The interview series, co-led by Dr. Gabriela Melo Ghisi and patient partner Gayl McKinley, highlights women's unique challenges, barriers and triumphs during their cardiac journeys.
"As women, we tend to be caretakers of others. We need to learn to be better caretakers of ourselves." — Gayl McKinley, patient partner
Dr. Gabriela Lima de Melo Ghisi, Affiliate Scientist at KITE, listens as women from diverse ages, backgrounds, and locations share their diagnostic journeys with heart disease. She hears the same story over and over. Despite the women being diverse in age, background, and physical location, there is a throughline of delayed diagnoses due to atypical symptoms and the emotional toll of navigating a system that often overlooks women’s health. Among every narrative, however, there is resilience.
“One of the biggest challenges in women’s cardiac disease is the lack of awareness, both in the medical community and among women themselves,” Dr. Ghisi explains. “The lack of knowledge, the lack of referrals, the lack of engagement—if we can create ways women can increase their knowledge, I think that’s a way to address barriers.”
Co-led by Dr. Ghisi and patient partner Gayl McKinley, Our Hearts Our Stories is a patient-centred video storytelling series. It launched February 13th, with episodes released on a rolling basis. Made possible with the support of UHN’s Pride in Patient Engagement in Research (PiPER) initiative, the project is designed for and shaped by women with a history of cardiac disease.
Our Hearts Our Stories grew out of PiPER-funded patient engagement workshops designed to teach women to be champions of educational materials from the Cardiac College for Women— resources that were developed in 2023 under the leadership of Dr. Ghisi. The patient group themselves then came up with the idea of sharing their lived experiences, hoping to not only inform better rehabilitation strategies for the future but also empower other women to be advocates for their health. Our Hearts Our Stories is the online collection of their experiences.
“Women want to be heard,” says Dr. Ghisi, explaining how storytelling is constantly on her mind as a way to reach the public. She has been thinking of ways to amplify the unheard voices of the healthcare system and hopes Our Hearts Our Stories is just the beginning.
"Storytelling can be a powerful tool for advocacy and systemic change,” she says. “By amplifying the voices of women with heart disease, we are not only shedding light on the barriers they face but also helping to shape more inclusive healthcare policies and programs.”