After enduring nine pregnancy losses before the birth of her son, Rachelle M. Dumas, a registered nurse and founder of A Light After Nine, turned her pain into purpose. In this powerful conversation, Rachelle and host Bree Jensen dive deep into maternal health, medical gaslighting, and the urgent need for patient advocacy, especially for Black women.
Rachelle shares how she transformed her personal experiences into a mission-driven nonprofit and a life-saving app that empowers patients to navigate the healthcare system with confidence. From political advocacy to emotional healing, this episode is a raw and hopeful reminder that storytelling and self-advocacy can change lives.
🎙️ "Nobody knows your body better than you. Your story is powerful—and it can save lives." — Rachelle M. Dumas
Website: alightafternine.org
Website: speakrxapp.com
Threads/IG: @alightafternine
TikTok: Rdumasrn
LinkedIn: Rachell Dumas, MSN, RN
Facebook: A Light After Nine
YouTube: A Light After Nine
Schedule a consultation with us: hello@thesocialimpact.co
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
Bree, welcome to the social impact podcast. My name
is Bree Jensen, and I will beyour host today. I'm joined by
Rachelle M Dumas, a registerednurse, nonprofit founder and
health innovator whose story isrooted in resilience and
purpose. After experiencing ninepregnancy losses before the
birth of her son, Rachellefounded a light after nine, a
(00:22):
nonprofit supporting familiesthrough grief healing and
advocacy. She also created speakRX, a life saving app that
empowers patients to navigatehealth care with confidence,
blending her medical expertiseand her powerful personal
journey, Rachelle has hastransformed pain into purpose
and building tools to ensurethat no one faces loss or health
(00:45):
challenges without support. Thisis a meaningful conversation, so
let's get to it. Rachelle, thankyou so much for coming on the
podcast and sharing yourincredibly important story. I
think people like you, I'm kindof giving the story away, but
people like you, advocating forothers is what makes such a huge
(01:09):
difference in the world, becausesharing your story is not easy,
but if you don't, then morepeople have to go through what
you've gone through. I just wantto say thank you for being on
and I we usually just kind ofstart from the beginning, but I
want to hear first, maybe westart from the end with you, and
then we can go backwards. Willyou share a little bit about
(01:31):
where you are today and whatinitiatives you're working on,
and then we can kind of gothrough what brought you to this
point?
Absolutely. I love the socialimpact. I have been following
you all for quite a while now,and I am working on a host of
things. So advocacy is thebiggest, the just the biggest
(01:54):
reason why for me, advocacy,patient advocacy, especially
moms, maternal health. Advocacy,political advocacy I've spoken
on Capitol Hill like advocacy isjust my realm. I'm a registered
nurse. I actually just startedmy doctorate. Yeah? So, yay. I
love torture. That's huge.
I know that's such a hugeaccomplishment. Even to just
(02:17):
take the steps towards it issuch a big deal.
Yeah, yeah. I'm really excitedabout it. And I have a nonprofit
called light after nine, wherewe are helping my arms help
themselves by teaching them howto advocate. We are hosting free
events for them, where we getour political figures in Georgia
involved to help them evenbecome maternal health advocates
(02:39):
after they've been there, donethat like myself, gone through
these horrible maternal healthjourneys. We are fighting a
really good fight with thematernal health crisis, which is
just a handful to be dealingwith. It really takes community.
I'm also working on a healthtech app just to help others
with advocacy. So we have a lotgoing
(03:00):
on, a lot going on, and you havea sweet two year old,
and I have a sweet two year old,and at the end and beginning and
middle of every day, I am a momof a two year Yes,
two is, I have to tell you, Ihave four kids. Two is my
favorite age. They're just socute. I mean, it's a lot of
work, right? It's a lot of work,but they're just so cute. You
(03:25):
know,little very adventurous too.
Yes, if you don't want toexercise, don't have a two year
old, right? Because you'rerunning,
you're right, right? Built inexercise. So it sounds like a
lot of really great things, butyour journey to get here has
been a challenge, even to get tothe place where you have a two
year old.
(03:50):
So I heard you say advocacy,teaching others to advocate. So
we're kind of come back to that.
But what spurred you as such anadvocate, like, what? Why?
What's your why? Somaternal health wise, I was
literally catapulted intomaternal health. I was a
critical care nurse prior to mypregnancy journey, so I can save
your life like the back of myhand. But when it came to
(04:14):
maternal health, I was justlike, Okay, another basics, you
know, I'm doing some classes,you know, the Lamaze classes,
and you know all the littleclasses you do just to get more
well versed on a journey anddoing my research. But there's
nothing that could have preparedme for my journey. I had an
unsurmountable amount of loss. Ilost nine babies within four
(04:38):
years, wow. And some of themwere super traumatic. There was
a loss. I had twins. I waspregnant with twins in 2020, and
I 10 out of 10, pain. I wasbleeding, I was I was just sick,
and I kept going to the doctor.
Kept going to the ER, and theykept. To me home, saying,
(05:00):
everything's fine, and I lostthe first baby at 13 weeks and
three days, and then all mysymptoms left again. They're
saying, I'm fine. At leastyou'll have one baby. You'll be
fine. At 15 weeks and threedays, I went to the bathroom and
the baby fell out. Oh my gosh.
There was a pregnancy where Imade it to 20 weeks so long as I
had been pregnant and a doctorput in what's called a certage
(05:22):
to hold my cervix togetherbecause I had what's called
cervical insufficiency. I'm anurse. I had no idea what
cervical insufficiency was. Ididn't know what a cerclage was.
I didn't know what areproductive endocrinologist or
a maternal fetal medicine thiswas, yeah, a different language
to me, right? And I'm navigatingthese things and learning and
(05:42):
asking questions, and she put inshe did surgery to put this in
so I could keep my cervix closedbecause the babies would just
fall out. And I'm begging her tosee me before seven weeks from
the time she put that in there,and she just refused, wow, come
to my appointment at 20 weeks.
(06:03):
She's like, Oh, you're psycho.
Ash failed, and you need to goand give birth, and the baby is
kicking healthy, you know? And Iended up finding Texas to try
and save the baby. So justenormous amount of grief and
loss and education and researchin the midst of grief and loss
that I experienced, which led meto the point of creating the
(06:25):
light after nine, and then whatled me to the point of creating
this app to help others was itjust never stopped. It wasn't
just maternal health. I just hadbrain surgery like a few weeks
ago, what my second one in threemonths, and I had to fight for
that brain surgery after nearlygoing blind, 10 out of 10
(06:48):
headaches, you know, I'm fallingdown the stairs like I'm
vomiting. I'm sick. I'm tryingto finish my master's degree.
I'm starting my doctorate. Anddoctors are like saying, Oh, you
just have a GI bug or, Oh,nothing's wrong with you. But I
am a neuro ICU nurse too, like Istudied at a Comprehensive
(07:09):
Stroke Center in Atlanta calledGrady, and I know my stuff,
right? And I'm saying, No, weneed to do an MRI CT being over.
I'm like, I'm speaking thelanguage with you now. Now I
have to become a nurse. I can'tget a patient right. And I
finally got my first surgery Ineeded at the advocating for
myself while being sick, whilesometimes not even being able to
see. And I got a second one, youknow? And again, I'm telling
(07:32):
you, like when you're in thisspace, if you're not somebody
who is well versed in thatspecialty of nursing and
healthcare. You cannot advocatefor yourself. So I'm like other
people will are literally dyingbecause of the lack of ability
to advocate and speak thelanguage. Wow. And that is
(07:53):
always going to be my driver.
Wow.
I mean, that's amazing. I'm justso sorry for everything that
you've been through. What? Whatdo you think are a few of the
things, I'm sure there's alaundry list, but what? What do
you think a few of the thingsthat you noticed that you know
(08:16):
continued to happen, where youwere dismissed or like, what did
you notice in the processthat I kept getting, and this is
so frustrating when I open mymouth, people know that I'm
educated and I know what I'mtalking about. And I kept
getting, Oh, wow. Like, are youlike, in healthcare? Like, you
(08:38):
really know your stuff, whichwas shock, yes, but I'm trying
to be a patient because I'msick, but now you're forcing me
to be a nurse and a patientadvocate, and then after that
initial shock is, oh, well,you're going to be fine. So they
they're not even believing me,and they're gaslighting me. So
(08:58):
medical gaslighting is so real.
It's so real. There's also thisthing where for black women and
black people, and studies havebeen done, is that there are
healthcare providers that don'tbelieve black people feel the
pain that they say, that we saywe feel. They really don't
believe that we feel pain. Sowhat happens is delayed
(09:20):
treatment and delayed diagnosis,and then delay your treatment,
or sometimes death and extremecases. So there's just just so
much you're right, it's alaundry list. There's racism in
medicine. There's burnout withclinicians. Like being on the
other side, you're justliterally burned out because
there is no staff, so you can'tcheck on your patients as often.
(09:43):
You have to be in and out theroom quickly, you know, things
like that, so you miss things,and the patient suffers. So both
sides of that spectrum, it isjust Whoo. It's just a lot going
on and patients are suffering.
Yeah,absolutely. Absolutely I've
experienced medical gaslighting.
(10:04):
I have a chronic disease andit's been decades, and then I
have to take breaks from goingto doctors because I'm so
emotionally spent, and I getanxiety when I have to go to the
doctor, and then I can'tcommunicate clearly because I'm
so stressed, and they're lookingat me like, you can't even share
what you're feeling, and so Iunderstand a small percentage of
(10:27):
what you're saying, and I and Ialso recognize that it's a
million times worse for peopleof color. And so if I'm
experiencing that as a whitewoman, I like, 10 million times
over. I just like, can'timagine, so I'm curious. Like,
talk to the worst. Don't saytheir name, but talk to like,
(10:47):
your worst experience, you know,and tell them what you really
want to say, but just don't usethe cutting. I am not, you know.
No, no, just kidding. But youknow, tell them what they not
what you really want to say, butwhat, what they need to know.
You know, like, what? What doyou want to say? What? On behalf
of people that experience, whatyou experience?
(11:09):
I really love this question. I'mtrying not to get emotional,
because nobody has ever asked meto do that, other than my
therapist that I have to seebecause I have PTSD from this
experience. Yeah, but if I cantell the lady who casually, very
casually, told me, I just godeliver my healthy baby boy at
20 weeks and refuse to see mebefore then listen to your other
(11:32):
patients. Take heed to whatthey're saying. Be open to their
their advocacy, their selfadvocacy, measures that they're
trying to take to protectthemselves. Realize and
understand that patients areexpert in what they're feeling.
(11:53):
We come into you because you'reexpert in your field and your
care, but nobody's more of anexpert about what they're
feeling, what's going on intheir body more than that
patient, and believe thatpatient when they're telling you
something is wrong. And thenfinally, I just want to say that
your language matters out of mywhole pregnancy experience, and
(12:17):
I had 12 health care providersdoing my pregnancy experience,
12 your language stuck with memore than anything, and I can
never forget how unaffected youwere by telling me to go and
deliver A healthy baby born,that's so painful. Thank you for
(12:40):
sharing that. Listen to yourpatients. They know what's going
on inside of their bodies andand you know, hopefully it's,
it's so much easier said thandone. Like, I just want to leave
your biases at the door, like,wherever you know, it's like, so
wild to me, because we try, Ithink, for at least for me,
(13:01):
like, you want to be able totrust your doctor, and they're
still humans, right? And so thefact that we have to, I mean,
advocate for ourselves and ourkids and, like, it's exhausting,
because you're right. You said,you said it so well when you
said, I just want to be apatient like, I'm sick, I'm not
okay. I need to be able to trustmy doctor. So sadly, we're at a
(13:25):
place in healthcare that you dohave to teach advocacy. And so
that's, you know, you're kind ofdoing twofold. You're spreading
the message to medicalprofessionals from a medical
professional, by the way, you'rethe expert, right? So absolutely
like your voice should be heard,medical professional to medical
(13:48):
professional. So thank you. Justkeep saying it. You know,
whether you feel like you'rebeating a drum, just keep saying
it or not, but also you'respeaking to people and how to
also advocate, because we'restill in a place where,
unfortunately, that's the case.
So where do you start with that?
And tell us a little more aboutabout your work?
(14:10):
Yeah, absolutely. So there's afew places where we start. We're
talking about teaching advocacy,as far as being a recipient of
someone's advocacy, so being ahealthcare provider and
understanding and deliveringculturally competent and
culturally humble care likeyou're humble enough to say, You
know what, I'm not, well versedabout your culture, and what
(14:33):
does diagnosis may mean for youguys, and what our interaction
may mean for you and things likethat. So being humble enough to
be a student of that. So I loveto teach healthcare providers,
but specifically students.
Students are, like, bright eyedbushy tailed they haven't really
touched the patient yet. And toget them and say, This is the
climate right now, and this ishow you could change. And
(14:55):
remember your language matters,and this is how you can. To
patients. And when you saypatient complaints versus
patient reports, why that makesa difference? You know, things
point out, things like that.
They're absorbing it. They'regetting Yes, yeah. And at the
end of the day, they may notremember my name, but they're
going to remember my full storyof not pregnancy losses. It is
(15:19):
crazy, absolutely. And then weteach our patients and their
village. Because the last thingyou want to do as a patient
who's sick and gone blind, youknow, like myself a few like a
month ago, yeah, or goingthrough pregnancy loss and your
eighth loss, sixth loss, fifthloss after one loss, the last
thing you want to do is verballyfight your healthcare provider
(15:42):
for the care that you know youneed and deserve. So not just
the patient that we're teaching,it's also their village,
whomever they choose that to be.
Because if I'm the patient andI'm going through trauma, I'm
not going to be able to advocatefor myself, right, right? So I
need somebody else here to knowwhat my needs are and be able to
express that when I can. So wedo a lot of training for the
(16:06):
group, their village and thepatient. And then there's
political advocacy, the big,beautiful bill that is causing
closure of over 300 ruralhospitals that mean, and we
already have a healthcare desertissue, a maternal health desert
(16:27):
issue. We have a healthcaredesert issue, right? That's
going to make it so much worse.
People in rural areas, sometimesthey already have to travel two
or three hours for health. Ifyou're a patient like myself,
when you're pregnant, who ishigh risk, two hours is too
long, right now, like four orfive, yeah, and God forbid you
(16:53):
need to see a specialist whoknows how far that is, right? So
I advocate. I'm a political,maternal health advocate. To
like, I'm not afraid to talk tomy senators and representatives.
And they're open, you know,they're very open, and they're
fighting a good fight, too, herein Georgia. So it's, it's so
(17:17):
many falsets of advocacy. Sothat's why we, we also, at the
end of the day, once you've madeit over that healthcare hurdle
of advocacy, and you're like,Well, I don't want nobody else
like myself. I don't want nobodyelse to go through this. Here we
go with political advocacy. Comejoin us in Capitol Hill, at the
Georgia State Capitol. Let'swrite our our representatives.
(17:38):
Let's, let's fight that othergood fight, because at the end
of the day, it starts at the toptoo. I can't advocate in a
healthcare setting for myself ifthere is no healthcare setting
to advocate, right? Absolutely.
And so I think that's soincredible that you're hitting
all areas, right? Because it's aholistic approach. And the
(18:04):
legislation that's like, ifpeople don't, don't understand
the impact that that has, and soit absolutely matters to keep
educated and aware of what'sgoing on, because people may
think, Well, no, I've had thesame doctor 20 years. We love
them. It's been great, and thentheir Auntie has an issue and
(18:24):
has a crisis, and then all of asudden they they are like, Oh, I
get it right. So for kind oflike the different groups, so I
feel like there's more peoplethan even talk about more people
out there that even talk abouthaving challenges with their
health care providers, like,whether they just feel gas lit
or, you know, just trusted themand then they got sicker. So for
(18:46):
that group that has felt likethey needed to advocate for
themselves but didn't know howwhat's your like? Three minute
workshop, what's the top pointthat you want to tell them
absolutely so for and I'mactually hosting a workshop with
our representative, Dr JasmineClark, hopefully our rep
(19:08):
Williams and some reps from allsoft and Reverend Warnock's
office will join us as well. Butwe have a gender, and I'm so
excited about this, I can't eventalk. I'm so excited about this
because we go over that, right?
We go over scripts, becausesometimes you just don't know
how to start that conversation,right? You just don't know. It's
like, your doc, you went in fora headache, and your doctor is
(19:30):
like, go get an MRI. You got theMRI. And then the doctor was
like, You need brain surgery.
What would you say after?
Yeah, then what? Yeah, right,they would
so like say you want a secondopinion. We tell you how to
start that conversation, how tonavigate that conversation, what
specialists you may need, how toask for specialists. What does
(19:51):
that look like? Why will adoctor do this? Why? What is a
red flag for healthcareprovider? How to identify a red
flag and when? To say you needto switch doctors, not a second
opinion, you need to leave thisis a red flag. We go over that.
We go over how their language,and from a mental health
(20:11):
standpoint, how their languageis impacting you, how this whole
process of being a patient andhaving to be an advocate, being
forced to be an advocate, ismentally impacting you, because
we don't talk about that enough,right? Like when you're sick,
like you say you had a chronicillness, so do i right when
you're sick and you haveexacerbation of symptoms, you
(20:35):
have to now, now you know youhave anxiety around going back
to the hospital, talking to yourdoctors, because that experience
may have not been the best. Youmay have gotten gas late. So
you're like, here I go, and haveto fight with them, and I
already feel sick. Why do I haveto do this? You know, it almost
make you not want to receivecare and just deal with right
(20:56):
home, right until and then itgets really bad, right? Right to
go to. Er, yep. So we talk aboutthe mental health implications.
We actually have a psychologiston our board who have them talk
and debrief and groundthemselves and have those open
conversations. Yeah. We talkabout storytelling. I tell my
story to make otherscomfortable. Usually, after I
(21:17):
say my story, people were like,Oh, I could tell my story. Yeah.
You know. We talk about howstorytelling is a catalyst for
change, and why you should tellyour story when you're able to
also for advocacy. We talk aboutdischarge once you leave the
hospital and something happens.
How can you advocate foryourself when you're not even in
(21:37):
the healthcare space? So it's alot that we go through in that
program. We are very thorough.
We ask all our moms and theirvillage their questions, and we
try to make them as comfortableas possible. But above all, even
if you are knowledgeable aboutyour chronic issues, which you
become an expert at some pointon whatever it is, right?
(22:00):
Sometimes you just needempowerment, yeah, sometimes you
just feel kind of scared of yourhealthcare team. Yeah, feel
guilty. We all a lot of times wehave to address people not want
to advocate because they feelthey have a fear of retaliation.
And we address laws and rightsand eggs surrounding it amazing.
(22:23):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Goingback to maternal health
specifically, because we're kindof talking about health care in
general. Maternal health, likeyou mentioned, the data shows
that black and brown women don'texperience the same kind of
health care in through theirpregnancies and things like
(22:43):
that. What more can you shareabout that? And how can someone
find a doctor that they cantrust in the beginning, when
they're you know the you're soexcited you just found out
you're pregnant, and you startto be like, Okay, first step is
find a doctor. Like, how do younavigate that so that you can
potentially find someone thatyou know is going to hear you
and walk through this pregnancywith you.
(23:05):
Yeah. So we actually have ourevent coming up in October
called your birth, your choice.
Wow. So the stats around it isblack women are three to four
times more likely to die frompregnancy related complications,
I mean, than our whitecounterparts, we're dying of
them, you know. So when it comesto selecting a doctor, again,
(23:26):
empowerment plays a big role init. We want our patients, our
moms, their village, to knowthat this is your healthcare
journey. You are the leader ofthis you can choose who is a
part of this journey. You don'thave to say, okay, to everything
that the healthcare provider istelling you. You know, a lot of
(23:47):
times when you're in a hospitalor in a healthcare setting, they
say, Oh, we're gonna make areferral to endocrinologist
here. I already have somebodyfor you, which is their
accounting part, right? Right?
They're in that hospital system,right? You don't have to go with
that doctor. But for somereason, patients feel like, oh,
that's who I got to see. That'swho he's, right, right? So we,
(24:09):
we do a lot of myth busting,like that myth, yeah, you know,
we do a lot of that. We'reteaching them how to do hospital
tours, what to look for on thehospital tours. What are red
flags at a hospital? You know,what type of NICU, what level of
NICU they have? Because thatmatters. How critical of care
(24:30):
can they do they offer? Like,how critical can a baby be where
they can take care of them? AreThey're level four or level one?
We're asking them to reallythink about their birthing plan.
Do you even want to give birthin the hospital like you don't
have to do that. You could go toa birthing center. You can do
it. Sometimes you're too highrisk to do those things, but if
(24:53):
that is your desire, we can helpyou navigate to that and you can
help yourself by picking theright provider. Writers who are
also on board with doing thosethings. So a lot of empowerment,
a lot of education and a lot ofhand holding when
needed, right? That's fantastic.
So speaking of you know, youshare your story, it makes other
(25:14):
people want to share theirs.
I've never shared my birth storypublicly with my youngest. So
she at the 20 week appointment,we went in with we brought all
of our kids. We have threeolders. We brought them in to
find out if we were having a boyor girl, you know. And so we
thought it was going to be thisreally exciting time, but
(25:35):
instead, the woman that wasdoing the scan, she said, Are
you meeting with the doctorright after this, which I had
already had kids before that,and I'd never been asked that
before. And I said no, and so atthat point I knew something was
going on, and they said, Okay,we'll call you and in, within 24
(25:55):
hours, I didn't even meet withmy doctor, who had already had
for 20 weeks of my pregnancy.
They had transferred me to ahigh risk hospital 45 minutes
away from my house, and I livein Southern California like they
couldn't, you know, I shouldhave had access. I can't imagine
people that are living in morerural areas. And I had small
children at home, I ended uphaving a high risk pregnancy. My
(26:18):
my baby had a pleural effusion,and they were having me go 45
minutes to the big hospital indowntown San Diego twice a week
for monitoring, and I would seethree or four different doctors.
I never saw the same person. Ijust felt carried away by the
system. My original doctor said,No, I don't I can't really say
(26:38):
anything, because I don'tspecialize in high risk
pregnancies. So she wouldn'teven meet with me. And every
time I met with a doctor, theyasked me if I wanted to abort my
baby, and I didn't still evenunderstand, really, what was
going on. You know, they saidshe may not make it full term,
but she may do you want toabort, but there wasn't really,
like, a clear diagnosis oranything like that. So closer to
(27:00):
the pregnancy, about 20 or tothe full term, about 28 weeks,
they said, We believe she hasDown syndrome. Do you want to
abort? I said, No, absolutelynot. You know, we'll have a
beautiful baby with Downsyndrome. And then miraculously,
at 30 weeks, the pleuraleffusion dissolved. It just went
(27:21):
away, and we ended up having ahealthy baby at full term. But
the experience was so chaotic,so confusing, and I felt like I
didn't have a voice. I didn'tknow who to ask, real questions.
I felt like I just had to keeplike, advocating for my baby's
life and and again, that's as awhite woman. And so the
(27:43):
experiences that others areexperiencing, you know, are 10
million times worse. Andfortunately, she, you know, was
healthy and I was able to carryher full to term. But I guess I
just want to say like, thank youfor doing these workshops and
this education, because I, likeyou just mentioned, people give
referrals, and you think, Okay,I just have to go to that
(28:06):
person. Or you just feel soconfused that you don't even
have the mental capacity to lookanywhere else or do like I'm
just thinking, I gotta save mybaby.
So based on kind of like thatexperience and how you give more
resources, how do you find yourresources and how do you get
(28:28):
them out to people all over thecountry that maybe can't attend
your in person? Workshops like,how are you getting the word
out?
Yeah, first of all, I'll not saythank you for being vulnerable
enough to share your story thatis hard, that is so hard, and I
could only imagine mentally whatthat did to you when you're
(28:50):
pregnant. And you know how itis, like, we're not even all
there.
You're just trying to sleep atnight, right?
Like, biologically, like,theology, like, oh my Arctic.
It's rough like to go through atrauma like that. That was
traumatic. Thank you for sharingyour story like I'm sure this
(29:12):
podcast is going to touch livesjust from hearing people, just
from people hearing you bevulnerable and share that,
because I am, like I saidearlier, true believer that
storytelling, like sharing yourstory, is going to be a catalyst
for a change. So thank you somuch.
(29:33):
Yeah, thank you for saying that.
But we also offer virtual,virtual webinars, because yeah,
it's like, not easy to to fighta Georgia for an hour. Yeah, so
it's online. I also oureducational webinars on our
Youtube as well. There was onewe just did with like lawyers.
(29:55):
She went over workplace rightsand a corporate doula and. You
went over what to do if you'relosing Medicaid and different
insurance benefits, things youmay not know. Doulas like how to
afford them. You know, souseful, yes, so useful
information. I'm like, writingthings down as if I'm a possibly
ever get pregnant? Yeah,nervous, but the moms that were
(30:17):
helping and caring for like,they need this information. Yes,
they really need it. So it'salways virtual, and then if you
can't make it, you can visit ourwebsite and just go and look at
the videos as well, becausethey're very helpful and they're
free, and that's every eventthat we do. It comes with a
(30:37):
workbook, a virtual workbookthat's fillable. And you know,
you may get some informationoverload because it's a lot of
info, but it's in that workbooktoo, so you could just take it
away as well.
Amazing, and you're so rightabout the power of storytelling,
and especially in women'shealth, like across the board, I
(30:59):
think we need to be just whenwe're hanging out with our
friends over a glass of wine,sharing about perimenopause,
sharing about our last doctors,you know, like and it's kind of
funny because I have a friend,we have reached that age where
we do start our conversations onLike our last surgery and our
(31:21):
what medications we're taking.
And I'm like, I'm like, No, itcan't come to this. Because I
feel like that's what you hearfrom, like my aunts and uncles,
my parents, like, the firstphone call is like, Oh, I
started a new medication. Like,yeah. Like, it can't come to
that. So we do that part of itof just kind of the complaining
side of it. Like, oh, my kneeshurt and my head hurt. But
(31:43):
talking, you know, like thatside, yes, but we don't
necessarily, like, maybe I'llspeak for myself. Like, I don't
necessarily am always talkingabout, like, hey, it's real that
you are having hot flashes at 39like, is some people have
perimenopause early, and like,get tested and like, just those
(32:03):
conversations. I think we justall need to kind of support each
other as women and normalize thestorytelling and all that good
stuff. Because I don't eventhink like, recommending doctors
is really like a thing in myfriend's circle, and that would
be and that also creates anelement of, like, we're on our
own, but we probably all havedoctors that we have gone to and
(32:25):
maybe can recommend. As I'm liketalking, I'm thinking of
that you're right. We should,though, because it's just like,
sometimes it's rough out herewhen you're like, wilderness of
a new issue, especially becausewe're we are getting older, and,
you know, we need doctors andspecialists, and sometimes it's
(32:46):
really hard to find qualityproviders. Yeah, so if you find
somebody that you really clickwith and they're listening to
you and they will leave you andthey're running that extra test
when another doctor told you,like just to go home and rest,
that is something that needs tobe shared. So, right, right?
100% 100% people come to me andask me if I have any referrals,
(33:10):
and I'm like, look and I couldfind documents. Yeah, after nine
providers, that was a big thingfor me, because I couldn't
always take the time I missedbeing sick throughout pregnancy
and advocating to, like, reallyvet providers. Yes, we offer
that service too, because it'svery important. It's very
(33:30):
important, absolutely, to findsomebody you can trust.
Okay, so I want to, we have afew more minutes left. I'm
thinking of the career side ofwhat you do. And a lot of
nonprofit founders are, youknow, they've gone through an
(33:51):
experience, they see the need,and then they create a nonprofit
or organization to meet thatneed, which is, it sounds like
that's similar to your story. Sowhat would you say on just like
the practical journey, ifsomebody has encountered or
experienced something that theysee a gap for, and they want to
create an organization tofulfill that gap, what would you
(34:13):
say to them? What's like thefirst few steps, maybe like a
learning that you've had?
Yeah, so with my new venture,it's just been coming up a lot,
but definitely one go for it. Alot of us entrepreneurs, we
second guess ourselves a lot, alot, but you really have to just
(34:34):
go for it. It's a reason thatwas put in your heart. It's a
reason that you went throughthat. And I just don't believe
that I went through notpregnancy loss only to just have
my baby. People have babies allthe time. It had to be a bigger,
greater reason for all of this.
You know, it had to be acatalyst for me to do something
big. And trust that on yourentrepreneur. New journey, trust
(34:59):
that you're in the right place,doing the right thing, and then,
from a business standpoint,standpoint, do some market
research, see what's out therealready. Because there there are
people in maternal health. Thereare a lot of maternal health
organizations doing amazingwork. Sometimes it could be
something that you just join,but if you have an innovation,
that's where you know you reallywant to try and bring something
(35:22):
new and something that couldreally save people's lives. So
if that's the thing that you'regoing after a new innovation,
make sure you're legallyprotected. Like, get it patent,
get the trademark. People willsteal things. Like people steal
great things. They're not gonnasell fresh. They will, yeah, you
(35:43):
know, protect yourself legallyand put your all in it. Really
put your all in it. There'ssometimes I can't sleep because
I'm so excited about what I'mdoing. Yeah, I probably
shouldn't sleep, considering Ihad two brain surgeries and
three months. But, yeah, you'rejust so excited. You just can't,
(36:04):
you know, yeah, you just can't.
And it's a beautiful thing. Butjust definitely, just go for
trusting yourself on an impostersyndrome. Get you just know that
you were here and that was putin your heart for a reason, and
protect yourself and also movewith community, like it takes a
village to raise a child, tohold up a mom, but also to grow
(36:28):
a business. You can't do it byyourself, not for long anyway,
and it won't go far,right, right? How do you build
up a village when maybe youdon't have family that you're
close with, I think about this alot, which both my parents
passed away, and so I wentthrough and my in laws were in a
different state, so I wentthrough my last pregnancy kind
(36:48):
of alone, and it was reallytough. And we were newer to the
area, you know? And, yeah, itwas tough. So how do you you
really like a village can be,like, two people too, right? You
just people that, like, haveyour back. What's your
suggestion on building a villageif you don't have it built in
already?
(37:09):
It's just funny, because that'smy story too. Like, I don't have
any family in Atlanta, like myfamily here, or my friends, you
know, and those dynamics changewhen you have a baby. So, like,
there's a lot of isolation thatyou feel sometimes when you are
the first to navigatemotherhood. And so it's just
funny, we have a event coming upnext to my call after birth.
(37:30):
Where is my village? And it's tohelp moms and her and whoever,
if they do have a village,navigate conversations, navigate
building villages, if you don'thave a village, or navigate
motherhood and fatherhoodwithout a village and using all
these resources. So if you dohave a village, sometimes you
(37:53):
know relationships change, likeI said, when you become a mom or
a parent, yeah, and sometimes asimple conversation will fix
this issue, right? Like,sometimes when you have friends
and they don't have kids, theyjust don't get it, they just
don't get it. So you have tobring awareness, make schedules.
(38:13):
Like, instead of just having aregular baby shower where you're
playing games and things, havenesting parties as well.
Celebrate with the baby child.
But also have a nesting party.
Have people come over and say,you need help, washing clothes,
putting things together, makingmeals. Also have like a sheet
where they can set up andthey're going to do laundry for
you when a baby comes here andwash the dishes and clean the
(38:36):
house and do all these tours, soyou can be with your baby and
take care of your baby, or giveyou a break with the baby. Yeah,
try to plan ahead as much aspossible before a baby gets
here, so your village knowswhat's going on. You know what's
going on. You feel supported,and you don't feel that
isolation that you probably feltonce you had a baby. If you
(39:00):
don't have a village and it'sjust you and your partner or
just you. There are otherresources, like doulas. There
are postpartum doulas who aregreat. I wish I had a doula. I
wish I had a doula. Yeah, Iprobably wouldn't have had not
pregnancy losses, but doulas canhelp you with those postpartum
(39:20):
like home, of keep chores andthings like that, and taking
care of baby and giving you abreak and helping you learn the
breastfeed if you choose that,or helping you learn the feed
and getting you back on yourfeet like you have that support.
There are also respite carecompanies who can come in and do
those things as well, becauseit's hard, it's really hard. So
(39:42):
there are resources that we'regiving our moms and dads who
don't have a village, and thenwe're helping them from a mental
health standpoint, and just likea post program empowerment
standpoint, regarding how tohave those conversations and
navigate a village and get theminvolved.
Yeah, amazing. Amazing. Itsounds like you're meeting all
(40:03):
the all the things that there'sa huge gap, like when you went
back, when we go back to theconversation about recognizing
the needs, you're definitelygoing in there, recognizing the
needs, and then yourorganization is meeting them. So
I'm really thankful for all ofyour
work. We always try to hear it,right, right, yeah.
You don't want it to be in vain,your experience and absolutely
(40:27):
amazing, yeah? Well, thank youfor all that you're doing. I
really appreciate it. Just Ithink it's incredible.
So we have some rapid firequestions that we ask all of our
guests, just to see how they aredifferent or similar. So just
(40:50):
kind of whatever comes to mind,but the first one's a big one,
but what? What motivates you?
What drives you for socialchange? What's your why, which
we talked about,definitely preventing anybody
from going through what I wentthrough is my biggest why. Yeah,
anybody? Yeah, having theseissues is my biggest why.
And you're incredible person touse your story for power. So
(41:14):
thank you for that. Really somuch. Yeah, it's, it's kind of
like those, I call them the makeit or break it, moments when you
go through these extreme lifeexperiences. There's no in
between. It either makes you whoyou are or it breaks you like
there's no just kind of movingon through life after something
like that, like as is. So thankyou for letting it make you and
(41:38):
support other people. So thankyou for that. What's your well
being? Tips? Obviously, you haveto have a lot of resiliency to
go through what you've beenthrough and then continue to
help other people. So how do youstay well for yourself?
Well, physically, I cannotanswer that
(41:59):
question. Word can get bitright?
Yeah, you're gonna startsleeping, hopefully,
that you have to keep working atbalance, yes, a journey, that
it's not even when you get tothe destination, it doesn't stay
there, like, it's inevitablygonna change. So like, you have
(42:19):
to, like, word towards balancefor the rest of your life, and
then also, like, just reallycoming to terms with how things
especially traumatic, thingslike a pregnancy journey or
neurological illness or whateverwe're going through, is
impacting our mental Health. Istarted that counseling after
(42:41):
that 20 week loss, and I've hadcounseling every week. I go
every Thursday at 11am so reallybeing honest with yourself about
how you're feeling and yeah, andwhat your needs are and how
they're impacting you and yourwork and your children, right?
(43:05):
And your relationships. Youknow, if you're like me, you
become very withdrawn whentrauma happens, like I would
become a hermit crab veryquickly. And I'm a very
extroverted person, so when I gointo that space, I'm like, oh, I
need, I need help, yeah? Andthat could be even medicine, or
it could be a retreat, orwhatever it is, but really
(43:26):
address the mental healthimplications of loss and trauma
and all these things we'redealing with. Those are my two
biggest like, well beingtips. Yeah, those are great,
absolutely awareness and thenbeing okay with not being okay
and whatever, I love that youmentioned even medication, like
whatever it is to help you, likeI was talking to someone
(43:48):
recently about theirconversation with their medical
provider, and they said, youknow, you had the courage to go
on medication. You took the steplike you should be proud of
yourself. You knew you neededthat, and you when, and that's
just just like a mindset shift,like, Yeah, you did that. You
got the help you needed throughthat resource, if that's the
(44:09):
need, yeah. Okay, great. So thelast one is, how can I, or those
that are listening, make animpact in their own world. So we
have people that are impactprofessionals. We have people
that want to start something, tomake a difference, and we have
people that just want to, youknow, I say just, but it's not
(44:30):
just right, but want to make animpact on their neighborhood or
in their community. What wouldyou say?
There's so many ways. One I willalways go back to telling your
story that could lead to themost powerful impact that you
can think of is telling yourstory to investing. There are a
(44:53):
lot of booths from aroundorganizations who are doing
amazing work. So whatever yourpassion. About whether it's
maternal health or advocacy ordementia or it doesn't even have
to be healthcare. It could belike sustainability,
environmental sustainability, orwhatever it is. You can donate
to those organizations. See whatthey're doing first, and see if
(45:14):
that's something that you reallywant to get behind and donate
volunteer with thoseorganizations. I promise you, if
you reach out to volunteer,nobody is gonna be like, No,
I don't think so. Like,everybody needs help for sure.
Yes,nobody's going to deny this at
all, but show up to eventssupport those people you know,
(45:36):
talk to your policy makers, yourlegislators, make sure they are
aware and they listen to you.
Make sure, maybe not all, butexperience in Georgia like
That's great. That's yourexperience.
I'm taking that back. Yeah, thethe four that communicate with
(46:00):
more often they do listen andthey're on the same page, and I
realize 100% that is not alwaysthe case at all. And then on
like a family level, healthcarewise, show up with your people
to their appointments, help themout, check in with your people,
because sometimes they needadvocacy. Yeah, you don't have
(46:21):
to go with an organization. Youit could be right in your home
where you should have just wentto a doctor with your wife and
showed up with her, like youhave a pregnant wife. You take a
class, you become a doula.
There's dad's to do the classesand programs now, like you be to
educate the person educated soyou could speak the language
when she gets there. Becausechildbirth, I promise you, is
(46:43):
one of the hardest things thatyou can ever do in your life. We
need you. So,yeah, there's so many ways.
Yeah, amazing. I love all thatadvice. What do you want to
leave us with? Like, what is thethe one thing that we didn't get
to that you want to make sureeverybody knows
(47:06):
we talked about so much. Do wantto say, like, transparently,
like, this is really hard, youknow, entrepreneurship, while
dealing with illness and being amom and pursuing my doctorate
degree, this is not easy, right?
I am very much a human being. Soif you probably thinking I'm
tired, I probably, you know, butwhen it comes to
entrepreneurship, that's why youhave to really do things that
(47:29):
you're really passionate about,yeah, because it would get you
through these times. It would,it would get you the times where
you're like, I really want togive up, like, forget the Yeah,
you know, yeah. So really pursuesomething that's a passion
because it's rough, it's notamazing.
(47:57):
Yeah, no, that's great advice.
And so real. And I think peoplehave to hear that because it is.
That's why we ask, what are yourwell being deserve? Because it's
like no joke, right? Like socialimpact is no joke, it's but we
do it because we care. So I justreally appreciate all your
insights. Where can people findyour resources? Find you stay up
on what you have coming up?
(48:19):
Yeah? So you can go to thewebsite. We're at a light after
9n, i n, e.org, we're also onFacebook and Instagram and
threads at a light after nine.
You can follow me on Tick, tock.
It's R D, U, M, A, S R n, andI'm on LinkedIn, if you want to
connect professionally atRachelle Dumas, MSN, RN,
(48:42):
hopefully, DNP, soon. So we'reon all channels except for
Twitter. And I love to connect,I love to network, and I would
love to see you at any of ourevents, even if it doesn't
pertain to you. And you know ofsomebody going through the
pregnancy journey, you can be abig help by taking our classes,
and they're free.
(49:03):
Amazing, amazing. Thank you somuch for that resource, and I'm
impressed that you're on Tiktoklike, are you doing the Tiktok
dances toeducate them on Tiktok away from
the internet?
I mean, a little dance here andthere isn't, you know, gonna
hurt anybody. That'd be kind offun. But anyways,
(49:25):
entrepreneur in the 90s, wherenone of this exists like
this is something that thatwould be a funny
Tiktok. Entrepreneurship in the90s, what does that look like?
You know, that would be a funTiktok, yeah, yeah. Well, thank
you so much for thisconversation and for all of your
(49:46):
work. And we'll we'll keep intouch. Yes, thanks for having
me.
Thank you for joining the socialimpact podcast. We hope that
this conversation was helpful inyour impact work, and if you
have a project that you'reworking. Working on, we do
communications, communityrelations, project management
and a lot of other things, andwe'd love to see if we can work
(50:09):
with you. So please feel free toreach out to Hello at the
socialimpact.co don't forget tosubscribe on wherever you are
listening to this podcast andnot miss an episode, and we hope
to see you next time. Thanksagain. Bye.
Bree, welcome to the social impact podcast. My name
is Bree Jensen, and I will beyour host today. I'm joined by
Rachelle M Dumas, a registerednurse, nonprofit founder and
health innovator whose story isrooted in resilience and
purpose. After experiencing ninepregnancy losses before the
birth of her son, Rachellefounded a light after nine, a
(00:22):
nonprofit supporting familiesthrough grief healing and
advocacy. She also created speakRX, a life saving app that
empowers patients to navigatehealth care with confidence,
blending her medical expertiseand her powerful personal
journey, Rachelle has hastransformed pain into purpose
and building tools to ensurethat no one faces loss or health
(00:45):
challenges without support. Thisis a meaningful conversation, so
let's get to it. Rachelle, thankyou so much for coming on the
podcast and sharing yourincredibly important story. I
think people like you, I'm kindof giving the story away, but
people like you, advocating forothers is what makes such a huge
(01:09):
difference in the world, becausesharing your story is not easy,
but if you don't, then morepeople have to go through what
you've gone through. I just wantto say thank you for being on
and I we usually just kind ofstart from the beginning, but I
want to hear first, maybe westart from the end with you, and
then we can go backwards. Willyou share a little bit about
(01:31):
where you are today and whatinitiatives you're working on,
and then we can kind of gothrough what brought you to this
point?
Absolutely. I love the socialimpact. I have been following
you all for quite a while now,and I am working on a host of
things. So advocacy is thebiggest, the just the biggest
(01:54):
reason why for me, advocacy,patient advocacy, especially
moms, maternal health. Advocacy,political advocacy I've spoken
on Capitol Hill like advocacy isjust my realm. I'm a registered
nurse. I actually just startedmy doctorate. Yeah? So, yay. I
love torture. That's huge.
I know that's such a hugeaccomplishment. Even to just
(02:17):
take the steps towards it issuch a big deal.
Yeah, yeah. I'm really excitedabout it. And I have a nonprofit
called light after nine, wherewe are helping my arms help
themselves by teaching them howto advocate. We are hosting free
events for them, where we getour political figures in Georgia
involved to help them evenbecome maternal health advocates
(02:39):
after they've been there, donethat like myself, gone through
these horrible maternal healthjourneys. We are fighting a
really good fight with thematernal health crisis, which is
just a handful to be dealingwith. It really takes community.
I'm also working on a healthtech app just to help others
with advocacy. So we have a lotgoing
(03:00):
on, a lot going on, and you havea sweet two year old,
and I have a sweet two year old,and at the end and beginning and
middle of every day, I am a momof a two year Yes,
two is, I have to tell you, Ihave four kids. Two is my
favorite age. They're just socute. I mean, it's a lot of
work, right? It's a lot of work,but they're just so cute. You
(03:25):
know,little very adventurous too.
Yes, if you don't want toexercise, don't have a two year
old, right? Because you'rerunning,
you're right, right? Built inexercise. So it sounds like a
lot of really great things, butyour journey to get here has
been a challenge, even to get tothe place where you have a two
year old.
(03:50):
So I heard you say advocacy,teaching others to advocate. So
we're kind of come back to that.
But what spurred you as such anadvocate, like, what? Why?
What's your why? Somaternal health wise, I was
literally catapulted intomaternal health. I was a
critical care nurse prior to mypregnancy journey, so I can save
your life like the back of myhand. But when it came to
(04:14):
maternal health, I was justlike, Okay, another basics, you
know, I'm doing some classes,you know, the Lamaze classes,
and you know all the littleclasses you do just to get more
well versed on a journey anddoing my research. But there's
nothing that could have preparedme for my journey. I had an
unsurmountable amount of loss. Ilost nine babies within four
(04:38):
years, wow. And some of themwere super traumatic. There was
a loss. I had twins. I waspregnant with twins in 2020, and
I 10 out of 10, pain. I wasbleeding, I was I was just sick,
and I kept going to the doctor.
Kept going to the ER, and theykept. To me home, saying,
(05:00):
everything's fine, and I lostthe first baby at 13 weeks and
three days, and then all mysymptoms left again. They're
saying, I'm fine. At leastyou'll have one baby. You'll be
fine. At 15 weeks and threedays, I went to the bathroom and
the baby fell out. Oh my gosh.
There was a pregnancy where Imade it to 20 weeks so long as I
had been pregnant and a doctorput in what's called a certage
(05:22):
to hold my cervix togetherbecause I had what's called
cervical insufficiency. I'm anurse. I had no idea what
cervical insufficiency was. Ididn't know what a cerclage was.
I didn't know what areproductive endocrinologist or
a maternal fetal medicine thiswas, yeah, a different language
to me, right? And I'm navigatingthese things and learning and
(05:42):
asking questions, and she put inshe did surgery to put this in
so I could keep my cervix closedbecause the babies would just
fall out. And I'm begging her tosee me before seven weeks from
the time she put that in there,and she just refused, wow, come
to my appointment at 20 weeks.
(06:03):
She's like, Oh, you're psycho.
Ash failed, and you need to goand give birth, and the baby is
kicking healthy, you know? And Iended up finding Texas to try
and save the baby. So justenormous amount of grief and
loss and education and researchin the midst of grief and loss
that I experienced, which led meto the point of creating the
(06:25):
light after nine, and then whatled me to the point of creating
this app to help others was itjust never stopped. It wasn't
just maternal health. I just hadbrain surgery like a few weeks
ago, what my second one in threemonths, and I had to fight for
that brain surgery after nearlygoing blind, 10 out of 10
(06:48):
headaches, you know, I'm fallingdown the stairs like I'm
vomiting. I'm sick. I'm tryingto finish my master's degree.
I'm starting my doctorate. Anddoctors are like saying, Oh, you
just have a GI bug or, Oh,nothing's wrong with you. But I
am a neuro ICU nurse too, like Istudied at a Comprehensive
(07:09):
Stroke Center in Atlanta calledGrady, and I know my stuff,
right? And I'm saying, No, weneed to do an MRI CT being over.
I'm like, I'm speaking thelanguage with you now. Now I
have to become a nurse. I can'tget a patient right. And I
finally got my first surgery Ineeded at the advocating for
myself while being sick, whilesometimes not even being able to
see. And I got a second one, youknow? And again, I'm telling
(07:32):
you, like when you're in thisspace, if you're not somebody
who is well versed in thatspecialty of nursing and
healthcare. You cannot advocatefor yourself. So I'm like other
people will are literally dyingbecause of the lack of ability
to advocate and speak thelanguage. Wow. And that is
(07:53):
always going to be my driver.
Wow.
I mean, that's amazing. I'm justso sorry for everything that
you've been through. What? Whatdo you think are a few of the
things, I'm sure there's alaundry list, but what? What do
you think a few of the thingsthat you noticed that you know
(08:16):
continued to happen, where youwere dismissed or like, what did
you notice in the processthat I kept getting, and this is
so frustrating when I open mymouth, people know that I'm
educated and I know what I'mtalking about. And I kept
getting, Oh, wow. Like, are youlike, in healthcare? Like, you
(08:38):
really know your stuff, whichwas shock, yes, but I'm trying
to be a patient because I'msick, but now you're forcing me
to be a nurse and a patientadvocate, and then after that
initial shock is, oh, well,you're going to be fine. So they
they're not even believing me,and they're gaslighting me. So
(08:58):
medical gaslighting is so real.
It's so real. There's also thisthing where for black women and
black people, and studies havebeen done, is that there are
healthcare providers that don'tbelieve black people feel the
pain that they say, that we saywe feel. They really don't
believe that we feel pain. Sowhat happens is delayed
(09:20):
treatment and delayed diagnosis,and then delay your treatment,
or sometimes death and extremecases. So there's just just so
much you're right, it's alaundry list. There's racism in
medicine. There's burnout withclinicians. Like being on the
other side, you're justliterally burned out because
there is no staff, so you can'tcheck on your patients as often.
(09:43):
You have to be in and out theroom quickly, you know, things
like that, so you miss things,and the patient suffers. So both
sides of that spectrum, it isjust Whoo. It's just a lot going
on and patients are suffering.
Yeah,absolutely. Absolutely I've
experienced medical gaslighting.
(10:04):
I have a chronic disease andit's been decades, and then I
have to take breaks from goingto doctors because I'm so
emotionally spent, and I getanxiety when I have to go to the
doctor, and then I can'tcommunicate clearly because I'm
so stressed, and they're lookingat me like, you can't even share
what you're feeling, and so Iunderstand a small percentage of
(10:27):
what you're saying, and I and Ialso recognize that it's a
million times worse for peopleof color. And so if I'm
experiencing that as a whitewoman, I like, 10 million times
over. I just like, can'timagine, so I'm curious. Like,
talk to the worst. Don't saytheir name, but talk to like,
(10:47):
your worst experience, you know,and tell them what you really
want to say, but just don't usethe cutting. I am not, you know.
No, no, just kidding. But youknow, tell them what they not
what you really want to say, butwhat, what they need to know.
You know, like, what? What doyou want to say? What? On behalf
of people that experience, whatyou experience?
(11:09):
I really love this question. I'mtrying not to get emotional,
because nobody has ever asked meto do that, other than my
therapist that I have to seebecause I have PTSD from this
experience. Yeah, but if I cantell the lady who casually, very
casually, told me, I just godeliver my healthy baby boy at
20 weeks and refuse to see mebefore then listen to your other
(11:32):
patients. Take heed to whatthey're saying. Be open to their
their advocacy, their selfadvocacy, measures that they're
trying to take to protectthemselves. Realize and
understand that patients areexpert in what they're feeling.
(11:53):
We come into you because you'reexpert in your field and your
care, but nobody's more of anexpert about what they're
feeling, what's going on intheir body more than that
patient, and believe thatpatient when they're telling you
something is wrong. And thenfinally, I just want to say that
your language matters out of mywhole pregnancy experience, and
(12:17):
I had 12 health care providersdoing my pregnancy experience,
12 your language stuck with memore than anything, and I can
never forget how unaffected youwere by telling me to go and
deliver A healthy baby born,that's so painful. Thank you for
(12:40):
sharing that. Listen to yourpatients. They know what's going
on inside of their bodies andand you know, hopefully it's,
it's so much easier said thandone. Like, I just want to leave
your biases at the door, like,wherever you know, it's like, so
wild to me, because we try, Ithink, for at least for me,
(13:01):
like, you want to be able totrust your doctor, and they're
still humans, right? And so thefact that we have to, I mean,
advocate for ourselves and ourkids and, like, it's exhausting,
because you're right. You said,you said it so well when you
said, I just want to be apatient like, I'm sick, I'm not
okay. I need to be able to trustmy doctor. So sadly, we're at a
(13:25):
place in healthcare that you dohave to teach advocacy. And so
that's, you know, you're kind ofdoing twofold. You're spreading
the message to medicalprofessionals from a medical
professional, by the way, you'rethe expert, right? So absolutely
like your voice should be heard,medical professional to medical
(13:48):
professional. So thank you. Justkeep saying it. You know,
whether you feel like you'rebeating a drum, just keep saying
it or not, but also you'respeaking to people and how to
also advocate, because we'restill in a place where,
unfortunately, that's the case.
So where do you start with that?
And tell us a little more aboutabout your work?
(14:10):
Yeah, absolutely. So there's afew places where we start. We're
talking about teaching advocacy,as far as being a recipient of
someone's advocacy, so being ahealthcare provider and
understanding and deliveringculturally competent and
culturally humble care likeyou're humble enough to say, You
know what, I'm not, well versedabout your culture, and what
(14:33):
does diagnosis may mean for youguys, and what our interaction
may mean for you and things likethat. So being humble enough to
be a student of that. So I loveto teach healthcare providers,
but specifically students.
Students are, like, bright eyedbushy tailed they haven't really
touched the patient yet. And toget them and say, This is the
climate right now, and this ishow you could change. And
(14:55):
remember your language matters,and this is how you can. To
patients. And when you saypatient complaints versus
patient reports, why that makesa difference? You know, things
point out, things like that.
They're absorbing it. They'regetting Yes, yeah. And at the
end of the day, they may notremember my name, but they're
going to remember my full storyof not pregnancy losses. It is
(15:19):
crazy, absolutely. And then weteach our patients and their
village. Because the last thingyou want to do as a patient
who's sick and gone blind, youknow, like myself a few like a
month ago, yeah, or goingthrough pregnancy loss and your
eighth loss, sixth loss, fifthloss after one loss, the last
thing you want to do is verballyfight your healthcare provider
(15:42):
for the care that you know youneed and deserve. So not just
the patient that we're teaching,it's also their village,
whomever they choose that to be.
Because if I'm the patient andI'm going through trauma, I'm
not going to be able to advocatefor myself, right, right? So I
need somebody else here to knowwhat my needs are and be able to
express that when I can. So wedo a lot of training for the
(16:06):
group, their village and thepatient. And then there's
political advocacy, the big,beautiful bill that is causing
closure of over 300 ruralhospitals that mean, and we
already have a healthcare desertissue, a maternal health desert
(16:27):
issue. We have a healthcaredesert issue, right? That's
going to make it so much worse.
People in rural areas, sometimesthey already have to travel two
or three hours for health. Ifyou're a patient like myself,
when you're pregnant, who ishigh risk, two hours is too
long, right now, like four orfive, yeah, and God forbid you
(16:53):
need to see a specialist whoknows how far that is, right? So
I advocate. I'm a political,maternal health advocate. To
like, I'm not afraid to talk tomy senators and representatives.
And they're open, you know,they're very open, and they're
fighting a good fight, too, herein Georgia. So it's, it's so
(17:17):
many falsets of advocacy. Sothat's why we, we also, at the
end of the day, once you've madeit over that healthcare hurdle
of advocacy, and you're like,Well, I don't want nobody else
like myself. I don't want nobodyelse to go through this. Here we
go with political advocacy. Comejoin us in Capitol Hill, at the
Georgia State Capitol. Let'swrite our our representatives.
(17:38):
Let's, let's fight that othergood fight, because at the end
of the day, it starts at the toptoo. I can't advocate in a
healthcare setting for myself ifthere is no healthcare setting
to advocate, right? Absolutely.
And so I think that's soincredible that you're hitting
all areas, right? Because it's aholistic approach. And the
(18:04):
legislation that's like, ifpeople don't, don't understand
the impact that that has, and soit absolutely matters to keep
educated and aware of what'sgoing on, because people may
think, Well, no, I've had thesame doctor 20 years. We love
them. It's been great, and thentheir Auntie has an issue and
(18:24):
has a crisis, and then all of asudden they they are like, Oh, I
get it right. So for kind oflike the different groups, so I
feel like there's more peoplethan even talk about more people
out there that even talk abouthaving challenges with their
health care providers, like,whether they just feel gas lit
or, you know, just trusted themand then they got sicker. So for
(18:46):
that group that has felt likethey needed to advocate for
themselves but didn't know howwhat's your like? Three minute
workshop, what's the top pointthat you want to tell them
absolutely so for and I'mactually hosting a workshop with
our representative, Dr JasmineClark, hopefully our rep
(19:08):
Williams and some reps from allsoft and Reverend Warnock's
office will join us as well. Butwe have a gender, and I'm so
excited about this, I can't eventalk. I'm so excited about this
because we go over that, right?
We go over scripts, becausesometimes you just don't know
how to start that conversation,right? You just don't know. It's
like, your doc, you went in fora headache, and your doctor is
(19:30):
like, go get an MRI. You got theMRI. And then the doctor was
like, You need brain surgery.
What would you say after?
Yeah, then what? Yeah, right,they would
so like say you want a secondopinion. We tell you how to
start that conversation, how tonavigate that conversation, what
specialists you may need, how toask for specialists. What does
(19:51):
that look like? Why will adoctor do this? Why? What is a
red flag for healthcareprovider? How to identify a red
flag and when? To say you needto switch doctors, not a second
opinion, you need to leave thisis a red flag. We go over that.
We go over how their language,and from a mental health
(20:11):
standpoint, how their languageis impacting you, how this whole
process of being a patient andhaving to be an advocate, being
forced to be an advocate, ismentally impacting you, because
we don't talk about that enough,right? Like when you're sick,
like you say you had a chronicillness, so do i right when
you're sick and you haveexacerbation of symptoms, you
(20:35):
have to now, now you know youhave anxiety around going back
to the hospital, talking to yourdoctors, because that experience
may have not been the best. Youmay have gotten gas late. So
you're like, here I go, and haveto fight with them, and I
already feel sick. Why do I haveto do this? You know, it almost
make you not want to receivecare and just deal with right
(20:56):
home, right until and then itgets really bad, right? Right to
go to. Er, yep. So we talk aboutthe mental health implications.
We actually have a psychologiston our board who have them talk
and debrief and groundthemselves and have those open
conversations. Yeah. We talkabout storytelling. I tell my
story to make otherscomfortable. Usually, after I
(21:17):
say my story, people were like,Oh, I could tell my story. Yeah.
You know. We talk about howstorytelling is a catalyst for
change, and why you should tellyour story when you're able to
also for advocacy. We talk aboutdischarge once you leave the
hospital and something happens.
How can you advocate foryourself when you're not even in
(21:37):
the healthcare space? So it's alot that we go through in that
program. We are very thorough.
We ask all our moms and theirvillage their questions, and we
try to make them as comfortableas possible. But above all, even
if you are knowledgeable aboutyour chronic issues, which you
become an expert at some pointon whatever it is, right?
(22:00):
Sometimes you just needempowerment, yeah, sometimes you
just feel kind of scared of yourhealthcare team. Yeah, feel
guilty. We all a lot of times wehave to address people not want
to advocate because they feelthey have a fear of retaliation.
And we address laws and rightsand eggs surrounding it amazing.
(22:23):
Yeah, that's fantastic. Goingback to maternal health
specifically, because we're kindof talking about health care in
general. Maternal health, likeyou mentioned, the data shows
that black and brown women don'texperience the same kind of
health care in through theirpregnancies and things like
(22:43):
that. What more can you shareabout that? And how can someone
find a doctor that they cantrust in the beginning, when
they're you know the you're soexcited you just found out
you're pregnant, and you startto be like, Okay, first step is
find a doctor. Like, how do younavigate that so that you can
potentially find someone thatyou know is going to hear you
and walk through this pregnancywith you.
(23:05):
Yeah. So we actually have ourevent coming up in October
called your birth, your choice.
Wow. So the stats around it isblack women are three to four
times more likely to die frompregnancy related complications,
I mean, than our whitecounterparts, we're dying of
them, you know. So when it comesto selecting a doctor, again,
(23:26):
empowerment plays a big role init. We want our patients, our
moms, their village, to knowthat this is your healthcare
journey. You are the leader ofthis you can choose who is a
part of this journey. You don'thave to say, okay, to everything
that the healthcare provider istelling you. You know, a lot of
(23:47):
times when you're in a hospitalor in a healthcare setting, they
say, Oh, we're gonna make areferral to endocrinologist
here. I already have somebodyfor you, which is their
accounting part, right? Right?
They're in that hospital system,right? You don't have to go with
that doctor. But for somereason, patients feel like, oh,
that's who I got to see. That'swho he's, right, right? So we,
(24:09):
we do a lot of myth busting,like that myth, yeah, you know,
we do a lot of that. We'reteaching them how to do hospital
tours, what to look for on thehospital tours. What are red
flags at a hospital? You know,what type of NICU, what level of
NICU they have? Because thatmatters. How critical of care
(24:30):
can they do they offer? Like,how critical can a baby be where
they can take care of them? AreThey're level four or level one?
We're asking them to reallythink about their birthing plan.
Do you even want to give birthin the hospital like you don't
have to do that. You could go toa birthing center. You can do
it. Sometimes you're too highrisk to do those things, but if
(24:53):
that is your desire, we can helpyou navigate to that and you can
help yourself by picking theright provider. Writers who are
also on board with doing thosethings. So a lot of empowerment,
a lot of education and a lot ofhand holding when
needed, right? That's fantastic.
So speaking of you know, youshare your story, it makes other
(25:14):
people want to share theirs.
I've never shared my birth storypublicly with my youngest. So
she at the 20 week appointment,we went in with we brought all
of our kids. We have threeolders. We brought them in to
find out if we were having a boyor girl, you know. And so we
thought it was going to be thisreally exciting time, but
(25:35):
instead, the woman that wasdoing the scan, she said, Are
you meeting with the doctorright after this, which I had
already had kids before that,and I'd never been asked that
before. And I said no, and so atthat point I knew something was
going on, and they said, Okay,we'll call you and in, within 24
(25:55):
hours, I didn't even meet withmy doctor, who had already had
for 20 weeks of my pregnancy.
They had transferred me to ahigh risk hospital 45 minutes
away from my house, and I livein Southern California like they
couldn't, you know, I shouldhave had access. I can't imagine
people that are living in morerural areas. And I had small
children at home, I ended uphaving a high risk pregnancy. My
(26:18):
my baby had a pleural effusion,and they were having me go 45
minutes to the big hospital indowntown San Diego twice a week
for monitoring, and I would seethree or four different doctors.
I never saw the same person. Ijust felt carried away by the
system. My original doctor said,No, I don't I can't really say
(26:38):
anything, because I don'tspecialize in high risk
pregnancies. So she wouldn'teven meet with me. And every
time I met with a doctor, theyasked me if I wanted to abort my
baby, and I didn't still evenunderstand, really, what was
going on. You know, they saidshe may not make it full term,
but she may do you want toabort, but there wasn't really,
like, a clear diagnosis oranything like that. So closer to
(27:00):
the pregnancy, about 20 or tothe full term, about 28 weeks,
they said, We believe she hasDown syndrome. Do you want to
abort? I said, No, absolutelynot. You know, we'll have a
beautiful baby with Downsyndrome. And then miraculously,
at 30 weeks, the pleuraleffusion dissolved. It just went
(27:21):
away, and we ended up having ahealthy baby at full term. But
the experience was so chaotic,so confusing, and I felt like I
didn't have a voice. I didn'tknow who to ask, real questions.
I felt like I just had to keeplike, advocating for my baby's
life and and again, that's as awhite woman. And so the
(27:43):
experiences that others areexperiencing, you know, are 10
million times worse. Andfortunately, she, you know, was
healthy and I was able to carryher full to term. But I guess I
just want to say like, thank youfor doing these workshops and
this education, because I, likeyou just mentioned, people give
referrals, and you think, Okay,I just have to go to that
(28:06):
person. Or you just feel soconfused that you don't even
have the mental capacity to lookanywhere else or do like I'm
just thinking, I gotta save mybaby.
So based on kind of like thatexperience and how you give more
resources, how do you find yourresources and how do you get
(28:28):
them out to people all over thecountry that maybe can't attend
your in person? Workshops like,how are you getting the word
out?
Yeah, first of all, I'll not saythank you for being vulnerable
enough to share your story thatis hard, that is so hard, and I
could only imagine mentally whatthat did to you when you're
(28:50):
pregnant. And you know how itis, like, we're not even all
there.
You're just trying to sleep atnight, right?
Like, biologically, like,theology, like, oh my Arctic.
It's rough like to go through atrauma like that. That was
traumatic. Thank you for sharingyour story like I'm sure this
(29:12):
podcast is going to touch livesjust from hearing people, just
from people hearing you bevulnerable and share that,
because I am, like I saidearlier, true believer that
storytelling, like sharing yourstory, is going to be a catalyst
for a change. So thank you somuch.
(29:33):
Yeah, thank you for saying that.
But we also offer virtual,virtual webinars, because yeah,
it's like, not easy to to fighta Georgia for an hour. Yeah, so
it's online. I also oureducational webinars on our
Youtube as well. There was onewe just did with like lawyers.
(29:55):
She went over workplace rightsand a corporate doula and. You
went over what to do if you'relosing Medicaid and different
insurance benefits, things youmay not know. Doulas like how to
afford them. You know, souseful, yes, so useful
information. I'm like, writingthings down as if I'm a possibly
ever get pregnant? Yeah,nervous, but the moms that were
(30:17):
helping and caring for like,they need this information. Yes,
they really need it. So it'salways virtual, and then if you
can't make it, you can visit ourwebsite and just go and look at
the videos as well, becausethey're very helpful and they're
free, and that's every eventthat we do. It comes with a
(30:37):
workbook, a virtual workbookthat's fillable. And you know,
you may get some informationoverload because it's a lot of
info, but it's in that workbooktoo, so you could just take it
away as well.
Amazing, and you're so rightabout the power of storytelling,
and especially in women'shealth, like across the board, I
(30:59):
think we need to be just whenwe're hanging out with our
friends over a glass of wine,sharing about perimenopause,
sharing about our last doctors,you know, like and it's kind of
funny because I have a friend,we have reached that age where
we do start our conversations onLike our last surgery and our
(31:21):
what medications we're taking.
And I'm like, I'm like, No, itcan't come to this. Because I
feel like that's what you hearfrom, like my aunts and uncles,
my parents, like, the firstphone call is like, Oh, I
started a new medication. Like,yeah. Like, it can't come to
that. So we do that part of itof just kind of the complaining
side of it. Like, oh, my kneeshurt and my head hurt. But
(31:43):
talking, you know, like thatside, yes, but we don't
necessarily, like, maybe I'llspeak for myself. Like, I don't
necessarily am always talkingabout, like, hey, it's real that
you are having hot flashes at 39like, is some people have
perimenopause early, and like,get tested and like, just those
(32:03):
conversations. I think we justall need to kind of support each
other as women and normalize thestorytelling and all that good
stuff. Because I don't eventhink like, recommending doctors
is really like a thing in myfriend's circle, and that would
be and that also creates anelement of, like, we're on our
own, but we probably all havedoctors that we have gone to and
(32:25):
maybe can recommend. As I'm liketalking, I'm thinking of
that you're right. We should,though, because it's just like,
sometimes it's rough out herewhen you're like, wilderness of
a new issue, especially becausewe're we are getting older, and,
you know, we need doctors andspecialists, and sometimes it's
(32:46):
really hard to find qualityproviders. Yeah, so if you find
somebody that you really clickwith and they're listening to
you and they will leave you andthey're running that extra test
when another doctor told you,like just to go home and rest,
that is something that needs tobe shared. So, right, right?
100% 100% people come to me andask me if I have any referrals,
(33:10):
and I'm like, look and I couldfind documents. Yeah, after nine
providers, that was a big thingfor me, because I couldn't
always take the time I missedbeing sick throughout pregnancy
and advocating to, like, reallyvet providers. Yes, we offer
that service too, because it'svery important. It's very
(33:30):
important, absolutely, to findsomebody you can trust.
Okay, so I want to, we have afew more minutes left. I'm
thinking of the career side ofwhat you do. And a lot of
nonprofit founders are, youknow, they've gone through an
(33:51):
experience, they see the need,and then they create a nonprofit
or organization to meet thatneed, which is, it sounds like
that's similar to your story. Sowhat would you say on just like
the practical journey, ifsomebody has encountered or
experienced something that theysee a gap for, and they want to
create an organization tofulfill that gap, what would you
(34:13):
say to them? What's like thefirst few steps, maybe like a
learning that you've had?
Yeah, so with my new venture,it's just been coming up a lot,
but definitely one go for it. Alot of us entrepreneurs, we
second guess ourselves a lot, alot, but you really have to just
(34:34):
go for it. It's a reason thatwas put in your heart. It's a
reason that you went throughthat. And I just don't believe
that I went through notpregnancy loss only to just have
my baby. People have babies allthe time. It had to be a bigger,
greater reason for all of this.
You know, it had to be acatalyst for me to do something
big. And trust that on yourentrepreneur. New journey, trust
(34:59):
that you're in the right place,doing the right thing, and then,
from a business standpoint,standpoint, do some market
research, see what's out therealready. Because there there are
people in maternal health. Thereare a lot of maternal health
organizations doing amazingwork. Sometimes it could be
something that you just join,but if you have an innovation,
that's where you know you reallywant to try and bring something
(35:22):
new and something that couldreally save people's lives. So
if that's the thing that you'regoing after a new innovation,
make sure you're legallyprotected. Like, get it patent,
get the trademark. People willsteal things. Like people steal
great things. They're not gonnasell fresh. They will, yeah, you
(35:43):
know, protect yourself legallyand put your all in it. Really
put your all in it. There'ssometimes I can't sleep because
I'm so excited about what I'mdoing. Yeah, I probably
shouldn't sleep, considering Ihad two brain surgeries and
three months. But, yeah, you'rejust so excited. You just can't,
(36:04):
you know, yeah, you just can't.
And it's a beautiful thing. Butjust definitely, just go for
trusting yourself on an impostersyndrome. Get you just know that
you were here and that was putin your heart for a reason, and
protect yourself and also movewith community, like it takes a
village to raise a child, tohold up a mom, but also to grow
(36:28):
a business. You can't do it byyourself, not for long anyway,
and it won't go far,right, right? How do you build
up a village when maybe youdon't have family that you're
close with, I think about this alot, which both my parents
passed away, and so I wentthrough and my in laws were in a
different state, so I wentthrough my last pregnancy kind
(36:48):
of alone, and it was reallytough. And we were newer to the
area, you know? And, yeah, itwas tough. So how do you you
really like a village can be,like, two people too, right? You
just people that, like, haveyour back. What's your
suggestion on building a villageif you don't have it built in
already?
(37:09):
It's just funny, because that'smy story too. Like, I don't have
any family in Atlanta, like myfamily here, or my friends, you
know, and those dynamics changewhen you have a baby. So, like,
there's a lot of isolation thatyou feel sometimes when you are
the first to navigatemotherhood. And so it's just
funny, we have a event coming upnext to my call after birth.
(37:30):
Where is my village? And it's tohelp moms and her and whoever,
if they do have a village,navigate conversations, navigate
building villages, if you don'thave a village, or navigate
motherhood and fatherhoodwithout a village and using all
these resources. So if you dohave a village, sometimes you
(37:53):
know relationships change, likeI said, when you become a mom or
a parent, yeah, and sometimes asimple conversation will fix
this issue, right? Like,sometimes when you have friends
and they don't have kids, theyjust don't get it, they just
don't get it. So you have tobring awareness, make schedules.
(38:13):
Like, instead of just having aregular baby shower where you're
playing games and things, havenesting parties as well.
Celebrate with the baby child.
But also have a nesting party.
Have people come over and say,you need help, washing clothes,
putting things together, makingmeals. Also have like a sheet
where they can set up andthey're going to do laundry for
you when a baby comes here andwash the dishes and clean the
(38:36):
house and do all these tours, soyou can be with your baby and
take care of your baby, or giveyou a break with the baby. Yeah,
try to plan ahead as much aspossible before a baby gets
here, so your village knowswhat's going on. You know what's
going on. You feel supported,and you don't feel that
isolation that you probably feltonce you had a baby. If you
(39:00):
don't have a village and it'sjust you and your partner or
just you. There are otherresources, like doulas. There
are postpartum doulas who aregreat. I wish I had a doula. I
wish I had a doula. Yeah, Iprobably wouldn't have had not
pregnancy losses, but doulas canhelp you with those postpartum
(39:20):
like home, of keep chores andthings like that, and taking
care of baby and giving you abreak and helping you learn the
breastfeed if you choose that,or helping you learn the feed
and getting you back on yourfeet like you have that support.
There are also respite carecompanies who can come in and do
those things as well, becauseit's hard, it's really hard. So
(39:42):
there are resources that we'regiving our moms and dads who
don't have a village, and thenwe're helping them from a mental
health standpoint, and just likea post program empowerment
standpoint, regarding how tohave those conversations and
navigate a village and get theminvolved.
Yeah, amazing. Amazing. Itsounds like you're meeting all
(40:03):
the all the things that there'sa huge gap, like when you went
back, when we go back to theconversation about recognizing
the needs, you're definitelygoing in there, recognizing the
needs, and then yourorganization is meeting them. So
I'm really thankful for all ofyour
work. We always try to hear it,right, right, yeah.
You don't want it to be in vain,your experience and absolutely
(40:27):
amazing, yeah? Well, thank youfor all that you're doing. I
really appreciate it. Just Ithink it's incredible.
So we have some rapid firequestions that we ask all of our
guests, just to see how they aredifferent or similar. So just
(40:50):
kind of whatever comes to mind,but the first one's a big one,
but what? What motivates you?
What drives you for socialchange? What's your why, which
we talked about,definitely preventing anybody
from going through what I wentthrough is my biggest why. Yeah,
anybody? Yeah, having theseissues is my biggest why.
And you're incredible person touse your story for power. So
(41:14):
thank you for that. Really somuch. Yeah, it's, it's kind of
like those, I call them the makeit or break it, moments when you
go through these extreme lifeexperiences. There's no in
between. It either makes you whoyou are or it breaks you like
there's no just kind of movingon through life after something
like that, like as is. So thankyou for letting it make you and
(41:38):
support other people. So thankyou for that. What's your well
being? Tips? Obviously, you haveto have a lot of resiliency to
go through what you've beenthrough and then continue to
help other people. So how do youstay well for yourself?
Well, physically, I cannotanswer that
(41:59):
question. Word can get bitright?
Yeah, you're gonna startsleeping, hopefully,
that you have to keep working atbalance, yes, a journey, that
it's not even when you get tothe destination, it doesn't stay
there, like, it's inevitablygonna change. So like, you have
(42:19):
to, like, word towards balancefor the rest of your life, and
then also, like, just reallycoming to terms with how things
especially traumatic, thingslike a pregnancy journey or
neurological illness or whateverwe're going through, is
impacting our mental Health. Istarted that counseling after
(42:41):
that 20 week loss, and I've hadcounseling every week. I go
every Thursday at 11am so reallybeing honest with yourself about
how you're feeling and yeah, andwhat your needs are and how
they're impacting you and yourwork and your children, right?
(43:05):
And your relationships. Youknow, if you're like me, you
become very withdrawn whentrauma happens, like I would
become a hermit crab veryquickly. And I'm a very
extroverted person, so when I gointo that space, I'm like, oh, I
need, I need help, yeah? Andthat could be even medicine, or
it could be a retreat, orwhatever it is, but really
(43:26):
address the mental healthimplications of loss and trauma
and all these things we'redealing with. Those are my two
biggest like, well beingtips. Yeah, those are great,
absolutely awareness and thenbeing okay with not being okay
and whatever, I love that youmentioned even medication, like
whatever it is to help you, likeI was talking to someone
(43:48):
recently about theirconversation with their medical
provider, and they said, youknow, you had the courage to go
on medication. You took the steplike you should be proud of
yourself. You knew you neededthat, and you when, and that's
just just like a mindset shift,like, Yeah, you did that. You
got the help you needed throughthat resource, if that's the
(44:09):
need, yeah. Okay, great. So thelast one is, how can I, or those
that are listening, make animpact in their own world. So we
have people that are impactprofessionals. We have people
that want to start something, tomake a difference, and we have
people that just want to, youknow, I say just, but it's not
(44:30):
just right, but want to make animpact on their neighborhood or
in their community. What wouldyou say?
There's so many ways. One I willalways go back to telling your
story that could lead to themost powerful impact that you
can think of is telling yourstory to investing. There are a
(44:53):
lot of booths from aroundorganizations who are doing
amazing work. So whatever yourpassion. About whether it's
maternal health or advocacy ordementia or it doesn't even have
to be healthcare. It could belike sustainability,
environmental sustainability, orwhatever it is. You can donate
to those organizations. See whatthey're doing first, and see if
(45:14):
that's something that you reallywant to get behind and donate
volunteer with thoseorganizations. I promise you, if
you reach out to volunteer,nobody is gonna be like, No,
I don't think so. Like,everybody needs help for sure.
Yes,nobody's going to deny this at
all, but show up to eventssupport those people you know,
(45:36):
talk to your policy makers, yourlegislators, make sure they are
aware and they listen to you.
Make sure, maybe not all, butexperience in Georgia like
That's great. That's yourexperience.
I'm taking that back. Yeah, thethe four that communicate with
(46:00):
more often they do listen andthey're on the same page, and I
realize 100% that is not alwaysthe case at all. And then on
like a family level, healthcarewise, show up with your people
to their appointments, help themout, check in with your people,
because sometimes they needadvocacy. Yeah, you don't have
(46:21):
to go with an organization. Youit could be right in your home
where you should have just wentto a doctor with your wife and
showed up with her, like youhave a pregnant wife. You take a
class, you become a doula.
There's dad's to do the classesand programs now, like you be to
educate the person educated soyou could speak the language
when she gets there. Becausechildbirth, I promise you, is
(46:43):
one of the hardest things thatyou can ever do in your life. We
need you. So,yeah, there's so many ways.
Yeah, amazing. I love all thatadvice. What do you want to
leave us with? Like, what is thethe one thing that we didn't get
to that you want to make sureeverybody knows
(47:06):
we talked about so much. Do wantto say, like, transparently,
like, this is really hard, youknow, entrepreneurship, while
dealing with illness and being amom and pursuing my doctorate
degree, this is not easy, right?
I am very much a human being. Soif you probably thinking I'm
tired, I probably, you know, butwhen it comes to
entrepreneurship, that's why youhave to really do things that
(47:29):
you're really passionate about,yeah, because it would get you
through these times. It would,it would get you the times where
you're like, I really want togive up, like, forget the Yeah,
you know, yeah. So really pursuesomething that's a passion
because it's rough, it's notamazing.
(47:57):
Yeah, no, that's great advice.
And so real. And I think peoplehave to hear that because it is.
That's why we ask, what are yourwell being deserve? Because it's
like no joke, right? Like socialimpact is no joke, it's but we
do it because we care. So I justreally appreciate all your
insights. Where can people findyour resources? Find you stay up
on what you have coming up?
(48:19):
Yeah? So you can go to thewebsite. We're at a light after
9n, i n, e.org, we're also onFacebook and Instagram and
threads at a light after nine.
You can follow me on Tick, tock.
It's R D, U, M, A, S R n, andI'm on LinkedIn, if you want to
connect professionally atRachelle Dumas, MSN, RN,
(48:42):
hopefully, DNP, soon. So we'reon all channels except for
Twitter. And I love to connect,I love to network, and I would
love to see you at any of ourevents, even if it doesn't
pertain to you. And you know ofsomebody going through the
pregnancy journey, you can be abig help by taking our classes,
and they're free.
(49:03):
Amazing, amazing. Thank you somuch for that resource, and I'm
impressed that you're on Tiktoklike, are you doing the Tiktok
dances toeducate them on Tiktok away from
the internet?
I mean, a little dance here andthere isn't, you know, gonna
hurt anybody. That'd be kind offun. But anyways,
(49:25):
entrepreneur in the 90s, wherenone of this exists like
this is something that thatwould be a funny
Tiktok. Entrepreneurship in the90s, what does that look like?
You know, that would be a funTiktok, yeah, yeah. Well, thank
you so much for thisconversation and for all of your
(49:46):
work. And we'll we'll keep intouch. Yes, thanks for having
me.
Thank you for joining the socialimpact podcast. We hope that
this conversation was helpful inyour impact work, and if you
have a project that you'reworking. Working on, we do
communications, communityrelations, project management
and a lot of other things, andwe'd love to see if we can work
(50:09):
with you. So please feel free toreach out to Hello at the
socialimpact.co don't forget tosubscribe on wherever you are
listening to this podcast andnot miss an episode, and we hope
to see you next time. Thanksagain. Bye.
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