Why Diversity Matters with LuVerda Sayles Martin

In this episode, host Sheena Carey talks to LuVerda Sayles Martin. LuVerda is a Certified Nurse Midwife with experience in full scope practice, management, and academia. Specialties: Health care for women of childbearing age including preventative care and health promotion, contraceptive management, and STI diagnosis and management; prenatal care & Labor and Delivery Management for normal, healthy women; breastfeeding.

Episode Highlight

04:30 - That has shaped how I am because I always have felt that I have to be who I am, speak who I am and speak my truth.

09:06 - Being seen by those professors, especially those who I found extremely supportive, I did feel seen.

14:03 - Staying physically active and as physically well as I can through good diet and through exercise but just making sure those basics are covered so that I can be as well as I can for my family and for my patient.

22:04 - I truly believe that religious institutions are in a good position, community institutions are in a good position to have an impact on our children.

Interview

What's the story you want to share with us today?

02:59 - I always say that my path has been uncertainly certain because I always certainly know what I wanted to do and became uncertain and it was never my intention to be a nurse even in my vision or my goal, I thought I was going to be a physician.

How does your identity inform the choices that you've made about career and other things in your life?

03:39 - I am visibly an African American woman and that has always been a part of me that I hold as central because I know that`s how the outside world sees me first.

How has this identify shape how you approach the patient or clients that you working with?

05:07 - They don`t realize that I am who they are here to see and it`s an interesting challenge and it`s tickles me a little bit because again sometimes the expectation is different from what sees on the outside.

How has the mural project resonated for you?

05:45 - I think it`s the most beautiful thing that I have seen, because there is so much that's being spoken through the brush. You see women, the religious diversity, all of whom have some history with Marquette.

What has been the impact that Marquette has had on women of color?

07:27 - African American mortality is so high, especially when it comes to the maternal focus, that was a really big deal and I hit the ground running just really want to focus on making an impact being a person of color.

How would you say Marquette has impacted your sense of self-worth?

10:24 - She definitely lifted me up and said a lot of people are cheering for you.

Who would you say is your inspirations have been among women of color?

11:05 - The exterior doesn`t matter as much as what the interior is. So I definitely had that foundation between my grandmothers and my mother.

How do you understand, experience or practice wellness and healing within our current context that we are living right now?

13:35 - Wellness is very important, self care is very important and that is something that I had to learn along my way. Fatigue is very real.

Did women of color play any role in some of the challenges that you faced on the road to well-being and health?

17:16 - She would say, darling you need to sit down somewhere, you need to take a minute, you need to rest your mind and she planted those seeds of wellness even before self care or...