Episode #41: Winona 101: Navigating the Winona Experience

In this episode of The Menopause Hour with Winona, Head of Patient Care, Jo, answers some of the most common questions patients have about our support process, doctor credentials, and expected response times. She also walks listeners through key account features, including how to navigate the Patient Portal, track orders, request treatment adjustments, and more.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Menopause Hour, your go-to source for answers to your burning menopause questions, the ones you won't get from your OBDYN. Brought to you by Winona, where Menopause care is made easy. Download our free Winona community app where thousands of women connect and access exclusive content, expert-led courses, exciting events, and more. It's time to take the guesswork out of your hormonal journey.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hello, hello everyone, and welcome to one of our Winona 101 webinars. We are so excited that you are here and that you are tuning in today. We know that you have a really busy schedule, so so glad that you've made the time really just to come. And if you have questions, we're gonna answer them. And it's just a great place to listen and learn all about really what it means to be a Winona patient and what that looks like. Um, if you don't know me, I'm Maddie. Um I am the community manager here at Winona. Um, so hopefully you have been in our Winona app. Um, so I have probably seen your face come through there, um, whether you've created an account or a profile or whether you've been posting or commenting. Um I love getting to see everyone make connections. So so glad that you're there. So glad that you're here. Um, we're gonna have a great webinar today where we're gonna talk all about what it looks like to be a Winona patient and hopefully answer some of the questions that you might have. Um, as you can see, we also have Joe here, which we're super excited about this. But Joe, I'll go ahead and let you introduce yourself and give a little spiel about who you are, and then we can jump into everything.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Oh, hi. Hi, everyone. Um, my name is Joe. I am actually head of patient care services at Winona. So basically, what that means is I oversee the team that handles any questions or concerns that you have outside of the ones that you have for your doctor. Um, I am also a Winona patient and have been. It was four years in March, I've been a Winona patient. Um, so I have the perspective of being a patient as well as being behind the scenes. So it's kind of a nice thing. And then by trade, although I don't practice anymore, I am a dermatology nurse practitioner or I was so um skincare and all things, skin are sort of my wheelhouse as well. And I I try to stay there a little bit as well, but I do not practice anymore. So yeah, so I'm here to answer all of all of the questions that a lot of people ask about being a patient and and uh help to ease any fears and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Absolutely. Well, yeah, thank you so much for being here today, Joe, because I know that you have a super busy schedule as well. So we're really excited that you were able to make the time to kind of answer some of these questions. So I think we can kind of jump into things. Um, and I'd love to start, I think, just kind of at the beginning. Um, so I think that these questions will be really helpful, whether whoever is listening in, whether you are a brand new Winona patient, whether you've been with us for a while. Um, I think that there's lots to learn from all of these questions. But um to start at the beginning, I'd love to start just with kind of what does it look like when someone gets started with Winona? And what does the onboarding process look like when someone is just kind of jumping into things?

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Okay, yeah. I mean, so from our website, there are multiple places um to get information. So if you have questions, you can get answers to your questions that you may have before you want to start the official onboarding process. It's a pretty simple process. The questions are um designed to uh elicit information, the information that we need to make decisions regarding prescribing. Again, I don't prescribe, but I'm when I say we, I mean the doctors. Um, but it's it's very simple. You start out by providing just some basic contact information, and then there's a portion that will ask about your symptoms. That's one of the key things in terms of making prescribing decisions, is based on the symptoms that you report. There's a whole screen there, and I remember when I went through the onboarding process, I was like, huh, do I check all of these or do I check the ones that really were impacting me? And I kind of went in between. I made sure that the there were three top ones that were really impacting my quality of life. I made sure those were on there, and then there were a few others that it wasn't until I actually was on the website, I was like, oh, that's a menopause symptom. And I'm like, Yep, check. I I did want to check them all on there, but I didn't. Um, and I don't recommend that you do. Um, so checking the symptoms, and then they we ask for your medical history. We ask things like, have you had a hysterectomy? Yes or no. We ask, there's uh some conditions, we ask if you've had any a history of any of these conditions, yes or no. And if you've had none, you mark none and you move on. But all of the information that's there that we gather is what we need, what our doctors need to make a decision about whether it is safe and appropriate to prescribe for you, and then what to prescribe for you. You do, as the patient, play a part in that as well, in terms of making the decision. And a lot of patients get caught up on that because they're like, Well, I don't know what I need or what I want, but we offer pills, patches, and creams, and so you get to help make the decision about what you think is probably appropriate for you and your lifestyle. And I'll just briefly give you an example of how I made the decision. I'm on the cream, I chose the cream because I'm not a pill taker, I don't like taking pills. There are people that love pills, they love the, you know, every day you just take a pill and you're done, right? That we have an option for you. Um, the other option are patches. The patches have an adhesive, they have to stick to the skin. I don't get along with adhesives, my skin doesn't like it. So the cream was the most obvious choice for me. So that's how I made that decision. And you, as the patient, as you go through that onboarding process, will will ask the same thing. Do you have a preference? And if you're completely not sure, there's an option to say, I would like the doctor to help me decide. So you don't you don't have to make a decision, and they can walk through that conversation with you and kind of the the pros and cons of each. Additionally, there may be something in the medical history that you provided that would um one of the, say, for example, one of the transdermal methods, the cream or the patches, might be a better or more safer option for you versus the pills, or the pills might be the better option for you. The doctor can weigh in and give you some guidance, but you do have some um input there about what your preference is. We all we also ask about quantity. We present the two different quantities that you can get, and you get to decide. Again, I'll use myself as an example. We offer a 30 and a 90-day supply. I chose 30-day supply because honestly, I was like, I don't know if this is gonna work. I don't know if this is the right thing for me. I didn't do a lot of research before I jumped in, I was just desperate, and I'm thankful that I did, but in hindsight, I was like, oh wow, okay. But I chose the 30-day supply because I didn't, I didn't, it's the more expensive upfront cost for the 90-day supply. It's actually a cost savings overall. So I did the 30-day supply. Things got great, and I had the doctor switch me to the 90 day. So there's some flexibility there as well. Um, and then last but not least, we do ask that you input a credit card. It doesn't mean that you are going to get charged. There's a little disclaimer it says we don't charge you unless the doctor prescribes. If the doctor reviews your chart and you are an appropriate candidate and you made selections about what your preferences were and you had no questions, the doctor's going to prescribe, which is exactly what Dr. Davis did for me. Um, prescriptions were on the way, they get mailed directly to your house or whatever the shipping address that you entered into the system. Um, uh, but usually within a week, the first order is there and you can get started. So that's that piece. I don't know if you want me to go into now, kind of segue into like communicating with the doctor.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Yeah, well, I was gonna actually, that's that's perfect, Joe. I was gonna ask a little bit because I know that you just talked about kind of what it looked like to get onboarded, and then you kind of, you know, you get assigned a doctor. Um, but kind of speaking about the doctor specifically, I'd love to know. So, does Winona work with licensed physicians, physicians, or kind of how what is that process?

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Yes, all of the providers that we have are licensed physicians. They are licensed to provide um care in the states that they are licensed in. And many of them are actually licensed in multiple states. Um, Dr. Green is licensed in every state that we serve, um, with the exception of Puerto Rico, which is a territory. Um, but yeah, they are they they are licensed in multiple states. Many of them um work in hospitals, work in clinics, some of them do other telemedicine jobs as well. Um, it's kind of becoming sort of the wave of the future, if you will, when possible. But yeah, no, all of our all of our doctors are licensed physicians. Um, they are not bots, they are real life humans. And um yeah, I think I answered that.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Absolutely. And just to be there to be clear, they're also they're board certified, right? As well, is that correct? Yes, yes, that's great. And so I know that like I think when a lot of new patients, um, and sometimes old patients as well, when you know they've been working with their doctor for quite a while, um, what is a like a typical response time for when you're working with a doctor that that a patient could expect?

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Great question. We typically say it's within 24 to 48 hours, is what is acceptable. Um, the patients have the ability to communicate at any time. They can log into their patient portal 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and send a message to the doctor. I tell patients that it's similar to sending an email. Like sometimes you send an email and you'll get a response right away. That means that the doctor is actually physically sitting there working and they see your message pop up and and they grab it and they answer it and they reply, right? Um, but there are other times when they are working at the hospital or the clinic or or they're just doing things with their families because this gives them the opportunity to have some flexibility with their work hours, the whole work-life balance thing. Um, it may be a few hours, it may be a day, it may be up to two days. There's sometimes there can be extenuating circumstances, but by and large, most doctors reply within 24 hours of the message that the patient sent.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Absolutely. And one question as well, and that I know a lot of patients are wondering, let's say it's been over that typical, typical response time. Maybe it's been like a little bit longer than 48 hours. Um, though I, if that is rare, is there a place that they can reach out to um in case that they're anxious about getting their their message answered quickly?

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Well, there's the on on the website, there's multiple places where they can um reach patient care services. There's like depending on what their question is. Um, they we are staffed around the clock. There's rarely a time where there is not someone working. Sometimes there might be an hour lapse here and there, but for the most part, there is someone on 24-7. There are obviously overnight US hours, there are fewer people working overnight. But if you need an immediate answer on something, they're the they're the best, the first um, first stop. So all of the medical-related things really should be asked of of a doctor. But if your doctor isn't available or hasn't yet responded, and you need a more urgent answer, you can reach out to the patient care and we will do what we can do to get you either connected with another doctor who we know would respond very quickly because some of our doctors um do respond overnight as well. We kind of have an idea, we don't know their schedules when they're working. They don't provide a schedule. They can come and go as they please, but sometimes we can tell based on the activity behind the scenes who's on and who's off. So we would make um every effort to get you connected with someone that can answer your question. Um, and our team's pretty good about determining um what really is very urgent and needs to be answered, or could wait until morning or the hours and would provide any reassurance or any additional information to help you feel better about what may be happening.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Absolutely. Well, I would say the patient care team is great, from my opinion. I think very good is a a low, a low explanation for that. Um and well, and kind of like while we're we're talking about uh, you know, our doctors and like what it looks like to get a response. So I know occasionally we've had you know patients that end up getting assigned to a new doctor. Um, why might that be um for a patient and what's kind of going on there?

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Yeah, it it can happen for a couple of reasons. Um, sometimes doctors do leave, they they leave and go work other places. So if they leave Winona, then you will be assigned to a new doctor. Um, but most frequently what happens is that again, back to the work-life balance, our doctors do get time away and they put in an official request to take time off to be with their families or vacation or whatever. And we reassign you to another doctor. The system actually does it automatically. And the reason for that is so that if you do message in and your doctor is on vacation, there is someone who has your chart and and can answer and reply. Because if we didn't do that and you messaged in and your doctor's off roaming around Italy for a week, you wouldn't get a reply for a week. There, they are not going to log in and do that. So um because we have so many doctors, that's why sometimes you will see that, but you always get transferred back to your original doctor, unless you requested, uh requested to have another doctor. But um, that's kind of the main the main reason why people see frequency of transfers. Their doctor is taking more time off than than others. So it just varies from doctor to doctor.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

So yeah, that could that completely make sense. And I think you know, when when you are talking to your doctor in your patient portal, um, I know and I know you we've talked a little bit about how it's it's kind of like an email and you'll you'll get a response back from them. Um, but I guess I was wondering like if I was a patient, and maybe you know you've gone through the onboarding, maybe you're a little bit down the line in your your patient journey as well. You're feeling like you want to tweak your tweak your dosage. Um, maybe you want to change your order, you want to add something to your order. How does a patient do that? Like, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Very simple. Um, there are a couple, there are a couple things. So we do have some items when you log into the patient portal. On that very front page, we'll show you some of our non-HRT items. So some people decide after the fact they want to get the hair serum or the Sildenophil cream or the face cream, those are available. You there's buttons to push, whether you've had that order before, or um if it's a new order, you can push a button and that will send a message directly to the doctor that you want it and it will be ordered. If you have questions about or changing either the format of what you're on, say you're on the pills and the patches, and you really want to try the cream instead. You simply log into the patient portal and send a message to the doctor. There's a tab at the top that says messages. When you click on that, it opens and you can see any previous messages. The whole history of messages is there, regardless of what doctor it was. That's a question that some people ask. Can the other doctor see the messages or what I spoke about with my original doctor? And the answer to that is yes. So you can scroll up and see what you all talked about, and the doctor can do the same. But you simply send a message, say, hey, and we'll use the patches and pills. Hey, um I'm I just decided I want to maybe possibly try the cream instead of the pills and patches. Can I get that for my next refill? Um, and the doctor will let you know, yes, no, or or why you could or couldn't do that. But and then what they would do, if you say you wanted it to process, like when the next refill is due, you'll say you'll use the cream for now, and then on the next one you want to go to pills and patches, then then they'll set that up to process that way for you. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Absolutely. And so when you are receiving your medication, um, whether that's you know your your automatic refill, whether that's you know, a new product as well, um, how long does it typically take to receive that medication after a prescription's written?

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Great question. Great question. So when the refill, when the order let's call it the first order processes or a refill processes, it doesn't matter, they both work the same. Um, they're the you're charged at that moment. And then there's a 24-hour period where the prescription doesn't go anywhere, it's simply sitting there. And the reason for that is to allow people to get the notification that an order processed. And at the bottom of the email, it says if you want to cancel or change this order, this refill, please reach out. And there's a link to reach directly to the patient care team and they will assist with that. Um, so that first 24 hours is sort of a safety net to allow people to have time to get the notification and reach out to cancel the order if they don't need it or they need to push it or whatever they need to do. So there's some flexibility built into the system. Then at that point, the pharmacy can now see the order and they begin working on that order. Some cases that order will go out the same day. Um, our two pharmacies, we have two pharmacies and they have different pickup times. One is later than the other, and that's dictated by the USPS, not by us. Um, but it can go out that next day. Sometimes it will be the day after. So it there's you're looking at one to three days from that point. Um, our pharmacies do not operate on the weekends. So if the order does not ship on a Friday, then then it will not ship until Monday. We use uh USPS Ground Advantage, and the typical transit time for that type of delivery is three to five business days. I can tell you, I I live in South Carolina. My medications come from Boise, Idaho. I get them. If an order leaves the pharmacy, say it leaves on a Friday, just as an example, it will more than likely be in my mailbox by Tuesday at Wednesday at the latest. So it's a little, it's probably all told about one week, about seven days, give or take, depending on a weekend or not.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Absolutely. And during that shipping process, is there a way that patients can track their order to see where it's at?

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Absolutely, yes. So once the once the order, once the pharmacy scans it for the far final time and scans the tracking number into the system, um, it automates an email that is sent. And there's actually four shipping emails that go out. There's the one, um, and I I should know these like ex specific examples, but it there's one that says your order has shipped or it's on its way. Um, and then uh your I can't remember the second one. I think it's uh maybe packed up and then it's on its way, and then um it's out for delivery and then delivered, and you get notifications for those. Typically, I get both email and text notifications for for those. So that you know, because um sometimes I like a lot of people don't check my email as frequently as I switch, so it's nice that it comes comes by text, but we send out those those notifications and the tracking number is included in that email.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

Absolutely. And so let's say you know, a patient's gone through onboarding, they've gotten their their prescription after the the what is it called? Not the tracking, the sending, they've gotten their prescription. Um, a question I I hear a lot as well, and I'm sure that you do as well, Joe. Um, and I think that this is a really interesting one that helps patients really kind of look at what it looks like to adjust their dosage and have the conversations with the doctor. But how long does it typically take to start feeling results from HRT? And is there a time when they should start reaching out to their doctor about that? Or what does that kind of process? Process look like just for helping patients kind of manage those expectations.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

Yeah. So it varies. It really varies wildly from patient to patient. I mean, I've had some patients will message in and they're like two days in and they're already noticing significant changes. Um, we don't expect the medication to work like that. We're happy that that that's what's happening for that patient. I will again use myself as an example. I was probably two to three weeks in, and I was like, well, and I will tell you my three, my top three were um brain fog, inability to concentrate, and overwhelming fatigue, like after 1 p.m. It was all I could do to just keep myself upright. Um, and there I was working at my desk one day, and um it was like after it was like 2 or 2:30 in the afternoon, and I was like, well, wait a minute, I didn't have that afternoon, like like slump isn't even a good enough word to describe how I was feeling. And I was like, and then slowly it just started noticing more and more changes, and that's a key thing in terms of of response is that so remember when I was talking earlier about the symptoms, you get when you're an onboarding and you have all of the symptoms, there's joint pain, hot flashes, night sweats, all the things. Um you may have multiple of those symptoms when you start on the medication. It's important to understand they're not all gonna go away at the exact same time. Like, for example, joint pain, that can take a little bit longer, or the brain fog may take a little bit longer, or the night sweats may take they kind of it just as, and I don't know the answer to this, I don't know if anybody does, but they they slow each of them slowly resolve at their own at their own point, I guess is the best way to say it. So we do have some patients that think like when they notice that, like one, so I'll use brain fog as an example, like, oh my brain fog's gone. I can actually communicate with you. Um and then, but I'm still having night sweats. It's two weeks later, and I'm still having night sweats. Um, just know that the symptoms do not resolve, it's not this discrete moment in time where they're all gone. They they kind of taper. So, to answer your question, well, how do I know when to say something to the doctor? Well, we do we send a 10-week follow-up, it's sent somewhere like kind of between 10 and 11 weeks. You will get an email and it asks you a few questions about how you're doing. Do you want to continue? If you answer um some of them are yes, some of them are no, that indicate that you we need more information from you, it will prompt you to provide, like, hey, my brain fog and my fatigue are gone, but those night sweats, man, they're still killing me. You know, so you would add that information in there when the doctor gets that, they'll read it and they'll reach out and have a little more conversation with you about maybe possibly making a dose adjustment at that time. Um, so that's kind of how that process works.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Absolutely. Yeah, thank you so much, Joe, for going a little bit into that. I think I think that's helpful just to um kind of give an overview of that because I know we hear in the community as well as people, you know, it's been one day and they aren't quite see, you know, seeing the results yet. And so it's always like a good reminder of, you know, it is a process, and everyone's everyone, I think, you know, perimenopause and menopause are so interesting because everyone has the same journey and a different journey at the same time. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Yes, and that is that is an important thing to know that everybody starts at a different place, everybody gets to the I always say I don't want to say endpoint because it's not an endpoint, it is more of a journey. They they progress along that journey, like whatever your neighbor Nancy is doing, she may have the exact same medication as you, but that doesn't mean that your journeys will be identical. She may come along faster, she may come along slower. So it's important to focus on your your journey and then the piece about communicating, communicate with the doctor and let them know what's going well and what's not going well. I do have one other little thing to say about that. That like if you're six weeks in and you are feeling zero improvement, that is very rare, you don't wait for the follow-up. Reach out and have that conversation with your doctor. They may still give you some reassurances and say, let's let's let you get to that 10-week mark and then do a formal evaluation at that time. But um, you really should start see some glimmers of hope as as the weeks progress.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Absolutely. Well, and I think, you know, talking about you know, patients having different journeys or different needs at different times, as far as like kind of like what it looks like to like manage your care with Winona, can what does it look like for patients and are they able to pause or cancel their treatment or at any time, or what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Yes, there is some flexibility. Um, some of the things you can the patients can self-serve in the patient portal, like for example, a pause. A patient can pause their prescription for 30, 60, or 90 days. If for whatever reason they may need an indefinite pause, we have that option, but you either would go through patient care, the patient care team, we would take care of that for you and notify the doctor, or you can um directly message the doctor and say, Hey, I'd like to pause this indefinitely. Um, reasons why that may happen. Some people have uh things that happen in their life and they just want to take a break from treatment. Um, sometimes it can be affordability. We have some patients that actually travel out of the country. Some of them will get extra medications to take with them, but some of them just want to take a break for whatever reason. So we have the ability to pause the prescription and then to simply get it restarted, depending on the time frame. If it's just been a few months, you can reach out to the patient care team. We can click the button and get that process going. If it's been more than three months, we do direct the patients back to the doctor to just say, okay, well, it's been three months since you've been on treatment. Have there been any changes? Do we need to make any adjustments before just clicking the button and sending the previous prescription?

SPEAKER_02 28:47

Absolutely. And kind of kind of along that that same method as well, whether you know this is while someone is continuing treatment or maybe they're they're coming back to treatment um after a little bit of a pause. If a patient needs to update their payment method, what where do they go for that? What's the what's the best way to do that?

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yeah, we you can either if you log into the patient portal in the upper right-hand corner where you click, there's a little should be a little circle with your initials in it, and you click that, and then there's a drop-down menu. There is an account button there. It will take you directly to where you see all that information. You'll see your shipping address, you'll see your billing information, and there's a little edit button within that field. When you click on that, you can update your phone number, you can update your email, you can update your credit card. You cannot, you cannot change your name, um, and you cannot change your date of birth. Those are the things, and you cannot change any of the medical history that you provided. You can change your shipping address if it is the same state. If you're just moving across town, you can update that and the system will update. For patients who are moving from state to state, you it the system will not allow it because we have to do a transfer and make sure, um, a state transfer and make sure that the doctor that you are currently assigned to is licensed in that state. And additionally, our two pharmacies only serve certain states. So, depending on where you move, like for example, say you live in Florida and you're moving to California, those are two different pharmacies. It is also somewhat likely that it could be a different doctor as well. But we we tell you about all of that and we we set that up for you.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

Absolutely. And in the case that a patient is looking for a refund, what is like Winona's refund policy?

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Well, by and large, we do not offer refunds. And the reason for that is because these are prescription medications, they are not returnable, they don't ship them back to the pharmacy. The pharmacy is just throwing, throwing, and disposing them as they do with any medication. Um, you know, um, there there are some rare examples where refunds will be issued, but by and large, once the prescription has been sent and mailed out to the patient, it is non non-refundable. And that goes back to why when we send that initial email receipt, you have 24 hours to reach out to us to cancel. We can cancel that processing order and we can issue a refund at that time. So, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

Well, and I think honestly, that that should hopefully give some people some peace of mind that they're they're not getting recycled medications like every medication is new, absolutely, which I think is an important, definitely a good thing uh to know as well, for sure. Well, Joe, kind of as we're wrapping up, I think that we've really done a good job of just kind of you know going through what the onboarding process looks like, what it looks like to be a Winona patient. And I think you've done a great job covering too, I think helpful advice for new patients, but I think also for patients who have been with Winona for a long time, sometimes you've never really taken the time to figure out, wait, how do I update my payment method? Or, you know, wait, like how do I like order something new? Um, because I feel like that sometimes that comes later on in your journey too, when you're looking, you know, at new products and wanting to try something new. Um, but I'd love just to kind of close us out, since you know, I know you're you're head of patient care, you're also a Winona patient. Um, I'd love to know just what advice would you give to a new patient who is just starting their Winona journey, or or I guess also a patient who has been with Winona for a while, just on the journey of the health journey with Winona, what advice would you give?

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I mean, probably for new people, it's scary. I mean, I remember, like I said, I I looked at a couple things. I'm like, I think this is probably me. I think yes, I'm I was in a desperate moment and I punched the buttons and thank god that I did. Um, but do some research, but also um remember your journey is your journey. So what everyone else out in the world tells you this is good, this is right. You have to kind of figure that out on your own. We provide a lot of resources, um, objective resources about this whole process about being in menopause and what that means. Um but be patient with the process and make sure that you um clearly communicate, you know, because remember, this is not face-to-face, and it's a di it, it's a little bit of a different world when you're on a keyboard just only sending messages because that's how our doctors communicate is via the message. There are no phone calls, there are no video chats, so you have to keep that in mind. Um, we we talk about this every day on the patient care team about making sure that our communication is effective. And even though we know in our mind what we're trying to say is that what's in the written word. So for new patients, just keep that door of communication open with your doctor. You can message them anytime. They'll get back to you as soon as they can. But I think that you'll you'll learn from them, you'll be reassured by them, and your journey will be a pretty good one, I would imagine, um, with those things. I I say that just because I think that there are some people who don't communicate well with a written word. They really are those face-to-face people, and they need to see the face and the and the expressions and all the things to transmit the information correctly. So that's kind of for new patients. Now, for the patients who've been around a while, they've probably already figured all that out. They've had plenty of communication, or they should have at this point with their doctor, maybe with the patient care team, maybe they've been on a QA um call, which those are fantastic. I've I've learned tons from watching those. Um with your doctor. Don't, don't, don't just assume that um everything is status quo. It may very well be, but kind of like the new people, keep up that that communication. Um, everybody asks, well, how long am I going to be on this? How long, how long, how long am I going to be on this medicine? And there's no answer. We don't know what the answer is for that. Um it could be, it could be like a few years, five years, sometimes 10 years. Um, and that's where you have a communication with your doctor. Like, I've been on treatment for five years. Do you recommend that I take a break and see how things are going? Is it time for me to just continue this medication? And then they will walk you through that process. So if you've been around for a long time, you may be, you may be at that point where it's time to possibly think about taking a break or seeing if you need to continue treatment. You'll know if you come off of the medication and you and your symptoms return. Um, that's a clear sign that you uh still still need treatment for some period of time.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Absolutely. Well, yeah, thank you so much, Joe, for giving a little bit, you know, of just kind of that advice. I think that's so helpful for patients to get to hear um and just get to have a little bit of that that background from you as well. I think especially because you're coming from such a great place of being able to give that advice as well. Um, and then just as just as we're then wrapping up as well, um, I just want to also point people to a few places that are really great. Um, if you're in the app, that's a great place to be. Um, it's the best place to stay in the loop about upcoming QA's, which I know Joe, you just mentioned the live QA's, those are great places. We have book club sessions that happen, Winona meetups, um, and we have more. It's really a place where real community happens. It's women connecting, sharing, and supporting one another every day. Um, we also have our podcast, um, the menopause hour with Winona on Spotify. Um, you can listen there for practical advice, science fact insights, and honest conversations. Um, so we have a lot of things kind of on the app, really created to help support you in your Winona journey. Um, but I just want to say, Joe, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be here with us today and answering. I think I learned a lot as well. So this is how I'm like, okay, now I have really a great view of like what it looks like to be a Winona patient. Um, super, super helpful for me as well. Um, and hopefully it's been helpful for everyone watching today. And then also to everyone watching today, thank you for being here. Um, we know that, you know, it's a little bit of time out of your day. Um, and we know that everyone has busy schedules, whether that's whatever, whatever you've got on your schedule, whether that's work, whether that's family, whether that's, you know, just even time to rest and relax. Sometimes that can take a long time as well. Um, but just want to say thank you everyone for being here today. I hope that you had some of your questions answered. Um, and we're so excited that you are a patient with Winona. Um, it's a great community to be a part of. Um, and it really says huge things that you know you're taking control of your health journey and taking those next steps. Um, so hopefully we'll see you at a live QA. Um, but until then, uh, we will hopefully catch you next time.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Bye everyone. Thanks for spending time with us. We hope today's conversation helped you feel more informed, more supported, and a lot less alone. If you're ready to go deeper, download the Winona app. It's free, it's for you, and it's filled with resources, real stories, expert insights, and a vibrant space to connect with women navigating the same season. Have questions? Join our next live QA. Until next time, take care of yourself. We'll be here when you're ready for more.