Founder's Story - Kermit Farmer: Navigating Healthcare with Purpose and Passion | S2: 43

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

This is brought to you by BiOptimizers, whom I LOVE their MAGNESIUM BREAKTHROUGH product has helped me sleep better, stay focused, and feel all-around healthier.Check out their products at http://bioptimizers.com/danrobbins use promo code FOUNDERS for 10% off any order.In this episode, Daniel Robbins interviews Kermit Farmer, the Chief Ethos Officer of Village Paths. Kermit shares the inspiration behind founding Paths, a purpose-driven company that educates patients and caregivers on navigating the complex healthcare system and empowers medical providers with efficient communication tools. His journey began with a deeply personal experience of losing his wife to cancer, which motivated him to address the pain points faced by patients and caregivers.Paths aims to bridge the gap between patients and healthcare providers by offering modern, user-friendly tools that enhance patient education and engagement. Kermit emphasizes the importance of putting patients first and leveraging technology to improve healthcare experiences. His work continues the legacy of his wife, who was a dedicated oncologist and relentless educator.Key Points Discussed:Kermit's background and the personal loss that inspired Paths.The mission of Paths to educate and empower patients and caregivers.Challenges patients face in the healthcare system.Importance of efficient communication tools for medical providers.The holistic approach of Paths and its impact on patient care.The story behind Kermit's book "Losing Wonder Woman."The legacy and impact of Kermit's wife, an oncologist.Use of technology to modernize patient engagement and education.Expansion plans and future goals for Paths.How to learn more about Village Paths and Kermit's advocacy work.Relevant Links:Village PathsOur Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Kermit, you have founded, you are the chief ethos officer of PATHS, which is really game changing in the health space. It's a purpose driven company. You educate patients and caregivers on navigating the complex healthcare system, which many guests have told me it's very, very complex. And you are empowering medical providers with efficient communication tools, which sounds like it's something everyone needs. But Kermit, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me on. Appreciate it. So thank you for giving me the information about your name. I'm

happy that you were able to share that with me and the history. I think it's great. Let's dive into you though, in terms of your journey and entrepreneurship. So why and what drove you to building PATHS? My wife. I'll say my, well, not to start off on a negative note really, but I lost my wife to cancer. And my wife was nothing short of a badass in so many different ways. And she was an oncologist. And when the cancer doctor gets cancer, that's kind of unique. And she practiced for 17 years. We were married for 19 and three quarters years. We almost made it to our 20th wedding anniversary. And the complications that we have are pretty extensive with 11 hospital admissions within 10 months. And the complexity of the knowledge we needed and the time frame that we needed was extensive.

And if we wrestled with it, what happens with the mere mortals that wrestle out there? And I have a background in logistics and I just love polished processes. It's like a dopamine fix to me personally. And when I saw the pain points of what caregivers go through, what patients go through with, I think of it like a Venn diagram, right? There's my logistics background that I have. Then being married to an oncologist, a doctor for 19 years and understanding her pain points from a medical perspective. Then me as a caregiver as that third part of a Venn diagram. I saw a problem that needed to be addressed and set out to help doctors really to better enable

patients to equip them to better their care in lots of different ways. And I can impact what that is, but that's my origin story. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that. Many times we ask about legacy and it's normally the legacy of the founder, but do you see this as a legacy to her? We will return to our show shortly, but first let's talk about today's sponsor,

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That's insane. So make sure you visit biooptimizers.com, B-I-O-O-P-T-I-M-I-Z-E-R-S.com backslash Dan Robbins. That's biooptimizers.com backslash D-A-N-R-O-B-B-I-N-S for a special offer. And make sure you use the code founders, F-O-U-N-D-E-R-S, founders, and you get your 10% off. So check out biooptimizers.com to learn more. And back to the show. I see it as a continuation of her path or her journey. She was just a relentless educator to her patients. She had over 19,000 patients. And she wasn't leaving the clinic room until the patient understood.

And we have so little time in the clinic office between the doctor and the patient. And it's rushed and it's hurried. And when you're a patient, you're overwhelmed with these feelings. And if I can help doctors be better educators to their patients, then I'm doing everything that I can here on earth, here on out. I've always believed that the doctor needs to go home with their patient. And there's no reason with all the technology access that we have in videos, documents, files, put it in a unique URL for a patient so they can understand where they are in the process of their health and how to get better. So this is what I've done. questions than when I went in and I'm even more confused. And that's always a problem for me.

And with the health care system in the US that I felt. So what's the feedback that you've been getting? You know, being able to make these solves from both the provider, caregiver and the person on the other end from the provider side, I will say it's very rewarding and very fulfilling in how we're approaching the problem. And the social media error, we have a very short attention spans and trying to get patients to hone in on something very particular is just hard. And we don't, we're not using modern tools in healthcare to help patients.

I've said it a number of times, but I really feel like we live in a digital world, but healthcare in many ways, when it comes between the patient and all the care that they're getting, it's very analog and we don't have robust ways of. So the last few months I've been practicing how to learn Spanish because it is really a passion of mine. I've been using Rosetta Stone. Why? Because it immerses you in the language without having translation. So you can really learn to speak, listen and think in that language. It starts naturally with words, then phrases, and soon you're forming sentences designed for long term retention, which has always been my issue. They even have a built-in true accent speech recognition that acts like a personal trainer for your accent. It gives you instant feedback on your pronunciation. It has flexible learning on desktop and mobile. You can fit language learning right into your schedule anytime, anywhere. Here's the amazing value. Rosetta Stone offers a lifetime membership with access to all 25 languages, including Spanish, French, Korean, and so many more for 50% off. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. Founder Story listeners can get Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit rosettastone.com and use the word today,

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Disseminating information with a way of documenting what they know, what they've consumed and what they haven't consumed to help them on their journey. So on that alone, it's been quite impactful. We have a few people that we're talking with at the NIH, for instance, who wants to do a case study versus here's how we used to do patient engagement and knowing what the patient experience was versus here's the new way that we're doing it through our product called Paths and looking at, in a very quantifiable way, what the benefits are. And the more that we understand the patient experience, the more that we can make the tool better.

We're ones that believes that the patient should come first in everything. We have a very relentless approach that it's not an organizational level approach to healthcare, but what does the patient need? And how do you put them in the very beginning of the journey? And for medical practices that are interested in putting the patient first in everything, we've, we really have one hell of a tool that can equip either a hospital or an individual medical practice.

It seems like health is on everyone's mind. With the advancements of technology, I'm seeing it being added to all these shows and books. There's so many pieces of health I've been seeing recently about people wanting to biohack, live longer, but they haven't been addressing these pieces that you are addressing with path so you know i appreciate what you're doing there let's talk about the book that you have because i think you know just the name alone and now i'm

understanding what the book is about now that you shared that story at the beginning but losing wonder woman talk to me about the inspiration behind this book and how this book has made you feel being able to get this out there. I needed to quantify for myself and for my son what my wife, who she was as a person, her impact as a doctor and the legacy that she's created in me.'s in no there's no other way of saying it but she built me in a way that um i will i'll just always be thankful and i will always cherish and the book documents that it's nothing more than a love story is what i see and um when she's from South Korea, she came to the United States, 1984, on an in Paris Island where you have to where you had to go at the time. You have to walk through a door to become an immigrant of the United States of America. And the immigration officer says, hey, what's your name?

And it's like it's Hyosin Lee. And her name spelled H-Y-O-S-E-O-N. And it's like, hey, you got to change your name. And I need a name before we walk through this door right over here, because no one's going to know what Hyosin is in America. And on the spot, she had to come up with a name. And she asked the immigration officer in Korean, what's Wonder Woman's name? And the guy was like, who, Linda Carter? It's like, yeah, call me Linda. And that's how she got her name. She was a badass coming out of the womb and was just so dynamic and so great at everything that she did. So it made sense for me to call the book Losing Wonder Woman. And it's not only me. Obviously, it's her 19,000 patients and, you know, it's her son and many other things. But the book goes through that.

Wow, Kirby. Incredible. I mean, what an amazing story. Truly sounds like she was Wonder Woman. She's inspiring you to do this. You're taking this and I think you're going to inspire and you're going to help could be a billion people on this planet, right? At this point, we don't know. And it's only going to get bigger. But thank you for all that you do. And if people want to find out more information, because I know everyone's going to want to read this book. Everyone that is your patient, caregiver, if they need to get in touch with you about what you're doing and what you're working on, how can they do so?

They can go to VillagePaths.com. That's where the Path product is. I also have a personal website. It's called Caregiver Kermit, where I'm an advocate for doctors and some other things. You can find the book at either one. And obviously it's on Amazon and it's been a bestsellers list. To touch on what you said there, I touched on this in the book, but for many years of my life, I understood my role in the house. I took care of the one and she took care of thousands. And now I'm in a position to hopefully help thousands of doctors. And I'm not

even shying away from that. Um, and the last part of the book, um, I talk about going to the Taj Mahal, which is where I'm about to go to. Cause that's the largest manifestation of love I know of on this planet. And in many ways I, I, I want to build something as uniquely powerful because it's, it's inside of me. So thank you very much for having me on your show brother. And I'm welcome the opportunity to opportunity to share the product or our story with with anybody that you know amazing kermit yeah i mean we get into business for our mission

our impact way more than i think the money right it's like the money will come with the impact with with the mission and we are all about that here. So I appreciate you sharing that. That's something I've learned. That's what we do. And we do it for these things. And this is how we will be remembered. And I hope people will all think of these things for you. So I appreciate what you're doing and what you've done here. And I think you're going to also inspire a lot of people to get into business for these reasons. Understanding that these impacts that have made on their life can then lead them to also impacting others. So thank you for that. And thank you so much for joining us today on Founder's Story. Thank you very much. When you know why you wake up in the morning,

it makes it a whole lot easier to do everything that you want to do to accomplish the goals that you have. So I'm quite blessed for that. Very appreciative. Thank you for tuning in to Founders Story. Keep exploring, keep dreaming, and join us next time for more inspiring entrepreneurial journeys.