Grief is cumulative, and it's cumulatively negative. Every loss we experience stacks on top of those before it. For Genesis Amaris Kemp, attending funerals started becoming a regular occurrence. Add the loss of loved ones before the Covid pandemic (and during) to the loss of a job during the same timeframe, and it can be challenging to find solid footing. Additionally, learning, for the first time, how to advocate for a parent in the healthcare system posed its challenges during this same period.

Genesis's father walked into a hospital with elevated blood sugar. Three days later, he was paralyzed from the waist down, which was later identified to have occurred from a stroke. Additionally, he endured several other complications during his hospital stay that later caused a quick decline in health and, soon after, his death. 

Trying to be a caregiver during Covid proved to show the disparity and gaps in the healthcare system. In addition to the losses she endured during the pandemic, she also was laid off from her corporate job in oil and gas. Genesis shares her experience of being a young black woman in a predominantly older white demographic of employment, describing that experience and sharing how one conversation with the company VP, and the experience as a whole, was empowering, heartbreaking, and eye-opening all at the same time.

The Covid Pandemic showed us where we have a lot of work and repair to do within the healthcare system and how we live and work as a society. Genesis shares the lessons she learned during this timeframe and how she's become impassioned in serving others with what she's learned.

RESOURCES:

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• GEMS Podcast Episode with Victoria 
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This episode is sponsored by Do Grief Differently™️, my twelve-week, one-on-one, in-person/online program for grievers who have suffered any type of loss to feel better. Click here to learn new tools, grief education, and the only evidence-based method for moving beyond the pain of grief.

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