Shenese’s POV

Speaker: Shenese Davis Colwell, MBA; Business Manager, Baylor College of Medicine

My name is Shenese Cowell. I am an active aging advocate, I am an obesity care advocate, bariatric or after bariatric care advocate. My official title: I am a Business Manager at the Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

What has your journey with obesity care looked like?

My personal journey, I had always kind of experienced being overweight well into my mid 20s and up, and I got really serious about wanting to lose the weight right before I graduated with my graduate degree.

And that’s when I really realized the struggle, when I tried to present information to my doctor of ways that I wanted to look into more serious methods of managing my weight. That’s when I started to face the lack of resources, and I guess I can’t say lack of resources, but the lack of readily available resources and the connections that I needed to discuss and have those crucial conversations with medical professionals, my doctor.

That was mainly my struggle, finding the resources and presenting those resources to a medical professional who was receptive to hearing it and helping me through it.

What obstacles do women face when trying to access obesity care?

Being heard. I think the most difficult or the most challenging thing with women facing getting that care from, you know, dealing with the obesity and health issues associated with the obesity, I think that would be the most prominent thing that I can think of.

I continue to hear stories of how people face those obstacles and challenges, with just being heard, being taken seriously, and making that a priority in their health care— besides the issues associated with the obesity— just finding somebody to listen to, to help them navigate the journey of managing it.

How can women benefit from access to obesity care coverage?

I think women could benefit from the access to better obesity care. Having that access would help to eliminate—I wouldn’t say eliminate—but would help people to manage and be better able to connect to those resources if they’re more readily available. You know, you don’t have to search for it. It’s there. It’s not something that they have to dig around for and get discouraged or get to the point where they just give up.

So having those resources readily available, having someone that they feel comfortable talking to, having those safe spaces where they can get everything they need from pre-care, aftercare, definitely the mental part of it. I think those benefits would make a world of difference in how we see and how we receive that that obesity care and that management of that care and the issues that are associated with it.

What is your message to policymakers who influence obesity care coverage decisions?

My message would be to make it easier. Make it accessible.

Take the time to listen to the constituents. Take the time to listen to the health care providers who are ready to listen, who are ready to take action and be able to help their patients and help the populations who need it. I don’t think that there is enough, and I think they make it very challenging to get through all of the red tape and all the bureaucracy that goes with enforcing policies, and the majority of the population is dealing with obesity, not just Black people and brown people, but so many people are dealing with it.

So I think to policymakers, I would say, you know, make it a little bit easier for people to be healthy. Make it a little bit easier for people to get the care that they need, to make it easier to implement it and to cover more of the care in general. Not just the weight loss surgery and the pills and the things like that, but the aftercare that requires the mental part, you know, once you have the surgery, once you’ve lost the weight. You know, encompass the whole journey because after you’ve lost the weight, or after you’ve learned to manage the weight, that is an ongoing part of your life.

What motivates you to continue to advocate for access to obesity care coverage?

What motivates me to share my story and be an advocate is the frustration that I felt throughout the journey. Just the frustrating process of trying to convince somebody to help me help myself motivates me, and to be there for people who are dealing with aftercare, after having, after losing the weight, or to get those resources and connect them with people who I know were willing to help me while I was on that journey.

All of those things in my journey that I’ve experienced and overcome and found the success and keeping the success makes me very motivated to help others. That that keeps me motivated to be that advocate for any and everybody that I can touch, anybody and everybody that I can reach through whatever resources I can.