonnie Barnes, the Daisy Foundation, all the team that they have to support nurses has really been a great honor. And I'm sure everyone who's met them, and there's so many people who do know Mark and Bonnie, and they all have to feel the same way.
I mean, from the first time that we sat down with them, we knew they were special, and their cause to thank nurses for the care they give just really resonated with us. And so I think that Mark and Bonnie, they're really testimonies to how grief and sorrow can really be leveraged for good, and what an amazing thing they have done. And you think about the collective impact of all the ceremonies, of all the recognition, and how good it's made patients feel too to be able to talk and share the stories and their love and their appreciation for the amazing caregiving that's been delivered to them. So I think also, you know, when I think about their book, Mark and Bonnie's book, Shining the Light on all that's right, it's perfectly titled.
I mean, it's called Shining the Light on All the Right, and I mean, I encourage everyone to purchase the book and read it. It's an amazing story of their journey and what an impact they're having. I just think also, you know, perhaps it would be great if everyone who could, you know, for maybe the hospitals and the chief nursing executives, if they could even purchase a book for every one of their Daisy Award honorees. And because you can imagine like having a really difficult day at work, which we know happens all the time for nurses and then coming home to read something like this, which is just, you know, so positive and uplifting.
I think it's just the perfect antidote for a really rough day. Oh, absolutely. And I think that you're describing something that's definitely needed, especially not with all of the complexities that staff have been dealing with this with the pandemic. Did you want to say anything else about that?
Well, I was just, I was thinking one other part, you know, how when Mark and Bonnie talk about the award winners, they always explain how the nurses are just saying, well, we're just doing our jobs. And, you know, you can just see that Mark and Bonnie feel the same way about their work. And, and, you know, they're working on some really great new initiatives that we're excited to help, you know, support and sponsor, which they're going to be announcing soon. And so we're just thrilled to be able to support them in every way we can.
You know, I'm sure you're aware of this too, that even the people that are nominated, even if they don't win the Daisy Award necessarily, they still are absolutely honored and many times in tears for being even thought of. And so it's definitely something that's been having a major impact in such a positive way. So thanks for sharing that. You know, Mike, I think we need more people like you because it seems that nurses and nursing are in your DNA.
What's the source of that? Well, you know, when I was a teenager, I saw my cousin who was, who was her name is Stephanie Joe Weber, and she was, I think, three and a half when she was. Diagnosed with leukemia, which is the same age as my sister, Debbie, who works in the company. And, you know, they grew up together.
They were the fourth child in my mom and her sister, you know, and they each had three kids, and then they both had these little girls. And so, Stephanie, you know, she, she got very sick with leukemia and she went through chemotherapy. And I remember she used to talk about, you know, how she had to go and get a stick. She would call like a shot or an infusion of stick.
And I know that the, you know, the nurses that she had were just amazing and incredible people. And I thought a lot at the time about, you know, just the kind of work they did, the kind of people that they were, the compassion, the caring, the kindness, the gentleness, you know, having to work with all kinds of people who are going through, you know, the most, not just the patients, but their families who are going through the most horrific circumstances. And I think that, you know, in that process, it made me think a lot about nurses and what they do. And I think I just developed a real appreciation.
Well, I can tell you that we really appreciate all that you do. This has been phenomenal hearing on me so far this evening. So it's great. We are coming to you live from the Be You're listening to all about nursing live in the BBM, Vocal Network and Tune in radio.
I'm Dr. Joyce Batch with the host of the show and I have Mike Singer who is the CEO of Charismatic's Brand on with me this evening. And he was telling us about the great award that he will be receiving from the American Nursing Association and his support of the Daisy Foundation and just in general his support for nursing. And so it's been great hearing everything so far.
And I really want to talk to you now a little bit about the fact that Charismatic's Brand is a founding strategic partner of the Nurses on Boards Coalition, which is very exciting and very important. And as listeners have may have heard in the past, we've been trying to make sure that we have 10,000 nurses on boards by the end of 2020. So Mike, why did you support having a nurse on your corporate board? Well, I would love to claim that it was my idea and I kicked myself.
Honestly, Joyce, we're not thinking about it. But actually our private equity partners have the idea and they really felt that we could be better informed by having a nurse who leads other nurses. And so we did a search and I was really excited about the idea when they mentioned it. And we ended up choosing Kathy Sanford and she joined our board.
And honestly, it was the best governance decision we ever made. And it was a perfect match because Kathy brings experience managing multi-million dollar budgets, directing thousands of nurses. She's working to solve highly complex challenges in an intensely regulated environment. And her work is evidence-based, data-driven.
She has very significant professional successes and leading teams and addressing all kinds of critical issues, team work, getting the best out of people, all the things that nurse executives do. And I think it's just an incredibly valuable attribute. These attributes, they have incredibly valuable for board work. And there's so many ways that they can really add value.
And so I know you mentioned the Nurses on Boards Coalition and the challenge to get 10,000 nurses on boards by the end of 2020. We've been working really closely with Lori Benson and the NOBC, advocating for more nurse involvement, really in all kinds of leadership roles, wherever ideas would be considered, they would shape strategies and policies that would impact the health of communities across the nation. These are roles, and even beyond that, but especially where it impacts health, these are roles that are just critical to have nurses in. And I think about the pandemic.
Imagine the difference that nurses would have made if they had been in leadership positions all throughout their communities. Imagine, I mean, we need a nurse on the White House coronavirus Task Force. How can that task force exist without, you know, a really prominent nurse? And I think that for any nurses that are listening who aren't counted towards this goal of 10,000, please go to the NOBC website, nursesonboardscolicion.org and register because we really want to get 10,000 nurses on boards.
And if you know, people who are running boards advocate for nurses because they can have a big impact and improve any organization they're on. So Mike, what kind of benefits have you seen by having a nurse on your board? Well, I think it helps us to understand what's happening. What are the trends and issues impacting healthcare, impacting nursing?
I think we're getting world-class knowledge, experience and skills coming into the boardroom from Kathy. I think she brings a perspective that's really shaped through a unique lens coming through her experience in the military and her experience leading, you know, health organizations, leading to nursing organizations. So that's been incredibly valuable. And in fact, it was so valuable that we said we'd like to have a committee of nurse executives and not only impact at the board level, but impact at our management level.
And so Kathy helped us to create an advisory committee that was comprised of other extraordinary nurse executives. So for us, it's been fantastic getting nurses in. We were getting nurses advice and opinions really from the earliest phases of our business on product, but it's been very rewarding to get them involved at these higher levels of management governance and to get their input. I can tell you one story, you know, we were thinking about renaming the company.
We had had this name, Strategic Partners, and we started 25 years ago. Our company had evolved tremendously and we really felt it was time for a new corporate name. One of the names I presented to this board was Medical Grade Brands. You know, we got a thumbs down.
The nurses inspired us to really focus around care and caring and their advice led us to actually pick the name charismatic brands, which embodies the combination of care and charisma. And we spell it C-A-R-E-I-S-M-A-T-I-C. So charisma, charismatic, and that was really inspired by the nurse committee. So have you gained like your own personal professional knowledge, too, from the work that you've been doing by having nurses in such key roles?
We did. You know, our business historically is that we're the designer, we manufacture the product, we put it in inventory, and then we sell it to the local retail partners and to online sellers. But we did not historically have a lot of interaction with nurse executives. Most of our retailers are retail partners and they've done a fabulous job with the ones who really managed that interface and the customer experience.
But we felt that we needed a closer understanding, especially as the world changed and healthcare organizations, color-coding was implemented. And there was a lot of nurse executives who were involved in those decision-making events, but we weren't close to them. So we really didn't know how nurse executives thought. We kind of thought we did, but we really didn't.
And I think that, you know, one of the things we learned was that these nurse executives are really helping to guide standardized uniform programs where they exist. And they're not always aware of the variety of styles, fabrications, colors, and fits that were available to their nurses. And I can think of like a one-huh moment was when we were showing how we could provide standardized colors, but in a wide range of styles, fabrications, brands fit, so that nurses could have the individuality within one of those standardized programs. That's awesome, because that would help to make the change that you're trying to do when you move to standardized colors a lot more palatable to the nursing staff.
So that's great. This is all about nursing. I'm your host, Dr. Joyce Bachelord.
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I'm Dr. Joyce Batch, the host of the show. And before the break, my guest, Mike Singer, was telling us about his commitment to the initiative that we've had about getting nurses on boards and the benefits that he's seen, and then how it's really helped him and his team. And it's been exciting to hear a lot of that.
Maybe we could talk a little bit now, Mike, about what are the challenges that the company is dealing with and in terms of the impacts of the pandemic? Yeah, there's a lot there. We, initially, we were impacted very early on because some of our products and our fabrics come out of Eastern Asia. Come out of Asia, and we were experiencing supply chain disruptions where there were delays, factories were closing.
We had factories were closed for weeks at a time. So we had to adjust to that. And then as the pandemic came to the United States, our first priority was really educating our team and making sure that they understood how to stay safe, but what the risks were, how to keep their families safe, and how they were only of a family going to be as strong as their weakest link. And so we did a lot of work around educating.
We immediately leveraged a lot of technology and changes so everyone who could work from home could work from home. We implemented distancing policies and special cleaning policies and masks and everything in the warehouse. So we wanted to be good examples and we wanted to set good examples for the people that we knew. But we've changed a lot.
I mean, we now provide a wide array of PPE products, masks and gowns, all kinds of products like pulse oximeters and different types of thermometers and we've provided to the states of Washington, California, and New York and a number of hospitals. We've worked in partnership with local retailers and we donated a million dollars of scrubs early in the pandemic to hospitals that had nurses on the front lines, really the hotspots who were treating patients with COVID-19 and had significant PPE shortages where the scrubs, in many of those cases, were their first line of defense. And so we wanted to make sure that they had a lot of extra scrubs on hand. So they needed to change out of those scrubs and put something else on.
They would have it. They wouldn't have to think about going shopping during that time. They wouldn't have, you know nurses sometimes wash their clothes multiple times a week, but working in these COVID units and these shifts, that just wasn't possible. So we partnered, we asked for requests from the hospital administrators, we packaged that product, we sent it out to the local retailer who delivered it personally, a hospital.
And so that was, you know, something we did. We created a, it was a program with schools and teachers where kids would create artwork, poems, letters, and art recognizing nurses. And we created a virtual gallery and published that and got thousands and thousands of submissions. We're also in the midst of working our really exciting project that's gonna be ready in the next few weeks.
It's kind of a big secret, but it's really a major tribute to frontline healthcare workers and the folks behind the scenes who've really been, you know, the ones who've been battling and serving patients with COVID. So we're excited about that. I can't tell you too much, but within the next three, four weeks, we'll be able to share more about that. And then we've evolved our product.
So we've developed the masks that have antimicrobial and fluid barrier properties. We're developing, we've developed a lot of new hats. We developed this antimicrobial laundry additive that you can add to your wash. We have special laundry bags coming out.
So there's a bunch of new products that will be coming shortly that, you know, we have footwear that's antimicrobial, but where that you can easily wash and clean. So we've really evolved product line. We're working also, we have a new technology that's an antiviral technology that's in testing right now in the manufacturing part of our business and the fabrics. So that'll be coming out, you know, in 2021.
And we're working with regulatory agencies on that product. So there's a lot happening, a lot of changes going on as a result of COVID-19. Yeah, and it sounds like, again, two hits that earlier in the show, how you could really innovate and pivot as a company and that's been part of your success, which obviously you've done that again with the different challenges that you had with COVID-19 and the pandemic. I was curious too, as you were talking, it's almost like the teachers and people that are going back to schools need to be wearing those same kind of footwear and things like that because they're gonna be in the same sort of challenging situations as the healthcare providers.
I worry about that. Absolutely. And we're seeing a lot of them purchasing scrubs too. See, that's great to hear actually.
I wonder maybe there's more teachers in school districts that need to be thinking about that because it's definitely a concern. You said the magic thing too is making sure that you protect your employees, but their families because I think we underestimate the risk that we have people putting their families at it. They don't do things correctly. So you've talked about some of the new products with the pandemic.
Did you have other products that you had been working on that had come out within like the last year? So I think there was a skincare line that you had chatted about at one point when I had chatted with you before the show. Yes, yes. We actually have been building, we've been working actually really closely with nurses, nurse executives and healthcare professionals, understanding the unique environments that they're in, with very dry air, with exposure to chemicals, with mask wearing.
And so they have some really unique skincare needs. And so we've been working closely with a really expert team of healthcare professionals on the development of a skincare line that's really built by and with healthcare professionals for everyone. And we think that the properties that the product has is really gonna be, it's an amazing product line with really great ingredients that really nurture the skin, help improve elasticity, radiance growth. It's really exciting.
So that's a product that we'll be launching in early 2021. And it's called charisma. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that.
This is all about nursing. I'm your host, Dr. Joyce Bachelore, we're live on the BVN Global Network Intern and Radio. And we'll continue this conversation when we come back.
Mike Zorek, a three-time California state champion in Greco-Roman wrestling at 114 pounds. Mike, line six birth, was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a six-time national place, including two seconds, two-thirds and two-fourths. He also won the veteran's folk style wrestling twice at 152 pounds in all these tournaments.
He was the only blind competitor. Nancy Zorek, a creative spirit whose talents have taken her to the stage and into galleries and exhibitions in several states, her father, a commercial artist, who shared his instruments with his daughter and helped her fine-tune her natural abilities, influenced her decision to following his footsteps. Ms. Zorek has enjoyed a fruitful career, doing what she loves.
Listen, Saturday mornings at 12 Eastern for the Nancy and Mike show for heartwarming stories and interesting talk on the BVN Global Network. According to the American Nurses Association, there are approximately three and a half to four million nurses in the United States. So where do all these nurses work? What kind of roles do they have?
What kind of education and training help to prepare them for so many different settings? What kind of impact nurses have on patient outcomes? The World Health Organization has announced that 2020 will be the year of the nurse, honoring the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. An international initiative called nursing now is underway to raise the profile of nursing.
The National Academy of Medicine has convened a committee to create the future of nursing 2020 to 2030 that will focus on how the nursing profession can create a culture of health, reduce health disparities, and improve the health and wellbeing of the US population. Learn more and join JoySpatular on All About Nursing, Wednesdays from seven to eight p.m. Central Standard Time on the BBM Global Network. I'm your host, Dr.
JoySpatular and All About Nursing. We're live on the BBM Global Network in Tune and Radio. And I have with me this evening Mike Singer, who is the CEO of Charismatic Brands. And you have been sharing just wonderful information with all of us.
There's so many great things that you've shared this evening. I'm curious, what are you most proud of? You know, I think a couple of things. One would be, you know, at this stage in my career, I think about the people that we've been working with for decades, you know, they've either been employed at the company, part of our team.
You know, we just had a 25th year anniversary, and we've got a number of people who've been with us for 25 years, so to watch their personal development has been really rewarding. I think for us too, you know, we have an amazing, diverse team. We've got really wonderful representation, you know, people of color at the board level in management throughout the entire company. So we're very, that's very rewarding.
I think also that, you know, we in this country have to think about local communities and the health of local communities. And so for us, you know, we partner with local retailers, and those local retailers provide amazing service. They create jobs in local communities. They keep local communities vibrant.
So while we could sell all our products to direct, you know, we really believe in that local service model. We believe in local entrepreneurs. We're super proud of our retailers and the service that they give and the contributions that they make to their communities. And we hope that, you know, healthcare, people and healthcare executives will remember them because fostering local communities is good for our hospitals.
It's good for our healthcare systems. It's good for our communities. And so that's, we're proud to really partner and support those people as well. And Mike, you have been describing things that just again, you have a lot of characteristics of more people that we need to support a nursing like you.
So what is one message that you would like to convey to nurses and nurse leaders? I think that you're not invisible. You're visible. You know, we, your nation, the people in the business community, all kinds of essential workers, families, you know, we recognize you.
We see what you do. We appreciate all the ways that you care for your patients and the difference that you make and the lives of so many people. And we just thank you for all that you do. I think that's the message.
It's just a message of appreciation and thanks and recognition because, you know, we see in COVID-19, especially, I mean, the impact that people are having, that healthcare professionals are having, that nurse executives are having, and it's extraordinary. Well, thank you for that. So we're gonna come to the end of our show here. So can, how can someone learn more about the charismatic brands and your products, initiatives, ways you support nursing, and your upcoming announcements?
So where would people look? Well, we have a lot of social sites. We have also our website. So charismatic.com is our new corporate website.
We have CherokeeUniforms.com. We publish Scrub's Magazine, so scrubsmag.com. So I think at our corporate level, we're also on Instagram, we're on Facebook. You can find us at charismatic, on Instagram, Cherokee, Dickies, ScrubStar.
These are the various brands that we sell. So either through our brands or through the corporate name or through our social channels. Well, Mike, thank you so much for being on our show, and for all the support that you provide nursing, we really appreciate you. You've been listening to all about nursing, live from the BBM Global Network in Tune & Radio.
I'm Dr. Joyce Batch with the host of the show. Please tune in again next week. Thank you.
You've been listening to All About Nursing with your host, Dr. Joyce Batchler. Tune in each week and get a daily dose of nursing and the healthcare services they provide, and how nurses are finding innovative ways to address the key healthcare issues they're facing today. Here on Dr.
Joyce Batchler's All About Nursing. You've been listening to the BBM Global Network. The ideas, views, and opinions of this broadcast are those of the participants of the program, and are not necessarily the ideas, views, and opinions of the BBM Global Network Company.