Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back. Now. In Part one of our
Speaker 1: Global Health Conversation, we talked a lot about this idea
Speaker 1: that health is less of an individual issue and more
Speaker 1: of a collective problem, and our guests in that conversation
Speaker 1: proved that when we work together, when we try to
Speaker 1: heal and help one another, we save lives. So make
Speaker 1: sure you don't miss that episode. Meanwhile, as I've shared
Speaker 1: with you before, I love this idea of putting our
Speaker 1: heads together, joining forces, and basically becoming voltron for change.
Speaker 1: So today I'm gonna continue exploring global health by putting
Speaker 1: the spotlight on some action leaders. These are folks on
Speaker 1: the ground providing health care access, both physical and mental,
Speaker 1: in some remote places, including right here in the United States.
Speaker 1: I wanted to know a few things. What's it like
Speaker 1: to provide healthcare in places where inequity is a problem.
Speaker 1: How do you globalize an issue that has so many
Speaker 1: nuances within each government, each system, in each community. How
Speaker 1: do you facilitate mental health access in the community that
Speaker 1: doesn't know it desperately needs it. To answer some of
Speaker 1: these questions, I sat down with Juan Acosta, a mental
Speaker 1: health advocate and regional manager at cal Hope Warmline at
Speaker 1: the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. He began his
Speaker 1: work really young, accumulating over two hundred hours of community
Speaker 1: service at age fifteen. He's also a New York Times
Speaker 1: bestselling author for a book he co authored with Lady Gaga, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Lady Gaga called Channel Kindness, Stories of Kindness and Community.
Speaker 1: After one, We'll hear from Dr Kerry Joe's Felix. He
Speaker 1: works as a chief surgeon at Doctors Without Borders and
Speaker 1: has been with the organization since He spent time offering
Speaker 1: his services all over the world, from his native home
Speaker 1: in Haiti to the Congo in Africa. Welcome to Force Multiplier.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me. Thank you. So you have
Speaker 1: a book with Lady Gaga. I saw you kicking it
Speaker 1: with Selena Gomez and the first Lady at the White House.
Speaker 1: So I just want to start by saying congratulations on
Speaker 1: your life one. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Now.
Speaker 1: I know things didn't start this way. Can you take
Speaker 1: me back to some of your early days. Tell me
Speaker 1: where you were born and raised, some of your early
Speaker 1: home and school experiences. Great well, I was born in Halisco, Mexico,
Speaker 1: and I came to this country at age two. Uh
Speaker 1: So growing up. I grew up in Woodland, California, and
Speaker 1: growing up here was quite interesting because it's a small town,
Speaker 1: so everybody knows one another. And because I immigrated to
Speaker 1: this country, I didn't know the English language when I
Speaker 1: first arrived, and I have to learn it throughout grade school,
Speaker 1: which put me through some barriers and communication with my classmates,
Speaker 1: with my teachers, and I started to get made fun
Speaker 1: of for those things. And I was also being labeled
Speaker 1: things in regards to my sexuality prior to me being
Speaker 1: able to acknowledge it myself. So that's when a little
Speaker 1: bit of my mental health journey began and just why
Speaker 1: I got into the work that I did today. We
Speaker 1: all have so many parts to our identities, and you've
Speaker 1: hinted at a few pieces already. But what parts of
Speaker 1: yourself and your identity are you comfortable with and fully
Speaker 1: embracing now that you weren't able to do with a kid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think living authentically as a gay man has been
Speaker 1: one of the things that I'm most proud of today.
Speaker 1: It brought me a lot of fear and a lot
Speaker 1: of inner conflict to even be able to name that
Speaker 1: out to people, to my parents, to my ends. I
Speaker 1: felt like I had to repress and hide a lot
Speaker 1: of who I was in order to be living in
Speaker 1: a society that I felt was not meant for people
Speaker 1: like me. This feeling, this internal tension, is feeling of
Speaker 1: repression that you just described. How did that show up
Speaker 1: in your life? Yeah, it manifested in many ways, and
Speaker 1: I generally believe it did in every aspect of my life.
Speaker 1: Even with my parents. I remember I built this barrier
Speaker 1: and communicating with them. I was trying to push my
Speaker 1: my own family away because I didn't want to feel
Speaker 1: like I was too attached if they were to turn
Speaker 1: their back on me when I came out to them.
Speaker 1: So I I didn't share a lot with my parents.
Speaker 1: And I also didn't share because I saw them struggling
Speaker 1: as well to put food on the table to pay
Speaker 1: for our bills, because they were working a day and
Speaker 1: night as immigrants in this country to provide for my siblings.
Speaker 1: And I I felt stomach ache showing up to school.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be in class because I knew
Speaker 1: I was going to get bullied on my peers. It
Speaker 1: wasn't a great feeling and I chose to stay home
Speaker 1: often so that I wouldn't interact with people in school
Speaker 1: or outside of school, because I knew it was going
Speaker 1: to put me in the fire zone, that I was
Speaker 1: going to be a target to the people around me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have this image of just walls between you and
Speaker 1: your peers at school, walls between you and your own family,
Speaker 1: walls within yourself. I grew up with a mother who
Speaker 1: worked really really hard to make the road a bit
Speaker 1: smoother from me, and I can identify with withholding some
Speaker 1: of my own needs so as not to be a burden. Definitely,
Speaker 1: So I really I really connect with that. That said,
Speaker 1: how did your parents react when you remove that wall
Speaker 1: and revealed that part of yourself to them? Honestly, it
Speaker 1: took me a while to do so. I was in
Speaker 1: high school, I think, when I had built up the
Speaker 1: courage to do so, I just didn't want to feel
Speaker 1: a lot of their disappointment. Thankfully, when I did come
Speaker 1: out to them, they were really accepting and embracing. My
Speaker 1: dad had a couple of questions to try and understand,
Speaker 1: but he is the sweetest man, and he's supportive of me,
Speaker 1: and he's proud, and I'm proud to just be able
Speaker 1: to have this relationship with them. And I also recognized
Speaker 1: that my story isn't the same story of every other
Speaker 1: lgbt Q plus person, and that people are at times
Speaker 1: kicked out of their homes and face many more barriers
Speaker 1: when coming out. What were some of the spaces where
Speaker 1: you started to feel more comfortable connecting with this part
Speaker 1: of your identity and starting this healing process for you? Who?
Speaker 1: Who did help you? Who did you run to first? Yeah? Honestly,
Speaker 1: when I was going through it, when I was deep,
Speaker 1: like in the dark, I did not know where to go,
Speaker 1: and that is why I got into advocacy. I found
Speaker 1: an opportunity to join a youth council locally at a
Speaker 1: nonprofit here in my town, and I started doing a
Speaker 1: lot of volunteer work, a lot of community service. You
Speaker 1: joined a youth council in your town? How old were you?
Speaker 1: I was thirteen when I started. Just doing that community
Speaker 1: service was really beneficial to my own mental health at
Speaker 1: the time in your life where you didn't necessarily feel
Speaker 1: fully supported. Based on the timeline you shared, you end
Speaker 1: up volunteering to try to support others. Talk to me
Speaker 1: a little bit more about that that may not be
Speaker 1: obvious to a lot of people. Yeah, for me, that
Speaker 1: moment was about me feeling like I didn't belong in
Speaker 1: the community and wanting to feel like I belonged in
Speaker 1: the community, and joining that youth council was the opportunity
Speaker 1: for me to belong in the community by trying to
Speaker 1: have a positive impact with other people because I knew
Speaker 1: that we were all in that council with one purpose,
Speaker 1: and it was to support one another and support the
Speaker 1: other youth in our community. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: the roller culture in supporting the LGBTQ community. You said
Speaker 1: it was some of the lyrics and Lady Gaga is
Speaker 1: Born this Way that really helped you be your true self.
Speaker 1: What was it about that music, those lyrics that resonated
Speaker 1: so deeply with you. Yeah, I think with Gaga. I
Speaker 1: I always liked her performance art. But that album came
Speaker 1: out in middle school at a point where I was
Speaker 1: really struggling with my mental health. I had a lot
Speaker 1: of suicidal thoughts and feelings at the time because I
Speaker 1: was being bullied almost every day in school, and when
Speaker 1: that song came out, it just kind of reaffirmed that
Speaker 1: it was okay to be myself. And in this small
Speaker 1: town that I live, and there wasn't a lot of
Speaker 1: lgbt Q plose folks, and there wasn't that representation, and
Speaker 1: that was really isolating. But when I see and hear
Speaker 1: music with these lyrics of you being beautiful in your
Speaker 1: way and that doesn't matter if you're gay, it really
Speaker 1: spoke to me that point, and it gave me kind
Speaker 1: of that light amidst all the darkness that I was
Speaker 1: surrounded by someone seemingly so far away, you know, connected
Speaker 1: so closely to you in and broke through some of
Speaker 1: those walls. You had a rector to protect yourself. M h.
Speaker 1: How did you end up hearing that song and then
Speaker 1: I'm reading about you as co author of a book
Speaker 1: with Lady Gaga? How did that begin? I was looking
Speaker 1: for every opportunity to stay involved in community work, and
Speaker 1: I saw an opportunity to join Channel Kindness, which is
Speaker 1: Lady Gaga's extension of her Born This Way Foundation, and
Speaker 1: that we're looking for an inaugural cohort for this new
Speaker 1: platform about storytelling and kindness and community, and I applied.
Speaker 1: In my head, I was like, there's no way they're
Speaker 1: going to choose me. You know, in Woodland, like a
Speaker 1: small town, like it's just not gonna work out, but
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna take the risk, and I applied into
Speaker 1: my surprise, I was accepted, and years later I wrote
Speaker 1: a story for the Platform about my journey and drafting
Speaker 1: a historic lgbt Q plus proclamation for my hometown that
Speaker 1: made history. Tell me about that proclamation. What is the
Speaker 1: proclamation that you wrote? Yeah, so, prior to moving to
Speaker 1: San Francisco, where I pursued my higher education, I wanted
Speaker 1: to address the lgbt Q plus community here in Woodland
Speaker 1: where I grew up because I didn't have that message
Speaker 1: of acceptance or belonging, and I wanted to change that
Speaker 1: for the young people that were going to be growing
Speaker 1: up here. So I emailed the city manager at the
Speaker 1: time and I was like, how can we get the
Speaker 1: city council to proclaim June as Pride Month? And they said,
Speaker 1: what we need language for a proclamation, and I was
Speaker 1: I had just turned twenty one at the time, and
Speaker 1: I had no clue about any language for a proclamation.
Speaker 1: So I stayed up all night kind of figuring stuff out,
Speaker 1: looking at things from the Internet, and I did it,
Speaker 1: and I emailed it to them and they took it
Speaker 1: up to their study Hall meeting and I went to
Speaker 1: speak during public comment and all of the people opposing it,
Speaker 1: and it passed unanimously for the first time in the
Speaker 1: town's history. Wow, what did it feel like to hear
Speaker 1: that opposition and to have the proclamation ultimately passed. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think curing the opposition was something that I knew
Speaker 1: was going to happen, just because of the things that
Speaker 1: I had undergone in this town. And to my surprise,
Speaker 1: there was also a lot of people speaking in favor
Speaker 1: of it. It was just so beautiful to see and
Speaker 1: I didn't think much of the opposition in that moment.
Speaker 1: I was there to do one thing and I wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure it got done. And just when it
Speaker 1: passed and I saw everybody else like near me, cry
Speaker 1: and hug each other and have their like pride flags,
Speaker 1: it was just a mom And I think that's still
Speaker 1: my favorite moment till this day, of just being able
Speaker 1: to do that, because for my inner child, it was
Speaker 1: a full circle moment of kind of something that I
Speaker 1: was shamed for so much, and now in our present day,
Speaker 1: they have like a pride week, a Pride Parade and
Speaker 1: it's completely three sixty. That's tremendous. And it's also for
Speaker 1: so many folks they get that moment elsewhere and and
Speaker 1: so they're accepted in a community they weren't born into.
Speaker 1: You got that feeling in your hometown. That's great man,
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yeah. You know, I've recently had a conversation
Speaker 1: on this podcast with Amanda Ryan Smith. She's at the
Speaker 1: Trevor Project running development, and she was telling me how
Speaker 1: there are over two d harmful policies targeting LGBTQ folks
Speaker 1: proposed this year alone. So you've got this front row
Speaker 1: seat with the Commander in chief. I mentioned the White
Speaker 1: House and passing earlier, but you were part of the
Speaker 1: first ever youth mental health action form at the White House.
Speaker 1: What was the purpose of the forum? What was your role?
Speaker 1: Give me some deeds? Yeah, So the forum was put
Speaker 1: in in partnership with MTV and the White House, and
Speaker 1: it brought together thirty young people to create a mental
Speaker 1: health campaign that was going to address relevant issues in
Speaker 1: our community and are My campaign, along with my team,
Speaker 1: was around intersectionality and mental health. How different aspects of
Speaker 1: our identity impact our mental health. The way we have
Speaker 1: access to care and how we approach mental health support
Speaker 1: and care. And we all authority of us created these campaigns,
Speaker 1: and we all presented it to a variety of media
Speaker 1: and brands so that they could come together to create
Speaker 1: and put these campaigns into action along with the government.
Speaker 1: I'm you're in like Avengers style scene with you know,
Speaker 1: all the Avengers versus like the villains in the various movies,
Speaker 1: and and on one side, I see these proposed exclusionary laws,
Speaker 1: and on the other I see you, you know, and
Speaker 1: I see Lady Gaga, and I see these mental health
Speaker 1: advocacy campaigns. Where do you see the field right now?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like we're moving in the right direction
Speaker 1: in terms of the politics. Does it feel like we're
Speaker 1: moving backwards? What's your take? I think it's a mixture
Speaker 1: of both. I believe that there is progress that has
Speaker 1: definitely been made, and that, you know, just having conversations
Speaker 1: around intersectionality and mental health and having more people that
Speaker 1: look like society itself being represented and speaking to these
Speaker 1: issues has been great. And I think the issue that
Speaker 1: we've been encountering is that there has been a lot
Speaker 1: of conversations and not enough action and when there's these
Speaker 1: policies that are impacting and targeting communities, we are letting
Speaker 1: history repeat itself. Maybe not in the same exact way,
Speaker 1: but history is repeating itself. And what we need to
Speaker 1: do is to ensure that we, yes, are fostering these conversations,
Speaker 1: but that we're being intentional and following through with our
Speaker 1: actions after I have often thought that history isn't a circle,
Speaker 1: but it can feel like a spiral, and we revisit
Speaker 1: like similar coordinates, but on kind of a different plane.
Speaker 1: So there's these echoes of the past. When you talk
Speaker 1: about moving from words to action, you make me think
Speaker 1: of what I hear a lot about Generation Z. I
Speaker 1: hear that gen Z is done with the status quo,
Speaker 1: ready the challenge and fight for issues that matter to
Speaker 1: them most and act and not just talk. Do you
Speaker 1: think that's true, And as so, what do you see
Speaker 1: in terms of those actions that are different among gen
Speaker 1: Z versus other generations. I think it's definitely true. I
Speaker 1: think in comparison to other generations, the majority of gen
Speaker 1: Z is advocating and they're pushing their thoughts beliefs out there,
Speaker 1: whether it's through social media or locally with their community.
Speaker 1: And I think that's great. And I think just this
Speaker 1: that we have about the youth mental health crisis. I
Speaker 1: know the Surgeon General put out a mental health crisis
Speaker 1: statement late last year. There needs to be proactive measures
Speaker 1: at all levels to ensure that young people and everybody
Speaker 1: in general have support before them reaching a crisis point.
Speaker 1: For so long people have reached the crisis and it
Speaker 1: is not until then that they receive support, and we
Speaker 1: need to change that. We need to make sure people
Speaker 1: are getting support early on so that they don't have
Speaker 1: to go into a crisis. Yeah, it feels like we
Speaker 1: can't talk about lgbt Q plus mental health without talking
Speaker 1: also about technology. I've been online for a very long
Speaker 1: time and seeing some of the best part where folks
Speaker 1: who feel isolated, who don't have someone in their town
Speaker 1: like them, can find someone in another town like them
Speaker 1: and feel less alone. But I've also seen the bullying,
Speaker 1: the isolation that the targeted harassment of this community as well.
Speaker 1: What would you like to see tech companies do more
Speaker 1: of or less to have the role of technology be
Speaker 1: more supportive than harmful. You're talking about tech spaces here.
Speaker 1: I think making sure that they are ensuring that whether
Speaker 1: it's apps or spaces are safe for people that could
Speaker 1: look very differently for many members what we've seen these
Speaker 1: past years in terms of misinformation of just attacks on communities.
Speaker 1: People go sometimes online when they can't find a safe
Speaker 1: space in their own communities or at home. So I
Speaker 1: think trying to ensure that's done is really important. This
Speaker 1: show we like to focus on action. One of our
Speaker 1: hashtact is action meets Impact. Can you tell us about
Speaker 1: some of the action you're up to now, particularly with
Speaker 1: this concept of a warm line as opposed to a
Speaker 1: hotline at the cow Hope Warm Line. So I work
Speaker 1: as a regional manager for the cow Hope Wormline, and
Speaker 1: a worm line is meant to be a phone line
Speaker 1: where people are able to call it in and get
Speaker 1: support prior to them being in a crisis. So unlike
Speaker 1: a crisis line, when people call wormline, they're going to
Speaker 1: be connected to a peer counselor someone who's been there
Speaker 1: before and who understand what it's like to struggle. And
Speaker 1: our peer counselors they come from all different backgrounds and
Speaker 1: they have different experience in the mental health field, and
Speaker 1: when people call in, they're able to have an honest
Speaker 1: conversation about how they're feeling. And people like this approach
Speaker 1: because unlike the clinical field, there isn't a hierarchy. They're
Speaker 1: able to talk to and with one another rather than
Speaker 1: out one another where you're just sharing, sharing, sharing and
Speaker 1: getting nothing back. And they are also connected to resources,
Speaker 1: whether it's a source of a peer support program or
Speaker 1: group in their community where they're able to go in person,
Speaker 1: or they're connected to how to find a therapist in
Speaker 1: their communities. So that's our approach at the warm Lane,
Speaker 1: and it's very real around the nation, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't know about that. And I think just
Speaker 1: the more we're able to raise awareness because sometimes people
Speaker 1: can't get a therapy appointment because of insurance or because
Speaker 1: of long wait times. So the more we can use
Speaker 1: resources that are accessible to us, better we can ensure
Speaker 1: that people don't have to wait to reach a crisis point. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love that kind of preemptive, preventive position. I also
Speaker 1: like this idea that you know, I've I've talked with
Speaker 1: therapists before in my life, and that can be a
Speaker 1: pretty q and a focus kind of extractive, like tell
Speaker 1: me about your traumas as opposed to the way you
Speaker 1: described a peer who's been through some version of this,
Speaker 1: and there's more of an exchange there. How long have
Speaker 1: you been in this role. I started working at the
Speaker 1: warm Line in I started off as a coordinator, than
Speaker 1: assistant manager and the regional manager for the line. But
Speaker 1: what I've seen throughout it has been really incredible because
Speaker 1: there's people who reach out for the first time for
Speaker 1: mental health support. People who share how they never wanted
Speaker 1: or could acknowledge in their household that they were struggling
Speaker 1: mentally and now they're fifty calling the warm Line talking
Speaker 1: about their struggles for the very first time. Yeah. When
Speaker 1: you hear that story, how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1: You know, it gives validation to the work, and it
Speaker 1: continues pushing me and the counters who are answering the
Speaker 1: phones through because this work can be heavy and it
Speaker 1: can be exhausting emotionally, as is advocacy. So when you
Speaker 1: hear these stories, you are reminded of your why and
Speaker 1: why you get into this work is because of that
Speaker 1: passion and purpose to support the community, and those stories
Speaker 1: are that they are very much the purpose of why
Speaker 1: we do this work. Yeah, that's great, It's like fuel.
Speaker 1: Definitely is in a world filled with such literally devastating
Speaker 1: news every day. This is a great reminder there's a
Speaker 1: warmline you can call that, there's kindness that you can
Speaker 1: channel and be inspired by or contribute to yourself. How
Speaker 1: do you manage your own mental health today? And it
Speaker 1: sounds like you've been on quite a journey from that
Speaker 1: two year old who showed up in Woodland and a
Speaker 1: couple of decades ago. What are your tools now? How
Speaker 1: do you assess where you're at? How do you manage well?
Speaker 1: One of my biggest tools now, it's just being honest
Speaker 1: and open, both about my struggles and how I'm feeling.
Speaker 1: I think that has changed my life tremendously compared to
Speaker 1: where I was in middle school, where I repressed everything
Speaker 1: and where I felt shameful almost every part of my being.
Speaker 1: I now feel very proud of who I am, and
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm able to share how I'm feeling
Speaker 1: with my family openly. I set boundaries. I take care
Speaker 1: of my own mental health. I try and move my
Speaker 1: body every morning at five am. I tray and exercise.
Speaker 1: I also have my own support groups, peer support therapy.
Speaker 1: All of those things work for me. What's one thing
Speaker 1: you want someone listening to this conversation to be sure
Speaker 1: they take away I want people to not feel broken
Speaker 1: for being who they are. I think our society is
Speaker 1: the one that's broken, and we are at times made
Speaker 1: to feel shame or broken for being ourselves, and that
Speaker 1: should never be the case. We should be proud of
Speaker 1: who we are and we should embrace our light. That
Speaker 1: is what makes us who we are, that is what
Speaker 1: makes us unique, that is what makes us want to live.
Speaker 1: And if we are feeling broken and we're repressing who
Speaker 1: we are, we are not living life. We are alive,
Speaker 1: and we cannot just be alive. We need to live.
Speaker 1: That's about everything right there. We have to live, not
Speaker 1: just be alive. What's one thing you want people listening
Speaker 1: to this conversation to do. I want people listening to
Speaker 1: this conversation to reach out for support when they're struggling,
Speaker 1: and to support those around them if they have the capacity.
Speaker 1: I think that's really important. And when we do that,
Speaker 1: we create a ripple effect. We impact ourselves positively, and
Speaker 1: we impact those around us to do the same with
Speaker 1: our peers and with the folks around them. M mmm mmmmm.
Speaker 1: It's almost like we become a kind of force multiplier
Speaker 1: on exactly. I have so much respect for you. I'm
Speaker 1: so grateful for what you're doing in the world, the ripples,
Speaker 1: your cre aiding. I think what stands out to me
Speaker 1: is when you said, if you have the capacity offering
Speaker 1: support to a lot of us going through whatever we're
Speaker 1: going through, we can get stuck in our own and
Speaker 1: think of any extra effort as extra, right. It's like
Speaker 1: outside of ourselves. But sometimes we need to get outside
Speaker 1: of ourselves to find ourselves. And it seems to be
Speaker 1: a part of your journey. You know, as you were
Speaker 1: needing support, you were also offering it, and so you
Speaker 1: became that and with a community, you know, found that
Speaker 1: for yourself. Why is there anything else you want to add? Now?
Speaker 1: Just thank you again for having me on here and
Speaker 1: for having this conversation, and to again to folks out there,
Speaker 1: reach out for support if you need it, and take
Speaker 1: people up into your head and show them how you're feeling.
Speaker 1: Thank you. One a costa. Thank you. You're listening to
Speaker 1: a podcast called Force Multiplier, Action meets Impact. Now. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you've grown to expect ads baked into your podcast,
Speaker 1: but we're gonna do something a little different to walk
Speaker 1: the walk. We've donated our ad space to the organizations
Speaker 1: that need it, most organizations directly tackling today's greatest challenges.
Speaker 1: Be right back. The biggest threat to global health isn't
Speaker 1: a virus, it's injustice. The same scenario the ones denied
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Speaker 1: Visit red dot org for the many ways your money
Speaker 1: and support can become a force multiplier in the fight
Speaker 1: against pandemics. Hey, I'm still Baritune Day, your host for
Speaker 1: Force Multiplier, but I'm checking in with you with a
Speaker 1: little different energy, because if you're listening, you like the show,
Speaker 1: and if you like the show, you might like my
Speaker 1: other show, How to Citizen, where we take citizen as
Speaker 1: a verb and find out from people practicing the ways
Speaker 1: we can shape our community by showing up, investing in relationships,
Speaker 1: understanding power, and valuing our collective selves. Check it out
Speaker 1: at how to citizen dot com or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. Yo. I am so impressed by Want, not
Speaker 1: just because he's annoyingly accomplished at his young age, but
Speaker 1: because he was able to open doors for so many
Speaker 1: by figuring out how to be himself. That's a radical
Speaker 1: yet simple idea that finding our voice can be one
Speaker 1: of the most powerful things we do for ourselves and
Speaker 1: for those around us. Our next guest follows a similar path.
Speaker 1: Doctor carry Joe's Felix was so inspired by those around
Speaker 1: him he decided to get into medicine, where he helps
Speaker 1: people in some of the most unpredictable conditions. My name
Speaker 1: is Carrie Jos Felix m thirty eight years old. I
Speaker 1: was born and raised in eighty the Caribbean. My family
Speaker 1: really believed in education, and my mother is a nurse.
Speaker 1: And also I have an uncle with a doctor that
Speaker 1: we admired lot, so I think I've been very much
Speaker 1: influenced by those two people. So I've been working with
Speaker 1: Doctor's brothers since two thousand and sixteen, first as a
Speaker 1: general surgeon in eighty and then I became the chief
Speaker 1: of the surgeons in the Bird Center import winds to
Speaker 1: Capital City. So I'm part of this generation of doctors
Speaker 1: who actually had to deal with the consequences of the
Speaker 1: devasting earthquake in eighty two ten. So I've been pretty
Speaker 1: much aware of differences in the global healthcare system in general.
Speaker 1: One of the differences is access to care. For example,
Speaker 1: the number especially is that we would find in one
Speaker 1: hospital in Ottawa that would be more than the world
Speaker 1: Central African Republic. For example, there is only one Central
Speaker 1: African autopedic surgeon in the world country, and the other
Speaker 1: autopedic surgeon who would be working in the country are
Speaker 1: the ones bought by the clubs with our borders. So
Speaker 1: this is one of the biggest inequities that I can notice.
Speaker 1: And also the fact that there is universal have college
Speaker 1: in some countries and defeated in that in a lot
Speaker 1: of other countries. Dr Felix has traveled the world both
Speaker 1: in training and in practice, but nothing actually prepares you
Speaker 1: for the stressful situations that pop up without notice. I
Speaker 1: spent four months in the Congo las here and when
Speaker 1: I arrived in May, I've been there for two weeks.
Speaker 1: And then there was that volcanic awersion in Goma, one
Speaker 1: of the biggest cities in the Congo. People had to
Speaker 1: be evacuated. So I was already there, you know, a
Speaker 1: smaller city about seven kilometals from Goma, So there were
Speaker 1: like thousands of people on the wards and of course
Speaker 1: my team not only had to receive and shutter a
Speaker 1: lot of those people, but also we were receiving at
Speaker 1: nights ten, fifteen, twenty people involving accidents. So we would
Speaker 1: come to the hospital and we would have to do
Speaker 1: triage and operate on some patient. So that was one
Speaker 1: of those situations. Was a bit like difficult and swears
Speaker 1: for so community will come together after crisis to help
Speaker 1: and also to take things in their own hands because
Speaker 1: the fact that we are here trying to help without
Speaker 1: any kind of discrimination, that brings a lot of hope
Speaker 1: to them. They feel that they are not all known.
Speaker 1: But my biggest investment, I would say it's the local staff,
Speaker 1: the local doctors, local nurses, because I do believe that
Speaker 1: they're the ones. I mean, if they had means, they
Speaker 1: would do more to actually serve the population and help
Speaker 1: them talk to us. For all, brothers were begging expertise,
Speaker 1: were begging means, medication, experience all of that. So they
Speaker 1: are here, they're working with us, we are helping them
Speaker 1: to help their own population, and they're learning also, So
Speaker 1: that's that was the case in Native for example, I
Speaker 1: was part of the international which actually came to help,
Speaker 1: and that was a very special experience, and I was
Speaker 1: so happy because one of the ancient surgeons who actually
Speaker 1: came to help was one of the ones that I trained,
Speaker 1: and I was so proud of that. You see, whatever,
Speaker 1: He's one of those experiences where actually we've seen what
Speaker 1: we've done being replicated to build a community and keep helping.
Speaker 1: It's easy to see these crises as far removed from us,
Speaker 1: especially when they happened on the other side of the world.
Speaker 1: But through his experience, he's learned that sometimes help looks
Speaker 1: similar regardless of geography. So right now the needs may
Speaker 1: be more in the Middle East and uh in Africa
Speaker 1: or Latin America and nowadays Ukraine, but things may happen
Speaker 1: everywhere any time in the world, so it's not about them.
Speaker 1: It's us. So today's Africa or you friend, but it
Speaker 1: can be anyone any time, so we should care a
Speaker 1: little bit more. No Man is an island, John Dan
Speaker 1: said right, So we have to try to stay from
Speaker 1: and see what's going on in the world and try
Speaker 1: to see how we can help based on the needs.
Speaker 1: And also we have to be culturally sensitive because every
Speaker 1: country has their own specificities and we have to be
Speaker 1: aware of that. We have to give a hand, but
Speaker 1: also respecting the dignity of the people that we're helping,
Speaker 1: so people can help in their own ways. There are
Speaker 1: people who are willing to give, so I would definitely
Speaker 1: encourage people to keep donating, but also volunteer. There are
Speaker 1: so many ways to get involved, doats about borders. This
Speaker 1: is not just about doctors and nurses. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of people with different back ones. No man is
Speaker 1: an island. This perfectly sums up how important Dr Felix's
Speaker 1: work is not just to the regions he services, but
Speaker 1: to the whole world. And I can't help but think
Speaker 1: of these local doctors and nurses. He references, those that
Speaker 1: do so much despite having so little. We all need
Speaker 1: more of that spirit, just a pair of willing hands
Speaker 1: that want to help. I don't know about you, but
Speaker 1: I have to talking more with Juan and Dr Felix.
Speaker 1: I feel like the world is a little bit smaller
Speaker 1: and a little bit more compassionate. It's not just because
Speaker 1: we're connecting from different parts of the world or across
Speaker 1: time zones. I think it's because they give me hope
Speaker 1: that the solution can be replicated, just with added sprinkles
Speaker 1: of culture and nuance, depending on what community you're serving.
Speaker 1: I also love that they both believe we can be
Speaker 1: part of the action with more than just our dollars,
Speaker 1: because our skills, time, and empathy don't have to begin
Speaker 1: and end with medicine. Sometimes, compassion, the ability to listen,
Speaker 1: and the willingness to learn is more than enough to help.
Speaker 1: Are you feeling inspired and want to check out more
Speaker 1: information about the organizations we talked about in this episode.
Speaker 1: Learn more about them and how you can support their work.
Speaker 1: Go to salesforce dot org slash Force Multiplier. Force Multiplier
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio and Salesforce dot
Speaker 1: Org hosted by me Barrettune Day Thurston. It's executive produced
Speaker 1: by Elizabeth Stewart, produced by Van Schien, edited and mixed
Speaker 1: by James Foster, and written by Yvette Lopez. A special
Speaker 1: thanks to our guests Dr Kerry, Joe's Felix and Juan Acosta.
Speaker 1: Listen to force multiplier on the I heart rate, your app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. M m
Speaker 1: hm