- 1 week ago
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good morning. As Dr. Hebert said, I'm Dr. Courtney Ariane Washington or Dr. Nola Knows on Instagram.
00:07I'm a board certified family medicine physician and preventative health is a huge passion for me.
00:14In my residency training, we focus heavily on continuity of care.
00:18So it's not just seeing the patient in the clinic, but also following them on the inpatient realm.
00:22And what I've come to learn is that the relationship that I have with my patients is super important
00:28because without that trust, the patient will not feel open enough or comfortable enough to express,
00:36hey, doc, I can't read.
00:38So I give them these handouts on hypertension and diabetes because I check my checkbox.
00:43But when the patient gets home, they have all of these medications that they don't know what to do with.
00:47And that ends up with them sometimes taking too much.
00:50Sure. So we have folks here that really want to understand how this paradigm of getting your annual checkup,
01:03how does this really affect the longevity of a patient?
01:08And I'll say that to you because 80% of people that have insurance don't go to the doctor.
01:1480%. So let's not even talk about the folks that don't have insurance.
01:19So people that don't go to the annual exams with insurance, that's 80%.
01:23So the first question is how, when you do have a patient, how do you explain to them
01:30why it's so important for them to get their annual checkup?
01:35I explained that I can't tell if you're healthy or do a risk assessment or for cancers or anything like that
01:43without an annual wellness exam.
01:46I need to look at your labs.
01:47I need to take your blood pressure.
01:48I need to do a real thorough exam and look at your family history, your social history.
01:53All of that impacts your longevity.
01:55So a lot of people always say, oh, I don't go to the doctor.
01:57I'm healthy.
01:58Well, how do you know that?
01:59I've had patients of mine as young as 25 that are on dialysis for uncontrolled hypertension for years.
02:06Looks healthy, fit, goes to the gym, eats good.
02:10Why is this patient on dialysis?
02:12So I always express that health is wealth.
02:15You can have all of the money in the world.
02:17You can have a great job and work, work, work, work, work.
02:19But if you're not allowed to enjoy it, what was the point?
02:22So making that time to take care of yourself first so that you can enjoy your life and take care of others is very important.
02:28And when I put it like that, most patients understand that.
02:31Well, you know, I like when you said that when you look at a person, you can't really tell if they're healthy, right?
02:40So I think a lot of this is fear.
02:43And I want everyone to really wrap their minds around the concept of fear.
02:47The reason why I think so many of us don't go to the doctor like we need to is because we look at ourselves and we look like we feel okay.
02:58We look like we look okay.
02:59But we all know that story, right?
03:04Miss Mary.
03:05Let's just say Miss Mary.
03:07Miss Mary didn't go to the doctor because she was scared.
03:11And she finally went because she wasn't feeling well.
03:17And she went in and they found something.
03:21So then they found that tumor that was making her feel bad.
03:25And then she goes to get that tumor taken out.
03:29And then as soon as they cut her open, that air hit that tumor and it spread.
03:34Now, we all know that air hitting a tumor doesn't make it spread.
03:41But that's what we think in the black community.
03:44That the thing that killed Miss Mary was the doctor that cut her open to let the air hit the tumor to make it spread.
03:51But that's not what killed Miss Mary.
03:54What killed Miss Mary is the fact that that tumor got too big all of them years she didn't go to the doctor.
03:59So these myths are things that really cause us problems.
04:03What myths do you encounter in your practice that make it a problem for people to do what they're supposed to do?
04:12Just as you said, they think that the doctor is the enemy or we cause this.
04:17And I also have to demystify that and empower patients to tell me when something is wrong.
04:22If you're losing a whole bunch of weight unintentionally, that's a problem.
04:26It's not like, oh, she looking good.
04:27She losing weight.
04:29Well, if you didn't change your diet, that's an issue.
04:31On the other hand, some patients end up going to the hospital.
04:35They're like, oh, well, I go every year for my annual wellness exam.
04:38But if you didn't mention your mother had breast cancer at 40 and died at 42 or you didn't mention that your dad had colon cancer in his 40s and he also died young,
04:49then go on and do your annual wellness exam without reference or family history or social history.
04:53You don't tell me that you've been smoking cigarettes for 30 years, a pack a day.
04:57I wouldn't, it wouldn't cross my mind to do a CT, we'll do a CT scan to check for those tumors.
05:03So it's both issues there.
05:05Well, you know, that's one thing that we have got to get over.
05:09And this is something that's very real.
05:11Oh, he's a, he's a good doctor or she's a good doctor, but they don't have a really good bedside manner, but they're a really good doctor.
05:20That can no longer be the case.
05:22Because if you don't feel comfortable with your doctor, if you leave the doctor's office and you still have questions, this is bad.
05:32My grandmother would come home from her doctor's appointment and call me.
05:38Hey, well, let me, let me ask you a question.
05:40I was like, why are you asking your doctor?
05:42And then after I got up and she slapped the hell out of me, right, after saying that, I was like, why are you asking him?
05:49He's so busy.
05:50He's just busy.
05:50Well, would you, you're buying this service.
05:54You are buying this service.
05:56So if you bought a, a, a shirt from Macy's and you weren't satisfied with the shirt, you wouldn't pay for it.
06:03You take it back.
06:05But at this point, when they come to us, they're buying that service, whether they have Medicaid or they have insurance or they're paying for it in cash.
06:13They're buying it.
06:14And it needs to be, it needs to be a good service.
06:17So when you mention the history, you got to be honest.
06:22You got to be honest at the, at the doctor's office, at the police station and at the, uh, at the tax guy.
06:30When you go and get your taxes, that's the place.
06:32You can't lie, man.
06:33It's going to hurt you.
06:34The myth, give me some more myths besides the fear.
06:40The other myth is that, well, these medications cause my problem or it makes it worse.
06:47Or, oh, I should just take my blood pressure whenever it's high.
06:51Huge myth.
06:52Yeah.
06:53It's not as needed.
06:54These instructions are instructions for a reason.
06:57Or, you take a medication from one doctor, then you go and you buy a supplement.
07:01Oh, well, it's organic.
07:02It can't hurt me.
07:03That poison is mushrooms and it's organic.
07:05Yeah.
07:06You know?
07:07So, huge myth.
07:08Taking medications and asking questions.
07:10I always ask my patients, do you have any more questions?
07:13Do you understand how to take it?
07:15Tell me what I just said.
07:16The teach back method.
07:17It works.
07:18It works.
07:18How many of y'all think, when I tell you, if you got a burn, what do you put on that burn?
07:27But, he said it, butter.
07:30Right?
07:31You grew up with putting butter on a burn.
07:34That's the worst thing you could ever do is put butter on a burn.
07:40They got people walking around here right now, scarred up, because they put butter on a burn.
07:45But, the thing that's the problem, and I want to go into this, is, we're black folks.
07:51Where do you think that came from?
07:54It's not totally crazy, because it's got to make some sense somewhere.
07:59What do you put on a scar from a burn?
08:03Cocoa butter, right?
08:05So, in the middle passage, they wouldn't let us communicate all the things we need to communicate.
08:10So, what do we have in New Orleans, broken down, is, oh, butter, burn, put it on there.
08:18But, really, it's cocoa butter, the raw cocoa butter that you could put on there, a burn, when it's done on the scar.
08:26So, have you run into these types of cultural differences with things that make the difference between your black patients and your white patients?
08:35Absolutely.
08:36I actually work at a critical access center, Hood Memorial.
08:39It's about an hour outside of here.
08:40A lot of blue-collar workers, really good people.
08:43But, the same homemade antidotes.
08:45Actually, I've had a patient put toothpaste on a burn that was from Haiti.
08:48And, I was like, oh, my God, made the burn worse.
08:51Or, putting bleach on eczema.
08:54That, that was chemical burn out the wazoo.
08:57Bleach on a ringworm.
08:58Bleach on a ringworm.
09:00Now, don't we know the crazy part about all these things make sense?
09:03Because, bleach will kill a ringworm.
09:06It's just going to kill your skin, too.
09:08Exactly.
09:09You know what I'm saying?
09:09So, if I had cancer, a cancer's, the cure is to swallow a bomb and let it explode.
09:16But, you'll be dead, right?
09:17So, you kill a cancer, too.
09:18So, that's a really interesting one.
09:21This bleach on eczema.
09:23Correct.
09:24I didn't understand where it came from.
09:26That would kind of make sense.
09:27Because, I didn't understand for the eczema.
09:28Because, it creates chemical burns.
09:30You ever spill bleach on your hand?
09:31It doesn't feel good.
09:32And, so, this is another one.
09:34These cultural differences.
09:37So, when you have eczema, it's in these little tiny patches sometimes that are circular.
09:44And, those patches, it's called nummular atopic dermatitis.
09:47Or, nummular eczema.
09:49But, if you Google that right now, you'll see it's circular.
09:52And, it looks just like a ringworm.
09:55It looks just like a ringworm.
09:57So, you put bleach on a ringworm.
10:00But, you put bleach on the eczema that you think is a ringworm.
10:03But, it's God.
10:04And, the only way you can know that is to come to her.
10:09Come to me.
10:11These myths are very pervasive.
10:13Do you, um, what do you think about the concept of, of black folks, um, not wanting to go to black doctors?
10:21And, I find it very interesting because I have this conversation with my patients all the time or in passing because my mother always tells everybody, she's a doctor.
10:30Go to heart.
10:30She's the best.
10:30And, it, it, it saddens me sometimes because when patients get in my office, we speak the same language.
10:37I can speak my medical language, which is totally different, you know.
10:40But, when I'm speaking to my patient, it's relaxed.
10:43Like, hey, let's talk about you.
10:45What do you do?
10:46Open it up.
10:47But, I, I don't really understand that.
10:48And, sometimes it's always, uh, there was this thing my grandmother used to say, you know, sometimes they feel like the white man's ice is colder.
10:55Sure.
10:56Which is not necessarily true.
10:58And, what I've learned in my practice in the past year, I have a multitude of races of patients.
11:03But, there's certain cultures where they specifically go to people that look like them.
11:08For example, I have one Asian patient.
11:10I have no Jewish patients.
11:12So, I try to change the narrative with my patients, and that's why I started doing a YouTube channel to talk about this.
11:19Being comfortable with somebody that looks like you.
11:21When you do go to a doctor of another race, are you as open with saying those things like putting butter on a burn or different things like that?
11:29And, if you're not, that your doctor is not a person you're auditioning for, an interview for.
11:33This is somebody that you're going to be honest in.
11:36We can both work on your health together.
11:38So, I try to push that narrative, and I think I'm making headway, but a little piece by piece.
11:42It's piece by piece.
11:43And, I say the same thing over and over.
11:46Which is why I was like, let me put this on a YouTube.
11:48Because, it's the same thing.
11:50Same questions.
11:51Yeah.
11:52As we move forward, I mean, I never want people to think that if you're black, a white doctor can't fulfill your need.
12:01Right?
12:01Because, there's just not enough black doctors to begin with.
12:03So, that's never going to happen when every black person has a black doctor.
12:07But, what you must always remember is that whatever doctor you go to, you need to have your needs met.
12:15Your needs need to be met regardless.
12:18And, so, when you leave, you don't have any questions.
12:24So, what method do you use when your patients leave to assure or increase the chance that they're going to do what you say?
12:37Now, before you answer that, I want you guys to just think about what a doctor has to do every day.
12:41It's a problem solving job, but it's a hard job.
12:46Meaning, you take off work to come sit in my office for an hour or two knowing you're going to have to wait.
12:56That's the way it works is going to the doctor's office, right?
12:58Hopefully, that's not the case, but it sometimes is.
13:01You take off work to come see me about something that you do not want to talk about.
13:06That you have put off for a long time.
13:09But, if you're there now, it's really gotten to a point where you have to come to grips with yourself.
13:17So, you're already uncomfortable.
13:19So, I've got to come in front of you, and then I've got to pull out what's really wrong with you.
13:25Because you don't want to say it.
13:27I've got to pull it out.
13:28Then, after I pull it out, then I have to figure out what it is that is the problem.
13:36And then, after I figure out what's the problem, I've got to figure out what I'm going to do to treat it.
13:44And then, after I figure that out, I've got to figure out how I'm going to sell you on the treatment
13:49that if you had done this before you came, you wouldn't be in the first place.
13:55All in 15 minutes.
13:58That's a hard job.
13:59So, how do you, when they leave, try to ensure that they're going to do what you ask them to do,
14:09knowing that it's going to be hard what you ask them to do.
14:12They ain't going to want to do what you ask them to do.
14:14They're going to have to pay to do what you ask them to do.
14:16And they just don't feel good now because they are leaving and they know what they've got.
14:23How do you do that?
14:25So, I think this is why I always run late in clinic.
14:28So, I try to, I use the raw truth.
14:32A lot of times in my training, I find that sometimes people take the sting out of it
14:37to make it seem like it's not as bad as it really is.
14:39So, I'm like, you know, your hemoglobin A1C, which is a measure of what your average glucose has been running, right?
14:44So, if it's like 14, you're running in the 300s.
14:48So, I always do close follow-ups and I say, look, these medications, this is the way it works.
14:55If you have any questions, I have a patient portal.
14:57Some of them, this is really bad.
14:59I give them my personal cell phone number.
15:01But, I can guarantee you, if you keep continuing to live like this, you don't hurt now.
15:06But, you're going to end up losing your leg.
15:08You're going to end up down on dialysis.
15:10I can guarantee you, in 10 years, you're not going to hardly have any function or you might not even be here.
15:17So, and sometimes I'm like, just get your affairs in order if you want to go the natural way.
15:22Because, I cannot help you if you don't trust me, right?
15:26But, I've seen this too often and especially in our communities where diabetes initially, it doesn't hurt.
15:31It's a silent killer.
15:32I've had a guy come in, oh, my foot looks purple.
15:35All toes are broken.
15:36Been walking around like that for two weeks.
15:37It doesn't hurt.
15:39So, I use that tactic and I say it's because I care.
15:42I do care.
15:43And, if I didn't care, I'm like, ah, well go and do the natural herb.
15:48There's being holistic and I believe in that and there's pathology, right?
15:52So, I found that that works and we make short-term goals.
15:56Look, in the short-term goal, I want you to diet, carb-controlled diet.
16:01What does that mean?
16:02Read a nutrition label.
16:04Serving sizes, right?
16:05And, in two weeks, I want you to come back.
16:08I want you to bring me your glucose log.
16:11And, we're going to, I'm going to do a random point-of-care glucose.
16:13Don't eat anything.
16:14I schedule you first thing in the morning.
16:15Yeah.
16:15And, then, in three months, when we repeat the hemoglobin A1C, if it is less than 7%, I tell them I'm going to do my happy dance.
16:22I can't dance well, okay?
16:24So, it has been working.
16:26I don't know about that.
16:26But, it has worked for me because it empowers them.
16:30I'm giving you a choice.
16:31It's not like, you have to do this.
16:32You have a choice.
16:33Yeah.
16:34If you want to keep eating brother's fried chicken every day, McDonald's during lunch because you don't have time to take care of yourself, make sure, you know, your wife has your life insurance policy ready.
16:44Okay.
16:44Well, you know, a lot of it's, I like the acronym, inspiration, medication, and education, right?
16:52Because, it's our job to inspire the patient to do well.
16:56Absolutely.
16:57And, if the patient looks like you, you kind of can feel that easier inspiration of what you're trying to do.
17:04And, when I say medication, I don't mean, you know, a prescription all the time.
17:09Right.
17:10Medication sometimes is education, meaning, if you're trying to lose weight, and you don't know that a bowl of rice has as much sugar as two bowls of ice cream.
17:21Absolutely.
17:23You don't know that, so you're like, well, I'm really, I'm going to cut back, so I'm just going to have one scoop of rice tonight.
17:28That's still two bowls of ice cream.
17:31So, these types of things, everybody in the audience is like, what are you talking, are you serious?
17:36Yes, I'm serious.
17:38So, the education, so I would say medication, in that particular sense, isn't a pill.
17:44It's the education of, I need to know what is going on with my body.
17:49And, I try to sometimes even take it to the next level to say, explain the test, or explain the pathology of everything, and then it makes more sense.
17:57So, let me ask you a question.
17:58What do you think the top tests that people need to ask for in their general physical exam as an adult, what do I need to ask for, and what do those tests mean?
18:11So, the, oh, there's two big ones.
18:13But, the most important one, the complete metabolic panel, because it tells me a pretty good overview.
18:20It tells me your glucose, especially if you've been fasting, what it is.
18:25It tells me your liver function.
18:27It tells me your kidney function.
18:29Your glomerular filtration rate is part of that.
18:32And, it tells me your electrolytes.
18:33That right there is a whole lot of information in one simple test.
18:39And, I go over that.
18:40Because, renal disease and dialysis, I see a lot of people when you, when I walk in dialysis, it's a lot of people that look like me and my dad.
18:49So, I'm always very big on that one.
18:51That was my big one.
18:52The complete blood cell count, it tells me anemia.
18:55It may tell me lymphomas.
18:56Rarely I've ever seen that.
18:58But, it's a good kind of measure of anemias, I guess.
19:01But, the complete metabolic panel.
19:03And then, of course, my hemoglobin A1C, if your BMI is over 25.
19:07So, meaning you're overweight.
19:09So, I always want to screen for diabetes as well.
19:11And, that gives me a more accurate picture of what your average glucose has been running for the past three months.
19:17So, hemoglobin A1C, comprehensive metabolic panel, and the CBC.
19:21Yes, sir.
19:21Okay.
19:22Alright.
19:22Good.
19:24And, we're getting close to time.
19:26So, I want you to tell me if you could give people three things that they could do today.
19:35Three things they could do today to change their health outcomes in the long term.
19:41Like, short term solution to a long term goal.
19:44What would those things be today?
19:46Food, your diet.
19:49Most of your foods should come from the fresh produce section.
19:53And, most stores is right when you walk in the door saying, come on baby.
19:57Come get me.
19:58Most of that.
19:59If you can afford it.
20:00Okay.
20:01Try to cook your foods.
20:03Know what's in your foods.
20:04Your portion sizes and those things.
20:06So, your diet is 70% of your overall health from what I see.
20:11The next thing I would say is, if you don't have a primary care doctor that you could trust
20:15to say, you know what?
20:16I tried to do ecstasy.
20:17It wouldn't work out for me.
20:18You know, I'm worried about my heart right now.
20:21If you don't feel comfortable telling your primary care is something extreme and not feel
20:26judged, then find a new one.
20:29Okay.
20:30And, the last thing I would say is, your brain is the most powerful organ in your body.
20:36And, I feel like a lot of times, mental health is overlooked in my practice because we always
20:43want, we got a medication for that.
20:44We got a medication for this.
20:45We got a medication for that.
20:46But, do you like your job?
20:47How often do you sleep?
20:49Do you like your home environment?
20:51It's important because I can give you every medication all day, but you have to learn how
20:56to take care of yourself and it starts with here.
20:59I think those are really great.
21:01Between the sessions I'm going to be giving, I have a bunch of these that I think thought of
21:05as well, and I'm going to be giving them out.
21:07I'm going to give you a couple too.
21:10Change your nasty toothbrush.
21:15Some of y'all have been having the same toothbrush since Don Cornelius was hosting Soul Train.
21:22Your mouth, your mouth is very important.
21:27Brush your teeth twice a day, whether they're in your pocket or in your hand or in your head.
21:35Brush them.
21:36Because when you get gingivitis, that bacteria builds up.
21:39It goes to your heart.
21:40It can cause a lot of problems for you.
21:42You have no idea.
21:44Once you have a toothache, that causes you to have a lot of pain, causes you to have a lot
21:49of money that you got to pay.
21:50A lot of people don't have dental insurance.
21:52It causes you to be out of work all the time.
21:53It can even cause depression.
21:56So what I need you to remember is, please, I want you to get a soft, bristled toothbrush.
22:02People used to think the hard ones were the best.
22:04No.
22:05The soft ones are the best.
22:06And I need you to get, change that toothbrush every three months.
22:11Every three months.
22:13And I guarantee y'all, nobody in this room to change their toothbrush in the last three months.
22:17So please, do that.
22:19Okay?
22:20And then the other thing, I want you to watch what you drink.
22:23I want you to watch what you drink.
22:25Because last night, in that Superdome, somebody left there and did something or somebody they
22:34shouldn't have done because of alcohol.
22:38They done destroyed their life last night with a DUI.
22:42Got hit by somebody.
22:44They scratched up their car because they drank too much alcohol.
22:47I'm not saying don't drink alcohol.
22:49But I want you to be mindful of that, what you drink.
22:52Not just because of those types of situations.
22:54But also, I need you to be mindful of what you drink.
22:57Because most of you are putting on all your calories by what you drink.
23:00If you go to Outback Steakhouse and get a margarita, that's the equivalent of 14 Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the amount of sugar that's in it.
23:1014!
23:1114 doughnuts in one drink.
23:15A 22-ounce orange soda has as much sugar as 10 Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
23:22One soda!
23:23So, you're putting on all these calories from what you drink.
23:28I need you to drink more water.
23:30And just because beer is 99% water, that does not count as a hydration method.
23:36Neither does Crown.
23:37Contrary to popular belief.
23:39So, to wrap up, tell me parting words for our people.
23:43And remember, you're talking to people in the audience, but you're talking to people in the world.
23:48No pressure.
23:50Tell me what you want them to hear.
23:51Okay, so, take care of your body in your younger years.
24:00Younger years to me is below 50.
24:02If you take care of your body, your body will take care of you as you get older.
24:06Do not work all your life to enjoy retirement.
24:09Then you can't enjoy retirement because you're limited by your ailments.
24:13So, take care of yourself, take care of your others, and your mental health is wealth, and your health overall is wealth.
24:21Thank you very much, everyone.
24:23Thank you very much.
24:25Miss Dr. Courtney.
24:26So, I'm not sure.
24:30I think we have a couple of questions that people may want to ask.
24:35I just want to, once again, this is Health Hub.
24:38It's Essence Communications that sponsored this beautiful event here today.
24:42And we're grateful that you and I could come and speak and refer to you today.
24:47Please tell your friends out there to come in.
24:49We're going to be having this kind of information all day in this beautiful facility.
24:54So, any questions out there, anybody?
24:57Yes, sir, the man with the smiley face.
24:59I have a mask like that, and sometimes I wear it and I turn it upside down so people don't bother me.
25:05I just turn it upside down so I frown, but I like that mask.
25:08Go ahead.
25:21The question was, people put more emphasis on their houses and their cars than their own body.
25:28Why is that the case, do you think?
25:31I think it's because our society values those things, and it's something that you can see immediately.
25:37We look in the mirror every day and we get used to it, right?
25:41So, you keep seeing the same thing, same thing, same thing.
25:44But then, when you step outside of that, you step into my office, and somebody at the grocery store is like,
25:48Hey, what's that growth on y'all?
25:49Ah, I never noticed that, right?
25:51So, I think it's harder for us to see us because we're used to seeing us.
25:56So, that's why we're here and we're trying to change that narrative and say,
26:00Hey, I see that growth.
26:02I see that dark spot.
26:03Let's take a look at that.
26:05I think you need to know your numbers because you know what level of octane you put in your car and gas.
26:10You know, right now, there's $230 million on the board for Powerball or Mega Millions or whatever.
26:17You know that number.
26:18You know all the numbers.
26:19You know how many likes your Facebook account gets for a picture you put up there.
26:23But we don't know our numbers.
26:25You got one body.
26:27You can buy a car every year.
26:29You can get a house, a different house, but you can't get a different body.
26:32So, we put the value in this country on many different things and it's bad.
26:38And I think that we need to change that.
26:40And that's what this is about.
26:41Places like this giving this type of information.
26:43Because if you didn't walk out of here with one thing a day, I bet you're going to get your hemoglobin A1C.
26:48And I bet you ain't going to drink that orange soda or that margarita.
26:52I bet that.
26:53And that's all we need to do.
26:54Just small changes.
26:56Incremental changes in your life makes a difference in your outcome.
27:00I see some of you still have masks on in here.
27:02And I think that's a good thing.
27:03Okay?
27:04Just make sure you keep your distance from folks.
27:06Because people think COVID is over, but it's not.
27:09Yes, ma'am.
27:09Question.
27:09What would you say to the young girls that would like you and I?
27:16Would you say to encourage them to go on about a disability or become a doctor?
27:21Why are you talking to them?
27:23Because we like a lot of that.
27:24Because you will fail.
27:25Like, this is what we actually practice with women.
27:28And I think representation matters in the city.
27:31So it's easy for you to become a hairbrush about with your name.
27:35And $1,000 to get your hair in love with your name.
27:37What's the problem with you to make up with this?
27:39What would you say to them to encourage them?
27:43I think I might just...
27:44Yeah.
27:44Repeat the question for them.
27:46So the question was, what would I say to young girls to encourage them to go into being a physician?
27:52Because it's easier to be a hairdresser or another field because they make a lot more money.
27:57Because representation is important.
27:59So I would say to that, I see that all the time.
28:02I always want to pull my young black females over.
28:05Because it kind of saddens me, most of the time when I mentor, that they say, oh, I want to go into nursing school so I can be a nurse practitioner.
28:13And I'm like, you have straight A's.
28:15Why not medical school?
28:16So I start to pry because I'm mentoring.
28:19I have eight girls that they're interning with me.
28:21They're 16 to 21.
28:23And one girl said, you know what?
28:25Nobody ever told me I could be a doctor.
28:27And you're the first black female doctor I've ever actually encountered, except the ones on TV.
28:33And that broke my heart.
28:35So my mission every time, I always start with the young girls.
28:38I wanted to be a doctor because my doctor was Dr. Cicely Turner.
28:43And she's a black woman, graduated from Yale, natural hair.
28:46So I'm like, this is what I got to do.
28:48I was straight.
28:49So it is very important.
28:51And I'm trying to be on my plight and highlight other black female physicians to go into the field because it's very rewarding.
28:57And it's very needed.
28:58I asked every patient, what do you want to be when you grow up?
29:03Everyone.
29:04And invariably, young black girls tell me they want to be nurses.
29:07And there's nothing wrong with being a nurse.
29:09But I always ask them, why don't they want to be a doctor?
29:12And they always say, well, because I want to help patients.
29:15And I say, I'm not helping you.
29:19And then I say, let's tell the truth.
29:22And when they're like in high school, that's when the truth comes out.
29:25Because it takes a long time to be a doctor.
29:28And people don't want to do that.
29:30And I explain to them, there's nothing that you're going to have in your life.
29:34Nothing.
29:35That if you don't work hard for it, you're going to value it.
29:40And so we need representation.
29:42We need you to be at the top of the food chain.
29:44We need that.
29:45But what happens is, most black people, when they're in school, have never had a black teacher.
29:49And the only people they've ever met that went to college was their teacher, who was a white teacher.
29:55How many of you had a black male teacher in grade school?
30:03That's pretty good.
30:04Because most of the time, it's none.
30:06I didn't have a black person in the classroom with me teach or a student until I got to Morehouse College.
30:11And boy, was that a change.
30:12And I loved it.
30:14But that's the thing.
30:15Never.
30:16And so, this gets into deeper racial things that we don't want to go into.
30:21But think about this.
30:23As a white man, if a black person has never told you that you were wrong in anything from your entire life.
30:32I know, five minutes.
30:33I knew it was coming.
30:35If a black person, objectively, has never told you that you're doing something wrong.
30:41Why would you ever think as a black, as a white man, that anybody that's black could ever tell you that something's wrong now?
30:50Think about that psyche.
30:52And there's nothing wrong.
30:53That's why these lenses have to come off.
30:55Everybody's got to think about that because if you, with A plus B equals C, if you're a young white male and the teacher says that, you have to say, yes, ma'am, you are right and I am wrong.
31:08That's a huge stretch.
31:11And that, I think, is part of our biggest problem with this racial thing.
31:15But once again, this is about health, mental health too, because we have a lot of mental health problems because of that.
31:21I think we are up.
31:22I love talking to you.
31:23We're going to have our own talk show.
31:25Let's go.
31:26Let's do it.
31:26Let's do it.
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