15. Advocating For Yourself with Dr. Debra Hardy Cartwright

The Secret Lives of Black Women

The Secret Lives of Black Women and Stitcher

Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 November 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Charla and Lauren have had their fair share of experiences with going to the doctor. Recently, some of their friends have been dealing with fibroids- abnormal growths that can develop in a woman’s uterus. In this episode, Dr. Debra Hardy-Cartwright talks about what it means to advocate for yourself as a black woman in the hospital. She shares personal experiences as the first black female OBGYN in her hospital in Annapolis, MD and gives advice on what to do when you’re not being heard. You can find more about The SLBW at https://www.instagram.com/theslbw/ Follow SLBW on Twitter and Instagram @theslbw

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	And I don't think a lot of times the black women could trust a lot of the white male older doctors.
0:06.7	They wouldn't listen or they didn't give them as much a care or care or concern I mean genuine concern for
0:18.1	their well-being but I think one of the biggest issues is listening to the patient because they know when something's wrong and they need to be seen.
0:32.0	You know, you really have to be seen.
0:42.0	You know, you really have to be your own advocate because a lot of times the options won't allow, you know, future fertility. There is a higher percentage of fibroids in black women.
0:47.8	Black women also show signs and symptoms earlier than white women.
0:56.0	This is the secret lives of black women.
0:58.0	I'm Lauren.
0:59.0	I'm Sharla, and today we're talking health,
1:02.0	particularly black women's health.
1:04.6	I feel like when I was young, I just thought I was sort of just careless with my body
1:10.3	and only thing I've been in terms of reproduction. So I'm really excited to have this
1:17.7	conversation not only for myself because I also feel like black women's
1:21.0	health and our maternal health you you know, have been at the forefront of really scary conversations that is scary and fearful and I want to, you know, learn more about that and
1:34.0	ways that I can advocate for myself
1:38.1	and advocate for other black women.
1:39.4	So I think this conversation is really important.
1:54.1	Yeah, I mean, when I was in my 20s, I could drink a bottle of, you know, rum and then go to work at 8 a.m. and be sprite and happy. And now if I have a glass of wine,
1:57.0	don't chug a bottle of water to chase it.
2:00.0	Before I go to sleep, I wake up with a splitting headache.
2:02.4	Like my body is literally breaking down every year as I get older.
2:05.6	It's bananas how my body has changed. And now I have fibroids, which is a thing that I never even heard of and my friends have fibroids and I'm just like
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Secret Lives of Black Women and Stitcher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Secret Lives of Black Women and Stitcher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.