Susan, your host, welcomes Geralyn Ritter to today’s episode. Geralyn is a recognized expert in healthcare policy and an executive vice president at Organon & Co., a new Fortune 500 healthcare company dedicated to the health of women. She was formerly senior vice president at Merck & Co., Inc., one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. She has spearheaded global government affairs and policy, led initiatives on corporate governance and corporate responsibility, created and launched a widely acclaimed half-billion-dollar philanthropic initiative to end preventable maternal deaths around the globe, and has served as President of the Merck Foundation. In 2020, on behalf of Merck, Geralyn accepted the Disability Employer of the Year award. She is now the author of a memoir about her recovery from the 2015 Amtrak derailment titled: Bone by Bone: A Memoir of Trauma and Healing.

 

Key Takeaways:

• Geralyn shares her story as a survivor of the 2015 Amtrak derailment.
• Geralyn talks about the confusion that took over her when she woke up after the derailment: “It seemed too unreal to be true.”
• Susan shares her thoughts about the day her life turned upside down; she remembers thinking: “This can’t be happening to me.”
• Geralyn talks about first feeling grateful for being alive and then, realizing how life-changing the derailment was going to be, she really started to crash.
• Geralyn couldn’t accept that somehow she deserved to survive.
• Geralyn came to the realization that she did have the right to grieve even though she had survived.
• Geralyn talks about the difficult task of accepting the lack of control.
• Keep your hope; you can’t control the time frame, remember that grieving has no schedule and that you will get better.
• Life has unlimited opportunities; you will find joy, and grief will be less searing.

 

Resources

Tendrilsofgrief.com

Email Susan: [email protected]

 

Meet Geralyn Ritter

Learn more about Geralyn

Bone by Bone: A Memoir of Trauma and Healing.