Redefining Healthcare for Women Over 65 with Kristen Helton Herself Health

Kristen Helton, CEO and Co-Founder of Herself Health, provides comprehensive primary care designed specifically for women over 65, considering the unique health challenges these women face. The emphasis is on the importance of addressing women's health beyond reproductive health and the need for tailored treatment and screening for conditions that affect women differently than men. Kristen notes the underrepresentation of women, especially older women, in clinical trials and the need for further investigation. They aim to reduce bias and improve the quality of care for older women by adopting a person-centric approach, listening to patients' concerns, and building trust. Kristen explains, "Almost half of the burdens of disease that women experience stem from conditions that affect women differently than men. So, a lot of these diseases, cardiovascular, chronic illness, gastroenterology, and depression, affect men differently than they affect women. We're very focused on how we treat women and screen them for different diseases. We take a really comprehensive health history. Women have a lot of data that we need to understand as we're putting together the picture of their overall health." "I mean, 65 is young old, in fact. It's just the beginning, and there are a lot of differences between 65 and 75 and 85 and 95. We're talking about decades. So I'm also remiss in grouping 65 and up even into a single category. But you hit on something super important there, and that is women are not satisfied with the answer that's just what happens as you get older. It comes back to, in essence, the quality of life. I think this is where we're seeing some real success in our approach, which is yes, we want to do all of the important preventative, physical, behavioral health care. But we also want to understand the patient's goals and what they're trying to get to and maintain." #HerselfHealth #WomensHealth #Healthcare #ValueBasedCare #PrimaryCare herself-health.com Download the transcript here