Embracing Women's Health Empowement

If someone had told me twenty years ago I would be talking out loud about VAGINAS all day every day, I’d have told them they were nutso. Like most baby-boomers, I was raised to believe there are certain things you just don’t talk about out loud.?

If someone had told me twenty years ago I would deeply embrace the nonprofit sector with my heart, hands, and every passionate cell in my body, I would have thought ya, sure. Nonprofit patient advocacy wasn’t even close to being on my radar.

If someone had told me twenty years ago that women’s below-the-waist health empowerment would become a passion of mine in my dinosaur years, I’d have thought you were dipping a bit too deeply into the weed stash. While my great-uncle Norm told me in my late twenties “you come from a long line of strong women”, his profound sentiment didn’t come close to meaning anything notable at that point in my life.

And if someone had told me twenty years ago, I’d willingly give up income, time, and privacy in order to advance the course of women’s health empowerment, I’d have likely leaned in to hear more, but likely brushed it off.

Life throws us curveballs, and sometimes that’s a really fulfilling thing.

I’ve always been “good” at whatever employment/career position I’ve held throughout my many years. Worked hard, played hard. Made every effort to be nice to people (thanks gram for that subliminal message). ?I never gave much thought to my career flow, step-by-step layers just fell into place, as is common for so many of us. I had no interest in writing books. I had no interest in public speaking. I had no interest in addressing shortfalls in women’s wellness and screening. I had no interest in exploring the nonprofit sector in any big-picture impactful way. Yet here I am.

Having proactively stayed on top of my female health screenings, I was a bit shocked the day I noticed that bulge of tissue peaking out of my vagina.

I was deer-in-the-headlights being diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse, a condition I’d never heard of that turned out to be a global women’s health pandemic. Clueless what it meant. Clueless what the prognosis was. Clueless what the ramifications would be.

I was livid. Discovering POP had been medically documented for nearly 4,000 years lit the flames of fury and passion. Uncovering the data disclosing billions of other women around the world experience POP was a catalyst. I knew within 2 weeks of my diagnosis that my destiny was to address the unacceptable shortfall in pelvic organ prolapse awareness, screening, practice, and policy. The rest is history.

Nearly 4,000 years of medical documentation yet no open conversation is unacceptable. No standardized POP screening inclusion within pelvic exams despite childbirth being the leading causal factor is unacceptable. Insufficient POP curriculum provided to diverse medical fields providing pelvic exams is unacceptable. And certainly, ignoring the greatest shortfall in women’s health empowerment is unacceptable.

Nearly every woman diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse asks the same question; “why wasn’t I informed of or screened for POP sooner?”

Change is coming.

#APOPS #womenshealthempowerment #PelvicOrganProlapse #EveryVoiceMatters #BelowTheWaist #TheBiggestSecretinWomensHealth