- 7 weeks ago
Women's heart attacks don't always look like the movies — and the symptoms that get dismissed as stress, anxiety, or “doing too much” are too often the ones that matter most. As a cardiac ICU nurse and CardiacFITT founder, she'll lead an honest conversation on how heart disease actually shows up in women, the warning signs that get missed, and when to stop second-guessing yourself and seek care. Through real stories, guided reflection, and a take-home guide, attendees will leave knowing the signs to watch for and the questions to ask.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi. Hi everyone. Welcome. Welcome. Come on in. Come on in. I also want to let you know I did
00:14not know I was going to be set up with a lanyard or a lav. It's giving, I don't know
00:18what it's giving, but it feels very 90s. 90s, that's what I'm looking for, like a inspirational speaker situation.
00:29So, anyway, that's for me. Welcome, everybody. You are inside of the Talking Circle. The Talking Circle is a space
00:37for us to drop in, to listen to each other, to learn about ourselves, about our community, about our bodies.
00:46My name is Erika Chitty. I am the SVP of brand and editorial content for Unbothered.
00:53Unbothered for many years has been this powerful space where a black woman can come to hear the truth, told
00:59plainly, to also laugh about our hardest challenges, but also to just feel safe and feel connected.
01:07And I have been brought on to Unbothered to help usher it into a new era where we really are
01:13here to explore well-being and culture.
01:16And that starts in the Talking Circle. And what I love about Talking Circles is it's not about a leader
01:23or a speaker. We don't even use that language here.
01:27We use a very different kind of nomenclature. So, we have keepers. So, I will be your keeper for this
01:33circle, meaning it's my job to flow the energy, make sure we keep talking.
01:37And everyone here has something to bring, right? Everyone here has individual wisdom that's going to help support this conversation.
01:47So, I'm your keeper. And then these two beautiful women are your anchors. So, they're going to anchor the conversation
01:53with their wisdom, with their experience, with their expertise.
01:56But we want to hear from all of you, right? So, remember that this is our space. It's our time
02:02to connect.
02:04So, with that, I would like to open the circle with a very quick clearing. So, I'm going to tell
02:10you what that looks like.
02:11So, a clearing means, everybody, if you have a phone in your hand, put it down, please. Very quick. Then
02:17you can pick it back up.
02:19Okay. So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to rub my hands together. And you're going to do it
02:23too. So, let's rub our hands together. Everybody rub, rub, rub.
02:27We're going to do it for another five seconds. Just feel the heat in between your hands.
02:32And then I'm going to count to three and we're going to clap. And that clap is going to clear
02:35the energy and it's going to set us off.
02:37Okay. Ready? Go really fast.
02:40One, two, three.
02:44Beautiful. Okay. So, let us move forward.
02:48So, you are now going to experience a circle called When They Don't Listen.
02:53The heart symptoms women are told to ignore.
02:56And to have this beautiful circle and conversation, we have Crystal Dobson and Tara Robinson.
03:02And I'm going to have them actually introduce themselves.
03:05So, I always love to hear where and what people are bringing to a conversation because nobody can introduce you
03:12better than yourself.
03:12So, I will let you start.
03:15Hi, guys. So, I'm Crystal Dobson, founder and CEO of Cardiac Fit.
03:19I have, we started Cardiac Fit in 2019 to address the issues of cardiac access for underserved communities.
03:28So, what our platform does is it improves access through coaching, advocacy, and technology and improving or decreasing hospital re
03:40-emissions.
03:40So, I'm very, very, very happy to be here.
03:43Alongside that, I have a background.
03:45I've been 15 plus years as a cardiac ICU nurse.
03:48I've done cardiac rehab, cardiac research, cardiac community health.
03:52And I've worked in corporate mitigating health care costs for cardiac patients.
03:57So, this is my passion and this is my love and I'm very, very happy to be here.
04:06Hello, everyone.
04:07I am just a young lady from the south side of Fort Worth.
04:12Anybody from the south side of their town?
04:14South side?
04:14Okay, maybe not.
04:15Okay.
04:16So, I'm from the south side of Fort Worth and I can't imagine being here.
04:19So, I definitely give God all the glory for this moment.
04:22So, with that being said, my name is Tara Robinson.
04:25I am the co-founder and CEO of Black Heart Association.
04:29But most importantly, I am a survivor.
04:35Well, I'm actually...
04:41So, as you can see, I'm over here now because I want to be with y'all and I want
04:47to be in conversation.
04:48So, what she just said, I would love it if you would open up this circle by telling your story
04:54and offering your story to the circle.
04:56Yes, so, if you can imagine just being tired, if you can imagine your left arm going numb and your
05:06neck bothering you, just one random night in November, it's wintertime, it's cold outside.
05:14And you come in from work and you're just realizing that every now and then your left arm goes numb
05:20and your neck begins to feel like a crook, isn't it?
05:23And you tell your husband, this is interesting, this is interesting, this keeps happening on and off.
05:29But you kind of just keep going with the flow, just ignoring those moments, those aha moments that we might
05:35have about our bodies.
05:36And so, if you can imagine all the way to Christmas time telling your sister, my feet are turning a
05:43little dark, my arm is still going numb, my neck is still bothering me, and still not hearing your internal
05:49clock ticking or warning you.
05:51If you can imagine showing up to your doctor in January and telling her, hey, my neck has been bothering
05:59me, my left arm is going numb, my feet are bothering me, and we laugh about it and say, well,
06:04you don't have cholesterol, you don't have diabetes, you don't have any reason, but other than stress.
06:12Can you imagine?
06:14Can you imagine not knowing that every 36 seconds a woman is dying from a heart attack?
06:22So, when I left that doctor's office, there was no mention of heart issues, only that I could be stressed
06:30out.
06:30And guess what, y'all?
06:31I said I was from the south side.
06:32I could definitely be stressed out.
06:34So, you can imagine that level of stress.
06:36Been a wife, a mother.
06:37My son was a senior in high school.
06:39And so, I left her thinking, every time I'm stressed, I need to do something.
06:43I need to breathe.
06:44I need to go to yoga.
06:45Y'all know all the things that we hear.
06:47Meditate.
06:48All the things.
06:50So, can you imagine waking up April 10th of 2014 and telling your husband something is wrong?
06:57Can you imagine your left arm being numb, your neck bothering you, your chest feeling like a pill, you swallowed
07:03a pill but didn't drink enough water?
07:05Can you imagine feeling sick to your stomach or hot flashing and having to go to the ER just to
07:13be told you're too thin?
07:15There is nothing showing on your EKG or your blood work and being told to follow up with your primary
07:21care.
07:22Can you imagine being released, going to work, don't judge me, going to work and having that happen again in
07:30your classroom in front of your students?
07:33Going back to the ER, being told that insurance would not cover what you claim you're having because nothing is
07:41showing up on their test.
07:43Having to go back and forth with a white female cardiologist trying to get her to just keep me overnight.
07:50Can you imagine having to advocate for yourself during a crisis?
07:55Can you imagine being released at 11, going back at 12, having a massive heart attack?
08:02Then going to cardiac arrest and there was a ICU nurse that was by my side telling me it's going
08:08to be okay and she was from this city, New Orleans.
08:12God saved my life on that day.
08:14I died on that operating table and went to heaven.
08:17In all my ICU bed is when I knew that this fight belonged to me.
08:23And so that's where my journey started.
08:25But I don't want you to have to imagine these things.
08:27And that's why we started Black Heart Association.
08:36So if you guys know it or not, Tara's story is not a rare occurrence.
08:42As a cardiac ICU nurse, as the CEO of Cardiac Fit, I've seen the scenario happen over and over and
08:49over again.
08:50Cardiac disease is the number one killer.
08:54Let me say this again.
08:55Because I am very passionate about this.
08:59Cardiac disease is the number one killer of black women.
09:05One more time, please.
09:08Cardiac disease is the number one killer of black women.
09:15And I don't think we take this serious enough.
09:20There's 33% of us, even though it's the number one killer, there's 33% of us that just don't
09:26know.
09:29I've seen patients that come in our program where we're having to call and advocate for them because they don't
09:37listen.
09:40So let me ask you guys a question.
09:45Have you guys ever felt something wrong in your body?
09:49Because guess what?
09:50We know our body better than anybody else, right?
09:53Where you know something was wrong.
09:56You know it.
09:59The labs don't show it.
10:01Your EKG don't show it.
10:04Your blood pressure is normal.
10:06But you know something is wrong.
10:10What does that look like for you?
10:13And how do you advocate for yourself?
10:17I want to hear the stories.
10:20This is a safe space.
10:29So I'm kind of mind-blown by your story.
10:32So I'm a spiritual person.
10:34We have a lot of cardiac in our family.
10:37My father died at 42 from a cardiac attack.
10:41I'm having all those symptoms you just called out for the last month.
10:46The tinkling arm.
10:47The crook in the neck just started in the last couple days.
10:51And all of that.
10:53And I'm like, wait a minute.
10:54Wait a minute as you're speaking.
10:56So I'm wondering, because when I get back home, because I live in Michigan,
11:00when I get back home, I'm raising hell for someone.
11:03How do I raise hell with this in particular?
11:10Okay.
11:11I'm glad you said raise hell.
11:12Because one thing we have to remember is that we are responsible for getting back home.
11:16So we created a book called Know Before You Go.
11:19I have one in my backpack.
11:21Come get it.
11:22Because it's going to give you all the laws on what to say, the rules, and how to say it.
11:27But most importantly, I think they tell us not to be bold or not to, you know, raise our voices,
11:32because that's one of the ways that they kind of suppress us.
11:35I say raise your voice, and then know the chain of command within the hospital.
11:40We teach our kids and everybody how to deal with if we're pulled over by the police.
11:44We have to know the exact same steps when we go into the health care system.
11:48So when you go in there, already know what you're asking for and be demanding.
11:54Again, you know your body better than anyone.
11:56And a lot of it is sometimes just getting to a heart specialist.
11:59Sometimes we can't get past our primary care provider.
12:02So you've got to insist that let me speak to the person that knows the heart better than anyone.
12:11I was saying that I already have a cardiologist, because as I said, a lot of people have died in
12:24my life for that.
12:25But a lot of these symptoms, I'm thinking, I just turned 50, so I'm having hot flashes.
12:31I must be going through the chains.
12:32The crook in my neck.
12:33Oh, I must not be sleeping on the right pill.
12:36So I'm justifying or normalizing a lot of this stuff, thinking it's other things,
12:42not recognizing that it's a big picture altogether.
12:46And definitely not the heart attack.
12:47And I'm a nurse, so I know the size of a heart attack.
12:50And I've read the worst patients.
12:52Worst patients, right?
12:53And I'm blowing off everything.
12:56But hearing you and hearing these all together, I was like, wait a minute.
12:59They're not separate?
13:00Because I'm like, oh, I'm losing weight.
13:01Oh, it's my diabetes.
13:02Oh, it's this.
13:04And it's not.
13:05And then, as I said, I was a spiritual person.
13:07I'm in the woo-woo stuff.
13:09And I went to go see a psychic.
13:10And my father came through.
13:12He was like, you need to pay attention to your cardiac.
13:14And then all this stuff is happening.
13:16So thank you.
13:17I'm very, very, very, feel very blessed that I came in here.
13:21So I want to say this.
13:24If this is some active symptoms you're having, as a nurse, you know we might need to cut that
13:31essence trip short and go get checked out.
13:34It just depends.
13:35Yes.
13:35Yes.
13:36Absolutely.
13:37We weren't here last year, but we did screenings the year before that.
13:41We sent about six people to the ER.
13:45I don't think you guys realize how serious this epidemic is.
13:50It's serious.
13:51If you're having those type of symptoms, you need to go get checked out.
13:57You don't need to go back to Detroit.
13:59You need to go get checked out while you're here.
14:02We need to.
14:03I cut a couple of people essence trip short, and they were upset.
14:07But they live to see another day.
14:10Yeah, I just honestly didn't realize the future signs of a heart attack.
14:14Like the numbness in my arm, I'm like, oh, did I sleep on the ground?
14:18Like, what's going on?
14:19It's funny that you say that, because that's exactly what we do.
14:21We begin to self-diagnose.
14:23And that's the same thing I said.
14:25I slept on this left side too long, so I started to sleep on my right.
14:29And this sounds very silly now, but that's really what we do is self-diagnose.
14:33When I say that someone dies every 36 seconds, I don't want that to be you.
14:38So please, if your blood pressure's up, if you come by Black Heart Association and your blood pressure's up, don't
14:44get offended.
14:45Don't start talking about, oh, well, my blood pressure ain't never been up.
14:48It must be y'all's machine.
14:50Could very well be that.
14:52But it could also mean you need to go get checked out.
14:57Hello, my name is Shawnee Fitzgerald.
14:59I'm here from Seattle, Washington.
15:01Hey, Shawnee.
15:01And I had to make a huge, thank you, happy to be here.
15:04I came in here because I was like, hey, this looks cool.
15:06I'm going to take a rest.
15:08But, you know, I didn't even know what this was about.
15:10But I'm so glad that I stuck around because, you know, I'm here because I had to pivot because my
15:17uncle had open heart surgery yesterday in Chicago.
15:21So I was like, do I go to Essence? Do I go to Chicago?
15:24It was so sudden.
15:25But he said that he would not have known had he not paid $49 for, like, a random hotel was
15:33on a tour and they were doing some checks.
15:36And that's how he found the calcium in his arteries.
15:39And also, it wasn't his primary care.
15:42It wasn't his doctors that actually found it.
15:45It was him being his own health advocate and knowing that he was tired all the time and he felt
15:51like he wasn't really getting the care from the people that he was paying through his insurance.
15:55So he was self-activist and just taking some other tests.
16:00So I see these little, like you say, like, how do I speak up for myself?
16:04I see these little, hey, little pop-ups in my community where I can go and take that $149 to
16:11see if I'm having, you know, stroke symptoms or heart symptoms.
16:16Because it's like menopause.
16:17You don't know your numbers until it's too late.
16:20Like, how do we monitor that?
16:22Do we take these little tests when we see them coming into our towns, these little pop-up, you know,
16:29heart stroke, heart disease tests?
16:31Do we advocate for ourselves outside of our primary care?
16:35Because I don't want to be like my uncle who was in New York.
16:38And then two days later, he's laying up in ICU today, which is why I'm here because I have to
16:44wait at least five days before they let any of us see them.
16:47So it's like, okay, just go on with your regular routine.
16:50But, of course, now I'm worried because this is an issue in my family.
16:54So what do we do?
16:55Do we take these tests when they come around?
16:58Because we're not going to get the opportunity through our primary care to be proactive with this.
17:04I think that's a great question, and that's why Black Heart Association exists.
17:08You don't have to pay a thing to come and get screened by us.
17:11We offer a test called lipoprotein A.
17:12It's going to tell you if you're at risk of ever having a heart attack or stroke.
17:16You got, see, she said she got her finger prick.
17:18Yes.
17:18Go by the booth.
17:19It's about five minutes.
17:20It doesn't even take that long to check on your heart health.
17:24See, they're in the room.
17:25I told you we need to be in more spots.
17:28Can you tell us where the booth is?
17:30The booth is located in the community hub.
17:32I think it's 2415, but it's right by the Coca-Cola station.
17:37Go get some food.
17:38So you can't miss it.
17:39So please go get your testing.
17:41It comes with A1C, kidney function, a complete cholesterol panel as well.
17:47And it's completely free.
17:48Invite us to your cities.
17:50That's why we exist, to come pull up in your cities at your family's house.
17:54We want to do the house parties.
17:55We want to do your family reunions.
17:57All the things.
17:58And all of that is free.
17:59Beautiful.
18:01Cosine, go into Blackheart while you're here.
18:03So if you guys haven't had a screening this year, check out Blackheart.
18:07But at the same time, if for your family and members at home who have not checked out Blackheart,
18:14please go get your screenings, your annual screenings, your cardiac enzymes.
18:18They don't normally do lipo-A protein, so that is normal to Blackheart Association.
18:23But please go get your normal cholesterol blood pressure screening so we can see what's going on.
18:29So we are almost at time.
18:31We're basically at time.
18:32So we'll have one more question, and then I'm going to come up and close.
18:35I know.
18:36We need more time.
18:38You know what?
18:39Listen.
18:39Let me just tell you something.
18:40I'm going to give you my two cents.
18:43I wanted these to be 45 minutes to an hour.
18:47Nobody wanted to listen to me.
18:48Next year, they're going to be longer.
18:50So bear with us, okay?
18:53Hi, ladies.
18:54My name is Asa.
18:56I'm here.
18:57I'm a Jersey girl, but I live in Houston, and I'm with Essence today.
19:01Thank you for having me.
19:02I'm 30 years old.
19:03I just turned 30, and I run a lot, but I noticed on a run in Houston, I started having
19:07shortness of breath
19:08and almost had an asthma attack while running.
19:10I've never had asthma, never had any crazy heart conditions.
19:14I went to my primary.
19:15They got me a cardiologist, all of the things, but the main thing I kept hearing were,
19:19well, your blood work is fine, your EKG is fine, and you're also young, so there's nothing to worry about.
19:25For us young people in the room, how do we advocate at 30 years old?
19:30Like, on my dad's side of the family, everyone has heart issues, diabetes, infirmities where they can't show up,
19:35and I feel like it's because they were afraid to go to the doctor, but also they were told,
19:39well, you're young, don't worry about it.
19:40How do we worry about it?
19:43And maybe not even worry about it by asking the right questions at 30.
19:50So one thing you can do, and I recommend this to everyone, tell them your family history.
19:59You have to tell them your family history because even if you're 30 years old without symptoms,
20:04a lot of these things are either family, genetics, or something else,
20:11and that causes them to dig a little bit deeper on what's actually going on with you.
20:17Another thing you can do, and this is a shameless plug, if you haven't used my QR code,
20:22we're going to send you things that you can talk to and advocate to your provider about things that you
20:28can do
20:28to get the results that you want.
20:30Tell them to put it in your chart.
20:34If they are not going to do the test that you want, tell them to document it in your chart,
20:41so if something happens to you later, guess what?
20:45They decline care for you, and they're liable.
20:49You will see things change when you tell them to document in your chart.
20:54I promise you that.
20:56One other thing that you can do, then I can let Tara talk.
20:59Get one of your other health care people to advocate for you.
21:03So one thing that we provide for our cardiac patients is advocacy.
21:07If our patients are in the ER, if they're having problems with their physicians,
21:11they give us a call, we call them, and we advocate.
21:14We've had patients go to the ER, not be seen, that are having active heart attacks.
21:20They get on a phone call with us, they get seen right away.
21:23It works.
21:26Okay?
21:28I'm going to say, first of all, we expect five-star service from everywhere,
21:33our restaurants, our hotels, but we don't expect that service from our doctors,
21:37and we should, because one boo, I pay your bill.
21:40So with that being said, document up just like she said,
21:45but also get to searching for somebody else,
21:47because there are doctors out here that care about us,
21:50and you deserve to be heard.
21:53I'm like Crystal, you can call Blackheart anytime.
21:55My number is 817-683-8859.
21:59Call me.
22:00I'm going to advocate for you, and you're going to get the care that you need.
22:03One more time.
22:03Anything else is unacceptable.
22:05817-683-8859.
22:10Okay, one last question, then we...
22:12One last question.
22:17I'm sorry, yeah, we saw him.
22:20Hi.
22:20I just wanted to say one thing.
22:22I spent the last four years on the board of Cadillac Hospital,
22:29and when we turned non-profit,
22:32the doctors really had a goal within our system
22:36to process patients in and out within 15 minutes.
22:41It's not much about you anymore.
22:44It's about the in and out, because that's where the pay comes from.
22:48So if you're not advocating, you're just in the process.
22:53You're just a will.
22:54So I advocate.
22:56Okay, everyone.
22:57So thank you so much, ladies.
23:00I wish we had more time.
23:01Maybe we have you more than one day, actually, next year or something,
23:06so we can really dig in on it.
23:08Thank you to the circle.
23:09Thank you for sharing.
23:11So to close the circle, we're going to do the same thing that we did to start it.
23:14So everybody,
23:18the ceiling and all of that wisdom and good energy.
23:22Go really fast.
23:24I'm going to count to three.
23:25One, two, three.
23:29You did it, girl.
23:30You did it.
23:32Thank you, everyone.
23:33If you would like to stay,
23:34there's another conversation starting in about five minutes.
23:38It is about why black women need to leave the U.S. to heal, actually.
23:44Yep.
23:45One of my personal faves.
23:47So please hang out.
23:49And if that's not for you,
23:51we don't mind.
23:52No bother.
23:53Feel free to hang out.
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