Recap: New York, Revisited | Amplifying Women in Healthcare and Health IT

From New Hampshire, we took the most scenic drive through Vermont and the state of New York. We settled in a cute Airbnb, hosted by a Mennonite family in the small town of Waterloo, close to Seneca Falls. When we reserved this place, we were not aware of the significance of the surrounding area—that it was the home of the first women’s rights convention back in 1848.

It was the perfect place for Shereese and I to spend an afternoon and then after, record a recap of our #HITtheTrails experience to date to reflect through the lens of how far women have come as well as how far we have to go, in terms of equality in this country.

It was a sobering experience, and I think that comes through in our Season 6 Preview episode.

Thankfully, what came next were two feel-good legs of the journey. We were invited to spend a couple days at Julie Mann’s lake house and then coordinated a cross-border visit with Colin Hung at the Niagara Falls.

The days at the lake were just the relaxing, restful time we needed. Although our conversations with Julie were riddled with the progress of remote patient monitoring, the evolution of the EHR and patient portal, as well as apps available right now that can help people stay healthy, we were all in our element, easily sharing our observations, perspectives, and lessons learned in the industry… but with a beautiful backdrop.

Julie has a few stand up paddle boards and we agreed to “Ride at Dawn!” to start our next day. This was a great decision, because we had the lake to ourselves and got to watch the sunrise over the calm water along with the birds and lapping fish. We ate delicious food, drank wine, and enjoyed each other’s company for the next couple days.

On Friday, we said our goodbyes to Julie and her family and made our way to Niagara Falls.

Colin Hung, one of favorite guys in Health IT, agreed to bring his family to the Canadian side of the falls so we could wave to him from the U.S side, since the border was still closed. We situated ourselves between the observation tower and the Rainbow Bridge and started a video call with Colin, right at 2 pm. It couldn’t have been more perfect - we could clearly see him on the other side of the river, waiving a Canadian Flag, and he could see us waving our arms in the air with bright blue shirts on. We enjoyed a short conversation about the availability of vaccines in Canada and he shared the good news that he will be fully vaccinated and approved for travel in time for HIMSS.

Shereese and I then enjoyed a stroll around Goad Island, and just as we were finishing up our lunch, it started to rain and we rushed out.

The next morning marked the end of Shereese and my time together. I dropped her off at the Niagara Falls train station, so she could take a break from the road, and head back to solid WiFi territory in Maryland, while I have my eye on heading west — via the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.