It has been a hot second since I have posted to the blog. Between school, expansion, and crazy growth, the blog had simply fallen to the back burner. By the way, I graduated in June! Woot Woot! However, here I am! Ready to share an idea that I brought to Governor Evers and Secretary Johnson yesterday. But let’s back up a minute so I can explain how I got here. 

I love strategy, creating, thinking outside of the box, and solving problems. That is my jive and where I thrive. And in public health, family planning, and maternal child health, there is no lack of problems to solve and strategies to create. Metrics show that the needle is not moving in so many areas that are crucial to the health and well-being of marginalized, underserved, and forgotten populations. Whether it be STI rates, suicide rates, mental health scores, cervical cancer, or pregnancy planning. We need to find a way to bend, to be nimble, and to be proactive. That is where re-imagining comes in. 

So fast forward a bit; early this week, I was invited to sit at a Women’s Reproductive Health Roundtable in Wausau with Governor Evers and Secretary Johnson. And you can bet I jumped on that opportunity as soon as it was presented. Reproductive health is my life and I had so much I wanted to share and advocate for on behalf of Healthfirst and the Wisconsin Family Planning Reproductive Health Association. At the Governor’s State of the State, he made some awesome announcements to help increase access to contraception in Wisconsin. However, there were some shortcomings related to the backbone of reproductive health clinics that are providing the services and care. So, asking critical questions was a must, and the response was appreciated with the response of; yes, those are things we need to add.  

As I was participating in the roundtable, the re-imagining kept flashing in the back of my head, and I knew I had to get it out of my head and onto the table. When the opportunity was presented, I explained that we need to work to re-imagine reproductive health care in Wisconsin. How can we offer it differently, where do we need to go with it, and what ancillary services do we need to add? Because as defined, reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. We do a great job focusing on the physical in Wisconsin, but how do we re-imagine reproductive health care to include mental and social well-being? That is not only a big ask, but it is a gigantic lift for clinics that are already struggling with tight funding and low reimbursement of services. But boy, would those needles begin to move if we transitioned from physical-only reproductive health care! And, maybe the re-imagining is also the answer to organizational growth and sustainability. We all need to work to re-imagine what once was to accelerate beyond physical-only reproductive health care.