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Mind Your Mental
28 Plays4 years ago
In this episode, we discuss the importance of maintaining mental health as a healthcare professional, and how medical culture can contribute to poor mental health among physicians. We also interview Dr. Roxann Clarke, certified in Podiatric Medicine and Reconstructive Foot and Ankle surgery, where she discusses her journey into podiatry and how her career connects to her business. Then, step into our Financial Corner for some financial management tips. You won't want to miss this!
Disclaimer: The opinion and views expressed on our podcast do not reflect the official stance of Student National Medical Association.
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Transcript
Introduction and SNMA Specialty Series
00:00:00
Speaker
SNMA is continuing its Sowing Seeds Specialty Series every Wednesday this September. The remaining specialties for this month are dermatology, combined residency, and surgical subspecialties. To tune in, visit the SNMA YouTube page or Facebook Live. You can also access past Sowing Seeds recordings to check out some other specialties you may have missed.
00:00:27
Speaker
For more SNMA opportunities, be sure to sign up for the SNMA weekly opportunities letter. Now
Introduction to SNMA Presents the Lounge
00:00:35
Speaker
let's start the show.
00:01:01
Speaker
What's going on, everyone? Welcome to SNMA Presents the Lounge. Whether in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or just lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of healthcare.
Essential Smartphone Apps Discussion
00:01:20
Speaker
For our icebreaker today, we'll be answering the question, if you had to delete all but three apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep and why?
00:01:29
Speaker
I think that's a great, great icebreaker. Well, I'm student Dr. Isabella. And my response to this question, let's see, what three apps would I keep? You know, the funny thing is that I probably use and rotate through the same like, eight to 10 apps, but I have so many apps on my phone. But if I
00:01:50
Speaker
If I had to think about the priority and which ones I would keep, I know for a fact I would need to keep at least one social media app, and that would have to be the one that I use the most, and which one I get the most information out of, which is Twitter. So anything news-related, anything that's going on in this world, I know it because it's Twitter. I can do without Instagram. I feel like Instagram right now, it's becoming really fluffy, and people are posting their lives in a way that's very fake. So I could do without her. That's a fact.
00:02:18
Speaker
Like, I could do without her for, you know, but I'll stick with Twitter for my news. And then I would also keep my, I keep one shopping app that would be like, you know, because I do a lot of online shopping, and I feel like that comes in clutch if I can't find something in store. So I keep my Amazon app, because I think I do order a lot on Amazon.
00:02:39
Speaker
And then I would keep a money app so I can continue sending money to people easily or getting money. So I'd probably keep my banking app, which is like Zelle attached to it. So I'd keep my banking app too. Those would be the three that I keep that. I think those are the most important. If I didn't have those three, it might be a little bit hard for me to function.
00:02:58
Speaker
You know, let me give you my cash happens. Oh, hold on. I'ma text it to you. All right. You talking about, so I can send money. Send it risky? Is out here sending money, y'all.
Mental Health Importance for Black Women in Medicine
00:03:24
Speaker
So I'm student dr Aldwin and if I had to say three apps that I need first off is a news app because I literally like read the news all the time like
00:03:34
Speaker
before I go to sleep, when I get up in the morning, sometimes so that I'm late for rotations. I'd be reading the news. I'd be like, what's going on in the world? Second app would be Down Dog app, which is like a yoga app. So I'm really into yoga and mindfulness and, you know, just feeling just
00:03:54
Speaker
that calmness every day, feeling entitled to something greater. Yoga just gives me a different dimension in living and creating my livelihood and sustainability for myself. So I really love the Down Dog app, and you could select if you want to do yoga for 20 minutes, an hour, and they have different poses, different people speaking to you. So if you want a calm sound, or if you want a loud, boisterous person. And then my third app, that got to be my Wells Fargo, because I love looking at that change in my whole journey.
00:04:34
Speaker
I love it. I love it. Okay. So it seems like all of us are definitely sticking with money. This is for real. This is student Dr. Erica Dingle and I would agree with my co-hosts. I'm keeping a money app, my bank app for sure. That's going to remain.
00:04:51
Speaker
Money moves.
00:04:57
Speaker
I will also be keeping my Bible app because I'll be needing to tell people to try Jesus and not me. And I need to go straight to the scriptures for that sometimes. Let's see a third. Hmm. You know, cause I got other devices. So it's like, I could have other stuff on my other, you know, my other devices. What would a third app be? It wouldn't be social. Oh,
00:05:27
Speaker
probably either group me or WhatsApp. I would have to see which one I talk to people on their most. Group me is actually pretty important. I agree with you on that. Yeah, I would say either group me or WhatsApp, and I would lean more towards group me at this point, for sure. So that's interesting, though. We all picked to send money. Who's sending us money? You did. You did.
00:05:54
Speaker
But you know what's key though? I mean money, money doesn't necessarily buy happiness. And we see even the riches of people are dealing with mental health issues, mental health challenges. And on this episode, it's just a little bit different. Like self-care, mental health, and mental well-being is so critical, especially in health care, where
00:06:14
Speaker
there's so many challenges. When we come through, there's so many expectations, so much standards, so much pressure, so much burden to be successful, especially being of color and coming from the neighborhoods that we come from. Nothing is granted and guaranteed, you feel me? And I feel like in this life was guaranteed, death, death, especially in med school, that we guaranteed.
00:06:37
Speaker
Yeah, yes. I think it's important for us to really have this conversation, you know, about the importance of mental health. With
Systemic Issues and Mental Health in Healthcare
00:06:44
Speaker
physician, physician suicides rates doubled out of the general population across the state's mental wellness is always a relevant topic. But especially so this year, where we watched the global pandemic put unbelievable strain on the healthcare system. And you know, it's crazy.
00:07:02
Speaker
We're in the middle of a surge right now, and many hospitals across the US are really struggling with resource allocation and bed availability. I'm seeing in Georgia, I was just right in my ER rotation. A lot of people was coming in with COVID, and we was like, yo, we can't help you. Even a lady today had pancreatitis, and you don't have to turn her weight with the issue that you get admitted for. Severe pancreatitis, you know what I'm saying? She was already having jaundice and all of that. Pay all of that.
00:07:31
Speaker
With that being said, let me ask y'all, why is mental health so important to both of y'all? And how do you think it impacts your overall wellbeing, especially being medical students and beautiful black women in the medical realm that oftentimes antagonizes y'all, but y'all always rise to the top so gracefully and with poise.
00:07:52
Speaker
Thank you for bringing that up. I love the fact that you added for especially for black women. That is the that's the kicker right there. Lord knows. Lord knows that's the kicker right there because
00:08:03
Speaker
my mental health would not look the same as a Caucasian person's mental health, most likely, or a Hispanic man's mental health. But it's gonna look different because our experiences and our world views are gonna be drastically different. And that's gonna make all the change, that's gonna make the biggest impact on how I would explain my own perspective on my mental health and why it's important to me. So I think that one, being like you said, a medical student,
00:08:30
Speaker
very few black women in this field, very few people who look like me and Erica who are trying to pursue professions that take a lot of time, that take a lot of like mental strain, that take a lot of like pushing yourself to do things you've probably never done and to just do it where you don't have that many people who resemble the way you look and where you feel like it could really be a safe space. So a lot of the time you're fighting these silent battles
00:08:53
Speaker
to look like to basically prove not only to yourself but even maybe to your peers that you are capable of doing this and that you're equal to the challenge. But then sometimes people like undermining you because they don't see that many people look like you so thinking you can't do it anyway and you have to fight against that too. And so I think with all of those pressures and with all of those like things like
00:09:17
Speaker
those factors impacting the way that I've been going through this medical journey, I've really, really had to put mental health at the forefront because I realized that if I don't even feel like waking up today, how can I sit down and study and retain anything and feel like I want to learn this stuff, right? If I just don't even feel like
00:09:37
Speaker
like this is worth it or like I'm fooling myself or this thing happened yesterday that really put me in a bad space but like do I even have the capacity to like take that break when I'm already like being told that this is not something I should even be doing in the first place or that people are expecting that I can do so I just think it's like
00:09:54
Speaker
It really is. It really is like a silent battle that not only, you know, black women are fighting, but, you know, probably black men are fighting as well.
Personal Mental Health Battles & Self-Care
00:10:02
Speaker
Just everyone's fighting it. But I would say as a black woman, I think it's especially more nuanced. And that's why it's so important to me because it's like we have to be able to speak up and like say that, hey, like you're not fighting this alone. Like this is something we all have like other black women are also dealing with who are probably in these professions where it can be very isolating. You don't see that many people look like you, you know, and and all of that.
00:10:23
Speaker
Very much so. I hear that. I love the word you brought up, nuanced. And that's, it's so nuanced. Mental health is so nuanced because it's not just
00:10:38
Speaker
You know, one day it could be your mental health as a woman is affected. Let's keep it a stack because, you know, your cycle has started. Another day it could be because the dude that you decided to give a chance is acting up. You know, like there's so many different factors and facets of mental health.
00:10:59
Speaker
Um, and why is it important to me if I need to be able to function? Um, being a medical student, I think is one of the hardest things anybody can do in life. It is by far the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And literally, I mean, yeah, literally. And what, what I tell people all the time is life does not stop.
00:11:26
Speaker
just because you're in medical school. And in order to stay on top of your studies, your scholastics, you know, being competitive when it comes to applying a residency and fellowships, et cetera, like you have to make sure that your your mind is stable. That's a fact.
00:11:46
Speaker
And there's so many things for me right now. I'll give you a little insight, like where my mental health has kind of been, I guess, shaken. I have older parents. My mom just turned 70. My dad just turned 75. And my mom has been experiencing some health challenges.
00:12:04
Speaker
having to deal with that and be a student. I'm an only child. So I'm like, I'm her caretaker and I can't do school and take care of her and not have my mind right. And that might not be everybody's story at the stage cause y'all know I'm older, but there are younger medical students that will experience something, you know, something that,
00:12:29
Speaker
It'll literally come out of nowhere at the most inopportune time, or friends getting sick. Little stuff that on a normal day, or in any other case, let's say you weren't a medical student, you were just working, you could probably handle. But because you're doing this, it's so hard.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yeah, I prioritize it for that reason, because it that it impacts my overall well being because I have so much other stuff going on. I have to make sure that I talk to my therapist at least once every two weeks. I have to make sure that I have systems in place to get the stress off. The self care that we'll discuss once Alden gives us his reasons behind why mental health is important. But yeah, I am
00:13:21
Speaker
I'm an advocate for it, get a therapist, exercise, do something because aside from what Isabella mentioned in terms of just being black and in medicine, life doesn't stop and there's so much that comes your way while you're in this. So that's why I'm an advocate for it. What about you Aldi?
00:13:41
Speaker
Right. I mean, I loved how you, you know, Isabelle, again, write the nuances and then, you know, just, Erica, you go into a specific challenge that you're facing. I think it's important in this process when in regards to mental health that we have to be transparent, not all the time, but transparent when the occasion rises for us to be so. And oftentimes in the Black community, we just hold all of these traumas and these inherent injustices that have plagued us.
00:14:07
Speaker
from the past, but also that continue to plague us well into the future and even our own personal issues. And it's very difficult because we're taught, oh yeah, you gotta continue, keep pushing, keep pushing. You gonna get through it, man, don't show no emotion. You don't be weak, continue to push through. You're gonna be fine. Instead of acknowledging, hey, like I'm going through a really tough time and I need someone to talk to. I need somebody that can help me, like you said, Erica, create these systems that are put into place.
00:14:35
Speaker
Like you said, Erica, go into a therapist every two weeks. That due diligence is not only helping your mental health, but it's also helping your physical health because we find out that what happens mentally connects with what you see and manifest physically. I see oftentimes on my rotations where people have conversion disorder where mentally they may be experiencing things and they may have high stress, high anxiety.
00:14:59
Speaker
Physically, they're having symptoms of a seizure or a stroke, but it's not necessarily a real stroke or a real seizure. It's them, their body telling them, yo, you got to take care of yourself and you got to figure out what systems you need to put and be put into place so that physically you're not having all these derangements.
00:15:16
Speaker
And then going back to what we said earlier about America, we're just in a high stress environment. You know, we talk about our kidneys, right, that create all the cortisol, all these stress hormones, these stress hormones. Then I was listening to podcasts the other day, these stress hormones then go into our brain and disinhibit our frontal lobe and our frontal cortex, which allows us to have adequate and appropriate decision making, right?
00:15:39
Speaker
And then chronic stresses also affect our amygdala that controls our emotions. So it also inhibits our amygdala and prevents it from functioning where we can control our emotional intelligence and emotional awareness, where we're just all over the place. So chronic stress and not dealing with your mental health can cause physical and recurring mental health problems. And for me, I think it's important that we sit down and have these discussions all the time in medical school.
00:16:06
Speaker
I was talking to a student the other day, she was having challenges with one of her board exams and she said, I went up to my school and they was playing me. They basically was like, you're dumb, you're not going to make it, you should do better, you're not doing enough.
00:16:21
Speaker
This is not how you win a system that tells you to take care of your mental health, but they're not putting in the resources or communicating effectively that mental health could be a target or an issue that you're suffering from that's taken away from your success. You feel me?
00:16:38
Speaker
So it's just interesting to me, you know, when we talk about the medical dynamic, the medical infrastructure, and for us as Black people, I say we got to acknowledge each other, acknowledge each other as the Black and Black kings and queens that we are. When you see another Black student or, you know, underrepresented minority in the field of medicine, like I said, I go up to them, I acknowledge them, I celebrate them, I salute you, and we have to counter and interact with that.
00:17:03
Speaker
And I was reading this book by Dr. Rita Walker talking about how we address black mental health in the community. Oftentimes when you see somebody, you're like, how are you today? You know what I mean? And that's just a generic asking a question. Most of the time, 80 to 90% of the time, people say, oh, I'm fine. But meanwhile, their best friend got shot, or their mother died, or they got into a car accident earlier that morning, right?
00:17:27
Speaker
Now, for our community. And I think that's because we demonize saying the truth, right? Like, it's not normal to say flat out, this happened to me. I had a really crappy day. Exactly. Because then it's like, if I tell you, how are you going to react? Or how are you going to help the situation, right? So I think it's the fear of the unknown when someone tells the truth. And I think we need to like,
00:17:49
Speaker
We need to start normalizing, like being honest if someone asks us that question because it allows healing to happen, right? Versus just bottling up things inside and just saying, oh yeah, things are fine. And then moving about your day. So that's a good point that you brought up, Alduin.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yes, even if the person that you're telling that to can't necessarily help, but the fact that you let somebody know, and hopefully they're empathetic or sympathetic to what's going on with you and can sit down with you, or maybe who knows that person can be like, hey, I got this therapist, or, oh, you got into accident, oh, yeah, I got this body man that could put you on real quick, right? Or whatever the case may be. And like, Isabella, yeah, that's definitely, I think, one of the most important things that we could do is go beyond that step, right? And say, how are you feeling today? Right? Right.
00:18:34
Speaker
How is your day overall going? How are your emotions? Are you feeling supported today? Taking that next step and asking the necessary questions to see truly is a person feeling well or not because we are just in this kind of, you know, this escapade
Self-Care Practices and Intuition
00:18:50
Speaker
of
00:18:50
Speaker
you know, running to work, going to work, going to rotations, studying all the time, but not acknowledging that we as human civilization, as human beings, we were built off of connections, the social connections that we breathe into life are what is life. Because at the end of the day, at the end of your life, you're not gonna, the materials are gonna go away, right? The houses, the cars, but what stays with you is the legacy that you leave and the connections that have persisted.
00:19:18
Speaker
through your challenges, your ups and downs. Those are the memories that people remember about you. And I think people have to celebrate that more so than kind of even the sense of medicine, like even becoming that doctor or even becoming that journalist, right? It's chasing
00:19:34
Speaker
the relationships and connections that will make you feel whole because that is what it, at least to me, means to be truly human. And that needs to be manifested, I feel, in the mental health space in our communities where we talk about it, where we're about it, and we're not afraid. Even one of my boys on my block, he has PTSD. I may be mentioning this, but he got shot in the head. You feel me?
00:19:55
Speaker
like last year or two years ago. And anytime he walks down the same block that he got shot at, or he sees that same car, or he sees that same bag with the same print from that same grocery store, he automatically gets panic attacks. He like literally just can't handle himself. You feel me? But he told me himself like, Oh, I can't even I can't even verbalize that because you're the only brother that understood that.
00:20:20
Speaker
You know what I mean? And he tells other people that he's like, oh, nah, bro, you bugging. Like, what's wrong with you? Like, why are you shivering? Why are you like getting all angsty? Like, you know what I mean? Because they don't understand, like, mental trauma manifests physically. So, guys, point of the matter is, get a therapist, seek help when you need to communicate how you feel and don't be afraid, man or woman, right?
00:20:42
Speaker
to connect to your greater purpose and connect to the community that surrounds you and the social support that's within yourself and individuals that are around you.
00:20:52
Speaker
And you know, since we are, we cater to, or maybe not cater to, but we're geared towards medical professionals, right, as the Student National Medical Association. So, a lot of these issues impacting mental health among healthcare professionals are systemic. So, for example, resident working out,
00:21:18
Speaker
Right. Resident working hours, malignant programs, hierarchical abuse, championing unhealthy behaviors in medical culture. And these need to be addressed to improve overall wellness, obviously, right? We need to work on that. But there are also ways that individual habits can positively or negatively impact mental health. So... Yes.
00:21:42
Speaker
What are, I guess, I'll give some of mine first, but I want you guys to think about it as well. Some ways that you take care of your mental or to keep your mental right, like self-care wise. So I make sure that I do like mindfulness.
00:22:01
Speaker
I found this little 10-minute mindfulness meditation when I feel myself getting really, really anxious. And I try to do it more often than not, so it's not just something I go to when I'm having an issue. I also make sure that I take a hot shower at the end of my day. And I know some dermatologists might tell me not to take a super hot shower, but I haven't jumped off bed. That's a little relaxing.
00:22:27
Speaker
I haven't jumped off that bandwagon yet. It just, it helps me like decompress. Um, so that's another way that I engage in self care. And then I like to file my nails. It relaxes me and makes me feel like, you know, I'm doing something to keep myself. Yeah. I will literally be in the middle of lecture. Cause we still online. Like let me shake my nails right now, make sure that I'm good. And it keeps me, it keeps me grounded. Yeah. So what are, what are some of your self care habits?
00:22:56
Speaker
I love those girls because that's close to mine. I mean, like, I think so a lot of my self-care is tied towards reflection and thinking because I've realized that in this life, we don't especially like we were saying in America, which is always on go, go, go, go, go. When do we take the time to sit down and just think about how our day went?
00:23:19
Speaker
reflecting on our emotions and the emotions that we felt throughout the day. Why did we feel those emotions? Why did the situation that happened around lunchtime make you feel anxious? Why was that conversation you had with your peer something that brought you a little bit of peace of mind? I think these are all things you have to think about because when you can sit down and just like take time to think about
00:23:44
Speaker
like the reason why you you felt a certain way in certain spaces and then being able to reflect on that it allows you to be more in tune with your body and the the way that your body speaks to you right because I was telling you guys that I'm a big proponent on listening to your intuition like I think that intuition is the
Yoga, Nature, and Journaling for Stress Management
00:24:00
Speaker
driving force that allows us to make decisions in our life
00:24:03
Speaker
when you don't even have an explanation as to why you made a decision, but you just knew that you had to make that decision, something was telling you, like, no, like, I have to do this. That's, to me, the closest thing you can have to, like, God being right next to you, which is, like, listening to your intuition, because I think God speaks through intuition. And for me,
00:24:21
Speaker
What I've loved to do, like these days, the way I've been, you know, I've been catering to my intuition is that if I feel like I'm in a space that I have no business being in, I will get up and leave. And I won't apologize for it. I've done that a couple of times this week. I'm like, you know what? This space, this space isn't serving me. I don't like it. I'm not feeling okay here. I'm leaving. And I left, you know, like I've done.
00:24:46
Speaker
I've done a couple of, I've left parties in prom too. I've left lectures in prom too. And it's like, I don't, I needed to do that. I don't know why is something was just telling me I don't need to be here and I leave. And that to me has been self care. Cause before I will force myself like, Oh, like you just need to run through, just stick it out. No, why? Like why do that when you don't, when something's telling you that you don't like this place isn't serving you right now. And I think that that's what I've been doing these days for my self care is just listening to my body and honoring it versus just trying to speak against it.
00:25:16
Speaker
Right. I love that. Like just having the just the word with all and like you said the instant instinct and intuition and be like yo bump this like I'm not feeling like you walk out there but you'd be walking out there like in slow motion. Right.
00:25:38
Speaker
I can't. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, Alderman, before you go, another honorable mention for self-care that I failed to mention. Do not disturb. Do not disturb on the phone. Go ahead. You're up. Go ahead, go ahead.
00:25:53
Speaker
I got my DnD on from 10 p.m. To 7 a.m. So I know I know the exact feeling but for me, you know, some are some one of mine's is just literally like being in nature No studies show that being in nature 15 to 20 minutes a day can reduce your levels of stress by 40% Wow, and I recently went to Guyana and checked out one of the biggest falls Ktor falls in Guyana shout out to Guyana all the Guyanese people Guyana
00:26:21
Speaker
and just being there and just seeing the water dropping and just the birds chirping the natural air like non-pollution you know even things like that like we take for granted here in America we're just surrounded by so much noise like you heard earlier in the podcast police like coming down like even those little nuances could affect your health and people don't even realize that um
00:26:45
Speaker
Secondly, I think another thing that I love to do is yoga. Erika mentioned mindfulness, being aware. Yoga is not just a form of the physical manifestation of how you interact with your body and your awareness, but it's also a thought
00:27:03
Speaker
A thought of having peace, a thought of creating a dynamic for your life and creating purpose and a sense of integrity and understanding of where you wanna go and how to navigate specific situations. People see yoga and it's like, yeah, you gotta do all these, no, there's different facets and forms of yoga, you know what I mean? Outside of that. So becoming more in tune with that, becoming more in tune with my purpose on this earth,
00:27:29
Speaker
because even in my last rotation on in the ER, you know, I saw several people die, you know, and I immediately acknowledged like, nothing is guaranteed again, right? I mean, granted, like, we're here, but nothing is guaranteed for tomorrow. And so just
00:27:45
Speaker
creating a livelihood and a sense of importance and knowing who I am and like what I want to do in this short timeframe that I have. Journaling is another thing that I like to do as well. I do that like every other day. Just journal some thoughts about how my day is going, how I feel. And actually it's actually inspiring and motivating to me because at the end of my journal, I write feature neuropsychiatrist signing out kind of thing. This reminds me of my work.
00:28:13
Speaker
You got to claim it. Claim what you want. Self-affirmation. Yeah, that's important. So that's three of my self-care tips. Oh, and make sure, yo, guys, don't be afraid, bro. Like, yo, get your manicure and your pedicure, bro. Like, stop fronting on it, man. Period. I'm going to be getting my pedicures. And that's self-care. I'll just sit down, let the lady do her thing, and open my books, start reading.
00:28:36
Speaker
I too, I too go to the nail salon. I forgot to mention that. Yes. I'd be in the nail salon every three weeks. Can't forget about that. You feel me? You feel good. You look good. You're going to do good. And that's how you conquer the world at the end of the day. You're going to walk out there like I'm ready to back some chicks, like my feet on fleek, about to hit the beach and swag surf on the ocean.
00:28:57
Speaker
I love it.
Challenges in Medical Training and Physician Burnout
00:29:01
Speaker
But thank you guys so much for coming up with these tips. These are these are really, really good. And honestly, like you mentioned earlier, Erica, a large part of what is maybe driving poor mental health among physicians is systemic in nature. And so how do you guys think like how do we begin to address the systemic problems that exist to create a healthier lifestyle for health care professionals at every level of training? Like if you guys could do something about it, what is it that you would do?
00:29:26
Speaker
And I think, you know, personally, there's just been a huge, like a huge influx of people speaking out about like burnout, especially amongst the physician workforce. And so, you know, there's like an article actually that was written that kind of talked more about that. And there's one quote that they said, which I think is meaningful to bring up is,
00:29:47
Speaker
Quote, they believe, as I do, that physician cynicism, exhaustion, and decreased productivity are symptoms of a broken system. Economic force, technological demands, and widespread intergenerational physician mental health wounds have culminated in a highly dysfunctional and toxic healthcare system in which we find ourselves in daily forced betrayal of our deepest values. So what comes to mind when you guys hear something like that?
00:30:15
Speaker
You know, for me, just coming to a realization and, you know, we are as physicians oftentimes reviewed and like, we're like, you know,
00:30:26
Speaker
God-like in a way, right? We are without error. We are perfect. Just like how we view celebrities, right? Do what your physicians say or you're going to be in trouble. But we ourselves are just as human as anybody else. And the studies show over 50% of physicians experience some form of burnout, right?
00:30:45
Speaker
And from the year 2003 to December 2016, there was a study that looked at how many individuals committed suicide, 170,000 individuals committed suicide from the study, and 0.5% were physicians, which accounted for about 767 individuals.
00:31:05
Speaker
With that being said, and I've seen this over the last year, at a hospital right near me in the Bronx, three residents committed suicide in the same year. I mean, in the same program. And for various reasons, I believe one of them was, he was a homosexual male and the other one was they were dealing with stressors for one reason or another.
00:31:30
Speaker
But regardless, I think that we got to have a space where we feel comfortable to say, hey, I'm not feeling good today. Hey, I'm not able to work today. When you think about us being humans, medicine requires so much of us, so much sacrifice. I'm texting a lot of my friends as residents now. It's like, oh, I'm tired already. They just started last month. It's like, yeah, I'm on my fifth day on. We weren't meant to be working and turning ourselves out.
00:31:55
Speaker
And medicine creates this infrastructure where we talk about more injury, where we're working so, so, so hard that we're not able to replace the cup that we're giving out. We're giving out so much of the fluids from that cup to everybody else, but we can never have enough time to fill it in. We don't have enough time to see our patients. We don't have enough time to create high quality care. One of my preceptors, two rotations ago in family medicine, she literally took
00:32:22
Speaker
you know, she quit her job and is like, yo, I'm taking three, four months off. I'm trying to have a baby. The last eight years, medicine burnt me out. I was literally about to commit suicide. And I'm not with this game. I'm and now she's leaving the corporation game. And now she's creating her own practice for healthy for a black woman. But nonetheless, to say that
00:32:41
Speaker
sometimes we got to take the initiative and got to go against the status quo, not accept things for what they are. If you're in a position where you feel like you're not healthy, where you feel like you're not safe, we got to be comfortable not to let people know. And I feel like oftentimes in a lot of residencies, that's not really an avenue of success for them. And it's unfortunate because recently they mandated the 80-hour work week a couple of years ago, four or five years ago. And
00:33:08
Speaker
medicine is kind of trying to tune itself away from the malignancy and things of that nature, but it's still there. There's still that underlying misunderstanding of what mental health means. You got all of these OGs saying, yeah, I work 120 hours a week, so they should work 120 hours a week. What's with this 80-hour mandate? It's BS.
00:33:28
Speaker
Like, no, it don't work like that. We got to work hard and learn what we need to be physicians, but not at the expense of our own mental health, where we are dying or committing suicide at a higher rate, at least twice the general population. We are experiencing stress, anxiety, depression at a higher rate than the general population. And we are having
00:33:50
Speaker
physical and psychological long-term effects from this, and we continue to persist on in seeing our patients and continue to persist on in working for a system that is not necessarily meant for us to be conducive, least successful. You feel me?
00:34:05
Speaker
disheartening, but I think that things are changing. And I think we as residents or future residents and medical students, we got to, instead of accepting things for what they are, we got to go to the forefront and tell these people like, yo, y'all got to do something about this. Because I'll be talking to residency directors like, yo, what are y'all doing for mental health? What are your resources? No, I'll be listening. I'm not feeling that. That's a red flag. You know what I mean? Because I'll come up there, I'll let
00:34:28
Speaker
I'll let it be known. I'm not scared. Like I'm one of those, I'll be a radical and say, yo, y'all not doing enough. Let's see what it is. And let's conquer this. Let's tackle this so that everybody, if everybody's safe, you know what I mean? I feel that. I think all one kind of summed it up. So I'm with, I'm with all of that. That's, that's cap. You guys, you got more to say. Come on, son.
00:34:51
Speaker
Nah, you did. You hit the nail on the head. I mean, it takes somebody to actually make change to like say, you know, there's a problem, identify somebody that can help with the problem, like a superior, like a champion, and then actually make some noise because people sit around quiet. So I'm with everything you said, bro.
00:35:14
Speaker
Well, you know what I mean? I appreciate that. But I think this is like a dope conversation, man. We talked about some great points from mental health, physician burnout, moral injury. We talked about how it affects us as medical students, how it affects our communities. And this discussion is not going away. Like we got to continue to promote the importance of mental health and its involvement in our society and our culture. But you know what I'm saying? We could talk about this like even longer.
00:35:43
Speaker
I mean, we probably gonna have another dedicated episode on this in the future. Who knows? But I'd love to hear from all the listeners, like what's your thoughts as well? You know, if you have any self-care tips or wanna share your feelings about our current system's impact on mental health, you gotta make sure you email us. Email us at podcast at SNMA.org. To me, part of mental health is physical health from head to B. I mean, so next up,
00:36:12
Speaker
We got Eric God, you know, she did the interview solo, Dolo, so I'm kind of tight. But anyway, it's all good. She chatting with Dr. Roxanne Clark, a podiatrist and business owner. That's dope, something different on the importance of taking care of your feet as part of taking care of yourself. I mean, let me get my feet.
00:36:35
Speaker
So shout out to Erika for holding that down. Appreciate you. Love you. Bless you.
00:36:52
Speaker
Hello, everyone.
Dr. Roxanne Clark's Journey and Foot Health Tips
00:36:53
Speaker
Welcome to this episode of SNMA Presents the Lounge. Today we have with us a very special guest, my big sister from our illustrious Hampton University. She is a podiatrist, Dr. Roxanne Clark.
00:37:11
Speaker
So I already mentioned, graduate of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Biology. She also obtained her Master of Science in Medical Science and Research from Hampton. Dr. Clark then attended New York College of Podiatric Medicine and obtained her Doctorate in Podiatric Medicine.
00:37:31
Speaker
She received further training at New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, where she continued and finished extensive training in podiatric medicine and reconstructive foot and ankle surgery. Dr. Clark now practices in Midtown Manhattan as well as several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Clark, she's done so much, you guys, really. I mean, she is so dope. She's also a published author in the Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery.
00:38:01
Speaker
and is the chief scientific officer at a comfortable footwear startup company, Ally Shoes. Dr. Clark is board certified in minimally invasive foot and ankle surgery, and we want to welcome her to the show today.
00:38:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, everybody. Thank you, Erica, for having me. Thank you, Asena Mae, for inviting me to talk about, you know, anything you guys want to hear about, medicine, life.
00:38:38
Speaker
We want to hear about it all, literally. And I'm just, again, thank you for being here. We really appreciate you for coming on the show today. So we'll get into some questions. First, how did you choose or come to choosing your career in podiatry?
00:39:00
Speaker
Okay. I felt like podiatry chose me. I don't know. I'll explain. So, you know, after I finished my bachelor's at Hampton, actually for that, you know, I took organic chemistry my third year in college and
00:39:27
Speaker
that was like my toughest subject. And I deem myself a good student, but it made me really think like, if I'm having trouble with this subject, am I really going to make it in medical school? So it made me pause and think.
00:39:44
Speaker
While I paused and thought, I heard about the master's program for medical science at Hampton. I was like, okay, maybe I could just continue learning and continue thinking about whether I should go this route. I did two years with my master's and in the program, it helps you prep for
00:40:08
Speaker
you know, MCAT or any other graduate standardized test that you want to take if it's, you know, just grad school, you know, getting your PhD or any other master's program. But of course I focused on, you know, the MCAT because I really wanted to
00:40:27
Speaker
work in medicine. So as I was, you know, preparing for the MCAT, finishing this program, I was starting to get literature in my mail about podiatry. I was like, what's podiatry? Like, you know, is it like, you know,
00:40:49
Speaker
Like, what is it? So I did my research, you know, and I knew I wanted to do something surgical and, you know, orthopedic surgery would have been my choice, you know, if I had gone the allopathic route. I shadowed a orthopedic surgeon.
00:41:11
Speaker
my second year, second summer in the master's program and I did not enjoy my experience shadowing, not downplaying, you know, ortho, like, you know, I have a whole bunch of ortho colleagues and they're amazing and, you know, God bless them and, you know, what they do and what they have to go through. But I just felt like I didn't fit.
00:41:37
Speaker
You know and I feel like as you as you finish medical school and as you actually as you do these rotations you kind of find your personality where your personality fits like of course there are gonna be things that you're super interested, but
00:41:53
Speaker
you're also going to figure like, am I this type of doctor? Because, you know, I feel like each specialty has a certain personality. Do you fit that personality? Do you fit that lifestyle or do you want that lifestyle for yourself? So as I'm shadowing this ortho doc, I was like, I don't know if this could be my life. Like, I can't see myself doing this, which was kind of discouraging. So going back to the podiatry mailouts that I was getting,
00:42:22
Speaker
I'm reading about it. I'm going on the internet researching. I'm like, hey, this is like lower extremity focused, you know, this is surgical, you know, let me find out more. So I called the school in New York College and they were like, hey, you know, if you're in town, you know, because I was still at Hampton, like whenever you're in New York, you should come and visit us. We'll give you a tour. We'll set you up to
00:42:49
Speaker
shadow, you know, one of the podiatrists right in the city. I was like, oh, this is, you know, this is something. So I shadowed podiatrists in the city and he was absolutely happy. His patients were happy. And, you know, he just had the lifestyle and the vibe and the personality that
00:43:15
Speaker
I fit into. Like I was like, I can do this. This is where I want to be. So I ended up applying. I mean, after my MCAT ended up applying, I got accepted and, you know, and I guess here I am throughout that whole process. I love that. Yeah. That's amazing. You said, you know, podiatry chose you. And I wonder how many of our, we call our listeners loungers. I wonder how many of our loungers could actually relate
00:43:45
Speaker
if they're in rotations now or even in residency, how they actually decided to go into their specialty or when they're thinking now, making the decisions. ERAS is right around the corner. That's insightful and I hope everybody gets that same type of a revelation, like this is where I fit and doesn't get discouraged because you also mentioned the organic chem thing, which gets all of us, let's be real.
00:44:15
Speaker
I think so. I haven't met one person in the medical field that was like, oh, organic chem was a breeze. Like I haven't met that person yet. Me either. Not to say that they didn't get an A in it, but yeah, I have not met somebody that was like, oh, organic chem, that was cake. That was nothing. I've never heard that. You kept going and you didn't let that stop you. I love that.
00:44:45
Speaker
And I think that's the key. If I don't give any encouragement on this lovely cast, is to keep going. If this is what you want, if you see yourself, if you can picture and visualize yourself at the end of this journey, you must keep going. You must keep going. Take breaks if you need to, but keep going.
00:45:12
Speaker
All right, here comes your Chase QuickPay offering for that word tonight. Send a nation away. No, no, no, no offerings, no offerings. I know how medical students and residents see all their points. So yes. Every last one, Dr. Clark, every last one. Just pay it forward. Pay it forward. No pay to be okay.
00:45:37
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. So, all right. So we know how you chose your career in podiatry. Now, there is a lot that goes into mental wellness, just in school in general for any, I mean, I won't say any, but especially for the medical fields that we're in. So how did you or do you maintain, let's talk did and do. So when you were in podiatry school,
00:46:06
Speaker
How did you maintain your own physical and mental wellbeing? And then how, how have you seen that continue as you've been in practice? So, um, it's, it's, it's very interesting in the beginning. Um, you know, cause I have not taken a break from school. Like I went straight from, you know, undergrad to grad to, um,
00:46:35
Speaker
pediatric medical school. So in my first year, here's a story. So in my first year, I was like, oh, OK, I can treat this like college slash grad school at Hampton. So I got my coursework, of course, and then there were extracurriculars and they had a basketball team.
00:46:59
Speaker
you know, they didn't have a dance team because I did the dance team at Hampton, but I used to play basketball. So I was like, oh, this would be a good way to like stay physical and, you know, have something to do besides studying. So I joined the intramural basketball team and the guys team and the girls team would practice together and we would compete against other podiatry schools in the country. There's like the time I went to school, there were five, there's six now.
00:47:26
Speaker
So yeah, so it was really a nice bonding experience to get to meet other people in other states, you know, that are in the same path as you. But anywho, one of the practices, I ruptured my Achilles tendon.
00:47:40
Speaker
This was my first week of podiatry school. Oh, no ruptured my Achilles tendon. You know, I was surrounded by fellow students. So like they were able to like diagnose it, you know immediately.
00:47:57
Speaker
I went to the clinic that we have adjacent to our school. So New York College of Podiatric Medicine is connected to foot clinics of New York, which is in Harlem on 125th and Park Avenue. So we went, they took me straight downstairs to one of our professors who was covering clinic and pretty much added gets surgery scheduled.
00:48:25
Speaker
on my Achilles because it was like a complete rupture, it was bad. First week of podiatry school. Okay, so I get the surgery and this is all within a week's time. And then the first week also was like white coat ceremony. So got the surgery, try not to miss class, like I'm hobbling and you know, I'm just saying because, saying all this because
00:48:52
Speaker
it wasn't like my typical first week of school, like I had some obstacles. So anyhow, so healing from the surgery, which is like a whole, you know, two and a half month recovery in a cast or boot, and then, you know, a year of physical therapy just to walk normally. It took me a year again to wear heels again, which
00:49:18
Speaker
which we'll get to later. So for that whole year, at least for half of my first year, I spent a lot of time alone, like when everyone was socializing because, you know, most of us hung out in Upper East Side, you know, near our school or Harlem. And
00:49:38
Speaker
whenever we got a free chance, we would either go out, you know, and socialize. I couldn't do any of that stuff because, you know, I was in a cast, I was in crutches. So that led to like, you know, depression, you know. So it kind of affected, you know, I think my, I did fine, but it affected my performance. And when I finally was able to get back to normal,
00:50:07
Speaker
it just made me appreciate things more. So that story is to say, you know, have a good
00:50:20
Speaker
You know, I would call it work because it is work to be in school. Work in personal life balance. You have to find that. Like, school is important, but you have to find the time to do things that you enjoy before you started going to school. That's the mental health aspect.
00:50:39
Speaker
Right. Right. The other thing is, I think the reason why, you know, I ruptured my Achilles, I was so deconditioned, you know, in college and grad school, I was very active was dancing like four hours a day. And then I went to like not really doing anything, you know, and then I started this aggressive, rigorous basketball training and then like ruptured my Achilles. So
00:51:09
Speaker
It's very important to maintain your physical health as well because if that goes down the drain, it can lead to a downturn in your mental health and that's vice versa. If you're not feeling good, you're not going to want to do the things. If you're not doing the things, you're not going to feel good. Good work, personal life balance, fun.
00:51:35
Speaker
but, you know, do your work, but have fun too, you know? Absolutely. So that's what I learned my first year of school. And then when you get to residency, it's a whole nother ballgame. That's what everybody says. It's like a, like a learning curve. Yeah. So learning curve and you are, it's your first experience as an adult doctor, even though you're not quite an adult doctor.
00:52:04
Speaker
Like the, I wouldn't say the, not repercussions, I can't find the word right now, but the consequences of your mistakes, you feel them harder. So for instance, you're in school, you didn't quite study for this portion or chapter of a subject for the test, you missed a couple of questions, you don't get the score that you wanted, or you may not pass, right? You may not pass that test.
00:52:31
Speaker
So it's like, oh man, I didn't pass this test. Am I gonna pass this class? Whereas in residency, it's like, oh, I made a mistake on this medication order. I may have almost killed the patient. It's different. It's completely different. Completely different. So that's why it's very important, and going back to what I'm saying, make sure you have that balance because
00:52:58
Speaker
It's easier to make mistakes when you're not well rested, you're not getting the right nutrition, you're not doing the things that you enjoy outside of work. It's very easy to make mistakes. We're going to make mistakes as humans, but
00:53:17
Speaker
if you can control that and then absorb as much as you can during that time. That's when you really learn. I mean, school, you do learn the stuff, but this is, residency is where you like really learn to be a doctor and, you know, you have an idea of whether this is what you want to do for the rest of your life. So.
00:53:39
Speaker
Thank you for all of that info. It sounds heavy. It sounds heavy, but you can do it. It's doable. You can do it. You can do it. It's doable. Now in residency, right? Yes. Or rotations for
00:53:56
Speaker
Everyone, everybody's on their feet all the time. That's the one thing I hear like, Oh, my back hurts. Oh, my feet hurt. All this, all that. So if you could give like two to three tips on how medical students when they're starting rotations, continuing rotations, even in residence, what they can do to help maintain good foot health and even, you know, just overall body health, what would you suggest?
00:54:24
Speaker
Okay, so number one, as a student, I remember standing a lot, because I did a lot of like surgical rotations as a student, of course in residency, I was in the OR a lot, so I'm standing on my feet a lot. If I'm not standing, I'm running around the hospital seeing patients, you know, all of that stuff. So you're gonna be using your legs and feet a lot. So number one, and I didn't find this out until my third year of residency, and it was like,
00:54:54
Speaker
Dang, I wish I knew this first year. It would have saved me a lot of pain. Compression stockings or socks. Okay. So if you're going from just an example, sitting in a classroom all day to constantly on your feet on these rotations, it makes a difference. Like your legs, your feet are not used to it. So you, and then you get this tired leg syndrome in this from like a Dima or standing on your,
00:55:23
Speaker
you know, your feet for a long time. So compression stockings really help prevent fatigue in your legs and your feet. So that's one. Number two, footwear that has a lot of arch support.
00:55:40
Speaker
Arch support, arch support, arch support. So, you know, Dr. Scholz, I'm not hating on Dr. Scholz. Actually, the Chicago school was named after Dr. Scholz. He erected that school. That's the podiatry school in Chicago. But the actual arch supports that you find in Rite Aid, they're not supportive enough.
00:56:03
Speaker
for people like us that are going to be on our feet for rotations and residency and all of that. Two really good arch supports that I recommend to patients and people that I know. Super feet. They do not sponsor me or anything. I just like their arch supports. And PowerStep.
00:56:27
Speaker
So super feet and power step. You can find them on Amazon, you know, searching by your shoe size, put them in whatever sneakers or Crocs or whatever sneakers, I would say.
00:56:41
Speaker
Um, and that helps because your arch is like the most important part of your foot. And once, and once you wear that out, your whole foot is tired. And then you start experiencing these weird pains, especially if you're walking and standing for long periods of time. So that's number two arch supports. Got it.
00:57:01
Speaker
And number three, if you can't get your hands on an arch support, stay away from completely flat shoes. Reason why, just going back to, of course, you know, it's not good for your feet to be completely flat. Like something with like a little lift in the back, like, you know, one inch or two inch if you're fancy, but something of like a half an inch or one inch, not those ballerina flats, nothing like that. Something with a little heel on it.
00:57:32
Speaker
It helps support your arch too because you know if you're on an incline your arches become relaxed instead of it being flat on your feet completely being flat on the ground.
00:57:45
Speaker
your arches are lower. So if you have an incline, it gives curve to your arch and it also relieves heel pain because you're going to experience that if you're standing or walking for long periods of time. And it also helps with your back. It takes a little pressure off of your back because it changes your posture. So those are the three things as far as foot and lower extremity health.
00:58:15
Speaker
when you're doing these rotations and where you're standing and walking a lot. That's going to save so many people's backs because that's like the number one complaint you hear when you're not used to being on your feet for long periods of time. So thank you. You heard it from the expert herself. Get you some compression socks.
00:58:36
Speaker
get you some art support. Oh, a fourth. We got this. Go ahead. Just remember, and you got to do some type of exercise. Like if you're, if you run, if you yoga something that's going to stretch or work the muscles in your legs, because, you know, if you have, if you have weakness in your legs, you're going to feel it even more.
00:58:58
Speaker
Nope, that's fine. Thank you for adding. Now we're going to wrap it up shortly, but there is one thing that I need you to discuss because I was so excited when I saw
00:59:14
Speaker
that you were a part of a shoe line and not just any shoe line. This is like comfort, quality, sophistication. I mean, a cute shoe, because you know these shoes out here that
00:59:33
Speaker
uh, promise, comfort and support and, oh, your back will feel good and your feet won't hurt at the end of the night. They're not cute. Um, but you are the chief scientific officer correct of Ally shoes. That is correct. And I just, so it's a two part question. So one,
00:59:54
Speaker
How did you even come to merge like the business side with the clinical side? Like what even started that? And then I guess any words of encouragement for our lounges that might want to do the same in their specific or respective fields at some point in their careers.
01:00:20
Speaker
Okay, so I'm going to try to answer these questions as efficiently and concisely as I can without leaving out any anything I think that's important for our loungers to know. So I
01:00:37
Speaker
have a friend that is an athletic trainer and she did a lot of part-time jobs for Nike. She befriended Jeff Henderson, who is one of the big innovators for Nike shoe gear and for Cole Hong when they both were together. She moved to Miami.
01:01:03
Speaker
And before she moved to Miami, she had a going away party I attended as I walked through the door. She's talking to Jeff and Jeff turns to me. I haven't met Jeff yet turns to me. He was like, I heard about you. I'm looking for you. He's pointing at me. And I said, what? I just, I don't know you. I just got here. So.
01:01:21
Speaker
Pretty much he left Nike and he started his own consulting firm for companies that, you know, he has his own shoe company as well, but he consults for a lot of shoe companies from all the experience that he's gotten from Nike and just his background.
01:01:39
Speaker
great, amazing mentor. And he pretty much told me about somebody that had reached out to him via LinkedIn. If you don't have a LinkedIn account, do it because I've heard so many stories about people getting, just getting jobs, not even applying for jobs, but people looking at their profile and be like, hey, do you want to come work for me? So that's the side.
01:02:04
Speaker
Someone reached out to Jeff on LinkedIn and that was Samantha Dong who is the CEO of Ally shoes She is a Stanford business school graduate. She her end of year or end of
01:02:20
Speaker
MBA project was to actually start a business whatever and they did this project and they started the business like their last couple of months in college and they had to actually sell so she had a background of you know hurting her foot
01:02:37
Speaker
during a mountain climb, and she's a really petite girl, and she always wears heels, and she couldn't wear heels. She couldn't find a comfortable heel to wear. So she made this prototype, which was okay, and her classmates liked it and bought it. So anyway, she reached out to Jeff on LinkedIn. She's like, hey, I just need your experience on how to make this better. Jeff introduced me to Samantha, and she showed me her prototype. And as soon as I saw it, I said, well,
01:03:08
Speaker
this is wrong, you need to do this, blah, blah, blah. And this was just a talk over like French fries at a diner. And she was like, you need to join, you need to join the company. So she hired me as a consultant at first. And, you know, I try to, you know, give 100, you know, 100%. Of course, you want to be paid for what you're doing. But she realized the amount of work I was doing, she wasn't able
01:03:38
Speaker
to just pay me on a consulting fee. So she made me an equity partner of the company and I took the title Chief Scientific Officer. So pretty much I apply everything that I learned in podiatry school, especially my pilot mechanics course and
01:04:00
Speaker
on surgery courses and then on all the things that I hear my patients in practice complain about, especially when it comes to heels and I applied it to the shoe technology that we have.
01:04:15
Speaker
to make it feel like you're not wearing a heel. So all the problems and issues that women have with heels, we try to negate that. And it's something we're proud of because we're a women's own company. And most shoe companies, especially luxury heel companies, they're owned by men. Designers are men.
01:04:43
Speaker
Nothing against men, but a population of women wear heels and have been wearing heels for the longest. There are men that wear heels out there, but you know, we're the biggest consumer of heels, I believe. We are. Percentage and population wise, right? Until someone tells me other percentages of that.
01:05:08
Speaker
Um, so yeah, so definitely that's how I got started. So I guess my advice for, for any lounger that's excited about entrepreneurship, there's so many opportunities where medicine is merging with beauty and fashion. Um, you know, uh,
01:05:28
Speaker
another sidebar. While I was taking my biomechanics course, they, you know, talked about shoe modification and what deformity this would work in and blah, blah, blah. And in my head, I was like, Hmm, what if I went to Italy and I design shoes, I took all this knowledge and I went to Italy and design shoes because I don't like ugly shoes like
01:05:49
Speaker
Right. I hate ugly shoes. So I kind of manifested. Right. I kind of manifested it because I was thinking about like taking a sabbatical from, you know, school and then studying Italy for six months and then coming back and, you know, doing that. And then, you know, this happens and wow, it's been an amazing experience. So beauty and fashion.
01:06:15
Speaker
wants people that know about medicine because, I mean, we're in the middle of a pandemic, you know, health.
01:06:24
Speaker
seems to be now, in most cases, a very important thing. Beauty, for sure. And you can definitely be an asset of someone's company or create your company with the knowledge that you have in medicine, you know. Because beauty really does come from the inside and is extended out. So
01:06:52
Speaker
So yeah, if you want to do it, you know, dream that dream and then make that dream a goal, you know, um, I think that's the best advice I can give. Oh, and get that LinkedIn profile. I'm telling you, I'm telling you. And also it does. And also expand your, um,
01:07:16
Speaker
expand your education, meaning once you get out of medical school, once you get out of residency, there's so much other things to learn, you know, and if you're interested in it, learn it so you can have it on your your tube belt and add it to your LinkedIn profile and somebody be like, oh this doctor knows about, you know, this is just an example, knows about injectables and
01:07:42
Speaker
how it's properly administered in areas of the face or the body because they've had the medical training. Like I'm really sick of hearing these stories about, you know, these backroom plastic surgeries done by people that have not even picked up one biology textbook. You understand? And they're plentiful. These stories are plentiful at this point. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. So I'm tired of hearing about it. I want to see, you know,
01:08:12
Speaker
you know, our profession embrace, you know, not just, you know, taking care of people when they're sick or something happens, you know, doing something that makes them feel good, you know. And I feel like I'm fulfilling that with the shoe company. So, yeah, I love it. I think I think I've answered both parts of the question.
01:08:40
Speaker
You definitely have very detailed, very thoroughly. Thank you so much. Just like a Hamptonian would all day. It's hard not to, right? It's instilled in you. It's instilled. Absolutely. Absolutely. Dr. Clark, the love I have for you runs deep. So I'm, again, so appreciative that you joined us today. If I were around,
01:09:09
Speaker
Oh, thank you. If our loungers would like to reach out to you or follow you on social media, where can they do that?
01:09:19
Speaker
So you can follow me on my personal page. It's Dr. Roxy C7. That's my Instagram handle. Or my professional Instagram page, whichever one you'd like. And that has more of like what I do with my shoe stuff, and what I do in the office and stuff. That is Arvanelle Podiatry. That's my professional Instagram.
01:09:47
Speaker
You can reach out to me on those. DM me if you have any questions.
01:09:55
Speaker
easier to get in touch with on Instagram than any platform. I could give you my email, but, you know, it's... No, we'll stick to your Instagram. Yeah. And it's, just so you guys know, it's, it's D-R-R-O-X-X-I-C-E-E-7. And then the R. Vannell podiatry is on her page so you can look her up. It's literally in her bio, so. Yes.
01:10:22
Speaker
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of SNMA Presents the Lounge. We hope you all enjoyed this interview with Dr. Clark and stay tuned for updates about what's to come with the lounge. Thanks, guys. Bye, everyone. Thank you for having me.
Financial Strategies for Extra Income
01:10:41
Speaker
Thank you again to our guest speaker, Dr. Roxanne Clark, for sharing her time and thoughts with us. Now onto our new segment of the show, The Financial Corner.
01:10:54
Speaker
We on the corner, welcome to the financial corner. We are now on the corner all alone. I'm on my desk, I'm on my desk. The corner of financial literacy and education. Not that kind of corner though.
01:11:17
Speaker
But anyway, so our tip today is how to learn to navigate, how to make money work for you instead of working for the money. Oftentimes in our society, people put in so many hours working constantly nonstop without even realizing that the money that you're making in a nine to five job, you could capitalize on that money and even build forth more wealth and more knowledge and more financial resources with that. So with that being said, here's some of the tips.
01:11:45
Speaker
that I think we should employ, especially as medical students or pre-med students. One of the things that I started doing, I actually bought a car off an auction. It's called Copart.com. I got a 2020 Nissan Altima, the 2020 Nissan Altima, and I got it for $7,000. It's worth $20,000.
01:12:07
Speaker
Now, it's in a body shop right now, but I'm flipping the car, making sure he working on the body, building on it. I'm probably gonna spend about four or $5,000 for a car that's worth 17, $18,000. So it's about 27,000 miles on the car. So I could do one of two things, you feel me?
01:12:24
Speaker
I could sell the car and make five, six thousand dollars off of it. Or I could do alternative route, which is what I plan to do is I could keep it as my main car, but also use it for Toro. Toro was like a platform where you could rent cars. It's kind of like the Airbnb for cars.
01:12:41
Speaker
Now, me being in Atlanta, it works well for me because everybody named Mama flying to Atlanta every weekend. You feel me? That's facts. I'm not that far from the airport where I could drive down a car and then they could rent the car and do what they do. Turra is very seamless and is very fast and efficient to use. You could actually get even more bread if they decide that they want you to come and meet them at a specific spot or they want you to come and meet them at the airport. You could add up to $50 to $100 to make one out.
01:13:11
Speaker
And on average, you could make anywhere per day with the whip I got, you could probably hit like $90, $100 a day. You know what I'm saying? Like, so with that being said, if you got a car that got car payments, let's say the car payment is like $500, $600 a month. If you rent the car like five, six days out of the month, you'll be straight. Like you're already covering your car payments. And that's only five, six days out of the month. If you do more, then you're going to get cash flow and surplus on that.
01:13:40
Speaker
You know what I mean? So that's one of the hacks that I would advise out and implore. Another one is, and I wish that something, this is something that I wish we could work on as a community. I have a quick question, Aldo and Naomi. But you know, I think that's a great, and that's what a lot of people are doing these days, which is they're having, they're investing in something and then basically renting it out, whether that be
01:14:01
Speaker
something like Airbnb, like a home or something like a car tutorial. But now to someone like a struggling medicine who's living off of loans, where do they find the capital to invest first in buying the car? So this is actually my next point is, if you don't got the initial capital, number one, I think another thing you can consider is actually getting and this might be a little
01:14:25
Speaker
more advanced, but it's something, if you play your cards right, you could really make money off of this. You could get it off of credit, you know, off of your own personal credit. And then also, and if they don't believe in the credit you got, then you could get someone to cosign on the car and then still navigate yourself back into Toro. Another thing you can do is why not, instead of working as an individual, work with other people. So get three or four of your friends. Everybody got friends. So connect with one of your friends that actually has a job.
01:14:54
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? Or that's working, you feel me? And could put some capital into actually getting a whip. And y'all just negotiate something where, y'all, let's say it's 50-50, right? Like whatever we get through this tutorial, you know, for instance, like one person might be the individual that's actually arranging to drive the car and meet the person up, right? And the other person is the one that's actually like putting their credit on the line for the actual car and putting the down payment on the line. So they don't got to worry about that other side.
01:15:20
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? So if you got soldiers or other people that you can navigate and connect with and get the actual car and y'all work together and create a kind of discourse or discussion about how y'all want to segment the money that's coming in, I think that's a great point. Other communities do it all the time. You know what I mean? Like that's something I'm actually working on with one of my other boys in terms of getting my second property with the doctor loan. You know what I mean?
01:15:44
Speaker
And I think oftentimes we think we got to do everything by ourselves. No, you don't got to do everything by yourself. Why not do it with somebody that you trust, right? And always have something documented. Always make sure you get something signed and sealed in case somebody be on that funny stuff.
01:16:04
Speaker
Point of the matter is, make your money work for you and never allow yourself to be in a position where you only have one income. One income is only one more than zero income, which is not enough. So you being a physician, that's cool. But what else are you going to be doing? You got real estate, you could be entrepreneur, you could open up your own hookah lounge, you could write books, you could do Torah, you could do a tutoring business, like one of my boys, he's a cardiology fellow at Emory.
01:16:31
Speaker
He also has a side hustle where he does tutoring. And he's like, I'm making 1,400 extra a month. That's paying off my car payment. He got like a Camaro. He's just using that. And the rest, he's just saving up and doing whatever. You know what I mean? So just finding these ploys and these areas where you don't necessarily have to work by yourself or work with other people to get to where you want and get the capital you need in order to amass more wealth.
01:16:57
Speaker
And wealth is a longitudinal thing, you know what I mean? And I always believe that for us, we got to work toward it each and every day. You know, people, we come into this fantasy world where we think money's always going to come so quick. Like maybe the stock market, yes, that could work out there. You feel me? Maybe in music, it could work out.
01:17:15
Speaker
there, too. But having the sense of delayed gratification, especially us being medical students, that delayed gratification can prove to be beneficial. So even today, you saving up. If you want to get that car, that new car that you could rent out in Toronto, save $5 a day, you know what I mean? That's something better than nothing.
01:17:32
Speaker
Make that money work for you and realize inflation is the devil of all money making, right? Because over time money's gonna sit there and it's not gonna mean nothing So make sure when you get that money you pull it up and use it to buy a house buy a property buy a business Buy someone I land people and all that God is not making any more of it. So That's a fact
01:17:57
Speaker
No, it's true. Listen, Oprah said that. I don't know when, but that's the one thing that we're not getting no more. Oprah said it is signed, sealed, and delivered. That's all I know. She's been saying things for years, and they've been coming into fruition. I'm not going to question Mama Oprah. I love that. That's the fuck. Oh, yes. Buy some land, people. Let's get that land. Y'all trying to get that land, though? Like, we'll talk about it later. I actually like that idea. I think I want to purchase land one. I think, yeah, that sounds doable. Mm-hmm.
01:18:28
Speaker
Well, thanks for the financial corner, unless you got anything else to say.
01:18:33
Speaker
Nah, I love it. We out the corner then. We out the corner. We out the corner. We inside. Now we heading back. Now we back inside. We back to study. Back to the grind, the daily grind. Back to the hospitals. Back to Erica, do your thing. That's our show. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode of The Lounge.
01:19:01
Speaker
You know what? Let us know your thoughts about the discussion we had today by emailing us at podcast at SNLMA.org.
01:19:12
Speaker
and
Closing Remarks
01:19:13
Speaker
be sure to follow the SNMA on all our social media platforms to stay up to date on upcoming events. And if you like what you hear on the show and want to be involved, reach out to podcasts at snma.org to join our team. Thanks so much for watching, guys, and we'll catch you at the next episode. Oh, yeah. I'm listening to that music. Oh, yeah. Oh, let's get it. Oh, oh, oh.
01:19:46
Speaker
🎵