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00:00Here at the Essence Wellness House at War with COVID-19 and Health Care Inequities Edition,
00:17we want to remind you that, yes, this is extremely difficult, but there will be life after COVID-19.
00:24And we're going to have a conversation right now to help us refocus our life and dreams after
00:29quarantine. And to do so, we have a dynamic duo, starting with biotechnology mogul, Dr.
00:34Tony Coles, who's the executive chairman and CEO of Saraville Therapeutics. And he is joined
00:40with our very own Essence Ventures founder and chair, Rich Dennis, and they are going to
00:45inspire us with their past and their hopes for the present and the future. Essence Wellness
00:50House is presented by Walmart and sponsored by AARP.
00:59Two, three, two, two.
01:04Now, we'll be able to hear from you.
01:08Two, three, four, five, four, five.
01:11Two, one, two.
01:14Two, one, two, three.
01:15Two, one, one, one, two.
01:24Well, good afternoon and welcome everyone to what I know will be an absolutely amazing
01:38conversation. I, for one, have been looking forward to this for a long time. I am joined
01:43by my good friend and my brother in every way, in heart and in soul, Rich Dennis. And
01:51he's actually with us today to share something quite personal, something that very few people
01:57know, and that is that he had his own battle with COVID-19. And we're going to get into
02:03that in great detail in just a moment. But first, let me set the stage and offer just
02:08a few statistics and some perspective. One of the things we know is that Black Americans
02:13have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. There are a number of reasons for that, including
02:20the fact that Black Americans have a higher incidence of comorbid conditions such as diabetes,
02:25hypertension, heart disease, obesity, all of which we know put Black Americans at risk.
02:32We also know that historically, and this is well-documented research over the last 20 years
02:37or so, that Black Americans have had disproportionate access to health care. There are significant
02:45disparities in hospitalizations for Black Americans and the treatment rates for Black Americans.
02:50And all of those things actually affect the health outcomes for Black America. We noted
02:55that Dr. Lisa Cooper was here earlier sharing what she knows as an expert in this field.
03:02One of the other things that's really important to remember is that 65% of Black Americans live
03:07in the upper Midwest, in the Northeast, and importantly, in the Southeast part of this country. Several
03:14of the Southern states, as we know, chose not to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable
03:19Care Act 10 years or so ago. But imagine, imagine the health outcomes and the improvement in
03:25health and health status for Black America if those Southern states had adopted and embraced
03:31an expansion of Medicaid in those regions. So, we're here today to share a tale of inspiration,
03:38to talk a little bit about the context. And COVID has certainly presented us with an unusual opportunity.
03:46And I do choose the word opportunity carefully. We know that as of two weeks or so ago, that
03:51Black Americans, for instance, living in Michigan, were 14% of the population, but 50% of the deaths.
03:58In Chicago, we're 30% of the population, 50% of the cases, and 70% of the deaths. But Rich's
04:08story today is an unusual one. And it reminds us not just of the resilience, but of the hope
04:14that transformation can bring as a result of the exercise. So, Rich, let's dive in. Tell us a little
04:21bit about what happened just out of the blue, presumably. Tell us your story.
04:27Well, Tony, first of all, great, great to see you and great to be doing this with you. And thank
04:33you for joining us. It's, as you said, brothers in every way. And it's incredible to have the
04:40opportunity to do this together. And for you to hold my hand with this. You know, it's a story that I
04:47think is rather not too different from what many people have experienced. I started to feel ill, I
04:59went to the doctor, and they said I had asthma. Now, it was it was rather strange to me, because I
05:06hadn't had an asthma attack, since I was probably 20 years old. And so, just just hearing that was, for me,
05:15quite, quite shocking. And this was in February. So this was before COVID had become sort of as known
05:26as it was. And people weren't thinking about it was something that was happening somewhere else,
05:31it wasn't happening here. And I started to receive treatment for the asthma. A week later, I wasn't
05:41getting better. I went back to the doctor, they changed the medication up a little bit. And I was
05:47very fortunate because I got to meet a doctor, a pulmonologist named Dr. Rohan Mankakar, who, as it
05:57turns out, actually, went to medical school at Morehouse, which was quite comforting for me. And,
06:04and, and he took a particular interest in seeing that I got better. And this was really before anyone
06:13was really focused on, on COVID here. And so we kept, you know, taking different steps around the
06:20asthma. And, you know, we dealt with the asthma for probably three weeks. But in the second week,
06:26he'd said, Look, you know, we really need to check on this, and make sure it's not COVID. So we did a test.
06:32And it took about a little over a week for the test to come back. And by the time the test came back,
06:40my, it had, it had manifested into full blown pneumonia, COVID pneumonia, my blood oxygen level
06:50had dropped well below safe standards. And at back then, they wouldn't, and we're still having trouble
06:59getting people into hospital. But, you know, he arranged for me to go to, not the hospital that
07:07was closest to me, but to one that was a bit further out where he could keep an eye on me. And so I, you
07:16know, from the house to the hospital, took about 20 minutes, and it wasn't about, you know, 10-15 minutes
07:22later after I got there, that they had, you know, put me on on oxygen, I think I was at 100%. And my lungs
07:33were were completely ravaged by the pneumonia. And I spent eight and a half days in the, in the ICU,
07:43fighting what was an incredibly challenging fight. And, but grateful to grateful to have been able to
07:53fight that fight, and to be here talking about it today.
07:56Well, it's really a remarkable story, Rich, in so many ways, you and I were texting just a few days
08:03before this, talking about what we're going to watch during the the shelter in place in the quarantine.
08:09But there are a couple of really, truly remarkable things here. First of all, you drove yourself to
08:15the hospital, which I found amazing. So as ill as you were, it's something I found even, even more
08:23amazing. And that is, and I don't think you mentioned it yet. But one of the medications you
08:28were put on for your asthma was a steroid that was used to try to control the asthma, which is commonly used
08:35used in severe cases, mild to severe cases of asthma. I have a theory, and I've shared this with you,
08:44but I want to share this with everyone, that those, that course of steroids may actually have helped
08:50to save your life. And the reason I say that is that one of the things we know about COVID pneumonia
08:55is that there's a severe inflammatory reaction, and steroids are, of course, a super charged anti
09:01inflammatory of sorts. So I have to believe that that course of steroids really did actually play
09:07a role, we can't prove it. But I found that really remarkable. But those were those were really trying
09:13days, I'm sure for you. And did you ever have a sense that you might not make, make it out of the
09:19hospital? You know, I, I, to be completely transparent, I had a sense that I might not make it out of the
09:28house to get to the hospital, because the pneumonia had gotten so, so bad at home, I could barely turn
09:36myself over. And as I got sicker, we sort of not sort of I, I self isolated. And so what I didn't want to do at
09:48that point, was to compromise my family any further. And so I made the decision that I would, I would drive
10:00myself. And so I literally sort of snuck out. And, you know, took all the I had, I had the nebulizer,
10:11I had all the asthma pumps, I had all the the steroids. And so I gave myself a dose of it. And, you
10:22know, made my way to the car and drove to the hospital and couldn't take myself out of the car.
10:29But fortunately, the, the folks from the emergency room had been alerted by my doctor that I was on
10:36my way. And, and they took me out of the car and took me in. So, you know, I, I believe, yes, I
10:44believe that those steroids help because I think and I'm not sure of what the medical terms are. But I
10:49think because I had taken them for such a period of time, my immune system was reacting probably
10:56differently than it would have had I not had had I not taking the steroids over that period of time.
11:03And that's the thing about, you know, about this disease, and that I'm, you know, really the reason
11:09that I want to talk about this is because I really want people to understand that this disease reacts
11:14very differently in different people. So, you know, none of the symptoms that I was hearing about on
11:22the on, on TV, were really showing up for me, as I was getting sick. So I wasn't getting headaches, I
11:31wasn't getting fevers, I wasn't getting, you know, any of those things at first. And it wasn't until I
11:37really, you know, the pneumonia had really set in that I even started to get some temperature. And so, or I would get
11:45temperature and would be for, you know, 20, 30 minutes, and then it'll come back down to work. It was never
11:52so high. And so, I think, I think the real sort of lesson here is that the disease reacts differently to
12:03different people. And so, I call it a designer disease, you know, it sort of designed itself for
12:09where, for where it can attack, and then it attacks, and then you have to, you have to be in a position
12:13to respond to it. And so, it's, it's, it's really one of those things of where there were a number of
12:19things that were done along the way, that weren't either at the time, because it was so early, either
12:25weren't sort of the protocol for, for treating COVID, or that one would not have done knowing that it was
12:31COVID at the time, that I think had had some impact on my being here today.
12:38Well, it's, it is a, it is a designer disease, some patients, or some people who are affected
12:44have no symptoms, or very few, and some only lose a sense of smell and taste. And that's their only
12:51symptom. And they obviously have a short course and going quite well, but not everyone is quite
12:56fortunate. And, and you weren't so ill that you required a ventilator, which is a whole different
13:02degree of magnitude, uh, uh, severity. Uh, so you, you managed, but in those, in those moments,
13:08when you were on oxygen, when you were in the hospital, you know, I, I know you as, as a man and
13:15as a brother who is so deep of thought and reserve and resource. I want to hear what you were thinking
13:23at that moment. Uh, Nietzsche, the great philosopher, uh, says something, and I love this, he who has a
13:29why to live for can bear almost any how. And I, I love that expression, but how were you processing
13:38moment and what this would mean in terms of the rest of your life? Yeah. So, you know, it, it's
13:47interesting because I was, uh, maybe five minutes away from, from being, uh, intubated. Um, they brought,
13:56you know, they, they, they had made the calls to let my family know. Um, and they, um, you know,
14:03machine was in the room. Uh, they had, uh, begun to prep me. Um, and then, um, all of a sudden,
14:12well, I shouldn't tell all of a sudden they had given me a drug called LASIK, uh, to clear the fluids
14:17out of my body. And that started to work as they were preparing me to, to be intubated. And so, um,
14:26it was at that moment that I really started to, um, to recognize just how, um, fortunate, um, I've been
14:36and just how, um, as much as I had felt that I had done in this world, um, felt all of a sudden a, um,
14:49a purpose. And I've been a person that's lived my life on purpose. Um, but out of that came a sense
14:56of purpose, came a sense of, uh, you know, God has me on this, on this planet to do more. Um, and God
15:04has me here for a reason. And clearly, um, I have not fulfilled that reason. Um, and so
15:12he took me that close and brought me back. And so as I sort of thought about it, I've thought
15:18about it from the perspective of, you know, we have been so fortunate to have a planet like this and,
15:29and how we've treated this planet, um, um, has been, um, has been atrocious. Um, we have been so
15:38fortunate to have humanity, um, and, and, and, and to enjoy humans, um, and how we've treated each
15:47other has been atrocious. Um, when you think of all the inequities, uh, that, that we, that we are now
15:54even more aware of, and this was something, you know, these inequities were something that have
15:59been troubling me since I was a child. Um, the economic disparities that, um, that we face as
16:06a people and as a community. And so my life's work has been about addressing that and, and working
16:13towards, um, towards that. And so what this has now given me is a renewed sense of purpose and a
16:20renewed sense of opportunity, as you said, um, to, to really go harder and, and do more, um, and,
16:28and create more, uh, more opportunities for, for, for, um, for our community. And so I just, I feel like,
16:37you know, not that I am, you know, all of a sudden coming to this realization, but certainly I am all of a
16:43sudden, um, seeing it with a whole new sense of urgency and a whole new sense of commitment,
16:51um, that is well beyond what I had thought was a high level of commitment already. And so, you know,
16:59I, I sit here today daily thinking about what that looks like and how, and how I manifest that. And,
17:07uh, and, uh, and lo and behold, it comes to me daily. Hmm. You know, it, um, it's, uh, what's
17:16striking about the story is you, you are a person that's already had a tremendous impact on society,
17:21on your family, on the families of others. You founded Sundial, you've, uh, created enormous
17:27opportunity for, for lots of individuals. You're involved now at Essence and Essence Ventures.
17:33Uh, and, and one might argue that, okay, you can sit down and rest now. You've done a lot,
17:38but clearly that's not what the universe is calling for because there was something that you
17:44were snatched back from the brink of, uh, of death. I mean, just think about the statistics I talked
17:49about for certain parts of the country and the, and the disproportionate impact for black and think
17:55about this, this wonderful opportunity that you've been given. I, I for one, I'm really excited to see
18:00where this goes. Viktor Frankl, who's a famed Austrian psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor,
18:07wrote a treatise. Uh, and, uh, in his treatise, he talked a lot about finding the meaning in life. And
18:13he argues that there are, there are three things that will help us derive meaning in life in the work
18:19that we do as what we do in the love of another or the care and the support of another. And finally,
18:26in the courage to withstand in a, a traumatic or very difficult situation, because he argues that it's
18:33in that standing in that, that as the courage emits, we actually find the redefined meaning for our life.
18:41And I love that way of thinking in that frame. And I thought about you the minute I put this together
18:47with his traumatic story. He's an Auschwitz survivor. And he, he survived because he said his sole purpose
18:54was to carry this thought forward and to have it published. And that's what kept him going.
18:59So I, uh, know that you've got a lot more to do and that the universe clearly is not done with, with you
19:07and what you can contribute. Um, I'm your partner. Uh, we are standing right here to watch the wonderful
19:13things and help you drive those forward, but leave us with, uh, leave us with a word, uh, something that
19:21we hadn't really thought about coming into this and, and your call to action for us.
19:27Yeah. You know, I, I, I'll start with my, my call to action for us. Um, we,
19:34we should use this and I love the word that you used to describe this, uh, earlier Tony is, is opportunity.
19:42So, you know, of the many things that ran through my, through my mind, um, the one thing that,
19:51or one of the things that was, that really stood out was, um, that because I had fought for things
19:58that I had believed in, whether it was, um, uh, uh, dismantling the, the, the ethnic aisle from,
20:07from, from a place of, um, uh, segregation to a place of inclusion, uh, whether it was, uh, um,
20:15working with businesses to, to, uh, with black entrepreneurs to build their businesses,
20:20um, all of those things, um, we have to not be on the sidelines. We have to not, um, uh, wait,
20:33um, for anybody else to do it for us. We have to find ways to do it for ourselves, no matter how small,
20:39um, and we have to find ways to do it together. You know, uh, we, we, we, we oftentimes are lone rangers,
20:48right. Um, and we're out in the world and we're, and we're on our own, but we don't come from,
20:54we don't come from individualism. Uh, historically we are community focused. We, we come together.
21:01And, and, and, and, and I think the word that I would leave is let's come together and figure out
21:05how to solve these issues for ourselves and let's get partners to help us, right? Let's get partners
21:11that, that can join us in the fight, but we have to take, we have to take this fight on ourselves and
21:16we have to do, whether it's health inequity, whether it's economic inequity, right? We have
21:20to take those fights on ourselves and we have to drive them and lead them. And that's what we're
21:25going to do. Uh, you know, that, that's why we, we, we, we love this platform that we're building.
21:30That's why we're so inclusive in bringing everybody into it. Um, because it's, it's not one person isn't
21:36going to do it. And one group isn't going to do it. It's going to take all of us to do it. And we have
21:41to start doing it now. We have to start doing it together. So that, that for me is the piece
21:46that I, that I would leave. Well, we've got to wrap it up, but for all the woke folks out there,
21:51we are right behind you and importantly, we're right beside you, my brother. Much love. Thanks.
21:57We got to leave it there. Thank you, Tony. Appreciate you. Thanks everybody.
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