Are you aware of the unseen challenges individuals face when navigating the healthcare system? Sandra L Washington, founder of C.H.L.M.S. Medihelpz Foundation, joins us to share her inspiring journey and the commendable work she does for the underserved and marginalized. With a personal health history that is a testament to resilience and perseverance, Sandra helps us understand the true value of health and the importance of resources like 211.com.
We dive deeper into the concept of advocacy and its role in healthcare. Sandra shares how her foundation is not just about providing assistance, but also about bridging the gap between those in need and the resources available. From research-driven solutions to heartwarming stories of helping patients, Sandra emphasizes that collaboration is key in advocating for equity, equality, and justice in healthcare.
The conversation takes an educational turn as we discuss health literacy and Sandra's Educational Wednesday series. We explore the importance of understanding different diseases and conditions, and the power of shared patient testimonials. Sandra is an author as well. her book is more of a personal health history reminding patients to document their health history and progress, Don't miss this compelling episode where we explore healthcare, advocacy, and the incredible work of the C.H.L.M.S. Medihelpz Foundation.
Are you aware of the unseen challenges individuals face when navigating the healthcare system? Sandra L Washington, founder of C.H.L.M.S. Medihelpz Foundation, joins us to share her inspiring journey and the commendable work she does for the underserved and marginalized. With a personal health history that is a testament to resilience and perseverance, Sandra helps us understand the true value of health and the importance of resources like 211.com.
We dive deeper into the concept of advocacy and its role in healthcare. Sandra shares how her foundation is not just about providing assistance, but also about bridging the gap between those in need and the resources available. From research-driven solutions to heartwarming stories of helping patients, Sandra emphasizes that collaboration is key in advocating for equity, equality, and justice in healthcare.
The conversation takes an educational turn as we discuss health literacy and Sandra's Educational Wednesday series. We explore the importance of understanding different diseases and conditions, and the power of shared patient testimonials. Sandra is an author as well. her book is more of a personal health history reminding patients to document their health history and progress, Don't miss this compelling episode where we explore healthcare, advocacy, and the incredible work of the C.H.L.M.S. Medihelpz Foundation.
What was going on with that is that you had an emop, because I noticed that when we went live it actually said that emop has ended and then it let me. Then I had to go all the way out and then come in, so found out something new.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we had some issues yesterday. It was like echoing, like we were in a cave, and I would like, because I could hear myself talk over myself.
Speaker 2:So you know, it's really technology and it's challenges, you know. So we just do the best we can, what we can, but it is a pleasure having you on, sandra Washington, I do appreciate you. Welcome to Gentry's Journey. I'm Pylian Coleman, I will be your host and we're gonna go ahead and get started, okay. Okay, someone is trying to call in, and yeah, so someone else is trying to call in, so we'll go ahead and get started and we're gonna open up with prayer. I'm exhausted. What about you? I'm not sure where it came from.
Speaker 1:I'm just gonna say I can win, so I'm hoping this second win lasts.
Speaker 2:I'm with you. I'm with you, I'm with you. Okay, she says she can't hear. I'm gonna tell her to come all the way out and go back in. Okay, I'm trying to let her know. To come on, call all the way out and then come back in.
Speaker 1:And then, caroline, I have a question. While you're doing, it Do you have it set on your phone, so you have your phone set to record. Just in case something happens and people wanna hear it, you could play it back, because you'll actually have a second recording on your phone.
Speaker 2:I will have that on my phone. Absolutely, I do. I'm not in very fast, I'm a techer, but I just text her. So anyway, sandra, we're gonna go ahead and pray for some strength. I don't know what I need. I don't know if I need vitamins or juice or what, but anyway, we know God is able. Okay, heavenly Father, lord God, we, actually, we just thank you for being God all by yourself. We say hallelujah, we give you the highest praise. Well, god, we just ask you for strength and endurance. Lord God, yes, we're busy and we need you to allow us to have sense, sense enough to slow down, to get some rest. Lord God, we just need to do things decent and in order and we thank you. Lord God, we know that you are a God, you are our source and that we will never forget, because we can't do anything without you. But these and other things, we're gonna bless you and send you to sing amen. Okay. So, sandra, we're gonna go ahead and I want you to go ahead and introduce yourself.
Speaker 1:My name is Sandra L Washington. I carry that L proudly because the work that I do I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors, my grandmothers and my mother-in-law, and while my mother-in-law is not an ancestor quite yet, she was older than I am and I do that. And so the name of my foundation, my nonprofit foundation, is the Choms many helps foundation. The C is for Christopher, that is my paternal grandma Actually it's my paternal. I get them confused all the time. I don't know their names. The C is for Christopher, and that is my maternal grandmother. The H is for Henrietta, and that is my paternal grandmother. The L is for Louise, and both of them had Louise as their middle name and I often look back and I'm like, okay, well, they were born around the same time. What was good, like what was going on at that time, that children girl children were had Louise somewhere in their name.
Speaker 1:The M is for Mary, that was my mother-in-law. We lost her two years ago. She was. That was a sudden death, but I had to give her credit when I did, when I came up with the name of the organization, and that's because she raised my husband and she raised him to be the man, the wonderful husband, the great and awesome father to my son and an all around great person altogether, and he wouldn't have been that type of person or he wouldn't be that type of person, I should say had it not been for his mother raising him to be like that. So I had to give her credit. And then, of course, the S is for Sandra. So it's the Choms many helps foundation that I founded.
Speaker 1:I have a wonderful, awesome board that supports me and the initiatives that I have to outreach the vulnerable communities. Those vulnerable communities are the undeserved communities and, yes, we talk about people of color, but we're also talking about people who, for social economic reasons, are underserved. We're also talking about the marginalized, and a lot of people say, sandra, what's the difference between marginalized and underserved, a marginalized person? I fit into that category. So I fit into the underserved category because I'm African-American. I also fit into the marginalized category because, while me and my husband together we have a decent salary, a large part of that salary, especially this year, was spent on me facing the healthcare challenge my kidneys had. My kidneys were on the way out and so was my liver, and I didn't want to continue to take medication, whether over the counter whether it was ordered medication.
Speaker 1:So we found a functional slash pharmaceutical doctor that I've been seeing since January and we decided to add her to our regimen and when I say our, I'm talking about me and my husband. We decided to add that to our regimen. The functional medicine doctor is a doctor that treats holistically and she treats with supplements Instead of the traditional medications, instead of the medications that are biosynthetic. She treats with holistic supplements. We decided to add her to our regimen of seeing doctors and because we decided to do that, we decided to do that knowing that we were going to face a month of a surmountable challenge in paying for it, because health insurance currently does not pay for a holistic treatment done by a functional medicine doctor, and the supplements that she prescribes for me are not supplements that you can go into GMC or any other type of health food store and say, hey, I wanted this because it's a supplement that has to be ordered through a clinician. So we decided that that's what we would do.
Speaker 1:So while someone asks, okay, well, what is your salary? We can put that down. Heck, that looks real good. You say, okay, well, what do you have to spend? What are you paying for out of your expenses. When we add in the fact that with my treatments that I had done this year, it looks like we like fit the 200% FPL, which is the federal poverty limit, that will qualify us for so many free benefits or reduced benefits, but they don't because of what's written on paper.
Speaker 1:So those people are what I classify as a marginalized, an marginalized patient. You have it, it looks good, but you really don't have it because you're spending it on medicine and you're spending it to keep yourself alive. So that's what I look at as marginalized. And of course, the disabled, which I like to say are the unable, that this kind of gets to me.
Speaker 1:But many of times when we have and many of times when we have someone that's challenged, whether it's physically or mentally, they need help and they need assistance. And a lot of times, and if not even with them, with the three categories of populations that we service, we know that they are not being told what is available to them and so many times they suffer when they really shouldn't have to. So that's just what Choms Manyhouse Foundation. That's the mission and that's the reason why I started. It is because I fit all three of those. I'm underserved because I'm an African-American and I'm a woman and we'll get onto that a little bit later but I'm underserved. I'm marginalized for the reasons that I just mentioned, and I also am disabled according to the ADA. I'm disabled because I have diabetes, I have chronic kidney disease and I have a number of other issues that are going on with my physical health that puts me as a disabled individual or an unable individual.
Speaker 2:So, sandra, I appreciate that and I'm just gonna throw this in my great grandmother's name was Louise and I wrote under her name Louise Garrett, when I was doing my fictional series Gentry, so that's where I got her that name from. So I don't know if it was just very popular back in the day, but yes, louise, it shines through in our community. Now you told us why you started your nonprofit because you really want to educate and advocate for people. They don't have to be a patient, so to speak. Because it's for the community. You want to be able to stand in the gap for them, to educate them, to be an advocate for themselves. Don't just take what people say, but ask questions. And I've heard you say now, don't go into arguing with them, don't go into making demands, but it is okay to ask questions, and I think a lot of times patients are hesitant to ask questions, whether they're marginalized or not. So is that In the same vein in which you want to support the community?
Speaker 1:Well, you know what, carolyn, and you bring up a really good point right. When I say patient, so many times people say well, patient, and they don't understand that the patient includes the patient I just stated with my husband. My husband's been my right hand, my left hand, he's my advocacy on the spot. He was trained, he got on a job training so many times. Spouses, that's exactly what happens is they receive on a job training because that's what they're doing. It's the patient's internal support network, which includes, if they're married, their spouses. If they're not married, if they're in a long-term relationship, that person they're in a long-term relationship with, if they're younger, it's their mom, their dad, grandma, grandpa, nieces, nephews, whoever that composes the patient community.
Speaker 1:So when I talk and I say patient, I want all of them caregivers, I want everybody that's on the patient's internal side to know that I'm talking about them and I'm talking to them as well as talking to the actual patient themselves.
Speaker 1:Then, when it comes down to the external patient network, those providers, we can say what we want, all we want to about providers and how they don't care and how they this and how they that, but a lot of our providers do care For those providers that do care and that they're standing in a gap with those patients. They're helping us. I'm talking to them as well. So the patients have an internal network and an external network, and they should and if they don't, they should actually be trying to find out. How can I get one? Where do I go to find someone that can help me? So when I say educating the patient and power in an engagement, that's what I'm talking about, is making sure that everything that needs to be there is there for the patient, and it's coming from the patient, as well as the internal and external network.
Speaker 2:That's great because I encourage my patients and family members or friends, whatever you want to call, because it's everybody. Once they find out that you are in healthcare, you're going to be their go-to person. So it's a lot of good information and it's a lot of time that I put in, because a lot of the time when people are asking me they're afraid, they're nervous. I can hear it in their voice and they won't answer. One of my friends was saying she's right out line. She's right out line to us. She was tearing up and I wish I could go hunger, but we were many miles apart and I was like it happens, let's just calm down, let me just text some people and let's see if we can get another doc for you. I was able to within that 10-minute timeframe and I just told her. If it doesn't happen I will call you later on. But it did happen within that time frame. We were on the phone. She felt better but she was still hurt. I said let's just forget about what has happened and let's move forward. I know you're hurting because she's standing in the gap for family members. It had nothing to do with her and anything that's going on with her physically, but she was supporting her loved one.
Speaker 2:You feel helpless when a person tells you they're going to see you and then, when they see you, they do nothing for you. There's just other avenues that we need to take and it's just so much time I put into that supporting people and encouraging people and finding positions for them or suggesting. I always give the disclaimer I haven't worked with them or I haven't worked with them in so long. I don't know who's in the hospital now. I don't know there, so I have to rely on my resources at the hospital to guide me in the correct way. I know they will, because I trust them to do that. They're very good nurses and they're very good personnel as well. They look for us for answers. You want to give them the best answer that you can at this point in time. They need somebody.
Speaker 2:I said to myself one day I need to be charging for this service right here, but I let that get them what they need and I move on. Let's go to a song, sandra, and then we'll come back to a couple more questions regarding your nonprofit. Okay, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you. Okay, sandra, we're back. Um, now can you tell me how you engage or involve the community in your initiatives?
Speaker 1:Well, one way I'll engage the community with my initiatives is by having a conversation with the, you know, with whoever it is I'm speaking with in reference to an issue that I'm helping them with. They asked me a question and I the first thing I tell them is that, especially if they're coming to me and they have a issue with, say, they're having an insurance question, and the first thing I tell them to do is to remove the insurance company out of the picture, um, a, we have to stop placing blame, and I explain this to everyone. We have to stop placing blame on so it's nobody's fault is we need you know it's nobody's fault that what's going on is going on is everybody's fault. So not one person needs to take the blame for everything that goes on. So I start my conversations by always telling them that. But what I do is I collaborate a lot. My number one goal is to set about a collect after I do that and I let them know look, if you need me or you're dependent on me to be with you for um, you know anything. Don't count on me to be a part of your um, don't count on me to be a part of your complaint party, because that's not what I do.
Speaker 1:I don't like competing. So someone comes to me and they want to compete with me. I let them go in about their way. But if you approach me and you ask me about a collaboration project, I'm going to be there with you because there are so many people in this world that need help.
Speaker 1:The competing is not going to help us as an advocate. I'm not an advocate that competes with anyone for anything, but as an advocate that collaborates with people, they can count on me and depend on me to be there supporting them the whole time. We're supporting us, whatever the project is, the whole time, because that's how I approach things as as a collaboration instead of as a competition. So once they we get past the initial look, I'm not even if they want to collaborate. You know they want charm foundation to collaborate with them and I'm getting a sense that they want us to collaborate because they want us to be on their side when they place this complaint. I'm not going to do it because, like I said, nobody takes a blame for this. We all share in this and we all have to be. Take the responsible, you know. Take the responsible part we need to take so that we can work on building sustainable action items when it comes down to equity, equality and justice in a healthcare system.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's great. Now you reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I heard about 211. And I looked it up and I said yeah, I forgot what organization I told you. You said no, it's bigger than that. Can you elaborate on that for me please?
Speaker 1:Right. So 211 is just one of the many, many resources that not many people know even exist. What 211 is? 211 is an initiative put out by the United Way. No, this is a disclaimer. I do not work for the United Way. I came across 211 because what I do is I look for research. I'm a research person At heart. I'm a researcher. I love researching. Give me a problem and say you can't find a solution to it. 90% of the time you're going to have a solution to it when you finish talking to me. So I got a call and that and I was doing some research on an item that a patient needed, which is how I came across 211.
Speaker 1:211.com is an extraordinary benefit resource for people to know about, especially those people in our community. Very little have heard of it or they don't know what it is. It was brought up last week when our foundation held the first ever patient center conference. We'll get into that a little bit later as well, but that was brought up then Is that nobody's going to tell you all of these resources You're going to need to know somebody that has an end, that can research and find the answers for you, because no one has them all and it's not possible for one person to sit down and find out all of those resources. So 211.com is one resources. Fundfinder, fund Finder is another resource. The resource that you brought up to me was another resource that I looked into and that was actually able to help me, and I believe that was Martha's I can't remember what it is but I'll come across it before we leave the show for tonight and it's resources that our community should have. Our community should know about. The importance of the 211.com is.
Speaker 1:I was working with a patient that she was her dad's caregiver and her dad needed adult diapers. Now I live in the city of Chicago, which is a large urban city, and I did some research and come to find out, while there are resource centers that have adult diapers, where the adult diapers are given away for free, they have adult diapers I found out that Chicago doesn't have one. The city of Chicago doesn't have one. That's a problem to me. It's a problem that our foundation is going to address, but it was a problem to me. But just knowing, like I call maybe 10 or 20 nonprofit agencies, organizations that were on 211.com, I think came across some people, that some organizations I want to say people.
Speaker 1:I came across some organizations, some nonprofit organizations, that were willing to help me. They had some extras. They was like if you could send somebody to pick them up, we'll be able to give them to you. So I had to send out people to go pick up these supplies for our community. We shouldn't have that. We should have one spot, one place that could be on 211.com that people can call within these large, much larger areas that will have access to it. You know that 211.com call for me.
Speaker 1:Caroline took me down a path that was helpful to me because I spoke to one of the people at one of the other diaper places and they were like well, sandra, but do you know that your that patients to get the supplies through their insurance or through Medicare? Basically, she told me. She told me how my question to her was. So you realize you're dealing with Medicare patients that don't know these things that you're telling me. I mean, I know, and so now I can use it to help our organization and help those people that our organization reaches out to our organizations but they're not going to notice. You know, they're really not going to know it, and so you know that. But that's what 211 led me to. So 211 is a great, great, great resource for people to know about and people to start using, and it's a national organization, so it's available in all of our United States, 50 of our United States.
Speaker 2:And I'm really good, appreciate that information. I'm like you mean 311?, you know, because I'm here in Alabama and you were like no, it's 211. So I dialed the number. I dialed the number, I didn't think to do 211.com, and it came up with an organization that we can reach out to and during that conversation I told you about Bertha, which is a social work service, and they have a wealth of information or resources. I put like this they have a wealth of resources that you all you have to do is put in your zip code and you go through and I tell everybody take your time, don't be on a hurry. Go through the tabs, go through the breadcrumbs and different organizations will come up. I don't know if they can benefit you, but if you get someone on the line or if you go on their website, ask the question, ask, let them know what you're looking for.
Speaker 2:I did find someone who built ramps Well, because you know I deal with people all over the United States who built ramps in that particular city and but the patient never answered the phone again. She wanted a lift for her daughter's wheelchair. I found someone who could do that, but I was doing that to assist her. Now I give the information and I told people take your time and go through it Because I still have a list of patients that I have to attempt to touch, you know, before the end of day. So it is not feasible for me to go through and find.
Speaker 2:But I was able to locate her because she told me she wasn't computer savvy. But what I have done is I will collect several numbers in and around that area. I said it doesn't have to be your zip code, it can be the zip code 10 miles from you. That's still not far. And she said no, because my husband can drive if we need to do so. I compiled those 1-800 numbers and I took the time because she didn't email and she didn't take. So I took the time to give her those numbers one by one so that she could call those 1-800 numbers that were near her.
Speaker 2:And they were willing to build the ramp and some of them did have resources for the lift to put her daughter's wheelchair on. So it's. But I never heard of Aunt Bertha until about. What is this? Is this 23? Yeah, I just heard of Aunt Bertha about three years ago and it's been around a while. So that's a great resource that people can use. But it's like you said if you don't know, you don't know, and it's nothing for me to share information is absolutely nothing for me to share information.
Speaker 1:And you brought up a really good point when you said you gave her the numbers because Charles Middy helps Foundation. We advocate on behalf of the patient and we advocate with the patient and sometimes for the patient if the patient asked us to. But it's more beneficial to actually provide the resources to the patients. It's actually more beneficial which is what we'll be doing in 2023 is to show them how to resource their own benefits and their own resources, like, give them the steps they need to do in order to do it and allow them to do it. If we found the resources and then did all the work for them to get the resource, they wouldn't learn anything. And so the next time something they needed, something, they would actually use us as a crutch. We're not a crutch organization. We're a help information resource, but we're not going to do the work for you. We just really are not going to do the work for you unless you could show us that you have absolutely no way to do it yourself. But if you have a way to do it yourself, we would much rather teach you, because one of my mantras is each one, teach one, reach one, and that mantra would never hold true if all we would do.
Speaker 1:All the foundation was doing was each one teaching one. Then who's going to learn? That needs to learn? That's down that patient's line, right? No one's going to learn. So it's not about doing it for them. It's about finding the resource or helping them find the resource, and then you know they have help, they need help or whatever being that resource to help them. But as far as doing everything for them, no, because they'll never know and they'll never learn and will be stuck in the stack my of the health care system that we're stuck in right now. So it's not about, it's not about complaining, and it's also not about it does doing everything for them. Yeah, so thank you so much for telling me that. You know, you gave, you found the numbers, you gave it to them, you told them what they had to do and if they need to help, of course you could come, they could come back and ask you. But, yeah, I so appreciate knowing that you didn't do everything for them.
Speaker 2:No, because that won't benefit anyone. And I tell please call, please call me, please call me, and we can walk through this together. And I will say well, when your daughter gets home, have her to call me. She can leave a number, tell me who she is, what her desire is. I can call her back and give her the information. And, you know, give her the link, give her what she needs so that she can help you out. You know, because there's someone around. Well, they may not be around physically at that point in time, but someone's going to eventually come around who can assist with that.
Speaker 2:And that's a part of advocacy. You know we're standing in the gap, but we're also holding you up and we're teaching you that it's OK. It's OK to ask questions, because this is your body, this is your life and you need to know as much or more you know than whoever is treating you. Now. Don't go in there saying I know, I know my body didn't need anybody. Well, you do, but it is a way to deliver the message, because you want to be able to be on the receiving end. So when your guard is up, you're not going to get much of anything done. We both know that we truly know that. You know.
Speaker 2:So I heard you tell on one of the and I want you to talk about your educational Wednesdays. Now don't go in there arguing with some people and I was so tickled I was laughing. I was like, yep, that's a patient for you. You know, some will be so docile and then some will be so argumentative. You tell me the one will get what they need. Neither one will get what they need. I'm going to put another song and then I'll let you get it together in your head about the educational Wednesdays. Okay.
Speaker 3:It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me. Yeah, it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me and I'm feeling good. Fish and you see, you know how I feel. River running free. You know how I feel. Blossom on the tree. You know how I feel. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me and I'm feeling good. Dragon fly out in the sun. You know what I mean, don't you know? Butterflies all having fun. You know what I mean Sleeping peace when day is done. That's what I mean, and this old world is a new world and a bold world for me. The stars when you shine. You know how I feel. Sand of the pine, you know how I feel. Freedom is mine, and I know how I feel. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me. I'm feeling good.
Speaker 2:I'm feeling good. Let me ask this before we dive into educational Wednesdays Are there any specific?
Speaker 1:areas or causes where you believe more attention as support may be needed. Are there any specific areas or causes where you believe more attention as support may be needed? I think that's the key. I think that's the key we need to really, you know, now get into this before we close a little bit more, but we really need to do a full-on sweep on health literacy to do this. Patients need to do that, but you're not explaining to the patient how to do it. You're not explaining to the patient, you're not breaking it down, literally breaking it down and explaining to a patient, and I'll bring this up for as an example You're not explaining to the patient Well, you, you're a heart patient, so you really need to be doing things that you know help your heart or you need to see a doctor.
Speaker 2:I think we've lost you. I'm going to go ahead and play another one of her favorite songs. That she comes back here.
Speaker 4:Another day, another place, another night, and you're not here. Once again, I'm far from home, all alone to play my song. I'm going to go ahead and play another one of her favorite songs that she comes back here. I'm still waking. I want you by my side In a special way. I need your touch to feel the warmth that comforts me. As you know, it's true, all in all, I'd rather spend this time with you, but until I can, I'm still waking. I want you by my side.
Speaker 3:I'm still waking. I want you by my side.
Speaker 4:I'm still waking. I want you by my side. I'm still waking. I want you by my side. I'm still waking. I want you by my side.
Speaker 2:Okay, Sandra, you can unmute.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so, as I was saying, it's the health literacy piece. We really and then when I say we, that means all of us, in our healthcare professionals we need to do a better job at making sure that the language that we're using is language that the patient understands and if they don't understand it, explaining it to them what it is that we're talking about. So that health literacy piece is, you know, is my number one pet. I should say my number one pet peeve is the health literacy piece, is educating patients on that health literacy piece.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what type of guests do you have coming on on educational Wednesdays?
Speaker 1:My educational Wednesday series is a series where we when I say we, the foundation host other nonprofits that are literally not spoken of. We don't know these a lot of times, we've never heard of these conditions, but they rampant in the African American underserved, marginalized and disabled communities. They are rampant, but we've never heard of them before. It's my opportunity to give back, to once again touch that health literacy piece by getting back to the patients, by encouraging them to listen, to hear, to understand should they have signs, should they have symptoms. Don't just borrow them all. Go see this doctor or go ask these questions. So those educational Wednesdays and I was hosting those educational Wednesday series every Wednesday throughout 2023. There was sometimes when we had to take some breaks. We did that up until the middle I want to say the middle to end of October, and then I took a break because we had the conference last week. But those are what the educational Wednesdays are about and I still continue with the educational Wednesdays. I don't do them as much as I was doing them, but it moved some of the platforms around, but there's all types of information that we still have to touch on. So, instead of talking about breast cancer, I brought up skin cancer Instead of talking about. You know, this is the everyday things that we're hearing about. You know scrapes and burns and stuff like that. I brought in sepsis, you know, to make sure that people understand what's going on why did she see the doctor and importance and what I found out, Karlin, and doing that and this is a good part about doing those sessions and doing those videos with my loving co-collaborators that represented different healthcare diseases is that a lot of times when I tell people what it is that Chomsmitty helps us, they say, oh well, that's just for older people. You know, and I'm like what they're like, that's just for older people. I ain't that age. I need to learn about that. But the guests that I have had on my show, a lot of the guests that I have had on my show that have represented these health disease conditions they're on my show and they've had these diagnosis that they've had since they were in their early 20s. They just blew off but they didn't really take it seriously because that's not us. That's for older people that they're now struggling to overcome because when they were younger they had a. That can't be me, because I'm not this age.
Speaker 1:A disease doesn't have an age. Is it just like COVID coming in? She came in right now. She bought a family, set up shop and we get regularly. It is still hanging around. Well, it's the same thing with these diseases. They don't just come when you get to a certain age. They've been in you or around you. So it's helpful for the younger people to understand. It's helpful for the parents of the kids to understand. Maybe I should be paying attention to this, because this could in fact, be me. So that's what the educational Wednesdays are about is making sure that I'm able to discuss those disease conditions that impact our community.
Speaker 2:And another thing that I enjoy that you have when it comes to education on Wednesday, you don't always use quote unquote professionals. You use lay people, patients who are willing to give their personal testimony regarding their disease process, and I think that resonates just as well as having the professionals on. What has been your feedback on that?
Speaker 1:You know, I get a lot of people that listen to the videos and for those who are listening tonight or maybe you're listening at a later time to this video, well, this series. I had a lot of people that go into my because on our website we have a library on our website under events. You would just have to pick which topic you want to listen to and you can click the thing and it'll. You'll actually be able to, you know, listen to the entire series, the entire topic for that night. And I've had a lot of people that have listened to that and came back and said, sandra, thank you so much because you know, given that patient's voice and hearing, that there's actually patients out here that want to share their stories and you've given them a place to share their stories. It helps us to know that we're not in this alone, that, yeah, you know, I got that and you know and where can I go for help? And given them that, you know that helpful suggestion that there's other patients that want to share their stories and they want people to know that they're not alone. So they're so very thankful for those, those patients that do show up and do the patient experience sessions as well as I am, because they could be doing something anything and everything and because this is what last year was year one for us, so we didn't have a lot of funding to, you know, be able to say, okay, well, we'll give you a $50 or $75 stipend for speaking to us.
Speaker 1:The professionals and the patients were doing this out of the love for what I was doing, out of the belief in okay many health charms. Is out here doing something that we really need to pay attention to. We really do need to pay attention to it. And so you know, while I'm going to go off just off the topic for just a minute because I would be remiss if I did this show with you tonight and I didn't say thank you to the many people who spoke up and who came on board and who said, sandra, no, that's okay, we're there for you, we got this, we know what you're trying to do will help you I say thank you from the bottom of my heart, hugs and kisses to each one of you.
Speaker 1:For those who said, well, since you can't pay us, we can't do it. So I say to you go back and rethink that thought process that you have, because when you are going through. You have people that were there to help you. They weren't getting paid. It can't be about money all the time, especially when it comes down to you saving someone's life or impacting someone's life in a way that makes a difference. It really can't be about the money all the time. I understand you need money, but if someone's coming to you with a new thought process, a new idea and they're trying to get it kicked off, at least open your heart, if not for a half an hour, 15 minutes, whatever. Just open your heart and say I'm giving because you gave.
Speaker 2:Oh, that sounds great. That sounds great because you guys, that's good, that's good, that's good. What is it? You'd much rather see a sermon than hear one. Is that in the same vein?
Speaker 1:This is what I can't say about that, to answer that question around about way, which I really don't like doing, but it's something that needs to be addressed. Our communities, especially those communities that we've worked closest with, have an issue of listening and paying attention to it, no matter how it's given to them, whether they're seeing it, they're hearing it, whatever they don't. We really and I'm not going to say they because I'm a part of it we don't really pay attention when we're supposed to pay attention. You can go back to video, like I said, the videos on our website. You don't have to listen to the videos all at one time. You don't have to see what we're doing on the videos. I mean 90 percent of the times we're not doing anything by having a heart-to-heart conversation, which is where our nonprofit is different, because our nonprofit really is one patient talking to another. That's really what we're doing.
Speaker 1:Is we're patients or we're part of the clinical community and we're talking to people that need to know. You have to listen, you have to pay attention, but you can go back and do it in installments. You could like that's not how we're in 45 minutes, take like 15 minutes at a time and listen to it, hit through it and if you have to listen to it again. We're taught early on and I used to teach, and we're taught early on that all students learn differently. You have a student that likes to learn by doing. You got a student that likes to learn by listening, by seeing. You got students that like to learn multiple ways. In answering that question, this really depends on what type of patient it is or patient community it is.
Speaker 2:Okay, shanderl. One last question, or coming close to the last question Tell us about the book that you basically wrote. That's all I can say. She is an author as well. Tell us about your book and the reason you brought that book to fruition.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for asking me that question. I have a book. The book is a personal health history, it's a planner and it's a journal. The reason why I wrote that book is because, as I was recovering from COVID, I started hearing all of these people every time they passed I don't want to say every time, but 90 percent of the time that they passed away when they were diagnosed with COVID. You are hearing these people are dying from COVID. People weren't really dying from COVID. They were dying from underlying conditions like diabetes, like hypertension, like strokes, like asthma, any of a number of other health related conditions that were exasperated when I say exasperated, for those who are listening I'm like okay, well, what is exasperated that were actually made worse by the introduction of COVID into their system.
Speaker 1:Not many people know what an underlying condition is. Still to today, not many people know what an underlying condition is. Not many people were told that that's what really caused the death. People weren't talking, but they were being told that, oh, you died from COVID and I don't know whether it was because it was simple or not. You, but your person, died from COVID and I don't know. I still don't to today don't know whether they were being told that, or because it was just simply easier to say, well, they had COVID. Or whether it was just what people were saying. I don't know what reason. For what reason they were saying, oh, this person had COVID, that's where they died from, Instead of actually coming out and saying the person actually had hypertension, which was made worse by COVID.
Speaker 1:That was important to me that people knew, and people know about COVID, know about the underlying conditions. The reason being is because for such a very long time, especially in the African-American community, our people that came before us, our ancestors, our folks that came before us they had all of these different disease conditions and absolutely nobody was talking about it, at least not at the kitchen table. One of those diseases that was out then that nobody talked about but was stigmatized, was cancer. We black folks weren't talking about cancer. I don't know what other cultures were, but as far as black folks, we weren't talking about cancer. Why? Because it was stigmatized. Why? Because cancer at that time was looked at just like HIV and AIDS is looked at today, until people really started studying it and understanding what causes cancer and it's mind started changing.
Speaker 1:But what occurred when I was a little girl and I'm not sure how many other people listening. If this is the same thing. What occurred when I was a little girl. We went to grandma's house for Christmas. Everybody in the family showed up at grandma's house for Christmas, but everybody in the family didn't sit at the same table. The kids sat at the kids table and adults sat at the adult table. I'm taking it that they were sitting there because they were talking about these things that I'm talking about right now, but as kids we didn't know that and youth did not step like one foot into that room with an adult.
Speaker 2:You did. If you did, you got the evil eye. That's a show. You got it. No, you didn't get escorted. You knew you had stepped into uncharted waters and you backed up at that room. That's what you did. You were not escorted. You knew you weren't supposed to be there. Okay, that's funny, but we were okay not to be there. We wanted to play with our cousins. We honestly did. Sandra, are you still there? I think she got kicked out again, but we're at the end of our talk and I'm going to have her to put it in the chat. I'm listening to support her organization and get involved with her call, because it is really a good call.
Speaker 2:Thank you all for listening to Dentry's journey. I'm Carolyn Coleman. I pray God's blessings upon everyone here, on your families, your extended families, that he answers your spoken and unspoken prayer requests, that he leaves and guides you. I thank him for this space. I thank him for this opportunity. I thank him for using me. Lord, these are another thing to ask your son Jesus' name. Amen. You all have a great day. Thank you for listening. I'm going to play a song now. I'm Blair.