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The 'Pause
The menopause podcast with unfiltered conversations about the symptoms you hate, the changes you didn’t see coming, and the hilarious moments midlife can bring. You've got questions and we've got the experts to answer them.
The 'Pause
Menopause: Michigan's New Movement
Michigan is leading a revolutionary approach to women's health through a groundbreaking menopause policy initiative championed by Governor Whitmer and the Michigan Women's Commission. Executive Director Cheryl Bergman shares how they're transforming workplace policies, healthcare access, and public education to support women through perimenopause and menopause.
• The Michigan Women's Commission, established in 1968, surveys women's challenges and makes policy recommendations to address them
• 60% of Governor Whitmer's executive team are women of menopausal age, bringing personal understanding to the policy initiative
• Mayo Clinic research shows $1.8 billion is lost annually in productivity due to menopause symptoms
• The movement includes statewide town halls featuring menopause experts and involves women legislators to hear directly from constituents
• Top workplace policy recommendations include menopause champions in workplaces, better ventilation/cooling, and flexible schedules
• $2.5 million has been recommended in the Michigan Senate budget for physician education and public awareness
• Perimenopause can begin as early as age 37, making education for younger women essential
• The movement is building partnerships with healthcare systems including Henry Ford and Corewell
Join our Facebook group, The Pause Diaries, for information on how to get involved with Michigan's menopause movement and connect with a supportive community of women sharing this journey.
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Until next time, stay curious, stay empowered, and never hit pause on your wellbeing.
Welcome to the Pause, the menopause podcast, with unfiltered conversations about the symptoms you hate, the changes you didn't see coming and the hilarious moments midlife can bring. I'm your host, val Leggo, and I've been a dedicated health reporter for 25 years and I wanted to normalize something that every woman goes through menopause. So together we're going to talk about it the Perry, the Menno and the Post. Welcome to the Pause. Recently, I helped organize an event at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids, michigan. We showed the acclaimed documentary the M Factor, which if you have not seen this, you need to. You can find it on PBS. This documentary really pulls back the curtain on everything perimenopause and menopause. It's like the why behind the symptoms and just how neglected women's health is and the conversation around menopause has been, and how doctors mostly don't even really know much about menopause, which is why they're not talking to you about it. So, as a health journalist with 25 years experience, even I was blown away by the information in the film, even the connection between menopause, lack of estrogen and Alzheimer's disease. It's so many things. So I highly, highly, highly recommend that you find the M Factor on PBS and watch it, because it will open up your mind.
Speaker 1:But the night was so amazing. It also included a panel discussion which I moderated. 200 women showed up on a rainy, cold Wednesday night and they did not want to leave the theater, and this was amazing. The questions were coming, the conversation was amazing. It continued for hours and I really feel like we bonded. I walked away with 200 sisters I hadn't known before.
Speaker 1:The biggest issue is not being able to find a doctor who listened to them and really helped them through their journey, and that is something that I think so many women are finding out out that even when they find the doctor that they've loved for years, that conversation suddenly around menopause is like a brick wall, because nobody really knows the answers to a lot of questions. In fact, 60% of women say their doctors don't talk to them about menopause, and that's why it's time to change that. So here is the good news it is about to change. Governor Whitmer wants Michigan to lead the charge on menopause policy, and the work has already begun. I am so excited to have Cheryl Bergman on the podcast. She's the executive director of the Michigan Women's Commission and she's been appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and is an unwavering advocate for advancing women's health, equity and leadership in Michigan. Cheryl, thank you for spending some time with us. I can't wait to dive into this conversation.
Speaker 3:Thank you, valerie. I am excited to talk with you and I'm so excited about your podcast. Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:You've been doing so much work over these last years really, but especially in the last couple of months. I mean, it is obvious that this is not just a menopause movement, but a menopause movement in Michigan. So I want to learn a little bit more about Michigan Women's Commission and what the mission is behind that.
Speaker 3:So the Women's Commission was established by statute in 1968. In fact, we were one of the first I think we were the first Women's Commission in the United States that was established by statute, by a governor, and the mission by statute is to survey the women of Michigan, identify challenges they face, make policy recommendations to address those challenges and to recognize achievements of women in Michigan. And that mission remains the same today. So, for example, when I was appointed by Governor Whitmer in the end of 2019, we took off the governor and I and the commission took off around the state asking women what their priorities were so that we knew how to focus our work, asking women what their priorities were so that we knew how to focus our work. And what we learned and this was 2019 into early 2020, is that it's all economic security issues at the top of mind and at the very top of the list was affordable, accessible child care.
Speaker 3:And that was before the pandemic really shone a light on our I'll call it child care challenges, but some might call it a crisis. So we did so the first couple of years. In 2021, governor Whitmer asked the Women's Commission to pilot the my Tri-Share Child Care Program, which shares the cost of child care between the employer, the employee and the state of Michigan equally. And so we piloted that program, I'm happy to say successfully. It is off to the MyLeap department as a long-term in-the-budget program that is available statewide now. So we're really proud of that. And now we have been focusing on last year and in 23 and 24 and now continuing the work is health and wealth, because they go hand in hand health and wealth of Michigan women.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they absolutely do, and that's why you're really prioritizing that midlife of women's health, which has truly been forgotten. You know, women get to a certain age and all of a sudden, for whatever reason, they can't do anything anymore. I'm not quite sure why that is, and I love the fact that this has now become a priority for you and for Governor Whitmer and for the state, in order to like really get some policies in place.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, you know, 60% of the governor's executive team and cabinet are women who are of the age to be perimenopausal or menopausal or even postmenopausal. So these conversations obviously have been happening in the governor's office at the highest levels about their symptoms and they're exchanging stories with each other about. I talked to my doctor, even my OBGYN, and they're not giving me any answers for my symptoms that I'm experiencing no-transcript and it's an economic issue. The Mayo Clinic survey that they did in 2023, a national survey showed that $1.8 billion is lost in productivity each year due to menopause and menopausal symptoms. Perimenopausal symptoms.
Speaker 1:And it really is mind boggling to think about. There's an economic tie to it, but when women can't get to work, when women feel like they can't work, that's exactly what it comes down to. It comes down to the dollars and, you know, trying to make sure that women are supported in this journey and that I mean. It's just. It's amazing. You've gone one step further in not only saying this is going to be a priority, but you've made it a movement and you've named it, and I love it. It's called Metapause. It's a movement. I just think this is fantastic, and one of the great things that you're doing is you're preparing to host town halls. In fact, you've hosted a few already, haven't you? Yes, yes we have.
Speaker 3:So we kicked off conversations. So I'll back it up a little bit and how the work around this, how we started. So in May of 23, we hosted the Women's Commission, hosted a webinar during Mental Health Awareness Month around menopause and it got so much attention, so many questions. We knew that we needed to continue this work. And obviously, what I talked about with the governor as well and the conversations that were happening with women in the governor's office as well, and so in 2024, we created a survey, a Women Menopause in the Workplace survey, which we're still collecting data at our conversations that we're doing around the state and our survey data is tracking with the Mayo Clinic's data that says 60% six zero percent of women know nothing about menopause, don't know what to expect. Their doctors haven't talked to them about it, and our respondents in Michigan are telling us the same thing at the same rate 60%.
Speaker 1:And I'll tell you, cheryl, I truly believe that In the short period of time that this podcast has been around, the conversations that we've had and the conversations within our private Facebook group, the Pause Diaries, you know women are hungry for this information and some of the most basic questions. It's heartbreaking, really honestly.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 1:When you think about the lack of knowledge and how much better their life could be if we can make it standard that this is the type of care you will receive when you get to this point in life. And here are the choices you will have.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right. I mean, we women of you know, with perimenopause and menopause we can be thriving. This is the time of a life where we can really thrive in our careers and our families. And you know, maybe our children are grown or growing and you know we have a lot of freedom. And if we have symptoms that are debilitating and there's no one telling us what it is and how to treat it, or we're being misdiagnosed, and you know, and given antidepressants or something instead of hormone replacement, you know therapy, depressants or something instead of hormone replacement. You know therapy. You know we should be able to thrive. So it's so important and through these conversations.
Speaker 3:So we kicked off conversations knowing that we needed to educate women and ourselves and you know everyone. And on March 12th we kicked off the conversation at Governor Whitmer's home in Lansing with Hallie Berry, which was really exciting. So Governor Whitmer met her at the end of last year at a Democratic Governors Association meeting and Hallie came into a meeting of Democratic governors and it was just the governors and their chief of staff with them, so a very small group of um people, and the governor told me she said I think I thought she was going to come in and you know really talk about um, you know the election and you know thanks for all your hard work and you know let's keep working instead. She came in and let's talk about menopause and then told her own personal story about why this is her passion project and when you watch the clip, you can, you can see that a little what her person, what her aha moment was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's take a, just take a quick little pause and let our listeners listen to part of that.
Speaker 2:I have to make this cause my second act life work. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time on my platform or use my voice to one help educate women, but also align with thought leaders and people who are as invested as I was in women's health and longevity.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, just having her sit there in the room and talk about how this is her platform now and this is what she wants to do going forward, really making sure that women know the information that they need to know. Halle Berry, that's amazing, sitting there, right there, right next to Governor Gretchen Whitmer it gave me chills.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, and being in the room was really powerful, and so you know, and being in the room was really powerful, and so you know. So when the governor met her and heard what she was talking about, she's like you've got to come to Michigan. The Michigan Women's Commission is, and I are doing work around this Please come. And so she did. And that kicked off our menopause. It's a movement conversations and we've since hosted conversations in Lansing, detroit and Battle Creek.
Speaker 3:In June we'll be in Ann Arbor and Flint. In July we'll be or excuse me Ann Arbor and Midland. In July we'll be in Flint and Grand Rapids and then we're taking it on up the state to Traverse City, we're going to the UP as well and over to the northeast side, probably Alpena area. So we're trying to hit every corner of the state with this conversation. We are including expert panelists, menopause certified doctors. Dr Diana Bittner, who's actually in Grand Rapids and has written a book and has committed her last I don't know 20 some years of her career to this specific midlife, women's midlife health and menopause, is coming to each of our conversations and kind of setting the stage with look, here's symptoms, here's treatments. You can be helped, there is help out there.
Speaker 1:And she is so well-versed that there's not going to be a question that you ask her that she's not going to know the answer to which is amazing, she has not been stumped once.
Speaker 1:Not once. I love the fact that these conversations are going to continue, because, let me tell you, this is going. I think it's going to become more than a movement. What I do love is that you're kind of looking beyond that. You're going beyond just the conversations and getting women, you know the answers that they're looking for this time in their life, and getting them having conversations. You are actually doing policy recommendations, policy recommendations, and this is the part where it gets into the nitty gritty, where you are making a humongous difference in women's lives. What are some of those recommendations?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So our goal is, in October, around menopause awareness month, we will be releasing a report based on our survey data, the conversations that we're having around the state, and the report will make recommendations to employers for menopause in the workplace recommendations as well as lawmakers, and from our survey results right now, I can tell you the top three workplace recommendations that women are telling us from our survey right now are they would like a menopause champion in the workplace, someone whether it's an HR or someone in their department that they can go to and say look, I haven't slept in the last week and my manager is bugging me about getting this report done, but I'm having these symptoms or, you know, I can't find the treatment. I need coverage for this hormone replacement treatment. How can I work with HR to do that? Just a champion in the workplace who they can go to and talk to about what's going on with them.
Speaker 1:Almost like a menopause coach that would like guide them through. Here are the resources. Here's what I'm hearing. You say like getting them on with them, almost like a menopause coach that would like guide them through. Here are the resources. Here's what I'm hearing. You say like getting them on that journey and supporting them. That would be amazing. That's a top recommendation. I understand that.
Speaker 3:Another one is a little more simple. It's ventilation and the ability to keep your space cool, and the ability to keep your space cool and if you're in a career that you need to wear certain uniforms, making the material breathable. We've got women in skilled trades, tradeswomen, who have told us, oh my gosh, we've got to figure out how to change some of the material that some, you know, some of our work clothes are made out of, because it gets hot.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, my goodness, I can't even imagine what that must be like.
Speaker 3:Right, right. So those are some simple and then flexible work schedules and remote work.
Speaker 1:You know, paid leave I mean when you are up between like one and five in the morning. Your brain is awake, You're thinking about work or the project that you're working on. So, why can't you log in and work for those four hours and then go back to sleep and wake up at nine or ten and then be productive again?
Speaker 2:I mean that's really, that's how you become wired.
Speaker 1:We're wired that way for some reason. You're up already Now. You have anxiety about trying to get back to bed. You don't fall hard asleep until like five o'clock and then your alarm is going off. You know sometime between five and seven and you're thinking I'm never going to get through this day, but you wasted four hours of productivity that you could have between one and five Exactly Exactly, so we know those are going to that.
Speaker 3:You could have between one and five Exactly exactly so we know those are going to be workplace recommendations. Now, something exciting to share is that so in each of these conversations that we're holding across the state, we're including our women legislators. So, for example, in Lansing, senator Sarah Anthony, who is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee in Michigan, moderated our conversation. When we were in Detroit, it was Senator Sylvia Santana. In Battle Creek, representative Julie Rogers was on the panel, and that will continue. We go to Flint and it's going to be Representative Cynthia Reeves. Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks is hosting us and moderating in Grand Rapids. So we're doing that purposefully so they can hear what the women are asking and hear what the experts are saying are needed from policy. And Senator Anthony shared with me that in the Senate budget recommendation for this fiscal year's budget there is $2.5 million for physician education and public awareness, and so that's policy that's already being recommended in the budget this year in Michigan's budget.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 3:It's amazing, and so we'll be advocating for that legislation and for that appropriation as well. As there are conversations happening within the legislature about insurance coverage. You know other states have been introducing legislation that that you know either. Medicaid, must you know, cover insurance, a home loan, replacement therapy and other other menopause treatments, as well as private insurers, so that one's a little more, you know, tricky when you get into the insurance. But those conversations are also happening.
Speaker 1:And it has to be this grassroots effort, doesn't it? I mean, we have to, as women, go around and get things done ourselves, and have conversations and talk about it, and rally and walk through the streets with signs that say menopause is a movement right, listen to us, listen this is really, um, this is amazing.
Speaker 1:What I, what I hope here's my soapbox um, and I shared this with our group of the wealthy theater uh, because when I first started getting my podcast out there, I was getting a lot of support, and I'm still getting a lot of support, and I want to thank everybody who has been giving me support. But many of the comments that I would get on LinkedIn and Facebook and so forth was this is such an important conversation for women to have, women over 50 to have and yes, it is, but that conversation needs to happen decades earlier.
Speaker 1:Because, perimenopause, as you know, as you've learned, I'm sure through this conversation, can start as early as 37. And there's some research now that maybe it is going to start even earlier for some young girls.
Speaker 3:Especially women of color. Women of color. The data shows that they can start a lot earlier.
Speaker 1:This is not a conversation that starts at 50. This is a conversation that starts at 30, 35. It's coming. Get ready. If that anxiety may not be anxiety, it might be a dip in estrogen. You should be having a conversation with your doctor. So I thought maybe we could get t-shirts that said 37 is the new 50.
Speaker 3:Um so, I thought maybe we could get t-shirts that said 37 is the new 50.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, oh yeah, and that's.
Speaker 3:And we've been really intentional with our um conversations, so that two I have two young women who work with me, um Gen Z's, and they are.
Speaker 3:You know, I think maybe at first they were a little bit like huh, this is what we're focusing on, this is our project, but they get it now and you know, I have a daughter who's in her 30s and she's coming to all the conversations and working with us and helping us out, because she understands the importance. So we've been really intentionally reaching out to those younger women to get them to the conversations as well, intentionally reaching out to those younger women to get them to the conversations as well. And we've had over well, over a hundred women in each of these conversations, with more questions from these women than we have time to get to, and they just want to be heard and they want, they hang on every word that Dr Bittner and the other we've had OBGYNs and menopause certified doctors from Henry Ford and Corwell, Because Cheryl what happens is once you realize you're not crazy, you want to know more and you need more information to prove that you're not.
Speaker 1:This has been an amazing conversation and I can't thank you enough for the work that you're doing, and I look forward to following it more and doing whatever I can to support it, because, as you know, this is something that I want to talk about, and talk a lot about and get as many women informed as possible. So I know there's a lot of work to do, but I know that you're going to get it done, so thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 3:Thank you for your partnership.
Speaker 1:This is wonderful Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for your partnership. This is wonderful and if you're interested in joining or supporting the movement, I've put all the information and links that you need in our Facebook group, the Pause Diaries. If you've not joined yet, I really suggest that you do. There are hundreds, literally hundreds, of women in this group who support each other in ways that you need it. They are great, they are very engaged and they are everybody's best friend. So remember menopause is not the end of anything. It's the beginning of the rest of your life, and we're going to talk about it.
