With years of experience as a PR strategist for healthcare technology companies, Erica Olenski has spent her career working at the intersection of innovation and care. From guiding early-stage startups to consulting with multinational organizations, she developed a unique understanding of how to best use technology to improve healthcare. Her expertise in healthcare, however, extends far beyond her professional roles. As the primary caregiver to her son—a resilient survivor of brain cancer and stroke—Erica has firsthand experience with the challenges patients and caregivers face in today’s healthcare system. 

In this profound conversation, Erica shares the heart-wrenching story of her son’s diagnosis and how her family was thrown into an enduring and complicated relationship with the healthcare system literally overnight. 

I was so struck by how much Erica relied on the health and resilience she built before her son’s diagnosis to help her survive this experience. We talk about the potential impact of pointing primary care in the direction of helping all people achieve that armor in order to better face life’s inevitable struggles. Erica and I also reflect on the significant gaps in hospital environments when it comes to accommodating the needs of caregivers, and the opportunities to reimagine these spaces to better support both patients and their families. 

There are so many takeaways from this interview, some disheartening and frustrating and some just purely inspiring. Throughout our conversation, Erica emphasized the importance of surrender, acceptance, and the power of positive narratives. Her idiom “Words are magic” is something I now repeat to myself daily, a salient reminder that we have the opportunity to shape our own reality even in the midst of tragedy.

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