I Wasn't Liking The OT I Was Becoming

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Transcript

Lindsey Vestal

My guest today is Heather Sulfaro. She is a level one functional pelvic health practitioner and founder of Wild Heart Wellness, a private practice in Southern Utah. With over 10 years of experience, Heather has worked in a wide array of settings across the country, including rural outpatient clinics, level one trauma hospitals, and the ICU at world-renowned facilities like the Cleveland Clinic.

 She now dedicates her practice to increasing awareness for women's health, providing comprehensive client-centered pelvic health OT services to the community, and actively working to integrate those services into the local L&D unit, which is exactly what we're talking about today. I can't wait for you to hear today's episode.

Intro:

New and seasoned OTs are finding their calling in pelvic health. After all, what's more ADL than sex, peeing, and poop? But here's the question. What does it take to become a successful, fulfilled, and thriving OT in pelvic health? How do you go from beginner to seasoned and everything in between? Those are the questions and this podcast will give you the answers.We are inspired OTs. We are out-of-the-box OTs. We are Pelvic Health OTs.I'm your host, Lindsey Vestal, and welcome to the OTs in Pelvic Health podcast.

Lindsey Vestal

Heather, thank you so much for being a guest on the OTs for Pelvic Health podcast today. You're a member of Pelvic OTPs United. You recently shared a huge win. And I was smitten that you said yes to be a guest today because I cannot wait to share your story with our listeners.

Heather

Well, thank you for having me, Lindsay. I really admire you and I'm grateful to have you as a mentor during my pelvic health OT journey here. So the pleasure is mine.

Lindsey Vestal

Oh, Thank you. oh that means so much. So we were just chatting before we hit record and you shared that the town you live in is under 500 people. So I think that's definitely the definition of rural as far as that goes. And so I'm so curious, can you tell us what inspired you to start a private practice, especially in a rural and underserved area?

Heather

Well, the rural and underserved area kind of happened as an aside. I, if you picture one of those dogs on a walk where they don't want to walk and the owner's just dragging them right with their four paws digging into the dirt. I was the dog and my husband was pulling on the leash like, come on, we're going, we're going to this place. And I did not want to move. The rural and underserved area, that was not part of my picture or plan at all. 

But I did, however, start my private practice, just the legalities of it in March of this year. And I think that all really stemmed from being tired and burnt out of working for corporate healthcare, the insurance system,basically feeling like our healthcare system was really a sick care system. And I just couldn't do it anymore. And the 95% productivity that we were being held to

I just, yeah, it was ruining relationships. I was sacrificing sleep, nutrition, my own hydration, all of it. And I just wasn't liking the OT that I was becoming. so I had an opportunity where my husband said, you know what? I will work. I will take the reins.

I transitioned to being stay at home mom. We have two boys, they're five and seven now.So while I transitioned to being stay-at-home mom, I took that time to kind of start looking at what my own private practice would look like. If I ran the show, what would my ideal picture be?

And it was not taking insurance. I am cash pay and I'm loving going to work. When I get to go to work, it's still a growing practice, but It started in Ohio and it transitioned with me to Southern Utah when we got here. And I will say it, the community has grown on me since being here. We moved here July 1st of this year. So what is that? Five months now we've only been here and yeah, I'm just hitting the ground running. So we'll see where it goes.

Lindsey Vestal

That is so incredibly impressive. What  really struck me about what you just said, Heather, is how you recognized that you were in a place of burnout and then you stepped back and asked yourself a question of what would right look like? What would it look like to fill my own cup and take care of myself, the family that I adore, and the clients I want to serve, which at the end of the day, I don't think those should ever be a compromise. I think that's

that is, that is healthy balance in the making, right? And, you know, that expression, like our clients get the best of us and everyone else gets the rest of us. Like I never, as you said, I never wanted that to be my story. And so I just want to pause and applaud you for the reflectiveness that you had and asking yourself that question. And then the action you took to bring it to fruition, despite maybe not being in an environment that lit you up, you overcame a lot of obstacles to get where you are today.

So I just like, even if you and I stopped our recording right now, I just like, that is such an inspiring story to me.

Heather

Thank you. Yeah, it was not, it was not an easy one, is not an easy decision to come by However, i don't regret one bit of it and putting myself first, my health first, my family first. Yeah. And you're 100% correct. The hospital got the best of me and my kids who were young at the time, I mean, three and five at that point, they got the rest of me and it was just so unfair. So unfair.

Lindsey Vestal

Yeah, totally. I'm curious, because you've described your town in southern Utah to be a little bit conservative. And so I'm curious, what has been some of the biggest challenges that you've experienced in building a pelvic health OT practice in a conservative community?

Heather

Yeah, so I think one of the biggest challenges is that it's pelvic health, right? It's a very vulnerable kind of part of us that we are, you know, even just recognizing that there's a problem or there's something that's not quite right. Maybe it's our new normal, maybe it's not, but I don't want it to be normal. It's this fear of even bringing it up. And there aren't a lot of providers in this area. People here will drive an hour and a half to the north or due west for a provider and you know they don't have anyone here to go to and a lot of the people here i've learned from friends that i've made people in the community barely even go for their annual dental cleaning so if they're not prioritizing oral hygiene

You know, I think a lot of women in the area, postpartum moms, they are not really prioritizing pelvic health either. And maybe they don't even know that they have a problem. So I think that's kind of a big challenge too, is maybe the lack of education, the lack of understanding, and maybe even just the overall awareness that something might need to change or there's a problem with something.

Lindsey Vestal

What have you found that has worked to start sharing this education?

Heather

I think for me lately, I've just been showing up really authentically. People have reached out asking for volunteers for different community events. And I always raise my hand because at the moment I'm a stay at home mom, still kind of building my private practice. So I've got time. So I just show up authentically. And when I introduce myself,

Heather

the questions usually are, you're new. So who are you? Where are you from? And why are you here? And it ends up opening the door to me saying, I'm Heather. I'm an OT in pelvic health. Wait, what? What is that? And then it gives me an opportunity to further educate and allow them to be open. And a lot of people have really like come forward and share their stories with me. Maybe I have that personality where they're just, they open themselves or they share openly.

But yeah, so just being open, authentic, vulnerable, and giving people a safe place to share has been helpful.

Lindsey Vestal

You're not marketing. You're not selling something. You're just holding space. And like you said, you are someone with incredible presence and you do show up with such a comfort. Like literally I could talk with you for hours. Like I feel like I've known you forever. so you definitely have that vibe, which I think is so beautiful and so helpful. So back to what I said when we started this recording, which was you shared a major win with us on Pelvic OTPs United. Will you please share with our listeners what that win was?

Heather

Yeah. So I had gone into the hospital for a blood draw. And that's where you go here. There's no LabCorp request or anything like that. You've got to go to the hospital. So while I was sitting there waiting for them to call my name for this blood draw, as I was sitting there, I wasn't scrolling mindlessly on my phone. I just closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

And a thought popped in my head. And it was, I wonder if the nurse manager is in the hospital today. I wonder if she's here today. And if she is, I wonder if she'd even entertain a meeting with me, like on the fly.

So I got really curious about it. And I thought, while I'm getting my blood drawn, I'm going to ask the phlebotomist if she'd find out for me. So I did. They're doing my blood draw. I asked the phlebotomist, 

Hey, any chance you know, or you can find out if the RN manager is here for the labor and delivery unit. And she was like, yeah, I'll check. Well, that was easy. So she goes, and apparently this, um, the nurse manager for the labor and delivery unit, her office was right next door to where I was getting my blood drawn.

What are the chances? So she comes back in less than a minute and says, yeah, she'll take you. Come on. I'll show you where her office is around the corner. I sit, take a seat in the office and the nurse manager was just kind of sitting there quietly like, who are you? And I was still on my scrubs because I had just seen a client and I figured all this might be a good time because I still look somewhat professional.

But so I said, hi, my name's Heather. I'm an occupational therapist new to the area. She jumped in and asked, by chance, do you do pelvic health?

And I was like, as a matter of fact, that's why I'm here. Yes, I do. And I was curious if you guys would be interested in maybe starting an OT program here for your birthing people, your postpartum moms and all that. And she was just ecstatic. Her face looked like a kid on Christmas Day. I mean,

Yeah, so it went from that to let me introduce you to the nurses on the unit, went on to the unit, answered all of their questions. She introduced me to a doc that was documenting kind of behind the nurses. He gave me a casual like, yep, nice to meet you and went back to his documenting. But she lit up and I actually had brochures in my bag because the outpatient PT clinic is also in the hospital. So while I was there for my blood draw,

I figured I'd pop in, see if the brochures needed to be replenished. Sadly, they did not. However, for the benefit of the postpartum unit, I had plenty to give to the nurse manager. So it all works out. Everything happens for a reason. But anyways, it ended up turning out to be like a 30 minute visit with the nurse manager, the nurses on the unit, gave her my brochures. She ecstatically offered to put them in the discharge paperwork for all the moms postpartum.

And yes, and then she proceeded to give me their, the name of the CEO and his email address and said, please email him, send him your proposal, use my name,

And let's see if we can get you here. And I let them know that I had done a free workshop at the library. And she was so upset that she didn't find out about it. She hadn't known. So she was like, the next time you're doing something, I'll put it right there on my door. Just print out a few copies and I'd love to post it for you. So it was just, it was so cool. It was awesome. And actually the nurses were all like,

We might be scheduling visits with you very soon. Do you do this? do you do that? How about that? Yep. Yep. We can do that. So it was awesome. It was such, I was on cloud nine for probably three days after that.

Lindsey Vestal

As you should be. What comes to mind just hearing your story is the concept that the universe favors the bold. You know, like there was so much about that story that I have to reflect. It might be because you're in a rural area or maybe not. You know, like it's one of those things where really it started with your curiosity. There's a couple key things.

You said you weren't scrolling on your phone. You were allowing your brain to creatively think. oh, wait a second, I'm in a hospital, I'm in my scrubs, what if? And I do think that this is something Doug and I talk about a lot with our kids, like boredom, or at least not filling our brain with doom scrolling often allows us to get creative sparks, right? That that kind of help us go exactly where you did. and And so I think a key part of your story was you weren't on your phone, but then your curiosity led you to be incredibly bold. And I, I just, I, I think that's an incredible story and i does it always work like this? No, but when it does, i think it just reinforces how many doors we have to knock on

And when the door opens, how affirming that is and how beautiful it is and how we're just going to keep on knocking until the next one does open.

You got really lucky. And and I'm so happy you did. i think that's incredible. So, you know, how do you think intuition or even gut instinct played a role in in some of this for you?

Heather

Oh, 100%. It was huge. I mean, that little voice popped into my head. And I've been trying to do more of that lately it just get quiet and, you know, close my eyes.

Don't be distracted with all the outside things, phone environment, conversations, just shut down and get quiet and see what pops in. And, you know, a lot of ideas have been coming my way, just doing that, like even on a drive, being quiet and not even listening to music, not having the phone conversations and all that.

So yeah, I had another idea and  I guess I moved forward with it and i got a resounding yes from, from someone. So it was, it was great. So just, yeah, that intuition lately has, has been piling in. So.

Lindsey Vestal

Yeah. I also find the more i listen to my intuition, the more it continues to give me information, you know, it's like you're developing a relationship and well, it got to give and take to that relationship, right?

And so I don't know about you, but I find that when I do start listening, it just more and more and more sparks come, which I think is so fun.

Heather

Yes. Yeah. And it, I don't know, sometimes it sounds a little terrifying, but I think the goal is, don't know, more exciting. There's something more exciting than the fear. So it's like, it's trusting my intuition more than my fear in a sense.

Lindsey Vestal

I love that expression. More exciting than the fear. Yeah. That's meaning that that fear is always going to be there and it's healthy, but you can, it sounds like what you're describing is like, you're able to, to put it on the shelf next to you, recognize it, but that the excitement makes you propel forward.

It doesn't, it doesn't stop with the fear. In fact, the fear you acknowledge it and then you go, what's next? 

Heather

Yeah, you just push through it. 

16:06.72

Lindsey Vestal

Yeah. So I know this is a recent win for you. So I'm not sure if this next question, you know, where you're ready to talk about it, but has anything happened since you had this kind of these conversations?

Heather

No, it hasn't. I reached out to the CEO on . I think it was November seventeenth, eighteenth And I wanted to follow up the week of Thanksgiving, but I thought, I'll wait until after the holiday. So Monday, I called.

I actually, instead of following up via email, because that's what I had done for a previous hospital, and I've heard crickets on the email follow-ups.

So I thought, you know what? I'm just going to call them. So I called the hospital, and they connected me to his voicemail, left him a message. I'm hoping for a call back. But if I don't hear anything this week, I'll give another call next week. I'm going to be the squeaky wheel until I at least get a no thank you, not at this time, or yes, we're interested, let's talk more. So I'm open to both options. I would just like to hear a response either way.

Lindsey Vestal

And that was just for the purpose of this recording. That was just a couple weeks ago, right? So there hasn't been a ton of time that has passed since any of this.

And you're right. This is, we're entering the holiday season. It's it's a hard time of the year, but I think the key is not letting those blocks stop you and not help not letting them help you make excuses for not to take action. You're kind of like, okay, I have it on my calendar. I'm following up next Monday. And that's just going to keep going. And I think that's really key in what you're talking about.

Heather

It's just planting the seed. I'm just planting it and watering it and seeing what happens with it. So maybe not right now, but maybe next month.

Lindsey Vestal

Yeah, You had mentioned that you had shared a proposal with ah with a different hospital, a larger hospital. Tell us a little bit more about that. And what did you learn from that experience? And I guess, how did that inform this new outreach that you did?

Heather

Yeah. The larger hospital, it's further away. It's about an hour from where I am here, but that's where a lot of people will go and deliver their babes. So that one, I had just cold called the hospital, asked for the nurse manager for the labor and delivery unit.

Apparently she was standing right next to the receptionist when I called because instead of putting me on hold, i heard her say, I think this calls for you, like in a whispering voice.

So i think I may have caught her off guard, which might've been part of the problem. um But anyways, it was a very kind of one-sided conversation. She was quite quiet and very, and don't know. She was minimally participatory. We'll say that in the conversation. so She ended up saying, yes, send me a proposal. Let me see, you know, what you're offering and we can go from there.

So I emailed her my three page proposal. I followed up with her seven days later, 10 days after that, and probably two weeks after that last one and crickets. So I think for her, I was thinking, you know a phone call I was actually thinking I would call her today that little idea popped in my head like I just need to reach out via phone because some people they get so many emails they're inundated with all these emails it gets buried in their inbox I understand that so maybe a phone call might help kind of bring me back up to the top somewhere

So I think from that experience, that's why I ended up calling the CEO of this other hospital as a follow-up and said the email follow-up since I did not get much of response from that first hospital.

So yes, there's an updated email scheduled to go out with the proposal to the first hospital and she's going to get a phone call. So yeah.

Lindsey Vestal

That's awesome. That's awesome. It actually helps me feel even more celebratory about your most recent win because I hadn't real I didn't know that story and I didn't realize that that door, let's not say the door is shut.

I didn't realize that it was just a a hard conversation. We've all had those interactions where, as you said, minimally responsive, just kind of letting you talk and you have no sense of, do you feel me?

Certainly not like the nurse who'd said, any chance you do pelvic health? You're like, yes.

Heather

They were night and day conversations. So yes.

Lindsey Vestal

Heather, before we move into more of the like rapid fire or like personal insight questions that I have for you, anything else you feel like you want to share with our community about this experience or anything else you're kind of up to these days?

Heather

I guess the big thing for me, just in terms of being a pelvic health OT in the rural communities, don't give up. You know, just one foot in front of the other.

you are exactly where you need to be. You know, you may hear no, and that's okay. My ego got checked years ago, and I think that's why I am able to go so boldly and confidently because no doesn't scare me anymore. It's not.

it's not an attack on me personally. And I know that maybe it's no thank you right now or not just yet. Like we're not ready for that yet. And that's okay. I'm looking at it as I'm just planting the seeds right now.

And maybe next year, you know, I mean, next year is actually not that far away, but maybe next year or the year after they'll, they'll look at it and be like, Oh, you know,

I think that program would do really well for us. And you know, then, then it's great. And if it's not me and it's somebody else, I'm happy as long as, you know, our clients are getting the care and the basic care that they deserve. I mean, this is basic care. I feel like it's, it's not advanced. That’s it Don't give up. Keep going.

Lindsey Vestal

Beautiful. I love that. There's so many things that you had said that I've jotted down on the paper next to me that as we're kind of coming to an end here, I want to share with you. One was I wasn't liking the OT I was becoming.

And I think that's really powerful to admit that and then recognize that it's time for a change. And then I really love what you just said now, which is no, doesn't scare me anymore. So those are, and there's a bunch more that when I re-listen through our episode, I'm going to add to this list, but those are the ones that really pop out at me right now. Okay, perfect. So here we are in our, in our personal insight part, Heather, what is one thing that you wish people understood about pelvic health OT?

Heather

It doesn't mean you have to do an internal exam. I think everyone thinks of pelvic health and all that like, oh, I've got to get naked and jump on this table. No. And I mean, that was the situation. I've been to three pelvic health PTs in my days, and it was night and day compared to what I do with my clients. And so it does not have to mean an internal exam.

Lindsey Vestal

Amen. Perfect.

Lindsey Vestal

I love that. I agree. What's a myth about rural practice that you want to bust?

Heather

I would say that they don't want your service. They do. They do want your service. They're so glad that you are there. They're so grateful to have you.

I think when I came in, I was thinking they are not going to want anything I have to offer. And I was so wrong. They do. A lot of a lot of people here I'm finding slowly but surely They're very interested in what I do and what I have to say and any education I've provided so far. So, yes.

Lindsey Vestal

Fantastic. What's your go-to to recharge?

Heather

Lately, so I love to lift. I love to lift weights. That's my sanity. And I've gotten into baking sourdough. So, yeah, I've got my little starter and lifting every day.

Lindsey Vestal

Oh, those two are brilliant. I love, I love both of those and they work well together too.

Heather

They do.

24:35.61

Lindsey Vestal

Alright. Last question. What's one small win? that felt like a huge victory for you.

Heather

Oh, I was able to help a woman in the community who was having 10 out of 10 abdominal pain to the point where she could not eat or drink after an activity that she would do.

she could not eat or drink for 24 hours after. She was in such pain. And I ended up helping her very last minute, like intake paperwork got filled out hours before our session. And we only had an hour. So I crammed in so much in one hour but I ended up seeing her at a community event following and she nearly tackled me when she saw me. I followed up text you know via text and a summary of the visit following the session, just so she'd have a reminder of what we talked about and all the things.

And anyway, I didn't hear back. So I figured, oh, she's busy. I'll hear back when I hear back. And anyways, almost tackled me. and said, you will never believe it.

I participated in this event and I had no pain afterwards. It was the first time in forever for her. So I was like, wait a minute, no pain defined like zero to 10. You were a 10 out of 10 before. What was it after this event? And she said a zero.

And I was like, are you sure? Not even like a one or a two. She goes, no, zero. And high fived and Yeah, she was so excited. So that was one one hour session, crammed everything in. But that was huge. I was like, oh, it felt so good to take from one from someone from 10 out of 10 to a zero in one session. I was like, yeah, that's the power.

Lindsey Vestal

What's so crazy about that is I feel like that win really fits in with our entire conversation today, meaning there are so many people out there listening to this, including myself, that might think because you didn't hear back with that text summary that maybe she was still in a tremendous amount of pain. The session wasn't what we thought what she thought it was going to be. The list goes on and on. We create a thousand and one reasons why we don't hear back from someone.

You actually had a really positive reaction to it. Yeah, I'll hear back from her when I hear from her. But guess what? Then when you saw her, 10 out of 10 to 0 out of 10, I mean, it just goes to show you that in today's day and age, it doesn't make sense for us to make assumptions on anyone's behavior.

Of course, we would have loved to heard back. Of course, I would have loved for her have written you back. but But it goes to show you that it's not on us to make up the story or to assume anything when actually the polar, if you did assume something, the polar opposite was actually true as you went to find out.

So I think that was a beautiful two-minute summary of our entire conversation. which to me is really the power of the mindset, Heather, that you really, you have worked, I feel like you've worked a lot on your mindset, on your ability to have healthy boundaries and to be really reflective.

And that really, this entire episode shows that in spades and it's incredibly inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us today, for being bold and brave and and having this conversation with me.

I think the world of you. And I'm so excited and can't wait to see what's next for you.

Heather

Well, thanks for the opportunity. It was awesome to share all this and, you know, with others other than my friends and my family who are probably tired of hearing me go on about things that they don't maybe fully understand. But this has been great. Thanks, Lindsay.

Outro:

Thanks for listening to another episode of OTs and Pelvic Health. If you haven't already, hop onto Facebook and join my group, OTs for Pelvic Health, where we have thousands of OTs at all stages of their pelvic health career journey. This is such an incredibly supportive community where I go live each and every week. If you love this episode, please take a screenshot of this episode on your phone and post it to IG, Facebook, wherever you post your stuff, and be sure to tag me and let me know why you like this episode. This will help me to create in the future what you want to hear more of. Thanks again for listening to the OTs and Pelvic Health podcast.