TL;DR
A new short film called The Visit is putting language to something many Black women already carry in their bodies: the experience of being dismissed, rushed, or disbelieved in a doctor’s office. Released by Chicago-based wellness brand Black Girl Vitamins, the film follows four Black women across different life stages and shows how one dismissed symptom can echo for years. Below, we walk through what the film reveals, why it matters, and three concrete tools you can bring into your next appointment to make sure you’re heard.
Key Points
- Black Girl Vitamins released The Visit during Black Maternal Mental Health Week, spotlighting how medical dismissal shapes Black women’s health over a lifetime.
- The brand is partnering with Mamatoto Village to turn the film’s message into real advocacy work in Black maternal healthcare.
- Self-advocacy tools — like symptom journals and knowing your patient rights — can help you walk into an appointment prepared, not powerless.
When the Doctor Doesn’t Listen: New Film Names What Black Women Have Always Known
Every Black woman has a version of this story. You describe the pain. You’re told it’s stress. You mention the bleeding, the fatigue, the swelling. You’re told to lose weight, drink more water, come back if it gets worse. And somewhere in that exchange, something quietly closes — not just the appointment, but a little bit of your trust in the whole system.
That feeling now has a name and a face. Black Girl Vitamins, a Chicago-based wellness brand, released a short film this month called The Visit. It follows four Black women at different stages of life — from young motherhood to menopause — and shows, in a few interconnected minutes, how repeated dismissal in medical settings shapes a woman’s entire health journey, not just one bad appointment.
Why This Film Matters Right Now
The film arrived during Black Maternal Mental Health Week, and the timing wasn’t an accident. Black maternal mortality remains one of the starkest health disparities in the country, and much of the research points back to the same root cause: symptoms go unheard until it’s too late. The Visit doesn’t try to explain that statistic with numbers. Instead, it shows the human moments that build toward it — the raised eyebrow, the rushed exam, the “let’s just watch it” that turns into months of pain.
Jennifer Juma, Chief Strategy Officer at Black Girl Vitamins, said the project grew out of the brand’s mission to make sure Black women feel seen and supported in their health journeys. The goal isn’t just awareness. It’s the start of a longer initiative — the company is now partnering with the Washington, D.C.-based organization Mamatoto Village to turn the film’s message into direct advocacy work around Black maternal healthcare, engaging providers and policymakers alongside the women living this reality.
Turning Recognition Into Action
Watching a film that reflects your own experience can bring real relief. It can also bring up frustration, grief, or anger — and all of that is valid. But Denise’s column has always been about turning that recognition into something you can use. So here are three tools you can start applying at your very next appointment.
Keep a symptom journal. Write down what you’re feeling, when it started, how often it happens, and how it affects your daily life. Bring it with you. A dated, specific account is harder to wave away than a vague “I haven’t been feeling well,” and it gives your provider something concrete to respond to.
Ask for your concern to be documented. If a provider dismisses a symptom, you can calmly ask that it be noted in your chart that you raised it. This isn’t about confrontation. It’s about creating a record, so that if the issue resurfaces, there’s already a paper trail showing you spoke up.
Know that a second opinion is your right, not an insult. If something still feels wrong after a visit, you’re allowed to seek another provider’s perspective. Most insurance plans cover this, and no doctor worth trusting will take offense at a patient wanting more clarity about her own body.
You Are Not Imagining It
If The Visit resonates with you, that reaction is information. It means your body has been trying to tell you something, possibly for a long time, and the systems around you haven’t always made space to listen. This week, we invite you to watch the film for yourself and consider bringing one of these tools into your own care.
You can watch The Visit on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OexrjtVbGXo
For more on protecting your health amid ongoing policy changes, see our related coverage: what Medicaid cuts mean for Black women’s bodies and how to protect your health amid political stress.
About the Author: Denise Tureaud writes Black Source Media’s Wednesday health and wellness column, focused on practical, uplifting guidance for Black women and families navigating their health and wellbeing.
Health & Wellness Columnist — Black Source Media
Denise Tureaud
Health Writer • Wellness Advocate • New Orleans Community Voice • Wednesday Columnist
Denise Tureaud is Black Source Media’s Wednesday health and wellness columnist, writing for and about the Black women, men, and families of New Orleans with the directness and specificity that community deserves. She does not traffic in generic wellness advice. She writes about the real conditions — financial stress, insurance discrimination, systemic health disparities — that shape Black health outcomes in Louisiana and across America.
Her Wednesday series covers the intersection of personal health and systemic reality. She translates peer-reviewed research into actionable, plain-language guidance for readers who have been underserved by both the healthcare system and the health media that claims to speak for them. Her work on financial stress and cardiovascular disease brought new NIH-backed research directly to Black Source Media readers months before it reached mainstream health publications.
Tureaud writes with the voice of a New Orleans Black woman who has seen too many people she loves suffer from conditions that were preventable — and who believes that information, delivered honestly and directly, is one of the most powerful health interventions available.
Selected Articles by Denise Tureaud
Your Bills Are Breaking Your Heart. Literally.
Black Men Health Disparities: Why We Die Younger and What We Can Do About It (Strong Enough to Live Series)
View All Articles by Denise Tureaud at Black Source Media
