Us with Dr. Crystallee Crain - Critical Conversations On The Challenges & Opportunities Of Our Time

We are blessed to have our first return guest, Kimberly Turner who is the Designer, Creative Director, & Stylist for Elizabeth In Pearls. Kim is also an advocate for awareness for an important public health issue - endometriosis.

According to the Office on Women's Health - Endometriosis, often referred to as “endo,” is a condition that happens when tissue similar to the lining of a woman’s uterus (womb) grows outside of the uterus.

The Endometriosis Association began Endo Awareness Month in 1993. ENDO is common. Nearly 15% of American women are impacted, with over 200 million worldwide. In the U.S., research suggests that race plays a significant role in misdiagnosis. Historically, many doctors once believed that White and Asian women got endometriosis and Black women did not. For decades, endometriosis has been thought of as "a White woman’s disease". However, doctors now know that race and ethnicity play a large role in whether a woman develops endometriosis, and how long it takes to get a correct diagnosis, and treatment. For example:

Many healthcare providers were educated based on the idea that an endometriosis diagnosis is less likely in Black women. For example, a 1951 study suggested that Black women rarely got endometriosis due to genetic factors. As a result, racial bias has influenced both diagnosis and endometriosis care in the African American community.

Endometriosis uniquely affects African-American women. Traditional thinking was that endometriosis was a condition of white women but that conventional thinking is rapidly changing. Unfortunately, when Black women have chronic pelvic pain it is presumed to be due to other conditions like PID (pelvic inflammatory disease, a pelvic infection) or uterine fibroid tumors (very common in Black women). However, endometriosis is real and common in many African-American women.

Sandhya Jha (they/them) is an anti-oppression consultant who particularly loves helping organizations get Diversity/Equity/Inclusion teams off the ground. Sandhya is the founder and former executive director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations working to create equity, access, and dignity as the means of creating peace in Oakland and the Bay Area. An ordained pastor with a master’s in public policy, Sandhya is comfortable in the pulpit, on the picket line, or hanging out with friends and friends-to-be over a good cup of tea and a good story. Sandhya’s fifth book with Chalice Press, Rebels, Despots, and Saints, will release on MLK Day 2023.

Kim is the Creative Director and Stylist for Elizabeth in Pearls, which is named after her grandmothers Elizabeth - also known as grandmommy - and Pearl - also known as Ma Pearl. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Elisha Hall, the African American Engagement Director with Compassion and Choices, and Joel Simone Maldanado, who is a recent addition to the Board of Directors and a licensed funeral director, insurance agent, and sacred grief practitioner.

Compassion and Choices is an organization dedicated to improving care, expanding options, and empowering everyone to chart their end-of-life journey. The tricky part for people is that we can’t predict or know when our journey and our life will end. I’ve always felt that we should not only have full autonomy over our lives but also the final chapters of our journeys. To me, it's an issue of importance for people of any age and background. We will all face these concerns in our lifetime, more than once, for others and eventually for ourselves.

Learn more about Compassion & Choices at www.compassionandchoices.org. Learn more about Joel's works at www.thegravewoman.com. 

What does Compassion & Choices do?

Dementia End-of-Life Care
We're working to transform how people die with dementia to ensure people are aware, empowered and supported in getting the care they want – or do not want – should dementia take hold.

Healthcare Equity at the End of Life
Compassion & Choices is working in partnership with 
our Leadership Councils and partner organizations to address inequities in end-of-life care and planning.

Medical Aid in Dying
Compassion & Choices is leading efforts to authorize, implement and defend medical aid in dying so all terminally ill people who are eligible will have access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Voluntarily Stop Eating and Drinking
Compassion & Choices is working to raise awareness about the option of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking.

Gigi Traore is the newly appointed Mayor of Newburgh Heights, Ohio. She is the first black mayor of this town. Gigi is also the Founder & Principal Consultant with G3 MANAGEMENT Firm.

As reported in the IOM Interim report - The International Observer Mission, sponsored by the ICHRP, found that the May 9 Philippine National Elections were marred by a higher level of failure of the electronic voting systems than ever before, along with a higher level of blatant vote-buying, disturbing levels of red-tagging and a number of incidents of violence. 

I’m so glad to bring on four amazing guests who have dedicated their wisdom and time to researching and understanding health disparities and ways to increase equity in care, research, and overall access.  Today the topic we are tapping into an important conversation on health as a human right. It only feels right to acknowledge that on Friday, June 24th - the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v Jackson overturned the right to abortion that was in place since Roe v Wade was decided. Many of us have been dealing with the impact of this monumental change. Reproductive justice advocates and people all over the world are watching this regression of rights and looking for some answers.

Today we have a very special guest with us, Beth Santos - the founder and CEO of Wanderful. Beth and I met at the first-ever Wanderfest event in New Orleans in March of this year. She was so supportive and her team created an environment where I felt like I had found my tribe.