A Women’s Health Survival Guide

Preface

I created this guide not only as a practitioner but also as a patient, a survivor, and a woman who has experienced the American health-care system from both sides of the examination table. Throughout my childhood, I was pretty much on my own emotionally and financially independent since the age of seventeen. Somehow, I always knew that education would be my way forward, but it was difficult for me to complete my schooling, given that I had no financial support and was still dealing with the wounds from my childhood. At twenty-one years old and at the lowest point in my life, I had two choices: live or die. It took me weeks of serious contemplation, but I chose to get help. There is a whole other story in that journey, and I will not take your time now because we need to focus on you. Anyway, that was the point in my life when I made the promise to care about myself in the loving and kind way that I cared for others. Thankfully, with treatment, I was ultimately able to overcome my personal and deeply challenging health issues. That was a turning point in my life for me. I felt extremely lucky to have been given a second chance in life, and for this reason, I have focused my entire career on helping others live healthier and happier lives as well.

Early in my career, I worked as a registered nurse in an emergency room, where my interest quickly shifted toward preventive health care and corporate health management. The reason for the change of heart was because I saw way too many people who could have avoided the emergency room if they’d only thought about preventive health sooner: the diabetics with uncontrolled sugar levels, the heart attacks that could have been avoided, the parents not properly dispensing asthma medication for their children to avoid asthma attacks, and the multiple driving fatalities because people did not wear seat belts or helmets.

Over the next twenty years, I combined my passion for prevention and love for entrepreneurship to successfully build and sell two health-related companies. For me, the best parts of this experience were working in our family-friendly environment with an amazing team, helping to influence millions of people’s lifestyles positively, and the fabulous clients we got to work with. Some of our clients included Mars Incorporated, Nestle, Scholastic Books, Eaton Corporation, Harman International, Campbell Soup Company, and IKEA.

However, after three decades in the health-care industry and as a working mother who was committed to balancing life at work and home, the inadequacy of the health resources we provide for women only became more obvious to me. I have watched women struggle to find the time to get the prenatal care, preventive medicine, and reproductive care they needed to live their healthiest lives amid substandard health insurance access and the inherent inequality of America’s gender norms. I have witnessed so many women only taking time off from work to care for their children’s or parents’ health needs and putting their own health last on their list.

Over the years, I have also seen time and again what I had learned from my personal experience with healing: even though every element of a woman’s health is connected, from physical to mental to sexual and even financial, women were not receiving the effective guidance needed on those topics in particular. That is why I wanted to focus this book on women specifically.

My life experiences up to this point have strengthened my resolve that we can and must do better to take care of our health. For that reason, I am now focusing on philanthropic efforts in health care full time. Please note that all proceeds from this book and any speaking engagements will be used to fund scholarships for young women in need to get their formal health education and to support other women’s health issues. I hope that this workbook can help change your life for the better—the way my life was changed all those years ago.

Chapter 1

Why Make Your Health a Priority?

The point of this guide is to provide women with the tools they need to prioritize their own health every day, which will ultimately enable them to better achieve all their goals.

As women, we are told to juggle things, from work to family to unrealistic body image expectations, but what no one seems to tell us to do is prioritize our own health. We are told, at a minimum, to have a few screenings once we get to certain ages and to check our breasts in the shower for lumps. Taking breast health as one example, that just checking your breasts to make sure you don’t already have breast cancer is an insane, outdated, and reactive approach to our health. What about screenings, family history, and guidance from your gynecologist?

In the twenty-first century, so much is known about long-term health, but we don’t seem to talk about it, much less apply it! That’s why in this guide I have broken it down into digestible, comprehensive parts to make it easy for you to use. I know what you’re likely thinking: I don’t have any spare time! However, you have to understand that it will require a shift in priorities to put your health at the top of your consideration set. Just remember that it’s literally the only way to give yourself a longer and healthier life. There really is no more important priority than that, for your health contributes to and enables all of your other goals and priorities.

It’s as simple as this: as women, we seem to have the time—or make the time—to take care of everyone else but ourselves. But if we don’t start taking care of ourselves, we won’t be around to keep taking care of others.