This Rural Mission: Women Rural

While many rural communities are home to predomenantly male leaders, there are pleanty of professional women making an impact in rural healthcare systems, industries, and organizations. Today we speak to a few of these women who are chaning the face of rural leadership and promoting equity within their communites. 

 

- [Julia] This Rural Mission is brought to you by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Leadership in Rural Medicine Programs. The podcast is funded in part by a generous grant provided by the Herbert H. And Grace A. Dow Foundation. To learn more about the Leadership in Rural Medicine Programs, please visit www.msururalhealth.chm.msu.edu. I'm your host, Julia Terhune, and stay tuned for more from this Rural Mission.

 (lively banjo music)

-[Julia] What do you want to be when you grow up?

- [Dina] I don't know yet

(giggling in background)

but I'm thinking about maybe being a doctor.

- [Julia] A doctor? What kind of doctor?

- [Dina] Probably a doctor that gives checkups.

- [Julia] What do you want to be when you grow up?

- [Selah] Superhero.

- [Julia] I think that you're gonna be a really great superhero, but I also think that you're gonna be a really good doctor, Dina.

- [Salah] I'm not gonna be a superhero; I'm gonna be another doctor.

- [Julia] You're gonna be a doctor, too?

- [Selah] A family doctor.

 (quiet giggling)

- [Julia] That's perfect. You guys can both be doctors and work in the same office.

- [Selah] I can be the person who gives shots. Sometimes we have to give the baby shots and they cry a lot.

- [Julia] Yeah, but then you give them stickers and they feel better. I'm excited for you guys to become doctors.

- [Selah] And when I become a doctor, instead of giving them a sticker, I'll give them a barbie.

 (lively banjo music)

- [Julia] Those little voices that you just heard are two of my favorite little people, Dina and Sala. You know, it just warms my heart because Dina and Selah live in a world that I lived in where girls could do anything. Dina wants to be a doctor; Sala wants to be a superhero. There's no reason why she can't be a superhero and why she would think that being a girl would hinder that at all, and I lived in that world, too. I lived in a world where I thought and believed that I could do anything, and for the most part, there have been very few barriers for me reaching my goals and my dreams. That's not to say that I haven't felt adversity or I haven't dealt with other roadblocks, but when it comes to my gender, I haven't felt that as much, but I know my mom did. I know my mom did, and I know that the women before us have fought so tirelessly to make a difference and to stand up for women's rights because women's rights are human rights, and I think that that has been a big thing that we need to realize and I think that there's been a lot of effort made in that area. But it's not to say that there's not more that can't be done.

 (slow twangy music)

There's a stereotype in rural communities that rural communities are very patriarchal, and to some degree, that actually is the case. And I will qualify that stereotype by stating that when you look at the job structure or the job market in rural communities, what you tend to see is that there is a limit in the number of industries that you find in those different counties. So while this isn't the case for every single rural county in the United States, at least what we see among the demographics in the rural counties in Michigan, the leadership of those more white collar-jobs and the leadership in more of those blue collar-jobs are men. I'm going to be interviewing a number of women who have made and are making some really amazing differences and a pretty big splash in their rural community, and no matter how you slice it or what way you look at it, the women that we're going to talk to today are leaders in their county. One area that we've seen tremendous growth in gender equality is in medical education and the medical workforce. Dr. Young lived at a time and went to medical school at a time when that fight for female representation in medical school was still alive and well. Dr. Young practices rural family medicine and her daughter is enrolled in the Rural Community Health Program at Michigan State University. Katie is a fantastic student and quite an amazing young woman, and I'm excited for you to hear this next segment because I think it really shows if we keep working towards equalizing, and making a difference,  and changing the face, and changing the standard of something, if everybody works for that same effort and if everybody continues to make it a priority,  I really think that some magical things happen and this next segment with Dr. Young and Katie Young really gets to the heart of that idea.

- [Dr. Young] So when I was  young and in high school, my counselor said to me, at that time thought I wanted to go to law school, that I should not do that, that I should get a job that helped maybe be a second income when I got married and had children. And my parents always believed that I could do whatever I wanted. I just always grew up hearing that, and so when I went home and told my parents, they were, "What?" And so I always had the motivation from my parents, "You can do whatever you want."

(soft melancholy chord)

- [Katie] I mean I grew up in a family where my mom was the sole bread winner of the family and my dad actually stayed home with me and my younger brother and then was really involved in community otherwise, and so my sense of gender roles from a very early age was that women can be just as empowered as men easily and I was also extremely lucky to have a lot of other strong women in my life.

- [Dr. Young] I had no female role models as a physician as a little girl. I do not remember ever meeting a female physician as a little girl. I was the first woman physician on staff at Charlevoix in many, many years when I started in the fall of '92, so for me it was wonderful. My practice filled up right from the get-go. I've been busy since I got here.

- [Julia] Wow.

- [Dr. Young] It was so cool because women wanted to see women.

- [Katie] I know my mom was one of very few women in her medical school graduating class and now I'm in a medical school graduating class that's slightly over 50% women.

- [Dr. Young] I honestly can't remember the exact statistics. I want to say our class was 28 to 30% women. We were less than the majority, that was for sure.

- [Katie] And so I think that says a lot about how many areas have gotten broken down by people, and my mom's generation, and then my grandparent's generation. For me, I'm really interested in going in the surgical field, and you know, I got warned by my mentors who were two awesome older gentlemen surgeons when I was in high school, and my mom has pointed out to me, as well as professionals from the Lansing area that if I want to go into surgery, that that's one of the last factions of, I guess, male-dominated area in medicine.

- [Julia] Do you think you can handle it?

- [Katie] I'm not too worried about handling it. I feel pretty confident in my own abilities, I guess, and I feel like if I allow myself to feel intimidated or to feel embarrassed, then I feel like that just further feeds into that stereotypical role that women should be filling, which would be a subservient one, and so I think it really depends a lot on having the self-confidence and having the class to maintain a real professional demeanor, even when those around you, be they male or female colleagues, can't seem to.

- [Dr. Young] I see that, in my professional career, try to set the best example every day that I can. I don't see that necessarily just as a woman, but as a human being and I hope that as we progress with time that we will see that individuals should go into careers or job opportunities based on their skills and their ability, and whether or not you're a man or a woman or the color of your skin. So I really, I mean, I know that I'm a role model, but I hope it's not just because I'm a woman. Kind of like the "When they go low, "you go high."

- [Man] Three, two, one!

♫ Don't mess, don't mess

♫ Don't mess with the best

♫ 'Cause the best don't mess

♫ Don't fool, don't fool

♫ Don't fool with the cool

♫ 'Cause the cool don't fool

♫ To the East

♫ To the West

♫ (mumbles) is the best

♫ We're gonna B-E-A-T beat 'em, beat 'em

♫ B-U-S-T bust 'em, bust 'em

♫ Beat 'em, Bust 'em

♫ That's our custom

♫ Come on out, let's readjust 'em

♫ Hip hop, we're on top

♫ Go (mumbles)

(upbeat guitar music)

- [Julia] It's important to have an array of perspectives, an array of cultures, and an array of persons and genders in every institution and organization because those perspectives, ideas, and opinions are going to make decisions that provide equity to all persons and help to break down barriers and help to break down vulnerabilities in all types of populations and settings, and this is even more concerning and even more important when we're talking about rural communities who are already underserved.

 (slow guitar music)

- [Darcy] My name is Darcy Czarnik-Laurin. I'm the Executive Director for Thumb Rule Health Network. Well it was created, gosh, over a decade ago. We're looking at probably close to 13 years. A lot of the leaders, the CEOs and department heads and stuff from the rural critical access hospitals in the thumb region, and I'm going to just say that that region is Huron, Tuscola, and Sanilac Counties, there are seven critical access hospitals in those three counties and that's small hospital heavy for a rural region, but it's also very important because there aren't the larger health systems. The leaders of those hospitals, they would see one another at regional meetings and they said, "Hey, historically we are competitors. "We will always be competitors, "but we're working toward the same goal, so what can we do to work together to help one another out?" because they know the importance of rural health care. I was the female voice when I started and that's changed, but I was rather intimidated.

- [Julia] Stop. Because right there, that statement is exactly what I'm talking about when I talk about having everybody at the table. When we don't have adequate representation of all persons, all creeds, all cultures, all genders, then that feeling of insecurity is a real thing. And it doesn't just stop at personal feelings because we can't control that, but it does become more systemic when people don't feel adequate, when they don't feel like they're contributing to something or that they can't, they won't, and then that voice that's sitting at the table becomes marginalized and that marginalized voice then doesn't help make all the differences that we need to see being made in communities. When we have a vulnerable population and a marginalized population within that vulnerable population, things can get pretty bad. Now, I don't mean to interrupt Darcy here because she's about to make some really interesting points, but I couldn't let an opportunity like that go to waste, so here's Darcy again.

- [Darcy] Here I came onboard never holding the position that I hold with Thumb Rule Health Network. I had a lot of knowledge, I had a lot of experience, but to sit at a table with mostly a male audience sitting around the table and men that hold that position of CEO was rather intimidating to me, you know,

so I don't want to mess up.

(laughs)

- [Julia] Do you ever think about being a female leader while you're doing your position?

- [Darcy] Yes, I do. I do think about being a female leader and a lot of it I'm still nervous about, I have to be honest.

- [Julia] Is that important to you, being a leader?

- [Darcy] Yeah, it's definitely important. And there's times where I just sit back and I say, Hey, I came from  this tiny little village town in Arenac County. "I graduated out of a class of about 26 people," and I look back and I think what would my life look like if I hadn't met the people I met, had the upbringing I had, took the roads that I took. Talking about my class kind of just sparked something else. I want to say we had about 26 people, and out of my core group of friends that we still, and somewhat keep in touch, we have me, I'm the executive director of a nonprofit, we have a veterinarian, we have a couple RNs, we have a zookeeper. And these are all the women! Out of that small, little class out of this tiny, little, rural class D school that when people say, "Oh well, you graduated from Arenac Eastern, that's not a very good school," and it goes down to, again, the way people are raised, their community, their mentors, their support, and their choices in life. So, yeah, I think it's important that I am a leader. I may not always view myself as a leader because I still have doubts, but I know I am a leader and I'm hoping that I have some type of impact or I'm possibly a mentor to some people.

 ("Ivory Girl" by Bryan Eggers)

- [Julia] That is why women rule and why we need more women in leadership positions in rural America and we need more female physicians willing and ready to go into these small towns and serve for as long as it takes, much like what Dr. Young has done and what Katie Young is about to do.  Those women are making a difference. People like Darcy are sitting on these tough and intimidating committees and speaking up for what is most needed and what is most necessary, and those women are just the start of it. There are so many women who are making a difference in rural communities, so I'm just gonna encourage you  that if you have considered working with an underserved population in any capacity, whether that be a nurse, or an accountant,  or a medical doctor, I encourage you to really consider making rural your mission and making a difference in your rural community or in a rural community that you grow to love.

♫ If I searched the whole wide world

♫ My ivory girl

- [Julia] I want to thank everybody again for listening to this podcast. As always, I'm going to thank Dr. Wendling for her support and encouragement of this podcast. She has made a tremendous difference in my life and in my career, as well as the life and career of so many other people and I just want to give her a sincere thank you. I also want to give a sincere thank you to Darcy. She has been a fantastic  colleague and friend over the last two years and I've enjoyed working with her and Thumb Rural  Health Network.

 

As much as we talked about how the group of CEOs in the thumb  are a bit intimidating, the truth of the matter is they're a group of really fantastic professional men that are devoted to the health and security of the thumb. I want to thank Dr. Young for taking time out of her busy schedule to talk to me, but I also want to thank Katie Young for taking time out of her schedule because she's a second-year medical student right now, and, man, for her to give up the time to talk to me out of her busy study schedule was tremendous, so thank you, Katie. Thank you, again, to everybody who listened to this podcast and please tune in next time for more from This Rural Mission.

♫ Couldn't find another

♫ If I searched the whole wide world, yeah

♫ My ivory girl

♫ My ivory girl

♫ My ivory girl

♫ Couldn't find another

♫ If I searched the whole wide world, yeah

♫ My ivory girl

♫ Couldn't find another

♫ If I searched the whole wide world

♫ My ivory girl

♫ My ivory girl

- [Julia] Please visit our website at www.msururalhealth.chm.msu.edu. By joining our website you could connect to us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also find out more about our musician. Music today was provided by Horton Creek and Bryan Eggers, a local musician and Michigan native. We hope you tune in next time to hear more from This Rural Mission.

 (beep)

When I say that we live in a world where girls think they  can be anything they want when they grow up,  Sala definitely proves that  that statement is true.

- [Selah] I want to be famous here as a doctor.

- [Man] You want to be famous—

- [Selah] Or should I be a grown up that goes to gymnastics?

- [Man] Should you be a grown up that goes to gymnastics or a doctor?

 

 (laughter)

That's a really tough one because both of those people are gonna be really famous.

- [Selah] Both!