em dash podcast

Meet Rachel Reimer, a self-described "Medical Intuitive, senior in college, and Millenial."   According to her website, she "provide[s] spiritual insight to health care or mental health professionals on clients that want to know more about their health and/or are 'stuck'....Messages that [she] receive[s] can come in the form of images, sounds, or feelings.."   In this episode, Rachel and I talk about her experiences as a patient as well as about her experiences as a "medical intuitive" who interacts with healthcare professionals.  You can follow Rachel on Twitter at @intuitiverae.

Meet Joshua Shea, a journalist, publisher, film festival founder, and local politician from Central Maine. Arrested and convicted for possession of child pornography after a long struggle with alcoholism and porn addiction, Joshua served six months in jail. He’s written a memoir, The Addiction Nobody Will Talk About: How I Let My Pornography Addiction Hurt People and Destroy Relationships, published in January 2018. In this episode, we talk about Joshua’s addiction and his path to recovery.

Earlier this season you met Andrew Gurza, self-described “disabled man” and “queer cripple.” In this episode, Andrew returns to the show to talk about his experiences with healthcare providers during his most recent hospitalization. We talk about C. Diff, diapers, nurses, doctors, hospitals, and tangentially, Grey’s Anatomy. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewgurza.

Meet Andrew Gurza, self-described ​“disabled man” and “queer cripple.” Andrew shares his experiences interacting with healthcare professionals around issues related to mobility, autonomy, and sexuality. He talks about what it feels like to be moved without his consent and treated by healthcare professionals in ways that distance him from his body, pleasure, and human connection. We explore the idea that persons with disabilities aren’t like everyone else and the power that he feels reclaiming words like “queer” and “cripple.” Finally, we discuss his recent musings on Twitter and Facebook about possibly doing porn and the reactions he’s received from friends who worry about that “fetishizing” his disability. You can follow Andrew on Twitter at @andrewgurza.

Meet Ryder Avalon – model, songwriter, ink enthusiast, and self-described “LA sewer ninja.” In this episode, Ryder alks about her experiences interacting with health care professionals along her journey as a woman who identifies as “transsexual” and biracial. She explains why she prefers the word “transsexual” to the word “transgender” to describe herself, and she talks about how concerns about possible mistreatment may make trans-identified patients anxious or hesitant to be forthcoming during interactions with health care professionals. You can follow Ryder on Twitter at @RyderAvalon.

Meet Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse shooting in Orlando and Vice President of The Dru Project, “an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization on a mission to spread love across the nation and promote gay straight alliances.” In this episode (recorded on May 22nd before the Manchester bombing), Brandon talks about identifying as “intersectional,” Black, White, gay, and male and the ways in which these identities have influenced his thoughts and feelings about healthcare. Brandon describes the “awkward first date” feeling of seeing a new healthcare professional and talks about the impact feeling judged during the encounter can have on one’s willingness to continue seeing that healthcare professional. We talk about Brandon’s experience with mental healthcare professionals after the Pulse shooting as well as about what the world of healthcare might have been like if his friend Drew Leinonen, a master’s-prepared psychologist, hadn’t been killed at Pulse. Brandon shares how his view of the world has changed as a result of the Pulse shooting, and he talks about how his relationship with his father has changed over the years. Finally, Brandon shares his thoughts about what healthcare professionals need to know about gun violence and the impact it has on survivors. You can follow Brandon on Twitter at @bjoewolf

Meet Lindsey Nebeker, a pianist/composer, disability rights advocate, and person on the autism spectrum. In this episode, Lindsey talks about what it’s like to seek and receive health care as a person on the spectrum. She describes when and why she discloses (or decides not to disclose) her autism diagnosis to health care professionals, as well as what healthcare professionals can do to make the clinical environment more welcoming for people on the autism spectrum. Lindsey and I also discuss her experiences as a queer-identified cisgender woman married to a cisgender man, how painful it can be to be labeled incorrectly as heterosexual, and how her father coming out as gay when she was 18 years old brought the two of them even closer together. You can follow Lindsey on Twitter at @LindseyNebeker

Meet Kelli Dunham, self-described "ex-nun genderqueer nurse author nerd comic." Kelli and I talk about what it's like to be the caregiver and advocate for two partners who died (both at the age of 38), what it's like to be a nurse viewing the healthcare system through the eyes of a patient, and what it's like to be a nun in a habit going to the gynecologist. You can follow Kelli on Twitter at @KelliDunham

Meet Dr. Majeda El-Banna, an Assistant Professor in the George Washington University School of Nursing. In this episode (taped on March 27th, Muslim Women's Day), Majeda and I talk about Islam, her experiences as a Muslim nurse educator who wears hijab, and her experiences attending graduate school in the midwest while raising two young children. You can follow Majeda on Twitter at @Majeda_Elbanna

In this episode, Nina and I talk about her experiences as a Black woman interacting with healthcare professionals, particularly around the issue of weight. We explore the complicated history that healthcare has with Black people in America and the ways that medicine’s past discriminatory, deceptive, and exploitive practices have shaped the way healthcare is viewed today. We also talk about hospice, hair care and exercise, and the strength of Black women.