HealthSpeak: The Story of Seed-Growth-Harvest-and Faith
Discovering Your Purpose Through Planting Seeds, Waiting Patiently, and Harvesting Success in Healthcare and Life
Seed, Time, and Harvest: Becoming Who You Are
I am often asked two questions: “How did you start doing what you’re doing?” and “What made you think of doing this?”
This weekend, during the worship service, my Bishop, Pastor Simeon Moultrie of The Brook, sparked the topic of this article. My go-to answer historically has been, “I don’t know. I just started writing stuff down, and it grew.” But now, I have more clarity about my purpose.
My organization, HealthSpeak, is dedicated to improving health literacy by educating healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers in evidence-based communication strategies designed to improve health outcomes. Effective communication is the key driver of my Health Literacy Encounter Model.
The relationship between healthcare providers—including healthcare systems, organizations, professionals, and students—and healthcare consumers, including patients, families, caregivers, and agencies, has been a compelling theme throughout my career. Reflecting on this theme has provided me with greater clarity and allowed me to reframe the substance of these relationships. These are the seeds that I am growing and harvesting in this new season.
When I refer to seeds, I am referring to a biblical principle. A harvest from planting seeds requires a waiting period, patience, and faith.
The Seeds Were Planted Long Ago
I think about my employment at Lourdes Specialty Hospital, a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH). Hindsight has allowed me to have a clearer focus and vision. At the time, I was aware that we were creating a culture of inclusiveness and healing through interdisciplinary interventions that produced positive medical outcomes. We also combined patient care with community outreach programs.
One example was the Patient Outreach Program. This program was designed to give former patients and their loved ones the opportunity to return and talk about their experiences. Initially, I thought it would be a way for us to receive feedback that could help us improve our care. It turned out to be the most cathartic experience I have ever witnessed.
The reunion was unlike any other. We broke bread together. Patients told stories, laughed, cried, and shared personal insights while staff also laughed, cried, and listened with intention. The healing was unimaginable.
The lasting impression of that experience still resonates with me. What I didn’t understand at the time was how those seeds would come to harvest—or at what appointed time.
As those seeds were maturing, more seeds were planted in another system—and another territory. These seeds established greater innovation, expanded our scale, increased clinical and professional capacity, and deepened my awareness of the community effect. They also developed my understanding of the need for accessible healthcare information and the importance of health literacy.
Different Territory, the Same Seed
I made the move from New Jersey to South Carolina. It was a challenging time to lead the rehabilitation department, and I knew I was walking into disarray.
The assignment was bigger than organizing and leading a department. The community needs were different. Health literacy was low. During many encounters with patients and families, I was burdened by their lack of understanding of their own health conditions.
Then COVID came and pulled things out of me that I didn’t know were there.
An immediate threat had emerged, and I found an answer for my department in providing education. With limited information and resources, we developed a booklet to guide patients and staff in managing disabling symptoms. It was extremely challenging, and time was of the essence.
The key objective was to deliver comprehensive written care instructions to inpatients and those transitioning home.
Looking back, I recognize this as the beginning of the harvest that would become HealthSpeak. I can now see the history of creativity, development, and timely programs designed to meet population health needs.
Growth I Did Not Recognize
The growth took decades. As a matter of fact, it took place without me realizing what was growing.
I could identify the program development, staff mentorship, leadership, and administrative duties. I could discern my professional growth, relationship development, personal growth, and maturity. I knew I loved solving problems, building teams, and coaching people.
This growth was palpable in the relationships I developed with my teams and tangible in my connections with like-minded leaders.
Positions and titles are not necessarily required to make an impact. However, authority can provide some autonomy in decision-making. I made full use of my position when it meant ensuring that patients were granted access to the care they needed.
The relationship between healthcare professionals and healthcare consumers became a focal point that would eventually lead me to investigate, study, and develop strategies to improve communication.
Same Assignment. Different Territory.
I never imagined that social media would become a source I would explore. But it has always been the same assignment:
Sow seeds.
A different place, but the same seed.
Uncertainty, but the same seed.
Shaken, but the same seed.
Now, I know the name of the seed:
Mentorship. Humanity. Leadership. Education. Community. Faith.
I have mentored and shaped new graduates and experienced professionals. I have developed a coaching style that has led teams to success, measured by standards of cohesion. I have educated hospital staff in mobility and safety. I have educated communities about fall prevention, healthcare, and aging in place.
I emphasize humanity, equity, and equality as pillars of healthcare.
And I walk by faith and give honor to God.
The Harvest Is HealthSpeak, LLC
HealthSpeak, at its foundation, is an educational organization. Built by surprise, pursued in faith, and enriched with personalized care, the harvest is now materializing before my eyes.
Seed. Time. Harvest.
What are you planting?
What are you nurturing, and what nurtures you?
The mindset and character you mix into the soil will eventually help the seedling mature into a harvest. The journey must be protected by faith and hope, even when the vision is not clear.
I am proud to provide multimodal educational opportunities and resources that communities can access. These include The Learning Curve Blog, the Health Literacy App, A Resource Journal, and, most recently, a YouTube channel featuring Health Litera-TEA.
I am currently creating a HealthWealth® Toolkit, a curriculum designed to provide health literacy education to students from primary school through post-high school education.
Becoming Who You Are
I now have the title of entrepreneur, but I was an entrepreneur before. I invented two products in the past, but others discouraged me from pursuing them.
This time, it’s different.
Being in alignment with your passion is also part of the harvest.
Simon Sinek is associated with the concept and phrase “find your why.” I say:
Find who you are becoming and lean into becoming.
Reflect on your seed.
Reflect on your time.
Plant.
Wait.
And trust your harvest.
The world is waiting for your gift.
Dr. Beth Reeves, PPOTD, MS, OTR/L
Founder, HealthSpeak, LLC
