April 20, 2025 • 42 mins
In this powerful and eye-opening episode, Amdalat Jinadu, CEO and Co-Founder of La Latch Limited and Natalli, shares her deeply personal journey from overcoming a post-labor spinal cord injury to revolutionizing perinatal care through deep-tech innovation and advocacy.Jinadu speaks candidly about the systemic neglect Black and BAME women face in healthcare, addressing the intersection of race, gender, and socioeconomic barriers that lead to disproportionate maternal health risks. She also discusses how technology can create lasting change in the healthcare system.
Listen as she dives into her groundbreaking work at La Latch Limited, her vision for an empathetic and inclusive healthcare future, and the urgent need for better care coordination and support systems to prevent traumatic medical outcomes.
Sign up for the La Latch newsletter at www.lalatch.com | https://www.lalatchclub.com/
Correction: Amdalat mentioned 1 in 4 black women are at risk of death during labour, however she corrected that statment and informed us that black women are 4 times more likely to die during labour in comparison to their white counterparts.
Listen as she dives into her groundbreaking work at La Latch Limited, her vision for an empathetic and inclusive healthcare future, and the urgent need for better care coordination and support systems to prevent traumatic medical outcomes.
Sign up for the La Latch newsletter at www.lalatch.com | https://www.lalatchclub.com/
Correction: Amdalat mentioned 1 in 4 black women are at risk of death during labour, however she corrected that statment and informed us that black women are 4 times more likely to die during labour in comparison to their white counterparts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Joseph Bonner Show. Where is The Joseph Bonner Show
is a unique show designed to provide comfort and support
to the international community.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's gonna make you feel bad.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Joseph Bonner is an experience mentor, life coach and certified
mental health first aid responder.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Like an amazing guy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Get ready to feel inspired, get ready to feel like
you can make a difference, and get ready to feel
The Joseph Bonner Show starts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Now, Hey, what's going on you guys? This is Joseph
Bonner and welcome back to The Joseph Bonner Show. As always,
we bring you inspiration from some of the most brightest
minds in the world. And today we are honored to
(00:46):
welcome the CEO and co founder of La Latch Limited,
which will soon the name will be changed to Natally,
but we want to and introduce the founder and CEO.
I'm the lot Welcome to the show. How are you
doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm fine? Thank you, thanksful having me here. Really excited.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, we're super excited to have you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Now we're California base, you know, California life, living in
the sun, but you're author in London, UK. How's the weather?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Today for you, it's getting there. We're getting all summer.
The sun's out.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
We had a bit of snow actually last month, so
oh wow.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, you know, we get we get a little snow
here in San Diego, but I typically stay away from
the mountains. So I'm like, put me over there by
the beach, you know what I mean. You you have
a really powerful personal journey about overcoming and helping to
(01:54):
re illusionize, you know, care for women, women of color,
and I want to talk a little bit about that.
So first of all, tell me a little bit about
your company, La Latch and how you guys do. Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So The Latch is a femtech startup and we're focused
on addressing early health disparities and disparities in maternity and
perinatal health and social care. The idea was inspired by
my own personal struggles with parenting. Unfortunately, during my labor,
I experienced a spinal injury which then led to post
(02:30):
labor paralysis and had to go through significant physiotherapy and
rehab and just relearning how to navigate my normal day
to day whilst raising two very small children. But throughout
that whole time, many different experiences within public health and
(02:51):
social care led me to realize and to understand how
much how much gaps need to be filled in the
system for families to opt to function optimally and just
to level out the playing field. And just through research,
I began to really realize how much support needs to
be in place. And also just through my own studies
(03:14):
with with tech, I just began to realize that there's
a really an opportunity here to to use technology to
support families and to really address some of the health
and social care disparities, especially those experienced by BAME women.
I feel like in the UK and in the US
there's a lot of racial disparities and then translate into
(03:37):
issues like not understanding certain simple things like pain tolerance,
for instance.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And it sounds scary too, like just hearing about your
initial experience, you know, coming into you know, already a
very difficult situation for women to go through, you know,
labor and giving birth, and then to have on top
of that to deal with a spinal cord injury and
(04:09):
and and losing fillings and limbs. It's it's that must
have been terrified. I guess my question is how were
you able to channel I mean, just the initial you
know feelings of despair from from the event and to
be able to, like, you know what, I can make
a difference.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I think, you know, I was fortunate that before I
had my spinal injury, I met a few people that
had disabilities, and I saw how they were still able
to live fulfilling lives. So I knew from my own
past experiences that you can still be happy and still
cope and adjust around the disability to still have a
(04:52):
good experience and to still have a fulfilling life. So
I think that for me made a big difference in
how I it SA and just to my own disability.
And I always just feel like, I think the way
I was raised in terms of spirituality, that that these
things are tests in life and that from that you
(05:14):
can derive positive experiences that can actually lead to something greater.
So I always saw things that happened, especially things are traumatic,
as they can lead to a greater purpose and can
actually I can derive a lot of meaning from that.
So I guess in that sense, I was fortunate to
(05:37):
have that perspective before this happened. So for me, when
I had the onset paralysis, I did I did accept
that you know, this might be my life. I might
might not have the full capacity to move around, I
might be paralyzed from the chest down, but I still
(06:00):
think that, you know, there are amazing people out there
that I've seen do amazing things that this might not
be it for me, And I was grateful that I
had that experience prior to having paralysis.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Absolutely well, thank you so much for sharing that. And
I have another question, and it relates to just what
you yourself have seen to be effective strategies. So mean,
what strategies have you found to be most effective in
challenging institutional negligence towards black and BA.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
And yes, I think it's difficult because when you're going
through systemic negligence, like I've seen a lot of poor
practice in public health as a patient, and you feel
very vulnerable in that situation. I think it's important, if
(07:00):
it's possible, a person should have a support network when
you're going to be in hospital for long treatments or
long courses of treatments. I think it's impossible. I think
it's not impossible. So I think it's important to have family,
to have friends, to have some sort of support system,
whether it's having an advocate. You need somebody to support you,
(07:22):
I think at that level of vulnerability. But I also
think also empowering yourself, so knowing what your rights are,
knowing what should happen, knowing who to refer issues on
internally if you're in a public health system and experiencing
that negligence, really educating yourself on your rights. And I
(07:45):
think AI is amazing. I use AI when advocating for
myself or my children, you know, helping to draft letters,
helping to find services that you may not be aware of.
It can be a really supportive tool to advocate for families.
And so I found that to be very useful. Now
(08:07):
that it's become such a common knowledge, it's been a
really I think it's a really important tool to help
families to.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Navigate I can't. I'm so glad that you mentioned that
because that was literally my next question. So I'm going
to have you elaborate. I love this because I feel
like we're on the same page when it comes to this.
So my next question, which you kind of already touched on,
was in what ways can emerging technologies such as AI, right,
(08:35):
even telemedicine or even you know, wearable health devices, how
can they be leveraged to kind of close the gaps
in maternal health care, particularly to prevent life altering injuries
like you know, post labor spinal core damage.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yes, so I think AI is for me. I'll go
through how I personally use it. So I guess I'm
very keen to use AI, especially chat GPT to support
with self advocacy, because I think once you're in the
social health, social and healthcare system, you're dependent on their services.
(09:11):
You really do need to make it clear to the
providers that you're aware of your rights, you know how
to support yourself, and you know where to go if
things go wrong. So for me, what I find I
find very useful is creating prompts for myself. So for instance,
let's say I want to request a service I can
(09:33):
You can simply write into chat GPT to just bullet
point the main points you want to put down. So
maybe you want to be referred to a physiotherapy service.
Maybe your doctor has said that that's not possible. You
could say I want to, for instance, if I want
to be referred to such and such service, you can
put that out as a bullet point. The other bullet
(09:54):
point can be please also provide me with information on
my legal rights to be a to be referred. And
then also you can put another prompt into the chat
EPT and you can also make a request to also
ask for the internal policies for that particular service. And
(10:15):
normally it can be helpful. It may not sometimes with
you as if you use deep SEC, it might be
a bit more helpful in accessing certain platforms. Sometimes with
some GPTs you might find that it can't access certain platforms,
so you'll need to have those documents printed from the
particular web page of that company or organization that you're using.
(10:38):
But what it can do is it can go through
that document and then provide the policies that are relevant
to your issue. And I think that that's really important
because it really does create strong advocacy and kind of
makes it clear to the service providers that okay, we
have to take this person seriously, because sometimes what happens,
(10:59):
I don't know if it's the same in the US,
but in the UK sometimes you can kind.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Of be.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Put on the back burner and they might prioritize somebody
else who they feel is more vulnerable or more or
they might feel it's a more pressing matter and I
think when it comes to being a black person, sometimes
we're kind of misconstrued as being strong and capable, sometimes
more than is fear and more far more then, and
(11:26):
it should never be that we're considered less vulnerable than
somebody with the same conditions as ourselves. But I think
there's a desensitization when it comes to black people in
vulnerable health situations. Unfortunately. I think as we get more
representation within public health and private health, that should change,
(11:46):
but I think there's systemic issues within public health that mean,
unfortunately that we're still not seeing those disparities addressed. Is
internal politics. I don't know how is in the US.
You can sometimes see as a patient toxic work dynamics
where there's a hierarchy of racial preference and you see
(12:08):
people of your same color not supporting each other or
not supporting you, and so you need to kind of,
unfortunately find ways to make sure that you're putting yourself
at the forefront. And I think technology can really help
to create very good documents, create very good arguments to
support yourself. But I think it should never be a
(12:31):
one person show in that scenario. Always have an advocate.
Have war the world, have family behind you. If you
have good relationships with family, if you have close friends,
always have some sort of support system. And if you're
very isolated due to health, there are services that can
(12:51):
provide a support network, a support system of people that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Might have Yeah, I appreciate that because I do want
to circle back a little bit. Is something that you
touched on, because I think it's so important to understand
and also for those in the medical profession just to
kind of be able to pivot and see points of
reference that they can incorporate in their structure. Now, let's
(13:20):
go back to cultural competency and medical training. Now, what
key changes would you personally recommend in medical education and
even clinical training to address these biases that we're seeing
and actually improve cultural competency in the treatment of black
NBA and the patients.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes, you know, it's a very interesting thing because when
I was working in public health and also when I
worked in disability health inclusion within civil service in the UK,
they do do someone with training which is quite interesting
and it's how when it comes to operationally, how people
(14:03):
kind of just forget the training. And what I found
is that people, being human beings, kind of whizz through
the training, So it's a multiple choice. They want to
finish it quickly because they want to get on with
the things that are really important to them within the role.
And I think there needs to be a bit more
accountability through the system, so not only through the training,
(14:26):
but I think because it's an internal issue, it's not
just a matter of training, it's a matter of human
resources as well, where there needs to be more systems
in place to make sure that if you're from an
ethnic minority, if you're from a different demographic that's a minority,
(14:46):
maybe disabled employee as well, that you are feeling like
you're not going through more hurdles than your coworkers or
your colleagues within that environment.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So I have two questions in regards to that. So
the first one has to do with going back to
the training, right, Yeah, where you mentioned that there are
you know, training is provided, but you say that you're
saying that even with the training, these medical professionals are
still leaning back on experience and personal preference as opposed
to the training, which is very concerning, but still, you know,
(15:22):
being that we're humans, it's also completely understandable. So when
you're talking about making sure that you're people that they're
incorporating maybe I don't know, for the lack of a
better better word like fail safe. You know, if if
the training is not being implemented, you know what fel says,
are in place so that the patient, you know, has
(15:45):
an outlet to voice their concerns and get the services
that they deserve.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think that there needs to be more monitoring personally,
and not in the sense of micro management, but where
we are actually having input on the patient experience. So
if a patient is in the system that they are
able to and without feeling like they're doing anything extra,
it's already systemically in place where they're able to log
(16:13):
the experiences of appointments, their experiences of treatment. And this
is a standard practice, not just you know, something that
they do when something bad happens. And I think if
it's incorporated as part of their treatment, where they're saying
at disappointment, I felt very anxious. I think this could
help to address some of the disparities that we face,
(16:36):
especially in maternity, because anxiety interests can translate into poor recovery,
harm to the fetus during labor, it can translate into
other injuries, whether emotional or physical. So I think that
actually there needs to be a concrete feedback system in
(16:58):
place throughout the course of treating. And I think if
there is a real feedback system in place where we're
getting ideas on how the patient is feeling throughout the treatment,
that this will help to I think, improve diagnosis and
improve the outcomes for the patient.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
First of all, let me say this, I think that
is a brilliant idea and just in all honesty, like
if there was a system in place to where the
patient was able to communicate how they're feeling through the
process and then have that information review not only by
the on site medical staff, but then their supervisors and
(17:39):
their supervisors supervisors and they're super you know what I mean.
There is a way to set up a system like
that to where there is accountability on all levels, which
I think would also make people more when I'm saying
more people, more of the medical staff more conscious to
make sure that they are giving everyone the same level
(17:59):
of treatment. It's a brilliant.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, yeah, and that's one of the things that we
want to address through our startup as well. But we
think that, you know, it's really a no brainer. I think,
you know, especially when you're thinking of conditions that are
very neurosensitives, are very sensitive to responding to interactions, responding
to the environment, like, for instance, I have a neurological
(18:24):
or muscular skeletal condition, So anxiety can then manifest itself
in other symptoms physically similarly in labor As I mentioned before,
anxiety can really make a big difference in health outcomes
for a lot of women. So you know, I think
it's really important that they think about these things. You know,
(18:46):
my late mother who passed away in twenty twenty two,
she was very anxious during her own health care before
she passed away, and I think perhaps if they've found
ways to manage anxiety, it might have given her more
of a fighting chance during her post surgery care. And
I think it's really really important that they find ways
(19:10):
to reduce the cost because it's not just about it's
you know, the most important part is the human the
human life and the human experience and injury. But on
the other side of the things, there's also billions being
lost to negligence claims every year in the UK and
in the US and in most of the developed world,
So it's really important to really leverage the technology that's
(19:34):
out there to really address these issues and to really
reduce the costs, because they will translate back into better
healthcare services if they're not being wasted on negligence claims
that could be easily avoided just by being more accommodated,
just by being more understanding, just by being more empathetic
and situationally aware of the patient.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Wow, and I think you really touched on my next question.
And I know I've asked this already, but I'm going
to go and ask the question just so that you
can elaborate if it can be elaborator now. And that
has to do with the intersections of race, you know, gender,
social economic status. You know that that truly does contribute
(20:16):
to disparities in maternal health care.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I gain.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
My question is you know what interventions have proven effective
in mitigating these inequalities. If it's.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Yeah, I think there's I think there's many different interventions
that can really make a difference. I know, like, for instance,
the UK, we are we're doing a lot of pilot schemes.
There's a lot of programs though which are introducing technology,
and as I mentioned before, I think technology can really
be a good intervention to support families to improve the
(20:55):
quality of care and to then reduce the disparities, especially
if we have more monitoring and easy ways to monitor
and easier ways to communicate. So we're seeking a lot
more now of RPM, which are remote patient monitoring systems,
both in maternity and also in other areas of patient care,
which means that it's easier now for specialists to access
(21:18):
biometrical information remotely, so the patient could be at home
and the doctor could easy or especially specialists could easily
access important health information. And I feel that that really
helps with diagnosis and with understanding conditions better. Alongside technology,
(21:38):
I think one of the things that does make a
difference is increasing diversity within public health and private health.
But I think you know, it's that age old tell
of you know, if you're from the same demographic, you're
going to understand more of the cultural behaviors, the eating habits,
(21:59):
how people navigate throughout their day, understand pain tolerances, because unfortunately,
there is a disparity and understanding pain tolerance, especially when
it comes to black people and black women, for instance,
in labor. And I think it's really, really it does
make a difference in diagnosis if your specialist is from
(22:19):
the same ethnicity. Sometimes our pain isn't always understood well
unfortunately by people outside of our own our own demographic
and I think that these these different solutions really do help.
I think a solution which I don't see existing and
I think needs to exist within public health space is
(22:40):
having advocates within the patient wards so that they're easily accessible,
able to protect the patient's rights, and able to provide
more accountability and support. I think not only would that
help with the patient experience, but it will also improve
accountability and reduced negligence as well. So I think that
(23:01):
these types of interventions are really important in terms of advocacy.
We see we're seeing more charities and more organizations becoming
more accessible within the UK, but I think I think
there needs to be access actually in your operational areas
on the ground, within the patient areas public health services
(23:24):
that they're available within within those spaces.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Kind of here's my question. Yeah, and I think you
know it's something like a like a liaison committee, right
that that specifically is designed to address these.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, certainly they kind of operate externally almost like from
a different the system.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, yes, exactly exactly. That's again brilliant brilliant and it
sounds like and correct me if I'm wrong. Sounds like
that's something that your that your company also is is
positioning itself to do.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
We are, we are, we are looking at multiple different things,
so we're working on our technology side of things and
we also work hard. So for us, we've been very
very active, especially with International Women's Month, Women's Day and
also the uscsw c c I. We've been very very
vocal about maternal rights, maternity, paternity care and safety for
(24:32):
women and children. And one of the services we want
to offer is work within the community where we provide workshops,
educational events and also advocacy, which is what our application
that we're working out the Moment will also provide is
that support during treatment, during appointments, so that parents can
(24:54):
have that accountability there to have when they need it,
and it's all personalized through some of the technology deep
technology we're using such as automation and this This just
means that every payarent is having a service which is
personally catered to them and also they're also getting that
(25:15):
support where where they're able to have or feel like
they have somebody holding their hand through throughout the appointment.
So it's not just them facing maybe multiple different staff
involved in their treatment and not really know exactly what's
going on. They have a vague idea, but you know,
maybe some things are not communicating communicated carely, especially in
(25:38):
a fast paced healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And so will you have like me just asking because
it sounds like this is kind of where you're headed
to just in regards with with with the structure of
your company, you know, being that there are so many
issues happening internationally, are you going to have like a
(26:00):
network of volunteers that you can send into these hospitals
to to to be by some of these people, you know,
to visit really all these patients who far into this
this category and to be by their side, kind of
helping them to mitigate through you know, the ups and
downs and challenges that they may face and then not
fill alone through the process.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, that's something that we're working on at the moment.
So we are also providing communal support where we do
bring people in to volunteer and support vulnerable families that
are in the health and social care system.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And that's one of the things I love about women
as well women as just with you again, I was
raised by women. So I've seen the strength of women
when they come together for something amazing, and to me,
I've always been thoroughly inspired by it. And I could
just imagine and in envision how many women would would
would jump for the cause, to volunteer for your organization,
(26:59):
to be able to be there on the front lines
for women going through these difficulties. And you are some
of the most resilient, brilliant minds of the world. And
I just love where you're I love where where your
company is, I love your vision, and I love where
you're headed. It's so inspired.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Thank you, and it means a lot. I think you know,
these are type of issues that really really affect people.
And I think you when you understand through your own
lived experience, whether it's firsthand or through a female that
you know, it was your mother, your sister, or a
close friend, you can really it can really spark the
(27:40):
fire and a person to really get out there and
to really support addressing some of these disparities. I think,
especially in labor, I think that's one of the most
vulnerable times for women is when you're in labor, you're
in this severe pain, your your mind isn't the same
as it normally is because you're so focused on the
(28:00):
pain and on delivering the child. It's a really really
vulnerable time and it's an easy time where you're not
able to really advocate for yourself. So, you know, it
really is something that I think can really you know,
get people motivated, you know, and I think I don't
know how the healthcare is completely in the US, but
over here we're having a lot of shortages in nurses,
(28:23):
in midwives at the moment. There's a lot of disparities
around health and social kit in general. We had the
birth drawbery inquiries in twenty twenty three and it's still
on going to investigations into some of the disparities in
public health and in general. I have to say, there's
a lot of work that needs to be done. But
(28:46):
we find that statistically, you know, the statistics are still
very poor. So for black women, one in four Black
women are at risk of dying during labor. That's a real,
really worry, really worries, and you know, the disparities are
really really really For me, I just don't believe they
(29:07):
should exist in the twenty first century, as I'm sure
most people do. It's just very ab said when you
start to read about how much disparities there are for
families that have special educational needs, there's still loads of
gaps in the systems. You find loads of families kind
of deciding to support themselves, to be the advocate, to
be the social worker. There's a lot of work that
(29:30):
needs to be done, and I think technology it's a
blessing in a sense that we can really use it
to fill out those gaps without it being as costly
as it would be if you're hiring physical people just
to fill out those disparities and staff shortages. I think
it could really help to save a lot of lives
and help to really support a lot of families.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Thank you so much for sharing that. Now I do
have another question for you. Yeah, what would a truly
inclusive an equitable healthcare system look like for black and
ba any women.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah. I would say that we have in general a
good a good affair, and good treatment. So we're getting
the right diagnosis, we're getting to support similar to our
white counterparts. You know, we're getting good quality of care.
We're not experiencing racial aggressions or microaggressions in public health.
(30:30):
Even prior to my to to really working as full
time in my startup. I remember working as an advocate myself,
so a dignity champion with a government department over here
which which audits and tricks checks public health institutions called
(30:51):
the c QC. So I was with a company under
them called health Watch. And whilst I whilst I was
working within that field and being an advocate, I do
remember in my own personal experience as a patient seeing
real racial aggressions, to real racial slurs, real freending behavior,
(31:11):
not only to myself but to other patients. And you know,
these types of things shouldn't exist, but they exist because
of poor funding going into public health and understaffing unfortunately,
which means that they're desperate to keep people that really
shouldn't be working within the field. And I think if
(31:35):
we're looking at an equitable and fair public health service,
it should just be fair, equal treatment, access to the
right services when you need them, not having to worry
about going into a public health institution and thinking, you know,
I have to change the way I am or the
way I come across because I might be treated unfairly
by certain members of health staff. You know, there's a
(31:56):
lot of people who I speak to who feel very
anxious going into the hospital. I don't know how it
is in the US, but over here there's a lot
of anxiety about interacting with public health services from certain
demographics that are minorities, because they're worried about how they're
going to be received and how they're going to be treated.
(32:18):
And I think that these things significantly impact people that
are within the lower socioeconomic background. So we're talking about
working class, lower middle class especially that might not have
the luxury of private health or or you know, yeah,
(32:39):
it might not have the luxury of private health as
an option, and so it's longer waiting times as well.
I think some of this definitely depends on funding, but
I also think that there's things that could be done
internally to make sure that people are getting a fair
and equal treatment, and I think that's the only way
to to actually reduce a lot of the negligence claims.
(33:02):
As I've mentioned before.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, absolutely, and you really have highlighted really the shifts
and mindsets that needs to occur at every level of care.
And I think what you're doing is not only revolutionary,
but I think it's so needed, especially as we head
into twenty twenty five. Twenty twenty six, and a question
I do want to ask you too, onder that you
(33:26):
speak about your own personal experiences and what really led
you to this path. And I guess my final question
for you is this is as we head on into
twenty twenty six, you know, with the vision for your
company and and for women who face racism and so
(33:46):
much abuse even in the healthcare system, how what message
do you have for those women and what message do
you have in the world.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So, in terms of the women are in the system, me,
I'm still myself within the system because of my own
health issues. I still, despite having some recovery, still have
a disability myself. So I can already say that we
need to make sure that we have, as I mentioned
at the beginning, a good support system around you. And
(34:20):
if you don't have that, you can create that. So
perhaps you don't have family, and maybe you don't have
a lot of friends, but there are advocates, there are
charities out there. In the UK, there's a number of
charities that could connect you with other people go through
the same thing. So, for instance, we have a charity
called Scope in the UK. We have Disability Rights UK.
(34:43):
There's loads and there's also health Watch where I used
to work previously, and all these services could connect you
to other advocates, other advocacy services to support you understand
what your rights are, understand the policies within the healthcare
system that support your rights. Makes you have access to
tools like AI to help you to draft letters and
(35:06):
communications so that they're coherent, so that they refer to
these rights when you need them. And really, really it's
really really important to make sure you have all these
tools around you so that if you're in the system,
you're getting the service that you deserve, the service that
you need. And to have patience and as they say,
(35:28):
self care is always important. Make your life peaceful, Surround
yourself with people that are supportive, create an atmosphere that's
going to help you to feel relaxed. Do things that
make you happy and make you feel make your mood optimal,
you know, engaging in recreational activities that will help to
(35:52):
lift your mood and you know, help heal self, get strong,
So exercise, you know, as much as it's possible for
a practical for every individual. And improve your diet. It's
something I'm working on. I have the best diet myself,
but I think working on your health and well being
(36:13):
can really help to keep your mind in the right
place and just have people around you that are support
To excuse me, I've got a bit of a cold,
so it's kind of interfering in what I'm saying about.
I think that is really important to create an environment
where your mood is being uplifted in the best possible
(36:35):
way and use the tools out there that are available.
And I also think that therapy is really important when
you're going through a health crisis or you're going through
long term treatment. Make sure that you have access to
a good therapy service or you're able to talk about
things if you don't feel that you have that avenue
(36:57):
through personal relationships. I think it's important to have some
way of talking about your personal experience and your mental
health and well being. And you know, don't beat yourself
up if you're not always able to stand up for
yourself where you're vulnerable, but always find ways to protect
(37:20):
yourself from from harm through understanding the policies, understanding the rights,
and gain access to the right services to support you,
including advocacy. So I apologize if I've been a bit repetitive,
but I think that we think no.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
You're absolutely right, and I think a lot of it
bears repeating. You know, in the fact, the fact is,
and the fact remains that you know there is still
not enough being done for women of colin and it
bears repeating over and over and over again until we
see the change that women serve. And so I I
(37:59):
champion for joining in this fight and using your platform
to help and support women in some of the most
vulnerable situations that they can ever find themselves in, especially
dealing with health crisis. So thank you so much for
everything that you're doing at La Latch and the change
(38:21):
that you are sparking through innovation in your company. And now,
for those of you out there who are listening and
you would like to visit her website, it's La l
a t h dot com. You will see a link
in the description of the show. Wherever you happen to
be listening to this podcast, I want you to visit,
reach out and find a way to get and involved,
(38:43):
because it is one of the best things that you
could be doing. I'm supporting other women of color and
letting them know that they do not stand alone in
this fight. And for Mdola, your journey is I feel
just beginning, even though you've done so much already. I
feel like you're going to go so far with this,
(39:06):
not only because of your passion in your heart, but
because you are really inspiring change.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Thank you so much, and if you and all those
who are listening, please sign up to the newsletter because
we're going to keep you updated on what we're doing
and any events that we're running. We're looking at running
a few events this year virtually as well. We really
want to engage with families. I think the recession is
a good time for us to bond, you know, as
we get head closer closer to so many different struggles.
(39:33):
I think it's a time that we could come together
and really think about how we can really support each other.
I think that's a really important thing reality to do,
and I hope that that's what we're able to do well.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I believe that you're going to do that and much
much more. Andilla, thank you so much for joining us
on today's segment. We were thrilled to have you, and
this interview certainly did not disappoint. We want you are
always well to come back on the show anytimes. Please
keep us keep us in the loop. Let us know
how your company's progressing. Let us know when you have
volunteer opportunities opened up, so that we can let the
(40:10):
world know and have them comes to port you.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Thank you very much. I definitely will keep you posted
and please sign up. All those people that are listening,
really appreciate you listening, and thank you so much for
having me here. It's been a real pleasure and really
I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to just discuss
this issue. I think more we need to open the
door to more conversations about this because in the twenty
(40:36):
first century, the statistics should not be the way they
are at the moment. It's really such a shock what
you start to delve in, even surface level statistics. It's
just it's unfortunate that that's where we are in the
twenty first century.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Absolutely, and for those of you who want to be
a part of, you know, the movement and also sign
up for the newsletter again, you can visit Latch or
la Latch club dot com is l A L A
T C h C l U B dot com Again,
that link will be in the description of the show.
And before we let you guys go at home again,
(41:12):
always thank you for joining us here at the Joseph
Bonner Show. You know, today's show is brought to you
by the Bully Avengers, continuing to fight for our women
and children internationally. The most vulnerable are not vulnerable when
we stand together to support, so thank you so much
for your support of the Bully Avengers as well. On
the lat we appreciate your support as well as you
(41:34):
and joining us in this fight for our women and
children international.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Thank you very much. Once again, I'm definitely gonna come back.
You'll see me, sous oh.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
We would love to have you. Thank you so much.
And before we let you guys go at home, stay tuned.
Do not go anywhere just yet, because we got to
pay some bills and we need you to listen to
somebody's advertisements. All right, you guys, Until next time, take
care every other s
The Joseph Bonner Show. Where is The Joseph Bonner Show
is a unique show designed to provide comfort and support
to the international community.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It's gonna make you feel bad.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Joseph Bonner is an experience mentor, life coach and certified
mental health first aid responder.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Like an amazing guy.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Get ready to feel inspired, get ready to feel like
you can make a difference, and get ready to feel
The Joseph Bonner Show starts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Now, Hey, what's going on you guys? This is Joseph
Bonner and welcome back to The Joseph Bonner Show. As always,
we bring you inspiration from some of the most brightest
minds in the world. And today we are honored to
(00:46):
welcome the CEO and co founder of La Latch Limited,
which will soon the name will be changed to Natally,
but we want to and introduce the founder and CEO.
I'm the lot Welcome to the show. How are you
doing today?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm fine? Thank you, thanksful having me here. Really excited.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Well, we're super excited to have you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Now we're California base, you know, California life, living in
the sun, but you're author in London, UK. How's the weather?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Today for you, it's getting there. We're getting all summer.
The sun's out.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
We had a bit of snow actually last month, so
oh wow.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, you know, we get we get a little snow
here in San Diego, but I typically stay away from
the mountains. So I'm like, put me over there by
the beach, you know what I mean. You you have
a really powerful personal journey about overcoming and helping to
(01:54):
re illusionize, you know, care for women, women of color,
and I want to talk a little bit about that.
So first of all, tell me a little bit about
your company, La Latch and how you guys do. Yes.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
So The Latch is a femtech startup and we're focused
on addressing early health disparities and disparities in maternity and
perinatal health and social care. The idea was inspired by
my own personal struggles with parenting. Unfortunately, during my labor,
I experienced a spinal injury which then led to post
(02:30):
labor paralysis and had to go through significant physiotherapy and
rehab and just relearning how to navigate my normal day
to day whilst raising two very small children. But throughout
that whole time, many different experiences within public health and
(02:51):
social care led me to realize and to understand how
much how much gaps need to be filled in the
system for families to opt to function optimally and just
to level out the playing field. And just through research,
I began to really realize how much support needs to
be in place. And also just through my own studies
(03:14):
with with tech, I just began to realize that there's
a really an opportunity here to to use technology to
support families and to really address some of the health
and social care disparities, especially those experienced by BAME women.
I feel like in the UK and in the US
there's a lot of racial disparities and then translate into
(03:37):
issues like not understanding certain simple things like pain tolerance,
for instance.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And it sounds scary too, like just hearing about your
initial experience, you know, coming into you know, already a
very difficult situation for women to go through, you know,
labor and giving birth, and then to have on top
of that to deal with a spinal cord injury and
(04:09):
and and losing fillings and limbs. It's it's that must
have been terrified. I guess my question is how were
you able to channel I mean, just the initial you
know feelings of despair from from the event and to
be able to, like, you know what, I can make
a difference.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I think, you know, I was fortunate that before I
had my spinal injury, I met a few people that
had disabilities, and I saw how they were still able
to live fulfilling lives. So I knew from my own
past experiences that you can still be happy and still
cope and adjust around the disability to still have a
(04:52):
good experience and to still have a fulfilling life. So
I think that for me made a big difference in
how I it SA and just to my own disability.
And I always just feel like, I think the way
I was raised in terms of spirituality, that that these
things are tests in life and that from that you
(05:14):
can derive positive experiences that can actually lead to something greater.
So I always saw things that happened, especially things are traumatic,
as they can lead to a greater purpose and can
actually I can derive a lot of meaning from that.
So I guess in that sense, I was fortunate to
(05:37):
have that perspective before this happened. So for me, when
I had the onset paralysis, I did I did accept
that you know, this might be my life. I might
might not have the full capacity to move around, I
might be paralyzed from the chest down, but I still
(06:00):
think that, you know, there are amazing people out there
that I've seen do amazing things that this might not
be it for me, And I was grateful that I
had that experience prior to having paralysis.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Absolutely well, thank you so much for sharing that. And
I have another question, and it relates to just what
you yourself have seen to be effective strategies. So mean,
what strategies have you found to be most effective in
challenging institutional negligence towards black and BA.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
And yes, I think it's difficult because when you're going
through systemic negligence, like I've seen a lot of poor
practice in public health as a patient, and you feel
very vulnerable in that situation. I think it's important, if
(07:00):
it's possible, a person should have a support network when
you're going to be in hospital for long treatments or
long courses of treatments. I think it's impossible. I think
it's not impossible. So I think it's important to have family,
to have friends, to have some sort of support system,
whether it's having an advocate. You need somebody to support you,
(07:22):
I think at that level of vulnerability. But I also
think also empowering yourself, so knowing what your rights are,
knowing what should happen, knowing who to refer issues on
internally if you're in a public health system and experiencing
that negligence, really educating yourself on your rights. And I
(07:45):
think AI is amazing. I use AI when advocating for
myself or my children, you know, helping to draft letters,
helping to find services that you may not be aware of.
It can be a really supportive tool to advocate for families.
And so I found that to be very useful. Now
(08:07):
that it's become such a common knowledge, it's been a
really I think it's a really important tool to help
families to.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Navigate I can't. I'm so glad that you mentioned that
because that was literally my next question. So I'm going
to have you elaborate. I love this because I feel
like we're on the same page when it comes to this.
So my next question, which you kind of already touched on,
was in what ways can emerging technologies such as AI, right,
(08:35):
even telemedicine or even you know, wearable health devices, how
can they be leveraged to kind of close the gaps
in maternal health care, particularly to prevent life altering injuries
like you know, post labor spinal core damage.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yes, so I think AI is for me. I'll go
through how I personally use it. So I guess I'm
very keen to use AI, especially chat GPT to support
with self advocacy, because I think once you're in the
social health, social and healthcare system, you're dependent on their services.
(09:11):
You really do need to make it clear to the
providers that you're aware of your rights, you know how
to support yourself, and you know where to go if
things go wrong. So for me, what I find I
find very useful is creating prompts for myself. So for instance,
let's say I want to request a service I can
(09:33):
You can simply write into chat GPT to just bullet
point the main points you want to put down. So
maybe you want to be referred to a physiotherapy service.
Maybe your doctor has said that that's not possible. You
could say I want to, for instance, if I want
to be referred to such and such service, you can
put that out as a bullet point. The other bullet
(09:54):
point can be please also provide me with information on
my legal rights to be a to be referred. And
then also you can put another prompt into the chat
EPT and you can also make a request to also
ask for the internal policies for that particular service. And
(10:15):
normally it can be helpful. It may not sometimes with
you as if you use deep SEC, it might be
a bit more helpful in accessing certain platforms. Sometimes with
some GPTs you might find that it can't access certain platforms,
so you'll need to have those documents printed from the
particular web page of that company or organization that you're using.
(10:38):
But what it can do is it can go through
that document and then provide the policies that are relevant
to your issue. And I think that that's really important
because it really does create strong advocacy and kind of
makes it clear to the service providers that okay, we
have to take this person seriously, because sometimes what happens,
(10:59):
I don't know if it's the same in the US,
but in the UK sometimes you can kind.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Of be.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Put on the back burner and they might prioritize somebody
else who they feel is more vulnerable or more or
they might feel it's a more pressing matter and I
think when it comes to being a black person, sometimes
we're kind of misconstrued as being strong and capable, sometimes
more than is fear and more far more then, and
(11:26):
it should never be that we're considered less vulnerable than
somebody with the same conditions as ourselves. But I think
there's a desensitization when it comes to black people in
vulnerable health situations. Unfortunately. I think as we get more
representation within public health and private health, that should change,
(11:46):
but I think there's systemic issues within public health that mean,
unfortunately that we're still not seeing those disparities addressed. Is
internal politics. I don't know how is in the US.
You can sometimes see as a patient toxic work dynamics
where there's a hierarchy of racial preference and you see
(12:08):
people of your same color not supporting each other or
not supporting you, and so you need to kind of,
unfortunately find ways to make sure that you're putting yourself
at the forefront. And I think technology can really help
to create very good documents, create very good arguments to
support yourself. But I think it should never be a
(12:31):
one person show in that scenario. Always have an advocate.
Have war the world, have family behind you. If you
have good relationships with family, if you have close friends,
always have some sort of support system. And if you're
very isolated due to health, there are services that can
(12:51):
provide a support network, a support system of people that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Might have Yeah, I appreciate that because I do want
to circle back a little bit. Is something that you
touched on, because I think it's so important to understand
and also for those in the medical profession just to
kind of be able to pivot and see points of
reference that they can incorporate in their structure. Now, let's
(13:20):
go back to cultural competency and medical training. Now, what
key changes would you personally recommend in medical education and
even clinical training to address these biases that we're seeing
and actually improve cultural competency in the treatment of black
NBA and the patients.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yes, you know, it's a very interesting thing because when
I was working in public health and also when I
worked in disability health inclusion within civil service in the UK,
they do do someone with training which is quite interesting
and it's how when it comes to operationally, how people
(14:03):
kind of just forget the training. And what I found
is that people, being human beings, kind of whizz through
the training, So it's a multiple choice. They want to
finish it quickly because they want to get on with
the things that are really important to them within the role.
And I think there needs to be a bit more
accountability through the system, so not only through the training,
(14:26):
but I think because it's an internal issue, it's not
just a matter of training, it's a matter of human
resources as well, where there needs to be more systems
in place to make sure that if you're from an
ethnic minority, if you're from a different demographic that's a minority,
(14:46):
maybe disabled employee as well, that you are feeling like
you're not going through more hurdles than your coworkers or
your colleagues within that environment.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
So I have two questions in regards to that. So
the first one has to do with going back to
the training, right, Yeah, where you mentioned that there are
you know, training is provided, but you say that you're
saying that even with the training, these medical professionals are
still leaning back on experience and personal preference as opposed
to the training, which is very concerning, but still, you know,
(15:22):
being that we're humans, it's also completely understandable. So when
you're talking about making sure that you're people that they're
incorporating maybe I don't know, for the lack of a
better better word like fail safe. You know, if if
the training is not being implemented, you know what fel says,
are in place so that the patient, you know, has
(15:45):
an outlet to voice their concerns and get the services
that they deserve.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
I think that there needs to be more monitoring personally,
and not in the sense of micro management, but where
we are actually having input on the patient experience. So
if a patient is in the system that they are
able to and without feeling like they're doing anything extra,
it's already systemically in place where they're able to log
(16:13):
the experiences of appointments, their experiences of treatment. And this
is a standard practice, not just you know, something that
they do when something bad happens. And I think if
it's incorporated as part of their treatment, where they're saying
at disappointment, I felt very anxious. I think this could
help to address some of the disparities that we face,
(16:36):
especially in maternity, because anxiety interests can translate into poor recovery,
harm to the fetus during labor, it can translate into
other injuries, whether emotional or physical. So I think that
actually there needs to be a concrete feedback system in
(16:58):
place throughout the course of treating. And I think if
there is a real feedback system in place where we're
getting ideas on how the patient is feeling throughout the treatment,
that this will help to I think, improve diagnosis and
improve the outcomes for the patient.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
First of all, let me say this, I think that
is a brilliant idea and just in all honesty, like
if there was a system in place to where the
patient was able to communicate how they're feeling through the
process and then have that information review not only by
the on site medical staff, but then their supervisors and
(17:39):
their supervisors supervisors and they're super you know what I mean.
There is a way to set up a system like
that to where there is accountability on all levels, which
I think would also make people more when I'm saying
more people, more of the medical staff more conscious to
make sure that they are giving everyone the same level
(17:59):
of treatment. It's a brilliant.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
Yeah, yeah, and that's one of the things that we
want to address through our startup as well. But we
think that, you know, it's really a no brainer. I think,
you know, especially when you're thinking of conditions that are
very neurosensitives, are very sensitive to responding to interactions, responding
to the environment, like, for instance, I have a neurological
(18:24):
or muscular skeletal condition, So anxiety can then manifest itself
in other symptoms physically similarly in labor As I mentioned before,
anxiety can really make a big difference in health outcomes
for a lot of women. So you know, I think
it's really important that they think about these things. You know,
(18:46):
my late mother who passed away in twenty twenty two,
she was very anxious during her own health care before
she passed away, and I think perhaps if they've found
ways to manage anxiety, it might have given her more
of a fighting chance during her post surgery care. And
I think it's really really important that they find ways
(19:10):
to reduce the cost because it's not just about it's
you know, the most important part is the human the
human life and the human experience and injury. But on
the other side of the things, there's also billions being
lost to negligence claims every year in the UK and
in the US and in most of the developed world,
So it's really important to really leverage the technology that's
(19:34):
out there to really address these issues and to really
reduce the costs, because they will translate back into better
healthcare services if they're not being wasted on negligence claims
that could be easily avoided just by being more accommodated,
just by being more understanding, just by being more empathetic
and situationally aware of the patient.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Wow, and I think you really touched on my next question.
And I know I've asked this already, but I'm going
to go and ask the question just so that you
can elaborate if it can be elaborator now. And that
has to do with the intersections of race, you know, gender,
social economic status. You know that that truly does contribute
(20:16):
to disparities in maternal health care.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I gain.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
My question is you know what interventions have proven effective
in mitigating these inequalities. If it's.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Yeah, I think there's I think there's many different interventions
that can really make a difference. I know, like, for instance,
the UK, we are we're doing a lot of pilot schemes.
There's a lot of programs though which are introducing technology,
and as I mentioned before, I think technology can really
be a good intervention to support families to improve the
(20:55):
quality of care and to then reduce the disparities, especially
if we have more monitoring and easy ways to monitor
and easier ways to communicate. So we're seeking a lot
more now of RPM, which are remote patient monitoring systems,
both in maternity and also in other areas of patient care,
which means that it's easier now for specialists to access
(21:18):
biometrical information remotely, so the patient could be at home
and the doctor could easy or especially specialists could easily
access important health information. And I feel that that really
helps with diagnosis and with understanding conditions better. Alongside technology,
(21:38):
I think one of the things that does make a
difference is increasing diversity within public health and private health.
But I think you know, it's that age old tell
of you know, if you're from the same demographic, you're
going to understand more of the cultural behaviors, the eating habits,
(21:59):
how people navigate throughout their day, understand pain tolerances, because unfortunately,
there is a disparity and understanding pain tolerance, especially when
it comes to black people and black women, for instance,
in labor. And I think it's really, really it does
make a difference in diagnosis if your specialist is from
(22:19):
the same ethnicity. Sometimes our pain isn't always understood well
unfortunately by people outside of our own our own demographic
and I think that these these different solutions really do help.
I think a solution which I don't see existing and
I think needs to exist within public health space is
(22:40):
having advocates within the patient wards so that they're easily accessible,
able to protect the patient's rights, and able to provide
more accountability and support. I think not only would that
help with the patient experience, but it will also improve
accountability and reduced negligence as well. So I think that
(23:01):
these types of interventions are really important in terms of advocacy.
We see we're seeing more charities and more organizations becoming
more accessible within the UK, but I think I think
there needs to be access actually in your operational areas
on the ground, within the patient areas public health services
(23:24):
that they're available within within those spaces.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Kind of here's my question. Yeah, and I think you
know it's something like a like a liaison committee, right
that that specifically is designed to address these.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, certainly they kind of operate externally almost like from
a different the system.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Yeah, yes, exactly exactly. That's again brilliant brilliant and it
sounds like and correct me if I'm wrong. Sounds like
that's something that your that your company also is is
positioning itself to do.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
We are, we are, we are looking at multiple different things,
so we're working on our technology side of things and
we also work hard. So for us, we've been very
very active, especially with International Women's Month, Women's Day and
also the uscsw c c I. We've been very very
vocal about maternal rights, maternity, paternity care and safety for
(24:32):
women and children. And one of the services we want
to offer is work within the community where we provide workshops,
educational events and also advocacy, which is what our application
that we're working out the Moment will also provide is
that support during treatment, during appointments, so that parents can
(24:54):
have that accountability there to have when they need it,
and it's all personalized through some of the technology deep
technology we're using such as automation and this This just
means that every payarent is having a service which is
personally catered to them and also they're also getting that
(25:15):
support where where they're able to have or feel like
they have somebody holding their hand through throughout the appointment.
So it's not just them facing maybe multiple different staff
involved in their treatment and not really know exactly what's
going on. They have a vague idea, but you know,
maybe some things are not communicating communicated carely, especially in
(25:38):
a fast paced healthcare system.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
And so will you have like me just asking because
it sounds like this is kind of where you're headed
to just in regards with with with the structure of
your company, you know, being that there are so many
issues happening internationally, are you going to have like a
(26:00):
network of volunteers that you can send into these hospitals
to to to be by some of these people, you know,
to visit really all these patients who far into this
this category and to be by their side, kind of
helping them to mitigate through you know, the ups and
downs and challenges that they may face and then not
fill alone through the process.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, that's something that we're working on at the moment.
So we are also providing communal support where we do
bring people in to volunteer and support vulnerable families that
are in the health and social care system.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And that's one of the things I love about women
as well women as just with you again, I was
raised by women. So I've seen the strength of women
when they come together for something amazing, and to me,
I've always been thoroughly inspired by it. And I could
just imagine and in envision how many women would would
would jump for the cause, to volunteer for your organization,
(26:59):
to be able to be there on the front lines
for women going through these difficulties. And you are some
of the most resilient, brilliant minds of the world. And
I just love where you're I love where where your
company is, I love your vision, and I love where
you're headed. It's so inspired.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Thank you, and it means a lot. I think you know,
these are type of issues that really really affect people.
And I think you when you understand through your own
lived experience, whether it's firsthand or through a female that
you know, it was your mother, your sister, or a
close friend, you can really it can really spark the
(27:40):
fire and a person to really get out there and
to really support addressing some of these disparities. I think,
especially in labor, I think that's one of the most
vulnerable times for women is when you're in labor, you're
in this severe pain, your your mind isn't the same
as it normally is because you're so focused on the
(28:00):
pain and on delivering the child. It's a really really
vulnerable time and it's an easy time where you're not
able to really advocate for yourself. So, you know, it
really is something that I think can really you know,
get people motivated, you know, and I think I don't
know how the healthcare is completely in the US, but
over here we're having a lot of shortages in nurses,
(28:23):
in midwives at the moment. There's a lot of disparities
around health and social kit in general. We had the
birth drawbery inquiries in twenty twenty three and it's still
on going to investigations into some of the disparities in
public health and in general. I have to say, there's
a lot of work that needs to be done. But
(28:46):
we find that statistically, you know, the statistics are still
very poor. So for black women, one in four Black
women are at risk of dying during labor. That's a real,
really worry, really worries, and you know, the disparities are
really really really For me, I just don't believe they
(29:07):
should exist in the twenty first century, as I'm sure
most people do. It's just very ab said when you
start to read about how much disparities there are for
families that have special educational needs, there's still loads of
gaps in the systems. You find loads of families kind
of deciding to support themselves, to be the advocate, to
be the social worker. There's a lot of work that
(29:30):
needs to be done, and I think technology it's a
blessing in a sense that we can really use it
to fill out those gaps without it being as costly
as it would be if you're hiring physical people just
to fill out those disparities and staff shortages. I think
it could really help to save a lot of lives
and help to really support a lot of families.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Thank you so much for sharing that. Now I do
have another question for you. Yeah, what would a truly
inclusive an equitable healthcare system look like for black and
ba any women.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah. I would say that we have in general a
good a good affair, and good treatment. So we're getting
the right diagnosis, we're getting to support similar to our
white counterparts. You know, we're getting good quality of care.
We're not experiencing racial aggressions or microaggressions in public health.
(30:30):
Even prior to my to to really working as full
time in my startup. I remember working as an advocate myself,
so a dignity champion with a government department over here
which which audits and tricks checks public health institutions called
(30:51):
the c QC. So I was with a company under
them called health Watch. And whilst I whilst I was
working within that field and being an advocate, I do
remember in my own personal experience as a patient seeing
real racial aggressions, to real racial slurs, real freending behavior,
(31:11):
not only to myself but to other patients. And you know,
these types of things shouldn't exist, but they exist because
of poor funding going into public health and understaffing unfortunately,
which means that they're desperate to keep people that really
shouldn't be working within the field. And I think if
(31:35):
we're looking at an equitable and fair public health service,
it should just be fair, equal treatment, access to the
right services when you need them, not having to worry
about going into a public health institution and thinking, you know,
I have to change the way I am or the
way I come across because I might be treated unfairly
by certain members of health staff. You know, there's a
(31:56):
lot of people who I speak to who feel very
anxious going into the hospital. I don't know how it
is in the US, but over here there's a lot
of anxiety about interacting with public health services from certain
demographics that are minorities, because they're worried about how they're
going to be received and how they're going to be treated.
(32:18):
And I think that these things significantly impact people that
are within the lower socioeconomic background. So we're talking about
working class, lower middle class especially that might not have
the luxury of private health or or you know, yeah,
(32:39):
it might not have the luxury of private health as
an option, and so it's longer waiting times as well.
I think some of this definitely depends on funding, but
I also think that there's things that could be done
internally to make sure that people are getting a fair
and equal treatment, and I think that's the only way
to to actually reduce a lot of the negligence claims.
(33:02):
As I've mentioned before.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Yeah, absolutely, and you really have highlighted really the shifts
and mindsets that needs to occur at every level of care.
And I think what you're doing is not only revolutionary,
but I think it's so needed, especially as we head
into twenty twenty five. Twenty twenty six, and a question
I do want to ask you too, onder that you
(33:26):
speak about your own personal experiences and what really led
you to this path. And I guess my final question
for you is this is as we head on into
twenty twenty six, you know, with the vision for your
company and and for women who face racism and so
(33:46):
much abuse even in the healthcare system, how what message
do you have for those women and what message do
you have in the world.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
So, in terms of the women are in the system, me,
I'm still myself within the system because of my own
health issues. I still, despite having some recovery, still have
a disability myself. So I can already say that we
need to make sure that we have, as I mentioned
at the beginning, a good support system around you. And
(34:20):
if you don't have that, you can create that. So
perhaps you don't have family, and maybe you don't have
a lot of friends, but there are advocates, there are
charities out there. In the UK, there's a number of
charities that could connect you with other people go through
the same thing. So, for instance, we have a charity
called Scope in the UK. We have Disability Rights UK.
(34:43):
There's loads and there's also health Watch where I used
to work previously, and all these services could connect you
to other advocates, other advocacy services to support you understand
what your rights are, understand the policies within the healthcare
system that support your rights. Makes you have access to
tools like AI to help you to draft letters and
(35:06):
communications so that they're coherent, so that they refer to
these rights when you need them. And really, really it's
really really important to make sure you have all these
tools around you so that if you're in the system,
you're getting the service that you deserve, the service that
you need. And to have patience and as they say,
(35:28):
self care is always important. Make your life peaceful, Surround
yourself with people that are supportive, create an atmosphere that's
going to help you to feel relaxed. Do things that
make you happy and make you feel make your mood optimal,
you know, engaging in recreational activities that will help to
(35:52):
lift your mood and you know, help heal self, get strong,
So exercise, you know, as much as it's possible for
a practical for every individual. And improve your diet. It's
something I'm working on. I have the best diet myself,
but I think working on your health and well being
(36:13):
can really help to keep your mind in the right
place and just have people around you that are support
To excuse me, I've got a bit of a cold,
so it's kind of interfering in what I'm saying about.
I think that is really important to create an environment
where your mood is being uplifted in the best possible
(36:35):
way and use the tools out there that are available.
And I also think that therapy is really important when
you're going through a health crisis or you're going through
long term treatment. Make sure that you have access to
a good therapy service or you're able to talk about
things if you don't feel that you have that avenue
(36:57):
through personal relationships. I think it's important to have some
way of talking about your personal experience and your mental
health and well being. And you know, don't beat yourself
up if you're not always able to stand up for
yourself where you're vulnerable, but always find ways to protect
(37:20):
yourself from from harm through understanding the policies, understanding the rights,
and gain access to the right services to support you,
including advocacy. So I apologize if I've been a bit repetitive,
but I think that we think no.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
You're absolutely right, and I think a lot of it
bears repeating. You know, in the fact, the fact is,
and the fact remains that you know there is still
not enough being done for women of colin and it
bears repeating over and over and over again until we
see the change that women serve. And so I I
(37:59):
champion for joining in this fight and using your platform
to help and support women in some of the most
vulnerable situations that they can ever find themselves in, especially
dealing with health crisis. So thank you so much for
everything that you're doing at La Latch and the change
(38:21):
that you are sparking through innovation in your company. And now,
for those of you out there who are listening and
you would like to visit her website, it's La l
a t h dot com. You will see a link
in the description of the show. Wherever you happen to
be listening to this podcast, I want you to visit,
reach out and find a way to get and involved,
(38:43):
because it is one of the best things that you
could be doing. I'm supporting other women of color and
letting them know that they do not stand alone in
this fight. And for Mdola, your journey is I feel
just beginning, even though you've done so much already. I
feel like you're going to go so far with this,
(39:06):
not only because of your passion in your heart, but
because you are really inspiring change.
Speaker 3 (39:12):
Thank you so much, and if you and all those
who are listening, please sign up to the newsletter because
we're going to keep you updated on what we're doing
and any events that we're running. We're looking at running
a few events this year virtually as well. We really
want to engage with families. I think the recession is
a good time for us to bond, you know, as
we get head closer closer to so many different struggles.
(39:33):
I think it's a time that we could come together
and really think about how we can really support each other.
I think that's a really important thing reality to do,
and I hope that that's what we're able to do well.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I believe that you're going to do that and much
much more. Andilla, thank you so much for joining us
on today's segment. We were thrilled to have you, and
this interview certainly did not disappoint. We want you are
always well to come back on the show anytimes. Please
keep us keep us in the loop. Let us know
how your company's progressing. Let us know when you have
volunteer opportunities opened up, so that we can let the
(40:10):
world know and have them comes to port you.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Thank you very much. I definitely will keep you posted
and please sign up. All those people that are listening,
really appreciate you listening, and thank you so much for
having me here. It's been a real pleasure and really
I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to just discuss
this issue. I think more we need to open the
door to more conversations about this because in the twenty
(40:36):
first century, the statistics should not be the way they
are at the moment. It's really such a shock what
you start to delve in, even surface level statistics. It's
just it's unfortunate that that's where we are in the
twenty first century.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Absolutely, and for those of you who want to be
a part of, you know, the movement and also sign
up for the newsletter again, you can visit Latch or
la Latch club dot com is l A L A
T C h C l U B dot com Again,
that link will be in the description of the show.
And before we let you guys go at home again,
(41:12):
always thank you for joining us here at the Joseph
Bonner Show. You know, today's show is brought to you
by the Bully Avengers, continuing to fight for our women
and children internationally. The most vulnerable are not vulnerable when
we stand together to support, so thank you so much
for your support of the Bully Avengers as well. On
the lat we appreciate your support as well as you
(41:34):
and joining us in this fight for our women and
children international.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Thank you very much. Once again, I'm definitely gonna come back.
You'll see me, sous oh.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
We would love to have you. Thank you so much.
And before we let you guys go at home, stay tuned.
Do not go anywhere just yet, because we got to
pay some bills and we need you to listen to
somebody's advertisements. All right, you guys, Until next time, take
care every other s
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