Season 5 Episode 1 – Season 4 Recap

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Welcome to this episode of Take Good Care Podcast. I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.

Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
We have recently wrapped season four of this podcast series, which is amazing. When we started, who would’ve thought that we’d still be going and it’s getting bigger and better, and we’re very excited about that. But what we wanted to do, we’ve done this with previous seasons, is to kind of do a review of the previous season before we really launch into our next season, season five. Our most popular episode for season four was the first one, which is when we did a book review of Michelle Obama’s book, The Light We Carry. We had a huge number of views of that episode. If anyone is interested, you can go back and check that out in season four, episode one. And we had a lot of comments and questions, and just people really reacting to that.

So we thought we’d go back, and as a way to wrap this season, just do a review of the book again, any new lessons we may have learned that we looked at during The Light We Carry discussion. And then we’ll also just talk about any other episodes that we did in season four that were especially meaningful for us for any particular reason, or anything that we wanted to just highlight again as we conclude season four in anticipation of everything we have planned for season five.

So once again, as we introduce ourselves, I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.

Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Does anybody want to start off in terms of what they remember, or anything they wanted to share again, relative to the conversation we had when we talked about the book, The Light We Carry for Michelle Obama?

Dr. Karen Greene:
I think for me it was the chapter on our kitchen table, that one probably stuck out the most. She talks about her friends as her kitchen table, and she also describes them as flowers, and how you have to tend to the flowers. And the reason she compares friendships to a kitchen table was because when she grew up, the kitchen table was the place where all discussions were had, and all decisions were made, so it was very personal to her. And as I read the book the first time, I remember thinking back to my kitchen table, ’cause my kitchen was really small, and the TV was kind of in the corner, and we had to kind of move it out to get other people in it, because it just wasn’t enough room for it.

But that really was the place that when my dad came home in the evening, the four of us would get around the kitchen table, and so I get that aspect of it just being very important, but more importantly, in terms of your friendships, when you are putting your friends around the kitchen table, and having really good discussions, when you get to the point where we are, and you’re very busy, you have to be very intentional about making sure that you actually bring them to that table, or you water them like flowers, and really being intentional about your friendships. Several of my girlfriends and I got together well before COVID started, mainly because a friend of ours had died, and we were like, “You get together when people die, you get together when people get married, but why don’t you just get together to get together?”

And so we have done that up until COVID, and then have subsequently tried to do it, but really are very intentional about doing it, but because all these friends are long distance, what that means to me is that I have to still be more intentional about my friendships here. And so the same thing has occurred that a group of friends and myself have said, “Okay, once a month, which we’re just going to get together, and just do something.” And so the first time we did it was for lunch, and we usually would get together after our chapter meeting, and so we didn’t have a chapter meeting, so we called it the lunch out of the chapter meeting that wasn’t. So we just all went to eat, and it was just something fun to do.

And I think that when you’re younger, and you have your friends in school, and your friends in work, and as you get older, you suddenly don’t have that big group of friends that you’re going to see every day, all the time. You do have to kind of say, “Okay, I have a free day, and I’d like to spend time with these people.” And it’s okay.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
And what else do you think that concept, the kitchen table… It doesn’t have to necessarily be a kitchen table, so what else about that concept do you think has informed just your friendships? How you care for
them? Family relationships? How has that changed, if at all?

Dr. Karen Greene:
I think that, for me, it’s more of the being intentional about maintaining those friendships, so that the kitchen table was that stability, and your friendships are kind of that very similar stability in your life, from a lot of different avenues. People that you knew in high school, people that you knew in college, people that you know when you worked with them, or people that you just met through other people, and you still want to remain in touch with those people. With today’s society, where we can do so many things electronically, often you don’t have the one-on-one conversations, ’cause you’re not even sitting around a table and eating, or you’re sitting around outside at the beach, you are communicating via text, or you’re doing FaceTime. And so for me, the concept of the kitchen table is that solid reinforcement of, “These are how I maintain my friendships.” I make an intent of actually seeing them, and actually talking to them, not sending them an email or texting them.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Dr. Guthrie, what do you think about that concept? Not about-

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Right, yeah. So same thing, I recently, just two nights ago, had dinner with friends from the neighborhood, where pre-COVID, we got together a lot, had dinner all the time, and again, just life changing, plus COVID kind of changed things a little bit, again, just reestablishing… But kind of like with Karen, found Michelle Obama very relatable with the kitchen table, ’cause we did the same thing. We had dinner every evening at the kitchen table, and so that kind of maintained the stability of our family relationship. Also, friends and family when I was growing up, dinners on weekends were very, very important, so we were getting together all the time at holidays.

So again, in this modern world, where we shouldn’t let text messages substitute for the contact with the person. I mean, it’s good, like I said, you have a quick way of touching base, and connecting with people, but it’s not the true connection. It’s nothing like sitting in front with the body.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
See, I tend to disagree with that a little bit, ’cause I guess for me, yes, everything that you all have said, personally getting together, having gathering time, whatever that gathering time is, but I also see how embracing the use of technology… I’m trying not to knock the mic in the chair, ’cause I know we’re picking that up in the sounds, so please forgive us with that, we’ll be more careful. But I think we also have to realize that embracing the technology for connection is not bad either. In fact, there was a big conversation that occurred in a Bible study class that I have started attending, and I started attending the Bible study class in the pandemic, because it was virtual. And so it was Zoom format, and so it allowed people to still get together and have bible study and that kind of thing.

And so even though COVID restrictions and things like that have eased, and we’re in a more endemic phase of COVID, COVID has not disappeared, but it’s more endemic, so we’re back to life, we’re back, we’re out, we’re getting… We’re going to church, movies, all the things that we were doing before. And so the conversation came up in the Bible study class about those of us, ’cause included in that, who still have chosen to attend the class virtually. And so the discussion was, can you get the same thing attending virtually, as opposed to attending in-person, in terms of information, personal interaction, things like that? I totally agree that nothing ever substitutes for one-on-one, or group-on-group personal interaction, where you’re physically present in the same space. Nothing ever really substitutes for that.

However, because we are in a world, as we say, that has gotten busier, and just includes so many different things coming in, what I have embraced as a part of that concept that we talked about with the book is still using those kinds of electronic tools to supplement, not substitute, but to supplement for those personal interactions and connections that we can have with family and friends so that we do remain connected. ‘Cause I definitely feel that was, again, agreeing with both of you ladies, that that particular concept of the kitchen table and what it meant, why that was one of the things that she talked about that resonated with me. But again, one of the things I also pushed us with when we were talking about this before is, we can talk about how great Michelle Obama’s book is, and it is a great book, we encourage everyone to read the book, but then how does it inform our lives? And Dr. Guthrie, what did you pull out of it that you really want to talk about it?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Another point that she made, especially in today’s society and with what’s going on was the point when she was talking about going high, and her making that statement, not thinking… She was just trying to [inaudible 00:10:22] and didn’t think it was going to blow up like it did, but also with social consciousness, that, yes, of course you want to go high, do all those things, and people, and with using the digital electronic technologies that we have with Twitter, and Threads, and all that are out there, to keep in mind when she made the point that just making a tweet, or agreeing to something on a thread is not necessarily taking that action.

And that could be something like a conversation, so if you’re talking to somebody, agree with them with whatever the topic is, or disagree with them, it’s okay to disagree. But people are substituting these, just throwing out statements, and stirring things up, and thinking that that alone is activism, or doing something right. And I didn’t never thought of it. I mean, I knew that, but when you really think about it, that that’s not the action. Just disagreeing with racism, okay, yeah, but do something about it. That was something that I took away from…

Dr. Mironda Williams:
I think that’s very important, and again, like we’ve said, it doesn’t substitute, it just augments. And I think that’s one of the concerns I see about a lot of the younger generation, ’cause this is kind of all they know.

And so they think this is it, I was like, “No, actually physically have conversations and interaction with people.” But also to your point, Dr. Guthrie, expressing ourselves in these digital formats as we’re doing on a podcast, expressing ourselves in these new formats is wonderful, and it opens up a lot of avenues and connections with people that we may not have had before that, but it can’t stop there, you can’t let that be the accomplishment, that’s just a part of it. Because the action occurs when you can do something that’s going to move the needle, whichever way you think the needle should move, or not, prescribing how your needle should move, however you want your needle to move.

In the current society that we have, and with the current systems that we have, it means voting. It means sending letters, or whatever communication you want to your representatives. It means being involved in local issues, school boards for those who have children, or who are disconnected with kids, and if that’s an important issue, then you have to become active in that issue in a real and tangible way. You
can’t just stop with verbal or typed, written communication through the digital media, because it’s not going to change a policy.

Dr. Karen Greene:
No.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
It’s not going to put people in positions of power and decision-making that can move the needle in the direction that you want your needle to go.

Dr. Karen Greene:
For me personally, speaking of kids, because they’re so connected electronically, my son will say, “Did you see this on blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” And I’m like, “Okay, but what does that mean to you?” [inaudible 00:13:39], “[inaudible 00:13:39] mom.” And I’m like, “But my point is you actually can do something about it.” I mean, I have an 18 year old who can vote, who can drive, and the things that happen actually may affect you, so what are you going to do about it? So if you’re voting, who are these people? Find out about them.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
If my social issues are entertainment, people, they live for the tweets, and responses, and the back and forths, and it’s entertainment for them, and it should be-

Dr. Mironda Williams:
It stops there.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Right, it should be raising awareness and action, and that.

Dr. Karen Greene:
Right, no, right.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
It’s more about the discussion, and the fight, and the whatever.

Dr. Karen Greene:
It’s all about the comment. It’s all about the back and forth with the comment.

Dr. Karen Greene:
It’s all about the comment.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Absolutely. Yeah, and again, for me, I think I mentioned this before, her section on adult… Well, I called it adulting 101, and she talked about relationships, and how do you partner well, and what does that mean? What does that look like? How does that live out in your day in and day out interactions? And to get away from things that… And this is what I’ve taken from that book, that I continue to try to remind myself of, even now, months later, reading the book is, “Okay, let’s… And I love Disney, for those who don’t know me. Who don’t know-

Dr. Karen Greene:
Love? An understatement.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Love is an understate, not really. [inaudible 00:15:03] Disney, but it’s okay. But I recognize that Disney and the world that Disney created is not real, much to my dismay, it is not real. But a lot of our concepts about love, relationship, partnering, especially I think as girls, is shaped by things that we may read or see as we’re growing up that’s based on fantasy and not reality. For instance, at the time of this taping, a huge movie out now is Barbie. I also love Barbie.

Dr. Karen Greene:
Love is an understatement.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Love is understatement. I probably have purchased more Barbie as an adult than I ever did as a child or youth. It’ll be very close. So I love Barbie, however, Barbie is not real. The house on Malibu is not real, it’s a fantasy. But growing up, for a lot of us who played with dolls in traditional ways, it created a framework in our heads of, “When I grow up, I’m going to have a house like Barbie.” Or-

Dr. Karen Greene:
To be more more like Ken, a two-point [inaudible 00:16:28]

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Right, right. And a Ken.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
And a Ken, and a Ken [inaudible 00:16:32]

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Then a Ken, a kin person. Well, maybe, and maybe not. So I loved what she said about partnering well, and you have to figure out what that looks like for you in the real world, not with what you may have thought it was going to look like growing up, or playing with your dolls, or even as a teenager, or even as a young adult. Because as we get older, and as we experience life, perspectives change, priorities change, and as those change then how we view, and what we may need in a relationship is going to change. And so being aware of that, and acknowledging that, and being able to articulate that. I think that was the other thing I took from what she put in the book, especially when she was talking about how she tries to now coach her daughters in relationships, and partnering well, is, you have to acknowledge what you may need as important, and then you have to be able to articulate that to your partner. Because again, we can’t expect them to get it by osmosis, even though we think they really should, because-

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Why can’t you figure it out?

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Because it’s not that hard, really. Is it really that hard?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I don’t think so.

Dr. Mironda Wiliams:
I don’t really think it’s that hard.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
It’s quite obvious, right?

Dr. Mironda Williams:
But that’s very obvious.

Dr. Karen Grenne:
That’s another-

Dr. Mironda Williams:
But that’s another show. We’ll talk about that in season five.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
[inaudible 00:18:05] it’s obvious, isn’t it?

Dr. Mironda Williams:
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Stay tuned to season five, when we discuss it’s obvious, isn’t it? Anywho, we digress.

So back to that. So being able to articulate it to your partner, so that you can communicate. You know, communication is so, so important. Anything else about The Light We Carry book before we move on to see if there’s some other things we want to-

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
One of the things she talked about was fear and fear is not necessarily bad, but that, in this world, we’re trying to be ultra-protective over kids, and what they’re exposed to, and in some ways, it’s not preparing them, as we talked about, for real-life. And so I thought that was very insightful that you know that. That when you think about fear, it’s not always a completely negative thing, it teaches you to build up your defenses, helps you to cope with certain things, and so I appreciated that, that [inaudible 00:19:13]

Dr. Karen Greene:
And I agree, I think fear also may help you focus, because you have to kind of do something, despite the fear. And so I do think fear, in certain instances, is a good thing. And trying to, as a parent, not over-parent my kids, and let them experience things. I’ve told my husband as well, “Some things they need to experience for themselves.” And he’ll say, “Well, why?” I said, “Well, yeah, I mean, the world is a different place, but they’re not going to learn the lesson if we just say, ‘Well, in my day.’ And, ‘This happened to me.'” They look at us like, “Y’all are old, you don’t know any [inaudible 00:19:52].”

Dr. Mironda Williams:
You’re not old.

Dr. Karen Greene:
So certain things they have to get out there, see it, and then finally say, “Yeah, mom and dad were right.” Because we all did that.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
And they have to fail a little bit too. You’re not going to allow them to just go down the tubes.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
‘Cause kids need to be kids.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Right, right.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
You want them to be kids, and grow, and play, and have…

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
But they need to learn from the mistakes, and don’t get things [inaudible 00:20:14].

Dr. Karen Greene:
Yeah.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Anything else you want to mention about the episode?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
[inaudible 00:20:20]

Dr. Mironda Williams:
It was such a good book.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
[inaudible 00:20:22] you can talk for hours and hours.

Dr. Miranda Williams:
Right, right. We actually put out 13 episodes, which may actually be a record, I think. I meant to look back at our previous seasons to see how many-

Dr. Karen Greene:
I don’t think we’ve done-

Dr. Mironda Williams:
How many episodes. We may have put out that many in our first season, simply because, again, for those who are just meeting us… And once again, welcome to Take Good Care Podcast. In our first season, we launched right when COVID launched. COVID launched, and then we launched our podcast. And so we were literally recording our podcasts on iPhones, because we were not seeing patients at the time, we had to… We did completely close our office. We’re a medical office, we’re a gynecology-only practice, so we were seeing patients a half day for urgent types of situations or procedures. We weren’t doing well, this is at that time because everybody was sent home, so we had to readjust.

And so for that period that we had a decreased work environment in terms of actually seeing patients physically, we launched this podcast right at the beginning of the pandemic, here in the United States, as a way of continuing to stay connected with our patients, and to bring information from a health standpoint, as well as all of us dealing with what we were dealing with at that time, which was COVID and a lot of other things. So we may have put out 13 in season one, I’ll have to look at it. But anyway, we were very excited and very pleased with the things that we were able to talk about in season four. Anything else jumps out to you ladies?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
From season four?

Dr. Mironda Williams:
From season four, yeah. I’ll put one out that also got a lot of attention, was when we discussed our four-day work week. During the time of recording of season four, there was a lot of things coming out in the news, in the media. Again, we think as a result of a lot of the changes that work environments went through during COVID, people going remote, different things like that. And then now coming out of the pandemic phase of COVID, and people being asked to come back to the office, and people are like, “Well, I don’t want to go back in the office, ’cause I like it right here.” But we transitioned to a four-day work week, I believe it was in 2017, we’re going to have to verify that date in 2017. So we did not go to a four-day work week as a consequence of COVID, but it was a very good thing that we had already made that transition during that timeframe. Anything y’all want to mention about the four-day work week, and about that episode that we discussed?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I love it.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Not going back.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I can’t do it.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Can’t go back.

Dr. Karen Greene:
I think it’s interesting because one of the things we did realize was that we were able to accomplish just as much in those four days, and so mentally speaking, we’re like, “How can we ever go back to five?” But financially speaking, it still was a good thing. And I think that for me personally, having that extra day, because when you work five days, and you only have those two days that are off, you find yourself recovering for one of the days, doing errands for another day, and then you’re like, “[inaudible 00:23:45]. I’m right back at work.” And so the ability to make an appointment during the week at other offices, because I’ve got appointments, or my children have appointments, was wonderful. Actually even to say, “I can do this on a Friday because that was our day off.” For the most part. Mentally speaking, I think it was a gift, and I think that that thought process for people realizing that… During COVID or working from home, people realized that, “Okay, it’s about balance.”

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Right. Work-life balance.

Dr. Karen Greene:
It truly is. And so yeah, I can drive to an office, and be in traffic for an hour, and then… So I get to the office at nine, I’ve already been in traffic, I have to settle down from that traffic, then it’s… We live here in Atlanta, and traffic can be a little crazy in the afternoon, and-

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Well, all day.

Dr. Karen Greene:
Yeah. And so coming back it’s like, “Well, in order to beat the traffic, I really need to leave at three, so I can get home by five.” And God for forbid, you have children to pick up with all of this process, so what kind of work am I really doing?

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Right.

Dr. Karen Greene:
I am more productive if I’m at home, for at least a couple of days out of the week. The atmosphere appreciates it ’cause there’s not as many cars on the road. Your partner appreciates it, because you’re not coming home with road rage, and it’s me speak you personally. Because my husband started working from home before COVID, and I realized there was a significant difference in the fact that when he came home he didn’t have to decompress. And it’s the traffic, it’s the traffic, it’s the stress of the traffic. So I know that for us mentally, it’s a wonderful thing, and I think that people realizing that really made it a thing that we just have to re-envision what work should be.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
We did OB for so many years, and the way we did our OB schedule, when you post-call, you had at least a half day off. So that was the day that you had to make appointments, and get things done. Because if you think about it, a lot of businesses are not open Saturday and Sunday. So if you work Monday through Friday, again, that taking time off of work, and traveling, and trying to get there and back and that sort of thing just didn’t work. So for me, it just kind of helped to continue fill that void from when we stopped doing OB, and I had that half day off. So good.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
We have had a number of colleagues kind of approach us with, “Y’all only work four days week? How do y’all do that?” But it actually can be done. Now that it’s being done more, we… In fact, I had one particular colleague who recently opened her own practice, and she even said, she says, “Oh my goodness, I listened to your guys’ podcast, and I was thinking, ‘Yeah, I need to do something like that.'”

She’s a boss, she’s running her own practice, solo practice, she’s a mom, a wife, just had a new baby, so she’s got a lot of things that she’s juggling, and so she talked about listening to our podcast really helped give her not only some inspiration, but ideas in terms of how you can do it.

Because one of the things we talked about that we brought out during that show was how there are different ways you can configure your work week, three-day week, four-day week, whatever that week is. We chose to do a Monday through Thursday four-day work week, so that we could be off on Friday, and have a consecutive three days to recover between the work schedule. She has elected to, because of her just work environment and everything else, she’s taking two half days where she doesn’t come to the office. So in effect, she’s working a four-day work week, but she structured hers in a way that worked for her.

And I think that was one of the points that a lot of the articles that we read, that we mentioned in that episode, talked about. There are many ways that an industry, or an office, or a business can construct the working environment, and the work schedule, so that it becomes one that is more productive for the individual, and the business is still in the black. You’re still being financially rewarded, because you have a workforce that is happier, that is more focused when they are at work, and then able to have the time they need for life, for other things, whatever that may be, family, exercise, doing nothing, walking the dog, feeding your fish, whatever it is that you need to do. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but just to be open to… And I think that was one of the things that really got me, I think Dr. Guthrie did this part of… She talked about the history of the work week, and how-

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
It wasn’t always there.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
People just worked, you just worked, seven days a week, you just worked.

Dr. Karen Greene:
You didn’t-

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Some of the things that she brought out in her discussion was how things were changed based on the way that labor changed, how people worked, what we worked, moving from an agricultural society to an industrial society, what that meant. And then that is even how the five-day work week became a thing.

And then the eight-hour day was not an original concept, because you just worked until you were done.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
[inaudible 00:29:12] until the job was done.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Until the job was done for the day. And so as labor movements and different things came into play over time, that is how we came to our current, what is considered a standard work week, Monday through Friday. But that wasn’t the originally… It came in, like she said, with the industrial [inaudible 00:29:31]

Dr. Karen Greene:
And it’s funny, thinking back to that episode, because that was all structured based on society, and the economy, and laws, and now it’s more, I would think, people are thinking about, “Okay, what else do I need?”

Dr. Mironda Williams:
And I think COVID helped.

Dr. Karen Greene:
It helped, oh yeah, oh yeah. Life is short, and that was a stark reminder for a lot of people, that, “I need to do some things other than work sometimes. And how can I do that and still work?”

Dr. Mironda Williams:
And still work.

Dr. Karen Greene:
For those people. ‘Cause there were many people who just stopped, came out of the workforce. For those of us that can’t, what else can we do? What else can we do to enjoy? Because we only get this one life, and it is going to end, it has an expiration point, so therefore, what are we going to do to enjoy it?

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I was talking to a friend who worked corporate America for years and years, and that’s the point where he’s saying, “Just tell me what I need. I want a job, tell me what I need to do. I’ll decide when I… I’ll get the work done for you, I will do the work, but meetings, and going in, and all this kind of stuff,” He’s like, “I’m…” So like you said, there are different ways, you can get the work done different. And I think all the new technologies are part of that. So Google I think was the first one that allowed their employees to work anytime they wanted to. The building was open 24/7, and they gave… It was more like a project mindset, so, “Here’s the project, this is the deadline, get it done.” It doesn’t have to be between nine and 4:30, Monday through Friday, ’cause things happen.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah. So we’ll begin to wind this episode down. Again, season four had 13 topics that we covered, is there any other one that you guys want to highlight real quickly before we begin to wrap this episode up, and get-

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
[inaudible 00:31:21] titles.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yep. So I’ll go through the titles. Again, for those of you who are new to us, again, we’re Take Good Care. Welcome to Take Good Care Podcast, we are available on wherever you get your podcast, as well as our website. But we uploaded 13 episodes in season four. The Light We Carry was first one, did a book review, and talked about how it impacted us. We did an episode on pandemic stress and periods, how that affects a woman’s menstrual cycles. We talked about menopause belly, a topic near and dear to all of us. We did a show on women’s heart health reflections, where in the past seasons, we’ve done some clinical episodes about heart health, and things to do to help your heart.

In this particular episode, we really talked about personal things that have happened to each of us, family and friends, and as it related to a woman, having heart disease, or having some issues related to heart, and how that impacted us. We talked about infertility challenges, and how that can be such a source of stress. Infertility Awareness Month is the month of June, and so we did these episodes particularly highlighting how these challenges can affect women of color. We talked about bucket lists, and how to design your life. Again, piggybacking on what we were just mentioning, that I think all of us coming out of COVID have decided that there are other things in life that we want to make sure that we enjoy, so we talked about how you can do that.

Again, we talked about the benefits of a four-day work week. We also did… And this was another show I think that was well-received, and got a lot of comments and views, and that was women’s wellness exams, and we talked about specifically what wellness exams are for women, why they’re important, when you should get them, and so that has a lot of very good concrete information for you.

We talked about Black women in medical history, but we also talked about women in history in general, as a part of our continuing discussions that we’ve had in each season about why representation matters. And so we talked about women in history, and highlighted specifically some women in medical history.

We did a show on common cancers in women. This was another show that got a lot of views as well, because we… One thing I think that we’re finding as we do these shows is how many people resonate with it, they’re like, “Oh my God, thank you for talking about that. Oh my goodness, I thought I was the only one.” And so we really appreciate your feedback. And so the common cancers in women was another episode that people really appreciated the information that we shared.

And then we did a candid conversation on menopause, because we’re all on that journey, and we hope that we are showing how it is not the end of the world, and that life can even get better as you move through menopause.

We did another important show on health inequities. I’m very proud of that show. I think that episode really talked about a lot of good information. How, as providers, we can help move that needle when we talk about what can you do, how you move from talking about something, to action.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
And also giving everybody the same thing is not equity.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Correct. Yeah, that was very important, and we highlighted what equity really meant, and how you can define that in a way that’s concrete in your head. So check that episode out.

And then we also talked about something near and dear to Dr. Greene, why do we exercise? Why? Because the Peachtree is coming, and that’s a road race that happens here-

Dr. Karen Greene:
So we can eat.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
And so she can eat. She runs to eat. But that’s a 10K road race that’s done here in Atlanta every 4th of July, in the heat, and sometimes the rain as we discovered the past year. We did it in a little bit of the light rain. So those are the 13 episodes that we presented for season four.

Ladies, anything you want to highlight before we get ready to do the wrap on season four, and get ready for season five?

Dr. Karen Greene:
I didn’t realize it had been 13, [inaudible 00:35:40]

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
We did a lot.

Dr. Karen Greene:
You’re probably right, I think that our little iPhone season was probably the longest, if we got the 13, which we might have, I think we might’ve got to that many. And so it always makes me think about how much has changed in terms of what we talk about, what we still talk about, what has changed, what hasn’t changed.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I had a patient, she came in, and she’s like, “I saw you doing your…” She didn’t call it podcast, she said, I saw you doing your-“

Dr. Karen Greene
Video.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
“Video.” And then she said, “So what?” She goes, “Is it on [inaudible 00:36:15]? On a channel?” I said, no, no, no. It’s a podcast actually.” She goes, “What do you talk about?” I was like, “We talk about
everything.”

Dr. Mironda Williams:
[inaudible 00:36:21] pretty much it.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
Movies, we talk about medical stuff, we do book reviews, [inaudible 00:36:26] what the topic of the day is.

Dr. Mironda Williams:
Yeah. We hope we really hit everyone’s buttons with it. So thank you to our wonderful audience who has stuck with us through these four seasons. We hope you’re excited with us with season five. We’re going to do some different things, going to expand our format, and really try to broaden our reach and our scope in terms of the things that we can cover and discuss. You can look at all of our seasons. You can go back and check our website at ptcobgyn.com. We also have a YouTube channel. You can find us on YouTube, and look at previous seasons. And then of course, the podcast format can be found wherever you get your favorite podcast, we’re on all platforms there. So continue to check us out, and stay tuned as we get ready for season five. You’re going to be excited.

I’m Dr. Mironda Williams.

Dr. Deanna Guthrie:
I’m Dr. Deanna Guthrie.

Dr. Karen Greene:
And I am Dr. Karen Greene. Take good care.