That Podcast in Hutch - Katy Everitt II
Fighting cancer in a career that doesn't offer health insurance, paid sick leave
If you haven’t gone back and listened to the first episode in this two-part series, I recommend you go back and check it out.
In the first episode, you’ll get to hear from Katy about the life of a hairdresser. She lives in Topeka with her 9-year-old son and has built a nearly 20 year career that she loves as a hairstylist. In the second episode, we visit about her fight against ovarian cancer – while trying to maintain a career that doesn’t typically offer health insurance or benefits.
Though most of us have regular interaction with the people who cut and style our hair – I suspect many of us don’t know many details. During our conversation, I was continuously surprised at how much about the business I never knew or understood.
But what really struck me was the way Katy has to juggle her health against her income, her ability to continue working, all while trying to care for her son. As I was reviewing episode two, I was reminded just how hard this balancing act has been for her.
This quote from Katy, struck me:
“There are days where I say it would be cheaper to die.”
I hope you’ll listen to these two episodes with compassion and an open mind – and my hope is that after these next two weeks you, like me, might have better insight into the dire circumstances people can find themselves in, and the unlikely things they have to do just to survive.
These two episodes highlight for me a key reason we need to have better conversations about employment, workforce, and healthcare. Some of the political talking points around these issues are too basic - and while they work pretty well on marketing materials they prevent us from making a truthful examination of reality.
The rhetoric of the “able-bodied” adult trying to get free healthcare is largely a myth; the painfully obvious reality is there are millions of people in this country like Katy - who are working and raising families in a system that doesn’t value, or serve, them
To listen to my visit with Katy, subscribe to That Podcast in Hutch at Salt City Sound or on your favorite podcast streaming service.
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