078 Claudia Schwarz - From Advocate to Patient - Understanding the Human Condition

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078 Claudia Schwarz - From Advocate to Patient

May 4, 2023 • 22 mins

Claudia Schwarz is the Vice President of Clinical Outreach at J. Flowers Health Institute. She’s a clinician who had her own private practice for years before becoming a consultant and eventually pursuing business development.

Today, Claudia joins the show to discuss her own work experience with J. Flowers Health Institute and her personal experience as a patient. Claudia chronicles the care she received there and how that has transformed and inspired her to promote and advocate J. Flowers Health Institute to everyone who will listen. Dr. James Flowers and Claudia touch on how J. Flowers is helping to provide care not only in medicine, but in mental health, psychiatric and addiction, among other human conditions.

Key Takeaways

01:22 – Claudia Schwartz joins the show to discuss her background and experience as a clinician, what got her involved in the field of marriage and family therapy, and what brought her to J. Flowers Health Institute

05:05 – From clinician to educational consultant to business development

08:32 – Claudia opens up about a recent personal medical complication

16:04 – The mental and emotional toll of getting a pacemaker

17:58 – Dr. Flowers thanks Claudia for her vulnerability and transparency

21:18 – Dr. Flowers thanks Claudia for joining today’s show and lets listeners know where they can connect with J. Flowers Health Institute

Tweetable Quotes

“My whole goal is to bring the message of what we do to people who haven’t heard of us, because for us, we’re all about collaboration. We want to work with other programs. We want to work with other clinicians side-by-side so that we can service clients the best way that we can. And, I really enjoy meeting new people. I enjoy hearing different perspectives on how to treat people, because it’s not just a one-size-fits-all.” (06:10) (Claudia)

“The care that I got here [at J. Flowers Health Institute] was, I can’t even say second to none. There’s just nobody else that can give this care, I believe. From the very first day when I saw the cardiologist he, after spending an hour with us talking to me - and this is the actual cardiologist, not just the nurse, which is usually what happens - he had the phone picked up and was calling the next specialist. I had testing lined up. It was just two weeks of constant testing and monitoring. They left no stone unturned, as is what we do here at J. Flowers.” (11:53) (Claudia)

“It was so hard because I just felt like when I think about pacemakers, I think about grandpa with his cane. And I know that there are people that are in their twenties that need a pacemaker because their heart is not working well. But usually that’s somebody with significant heart disease or possibility of having a heart attack. And feeling that, it just stopped me dead in my tracks because I thought, ‘How is this possible?’ It was so debilitating mentally for me.” (16:31) (Claudia)

“Finally being a client of J. Flowers and being able to express what it really feels like to get this kind of care makes it more amazing to do this job. I feel like I can talk about it even better now because I’ve had my own experience.” (19:36) (Claudia)