0:01

Healthcare is really complex and sometimes

0:04

people don't always know where

0:06

to get started. We have to reach in and

0:08

connect with people. It's all about becoming

0:10

aware, becoming educated so

0:13

we can make that informed decision. I thought it was

0:15

a private issue, but here's the secret.

0:18

Private lives are public issues. We've got to get to

0:20

the point where we can talk about mental health the same way we

0:22

talk about physical health. I think when we platform

0:26

firsthand experiences, the

0:28

world becomes more accepting and sees

0:30

people as human. Welcome

0:33

back to Until It's Fixed, where we explore new

0:35

ideas and work underway to make healthcare

0:37

simpler and more effective for everyone.

0:39

I'm your host, Kallie Chamberlain.

0:42

And I'm Dr. Kenny Poole. Welcome back, everyone.

0:44

So

0:46

Kallie, we're at the end of season three and

0:49

it's been quite a journey. I

0:51

can't believe it. Time has truly flown

0:53

by. We had some really big changes

0:56

this time around, like you joining the show, Kenny. It's

0:58

been so fun getting to know you and I feel like

1:00

we make a really good team. I love

1:02

the perspective that you bring, not only as a doctor

1:05

and healthcare leader, but also as a father

1:07

and a black man. And I think it's really helped shape

1:09

this season.

1:10

Thank you for that. And I appreciate

1:13

the call out. I feel really grateful for

1:15

this experience. I've learned a lot from you as

1:17

well. Really appreciate your

1:19

perspective on life and your

1:21

approach to things. And

1:23

I'm an admirer of your curiosity

1:26

and energy that you bring to the show.

1:28

Aw, thank you. And I definitely feel like we

1:30

just sort of build off of each other. Another

1:32

major change this season we had was adding bonus

1:35

content in between our full episodes that gave

1:37

you a clear takeaway. One thing that

1:39

you could do to take charge of your health and wellbeing.

1:42

I thought the bonus episodes really showed how you

1:44

could take an active role in your health and more fully

1:46

advocate for yourself. I got a lot

1:48

out of them and I hope you did too.

1:50

Yeah, I like how we went really

1:52

deep in the full episodes, but then

1:54

in the bonus episodes we got practical.

1:57

And that's also where I got feedback

1:59

from.

1:59

friends and coworkers saying like, Hey,

2:02

I heard something on the show that I could take with me into

2:04

my own life. Yeah, I totally agree.

2:06

I had people sharing the same thing. There

2:08

were so many inspiring moments in this season. We

2:11

had really incredible conversations

2:13

with community advocates, healthcare leaders,

2:15

authors, influencers, and

2:18

regular people like you and me. So

2:20

if you had to pick a few that stood out, what

2:22

would you say Kenny?

2:24

There were a lot and I really enjoyed all the guests.

2:27

Several folks certainly stuck out.

2:29

I enjoyed hearing from Brian Hughes, who's the chaplain

2:32

and spiritual care specialist at

2:34

UnitedHealth Group and how he talked about

2:36

not only his current work, but what motivated

2:39

him to get into chaplaincy.

2:41

And then I really enjoyed talking

2:43

with Ed Walton from Black Man Run from

2:46

the episode on Black Health, just because

2:48

he had so much passion for making the

2:50

system work better and also

2:53

found an alternative way to kind

2:55

of plug in a gap, if you will.

2:58

I was just really appreciative of his work,

3:00

not only as a physician,

3:03

but also as a runner and then as

3:05

a black man. So those were my

3:07

kind of

3:08

big two shout outs. What about you,

3:11

Kelly? Yeah, I also love the spirituality conversation,

3:14

especially because of my work as a birth and death

3:16

doula. I thought Eve Rodski's

3:18

episode was incredible and just a

3:21

really good way to spotlight invisible labor,

3:23

which is something we don't talk a lot about. I also

3:26

really like the conversation about therapy with Cez

3:28

Cezik, who was so open in sharing

3:30

some of his personal experiences. Overall,

3:33

I just really liked the way we expanded this season

3:35

to not just talk about health, but wellness.

3:38

I thought that was really powerful. And

3:40

I really liked how we brought

3:41

in people that were directly impacted by the topic

3:43

that we were talking about and then spoke

3:45

with leaders who are helping to shape the industry

3:48

so we could see how complex health really can

3:50

be.

3:51

That brings me to my biggest

3:53

takeaway from the season. As

3:55

a physician, it was good to hear from people working outside

3:57

of the traditional healthcare system.

4:00

to make things better, right? And a huge

4:03

takeaway was that the solutions

4:06

that are needed to fix healthcare are going to

4:08

be as complex as the problems themselves.

4:10

Yeah, that's a great way to put it. And I think

4:12

that's really key when we think about why healthcare

4:15

is so complicated. If there were simple

4:17

solutions, we'd probably be able to find them

4:19

a lot faster or already have them. Another

4:22

thing that we really dove into this season was how

4:24

everything is connected as it relates to your health. So

4:27

for example, your mental health impacts

4:30

your physical health and your ability to be well

4:32

and really feel like you're thriving.

4:34

Yeah, exactly. When one part

4:36

of someone's life is not well, that can affect the other

4:38

parts too. So it's not just

4:40

mental health that affects our physical health. It's our diet

4:43

and everything that we drink. It's our exercises,

4:46

our relationships with our spouses, our loved ones,

4:48

our communities, our friends, all of

4:50

that. And there's the relationships that we have with people

4:53

that we are connected to from a care perspective

4:55

like our doctors. All these different

4:57

things layer in and affect our health and wellbeing.

5:00

And I think our conversations over the course

5:02

of the season really illustrated that

5:04

beautifully.

5:04

Yeah, I agree. Kenny,

5:07

one of the other things that really stuck out is

5:09

how much we talked about the role of community as it

5:11

relates to your health.

5:12

Yeah, that was a big one for me. I think what

5:14

we showed this season is that community

5:17

specific issues are gonna take community specific

5:19

solutions. So we saw people serving

5:21

their own communities and making an impact, whether it was

5:24

Ed McDonald on the South Side of Chicago

5:26

and the work he's doing around nutrition and

5:28

overall wellness or Beth O'Connor

5:31

and the rural health episode. And I saw

5:33

that as a central theme. Like it takes people who

5:35

are from communities in order to find

5:37

solutions that will work for those specific

5:40

communities. And one place that we can do

5:42

better is making

5:42

sure that we appropriately equip

5:45

all communities so that they can advocate

5:47

for themselves. Yeah, I completely

5:49

agree. And the way I think about it is where

5:52

are the community-based solutions and then

5:54

how does traditional healthcare pick

5:56

up on those solutions and follow community

5:59

lead?

5:59

So to me, the most comprehensive, meaningful

6:02

way that people can make sure their needs are met

6:04

is often local. And that's not a

6:06

substitution for the changes that need to

6:08

happen on a larger scale. But

6:11

it's the most immediate. It's the most relational.

6:13

It's the most human. And so I think there's

6:15

a role for both.

6:17

One of the things I also thought was

6:19

a common thread in the course of the season was people

6:21

taking control of their health. So

6:24

more recently, we had Nikki Batiste,

6:26

who shared her fertility journey on air

6:28

as a journalist. So the others felt less

6:31

alone.

6:31

Eve Rosky recognizing

6:34

a gap

6:34

as related to domestic tasks and

6:37

writing a book about it and putting together a

6:40

method around how to approach

6:42

communication and teamwork in the home

6:45

more effectively. Same thing with Amy

6:47

Root and Casey Davis, one in the world

6:49

to be more neuro-inclusive. Dr.

6:52

Sue Reed, who felt motivated and empowered

6:54

once she got on the other side of the doctor-patient

6:57

relationship to improve it. So we had

6:59

this theme of people saying, you know what?

7:01

I'm affected by an issue, and I'm going to do

7:03

something about it. And that part was really cool. Yeah,

7:06

I completely agree. There's so much space for us

7:08

to be educated, to advocate for ourselves,

7:10

to ask questions, to take it upon

7:13

ourselves and our communities to make the changes

7:15

that we want to see. And it's not just up to

7:17

the individual to figure all this out, of course.

7:20

We need to really focus on making health and

7:22

health care more accessible, affordable, culturally

7:25

sensitive, and to actually work better

7:27

for everybody.

7:28

Absolutely. It's time for

7:31

one more thing before we go. Of course.

7:33

We can't end the season without recapping one of our

7:35

favorite parts of the show for you, the lightning

7:37

round. I've always wanted

7:39

to do one of these. Your dreams are coming

7:41

true right now. Do I need

7:44

a buzzer? What

7:46

is something new that you've learned recently? Change

7:49

is probably the one constant

7:51

that we have in our lives. So it's not about

7:54

preventing change, but embracing

7:56

change. Listen first, speak second. Listen

7:59

more than you can.

7:59

Never forget where you come from and get

8:02

back. Growth is nonlinear.

8:05

I have always expected growth

8:07

to be just one way, and I

8:09

realize often growth is happening even when

8:11

we don't see it. Be present and enjoy the simple

8:14

moments in life. Be with your family and live

8:16

each day.

8:18

I love this. These were all great words to live by.

8:20

Callie, what was the best piece of life advice you

8:23

took away from the season?

8:24

So one of my favorite quotes

8:26

is by Maya Angelou, and she says, because

8:29

I'm human, nothing human can be alien to me.

8:32

And I think that is just a reminder in everything

8:35

that I do that everything

8:37

that is happening, that we experience,

8:40

that we feel it's human. It's part of our

8:42

experience here. And there's

8:44

something about that that's deeply humbling

8:46

and grounding and connects me to other people

8:49

and expands the empathy and compassion

8:51

that I feel and also the commitment to make

8:53

change and work better. So I

8:56

felt like that just got reinforced through all

8:58

of the things that I was hearing this season to

9:00

find what was human

9:02

that could then motivate the changes that

9:04

we need to see. So more of

9:06

a reminder of what does it look like for

9:08

us to lead from a place of deep compassion?

9:10

I like that. Yeah, so what about

9:13

you? What would you say? Yeah, I have this quote.

9:15

I think I found it in the mall

9:17

when I was in college, and I remember

9:20

going through a period of reflection

9:22

as I was getting ready to apply to medical

9:24

school and writing personal statements and things

9:26

like that. And so this quote just

9:28

stuck with me. It's from George Bernard

9:31

Shaw, and it says, the people who get on in

9:33

this world are the people who get

9:35

up and look for the circumstances that they want,

9:37

and if they can't find them, they make

9:40

them. And I

9:42

think not only has that been something

9:44

that's been personal

9:46

for me, a lot of our guests

9:48

embodied that. That's what they were doing.

9:51

They were looking for better circumstances

9:54

and when those things weren't there,

9:56

they put things into play,

9:58

not only for themselves, but for others.

9:59

And that's something that I live by and something that

10:02

really resonated with me this season. Yeah,

10:04

I love that. At the end of the day, we're all at different

10:06

stages on our health journeys and life

10:08

in general. We hope that wherever

10:11

you are, you took something away from the season

10:13

to live your healthiest life. And

10:15

we sincerely thank all of our guests for their expertise,

10:18

transparency, passion, and vulnerability.

10:21

And we thank all of our listeners.

10:23

Yeah, absolutely. It's such a privilege to

10:25

be able to have these conversations and share them

10:27

with all of you. So thank you again for

10:29

trusting us to be in your ear every week with

10:31

information and tips. This really

10:33

wouldn't be possible without you. Just

10:36

a reminder that you can catch up on all of season

10:38

three at Optum.com backslash

10:40

podcast, or find us on a dozen

10:42

different apps and platforms, including Apple

10:44

podcasts and Spotify. Also

10:47

be sure to subscribe or follow the show.

10:48

Again, thanks to everybody who's been a part

10:50

of the season. We're grateful. Yes,

10:53

take care, everyone.

10:58

Bye-bye.