Chat-TBD

If you live somewhere with access to C-sections, you’ve probably never heard of obstetric fistula. It happens when a woman in obstructed labor can’t get an emergency C-section. Prolonged pressure from the baby tears a hole between the birth canal and the bladder or rectum, and she is left leaking urine or stool constantly. In most cases the baby doesn’t survive. Pakistan sees thousands of new cases every year.

Stefany Brothers talks with two doctors working to end fistula at Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital, a free hospital in Karachi:

• Dr. Ambereen Sleemi, a urogynecologist and fistula surgeon. Co-founder of International Medical Response (IMR) and is its surgical director. For nearly 20 years she has operated and trained surgeons in places including Ukraine, Pakistan and Gaza.
• Dr. Shershah Syed, an OB-GYN who co-founded Koohi Goth. He was trained to run an IVF practice, but changed course after his first week back in Pakistan, when he saw a hospital ward full of women with fistula.

In this episode:

• How each doctor came to this work
• How Koohi Goth started as a free hospital
• How IMR trains surgeons from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal

Support their work:

• International Medical Response: https://www.internationalmedicalresponse.org
• Koohi Goth Women’s Hospital via National Health Forum: https://nhfus.org

If you enjoy Chat TBD, you can support the show with the support button on the RSS website.

The rape allegations at Cornell University are all over social media, along with thousands of “I am Jane Doe” posts from people sharing their own stories. For sex assault survivors, that can be a lot to take in.

In the first episode of Chat-TBD, Emmy-winning journalist Stefany Brothers sits down with trauma therapist Shari Botwin, LCSW, author of Thriving After Trauma, to talk about how to cope.

In this episode: • Why this story is all Shari’s clients are talking about • How to tell when you’re triggered, and what to do about it • Why some survivors feel compelled to share now, and why it’s okay if you don’t • What to say when a friend tells you their story • How to set a boundary when you can’t be the one to listen • How to turn the horror of this story into something hopeful

Content note: this episode discusses sexual assault.

ABOUT SHARI BOTWIN

Shari Botwin, LCSW, is a trauma therapist and the author of Thriving After Trauma: Stories of Living and Healing.

Her book: https://www.sharibotwin.com/thriving-after-trauma-stories-of-living-and-healing.html

More about Shari: https://www.sharibotwin.com

RESOURCES

RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673) or https://rainn.org

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988

ABOUT CHAT-TBD

One guest. One topic. Under 30 minutes. Hosted by Stefany Brothers, an Emmy-winning journalist with 13+ years in news, including six at CNN.