"Turning Pain into Purpose" with Judith

Power of MoMMAs Voices this week highlights certified Patient Family Partner Judith Francis. Judith shares her birth stories including, preeclampsia and gestational diabetes and how her experiences led her to her passion and mission to spread the message that preeclampsia is not over at delivery. She also talks about the MoMMAs Voices Patient Family Partner training and some of her advocacy work and engagements. 

“I feel like there's something that I can do and that this is what my purpose is.”

“We’re constantly being told that preeclampsia is something that… goes away after birth, and I'm a strong advocate that it does not.”

“Through training, you're taught not to dismiss those pains, but just to let your voice overcome the pain.”

“You will get the courage one day to just get up and say, okay, this is a day that I'm gonna do it. And each time you speak, just remember that it's a possibility that you're saving lives, you're saving a mom's life, you're saving a baby life.”

About MoMMAs Voices
MoMMAs Voices (Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Advocates) is the first-ever maternal health patient advocates program bringing together real patient and family voices. We're made up of dozens of maternal health organizations who represent all types of maternal health conditions, as well as cross-cutting topics like maternal mental health, racial equity, healthcare delivery, and patient-provider partnership. We sit at the center of maternal health improvements, connecting and training patients with lived experiences, providers, quality improvement leaders, researchers, and policymakers to move forward improvements in maternal care. We are a program of the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Episode Transcript

Bekah (00:00):
Hello and welcome to today's episode from Power of
MoMMAs Voices.
My name is Bekah Bischoff andI'm the education and
development coordinator.
Today we will highlight acertified patient family partner
and talk about their experiencein their pregnancy as well as
how they came to MoMMAs Voices.
We hope this will give insightto our listeners about different

(00:23):
conditions while also creatinga sense of community.
I'm excited to introduce ourguest today, Judith Francis.
Judith is a survivor ofpreeclampsia and postpartum
depression and gestationaldiabetes, which turned into type
two diabetes.
She is a certified patientfamily partner and has now

(00:45):
joined the team as the CommunitySpecialist for MoMMAs Voices.
Thank you so much for beinghere today, Judith.
It's been such a joy getting toknow you, and I would love for
you to share a little bit aboutyour birth story with us today.

Judith (01:00):
Thank you, Bekah, for inviting me to share my story on
here.
So I have two children.
One is 12 and she's a girl.
And then I have a little boy.
He is two.
And with both of them I hadpreeclampsia and gestational
diabetes.
After having my daughter it gotbetter.
And then having my son, thepregnancy was, the severity was

(01:25):
worse.
And then I ended up stillhaving diabetes.
With the preeclampsia, it endedup also doing some damage, so
it just didn't go away like itdid with my first pregnancy.
It caused me to have a enlargedheart and then still having to
deal with high blood pressure,hypertension.
But you know, I'm here and I'mhappy to be here.

(01:49):
And when I look at my children,you know, I see having my kids,
I see that it was worth it.
Not every mom can say the sameand families can say the same
cuz there's a lot of moms, thatlost babies.
And thankfully that, you know,they were able to make it out of

(02:10):
this alive.
And so am I.
So I'm grateful.
Thank you

Bekah (02:14):
so much for sharing that, Judith.
I know that no matter how longago it was or how many times
that you've shared part of yourexperience, it still can be hard
to uncover that and to say itagain.
So I just wanna acknowledgethat and to just thank you for
briefly sharing your story withus.
I would also love for you toshare what made you want to get

(02:39):
involved with sharing your storyand also how you found MoMMAs
Voices.

Judith (02:46):
How I found out about MV and becoming a PFP is, after my
first pregnancy, I washospitalized while I was
pregnant, and there was, a groupthat I got in connection with
from a hospital flyer.

(03:06):
And through that group I kindof like learned about, you know,
there's advocacy and there ishelp, but I didn't know how
much.
Or if that was something thatwas for me until after I had our
son by him being in the NICUand me going through more than I

(03:29):
did with my first pregnancy.
It just told me, it was justsomething that I felt that I
just, there's something that Ican do.
And I just felt like after redoing more and more research, I
found out that there's a lot ofbabies and moms that don't make
it.
So I reached out to the thelady from Better Bedrest was the

(03:51):
name of that group from myfirst pregnancy.
And I told her that there wassomething that I want.
I feel like there's somethingthat I can do and that this is
what my purpose is.
And she told me to reach out toPreeclampsia Foundation and
through Preeclampsia Foundationthey told me about MoMMAs Voices
and I went to the training onhow to be an advocate,

(04:12):
basically.
How to relay what I'm trying torelay so people can hear what
I'm saying and understand whatI'm saying and how to put
emotion into my word.
And instead of, you know,feeling those emotion at the
point where I'm trying to saywhat I'm trying to say.
Preeclampsia, set thefoundation and MoMMAs Voices

(04:33):
give me the platform to be apatient advocacy.

Bekah (04:38):
That's amazing.
And I love how it all startedjust from a flyer that you read.
It's just, it's amazing howsomething that might just seem
so small is what connected youto find us here at MoMMAs
Voices.
I just have loved getting toknow you over the course of the
last year or so and to workalongside you.
For those of you who don'tknow, Judith was one of our

(05:01):
early PFPs, that's what we callthem our patient family partners
and got to really work with heron sharing her story and
identifying she had a story andbeing able to pair her with
different opportunities forengagement with quality
improvement work since she'sbecome certified.
And so, Judith, I would lovefor you to share about some of

(05:24):
those opportunities that youhave had.

Judith (05:28):
So gracefully.
Cuz each opportunity that Ihave is just, it's a step closer
to my goal.
Which is if there was amountain that you stand on, that
could spread a word to thewhole entire world, I just feel
like everything that I do, eachinvolvement is like I'm getting

(05:50):
closer and closer to get on topof that mountain.
So I was involved in maternalhealth community implementation
project, the MHCIP virtualworkshop.
I did two summit through TCHMB.

(06:10):
And then I did two cohort and Ihave also been speaking on
platforms.
And then I have another onethat is scheduled.
A part of doing this is, we'reconstantly being told that
preeclampsia is something thatit is an illness that goes away

(06:32):
after birth.
And I'm a strong advocate thatit does not, and I think that a
lot of healthcare is stillsaying that it does, when it, it
doesn't.
So we still need to, eventhough we have the baby and
sometimes our babying up in theNICU, we still have to be aware
and be an advocate forourselves.

(06:52):
That preeclampsia still, it isa possibility that it's still
lingered.
Like my first pregnancy wentaway.
The second one, it did not, andI wasn't told that it didn't go
away.
I was feeling like, okay, it'slike the first pregnancy, but I
just wanted to really spread theawareness that it, it doesn't.

(07:13):
So if you had it while you'repregnant, just still look out
for those signs and you need toget yourself back to the
hospital.

Bekah (07:21):
Yeah.
So you've really been able tobe involved in a lot of
different opportunities andreally get to share your
passion, which is thatpreeclampsia doesn't just stop
after you deliver the baby.
We know that a lot of ourlisteners today could also agree
with you.
We have stories that we hearall the time.
Mothers saying that they had togo back to the hospital after

(07:43):
they got home because they endedup with postpartum
preeclampsia.
So I love that you'rehighlighting that and that
you're making sure thateverybody that you talk to
understands the importance ofthat.
You have just done.
So many amazing things sincebeing certified.
It's been so wonderful to watchyou get to the top of that
mountain.
Like you talked about.
If somebody's listening to thisand they are not involved in

(08:08):
our training or at all withMoMMAs Voices, what advice would
you give to them?

Judith (08:13):
If you want to be an advocate, but you are afraid of
being judged, you feel like thepain is gonna be all so real,
just one day all it takes isjust one day to just get up and
say to yourself, this is gonnabe the day.
Because even though for eachtime I speak about it, It does

(08:36):
hurt.
You do feel the pain overagain, but through training,
you're taught not to dismissthose pains, but just to let
your voice overcome the painthat you're feeling.
That way when people rememberyou and remember what you went
through, they won't justremember the hurtful part of it.

(08:58):
They will get the lesson thatyou're trying to bring out.
They will get what you'retrying to say.
So if you want to be anadvocate and if you're scared
for any reason, if this issomething that you really wanna
do, you will get the courage oneday to just get up and say,
okay, this is a day that I'mgonna do it.
And each time you speak, justremember that it's a possibility

(09:19):
that you're saving lives,you're saving a mom's life,
you're saving a baby life.
You're saving a pain from ahusband, because we're not the
only one that goes through this.
Husbands go through it as well.
If the baby have siblings, yourolder kids also face it.
So just remember that eachperson that say something, we're

(09:42):
formulating a community andwe're making difference.
We're making a difference.
We're, spreading words andthere's no such thing as too
much information, I don'tbelieve so the more information
we get is the better it is forus to better ourself and also
the community.
That's

Bekah (10:00):
such great advice.
We just never know the impactthat our story might have on
saving somebody else's life.
So thank you so much for givingthat advice.
Judith, I just wanna thank youso much for our time here today.
I know that this is such aninspiring episode for our
listeners, and thank you to allof those of you that have tuned
in to this episode.