S7E11 Fundraising at Overcoming MS with Rob Carter

Rob Carter  00:00

The sense that Overcoming MS, that we absolutely we keep our costs to the to the absolute minimum in terms of the services we provide. And 76p of every pound that we spend gets spent on those products and services. I’m using that phrase a lot, I know, but the products and services that we provide for for our community. And for every pound that we spend on fundraising, five pounds is generated from that. So those, both those metrics, give me some sense of reassurance, actually, that we’re we’re really effective.

 

Overcoming MS  00:31

Welcome to Living Well with MS. This show comes to you from Overcoming MS, the world’s leading multiple sclerosis healthy lifestyle charity which helps people live a full and healthy life through the Overcoming MS program. We interview a range of experts and people with multiple sclerosis. Please remember all opinions expressed are their own. Don’t forget to subscribe to Living Well with MS on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And now let’s meet our guest.

 

Alex Holden  01:07

Hello and welcome to today’s Overcoming MS podcast recording with Rob Carter, who is our head of fundraising at Overcoming MS. And I am Alex Holden. I’m the Chief Executive of Overcoming MS, and today we’re going to have a chat about fundraising, about the need for fundraising, and about different ways of getting involved with Overcoming MS in the near future. Rob, do you want to just start off? Introduce yourself above what I’ve already done. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your career, and how you’ve ended up here at Overcoming MS.

 

Rob Carter  01:44

Thanks, Alex, happy to do so. I’ve been involved in fundraising probably for more years than I care to admit, but it’s been since the last millennium. Let’s put it that way. And I’ve worked for a variety of different charities, third sector organizations, in a youth volunteering charity that was called Vinspired. I’ve worked for the Royal College of Surgeons of England. I’ve worked for a couple of music organizations; Youth Music, World Academy of Music; Fight for Sight and Vision Foundation, two sight loss charities; and the MS Trust as well, which was a role I suppose, most, most similar to the role that I’m taking on at Overcoming MS.

 

Rob Carter  02:21

And the reason, really, that I that MS has got such a special part in place in my heart is that my ex-wife was diagnosed with MS in 2002 and at that time, obviously, it was before Overcoming MS that existed as an organization. And it was, it was a real kind of bolt from blue for us. I think absolutely for my what for my ex-wife, and obviously for me as well. And we felt a bit cast adrift, I think, in terms of what information was available, what we could practically do in order to accommodate this kind of complete change of life and lifestyle into our lives. And I often reflect back on that and think, well, if Overcoming MS had been available as an organization at that point, it would have been, it would have been incredibly helpful. As it was, we did find support from some other MS organizations, and as a result, I fundraised for one of those organizations. I did the London Marathon in 2005 which was an amazing experience. And then, as I say, I went on to work for the MS Trust a bit later on as well.

 

Alex Holden  03:28

I’m not sure you’ve ever told me you’ve done the London Marathon before. You’ve set yourself up for a project in the future there, I think. When you say that, it just echoes the conversations I’ve had with so many members of our community, particularly people who were diagnosed before Overcoming MS existed and also people who were diagnosed before any form of medication existed as well. And that’s great that so much progress has been made, but just so difficult to go through that.

 

Alex Holden  03:59

And I think at our retreats, we have a session for partners to talk and obviously we have a section on the Live Well Hub as well for partners and family members. And it’s, yeah, it’s difficult for you as well as the person who’s diagnosed. I think it’s important to reflect on that. But what about I mean, clearly, a huge variety of experience there. What is it about Overcoming MS do you think that makes us different, that makes us stand out? Why fundraising here? What is it that’s standing out for you?

 

Rob Carter  04:04

I think there’s a couple of different elements to it. One is, there’s a real and genuine sense of hope. There’s a real sense that the Overcoming MS program and the services and the products that we offer can help people. It’s a dread word sometimes to use, but it can empower people. It can absolutely enable people to find a way of living well with MS. And it’s a genuine offer. It’s an evidence based offer as well So that’s a really important component, I think.

 

Alex Holden  04:59

People listening to the podcast will have just heard me going, yeah, yeah, because I could not agree more strongly that the community of which we are now a part is so strong and really does bring people together. And it’s the community, as much as the services that we deliver that makes us special, I think I’m also conscious we’re here; we’re talking about fundraising, but not everybody will understand what fundraising actually is and why it’s such an essential part of what we do. And I’m also  conscious that fundraising doesn’t necessarily always have a particularly positive reputation in the media. So I think it’s probably important for us to just talk about what actually is fundraising Rob and why is it important for Overcoming MS?

 

Rob Carter  05:05

I’m absolutely not here to disparage any other organizations, but there’s a real sense of people can come together. And I think that’s the second, second part to what really drew me to Overcoming MS is, is the sense of community; the fact that it’s such a an engaged and inclusive and mutually supportive community–and that extends across the staff team and the trustees and facilitators and other volunteers, as well as the community of people, and often the combinations of those but the people that we support and who support each other as well. So it’s a fabulous organization to work for.

 

Rob Carter  06:29

Well, to start with the second half of that, that question first, I think why it’s so important to Overcoming MS is that we simply wouldn’t be able to offer any of the services, the products, the support that we offer without voluntary contributions. We’re a charitable organization. So whereas a commercial organization can, can set fees, can charge, charge people for its services; obviously a public sector organization can get money from central or local government. They’re not options that are are so available to us. Not say they’re completely separate from us, but we are an organization that relies on donations. We don’t actually receive any government funding. We don’t sell our products in the majority of cases. We’re providing free, high quality services and products for people. But there’s a cost that’s associated with that. There’s clearly a cost to ensure that the the stuff that we produce is evidence based as we’ve already talked about, that it’s that it’s timely, that it’s relevant information, and that that costs money. It does cost money for us to be able to provide that really kind of high quality evidence based service.

 

Rob Carter  07:39

And then in terms of fundraising more generally, and what it is, it can feel a bit arcane, a bit esoteric, a bit grubby, I think it’s fair to say sometimes, and that’s, I don’t want to shy away from that. And absolutely, you do hear stories in the in the media about organizations that appear to be betraying the public’s trust. And that’s something as a fundraiser I’m I’m particularly attuned to as well. So the sense that Overcoming MS, that  we absolutely we keep our costs to the to the absolute minimum in terms of the services we provide. And 76p of every pound that we spend gets spent on those products and services. I’m using that phrase a lot, I know, but the products and services that we provide for for our community. And for every pound that we spend on fundraising, five pounds is generated from that. So those, both those metrics, give me some sense of reassurance, actually, that we’re, we’re really effective stewards of the money that that people give us, and we never, never take that for granted. We’re never complacent about people that support.

 

Alex Holden  08:41

it’s a conversation that you and I often have, isn’t it? And I think for charities, it’s so important. It’s not just raising money, but it’s how we raise the money. And I know in terms of a value base for both you and I, it’s important that we’re doing it in the right way and that we’re doing it exactly as you’re saying, we’re doing ethically. We’re following all the right rules and regulations, and that we know it’s having an impact. So actually, those figures you’re quoting there, raising five pounds for every one pound that we invest and the amount that we spend on our fundraising, it’s we have to do it. Everything that we provide is free, other than our retreats, which people pay for. But everything else is freeand we cannot do that unless we fundraise. But it’s so important that we do it in the right way. We have to take those responsibilities really seriously. So tell us a bit more. What is fundraising? What do we mean by fundraising, Rob?

 

Rob Carter  09:35

so there’s various choice. I mean, people will have seen telethons. If you’re in the UK, obviously comic relief or children in need. The classic example of someone laying in a bath of baked beans. But that can be a way of raising money as indeed kind of taking getting involved in in triathlons or marathons or cycling events, all those kind of things. So there’s a huge element of community fundraising where people are doing things. But it might be putting on a bake sale, or having a quiz night, or hosting a BINGO night, something like that. Those are all ways that people can generate money. But that’s only one element of fundraising. So, there are also grant-making trusts and foundations.   So organizations that are out there that are set up themselves as charitable organizations to give away money. And that may well be that a wealthy person at some point in the past or maybe a company or a collection of individuals have come together to make money available for charitable purposes, so we can apply to those trusts and foundations for funding. And some will say yes, which is wonderful when they do. But it’s a highly competitive field as you can imagine that there were lots and lots of trust fundraisers out there trying to receive the same funds from a relatively small kind of a pool of funding. So, so that’s absolutely a place and that it’s a place that we obviously go to as well in terms of trying to receive funding for our projects that we deliver. 

 

Rob Carter  11:02

Companies will support. So that may well be through staff fundraising activities. It may be through offering payroll giving. So it’s a system again available in the UK but I know it’s available elsewhere in the world in different guidance as well where you can give a proportion of your salary to a charitable cause before tax.  So it’s a tax efficient way of giving as well. 

 

Rob Carter  11:27

There are legacies. So people can write a charity or a charitable cause into their wills. And these can be obviously transformational gifts and anyone can write a legacy. You don’t have to consider yourself to be a wealthy person in order to be able to leave a gift, and a gift that could be really significant to a charity once you’ve looked after your loved ones, you’ve taken care of people that mean the most to you. There’s still absolutely opportunities to, to leave gifts in wills. And it’s one of the areas I’m particularly keen on promoting because again, in the UK, but this is true across the world, 

 

Rob Carter  12:05

a smaller proportion than you might think actually do leave a charitable gift  which is a shame, because it may well be that people just haven’t considered that a charity that has really meant something to them in their lives, they can continue to support that charity after they’re no longer with us.

 

Rob Carter  12:24

There are other ways as well. So there’s individual giving. So people can decide, obviously, to make a cash donation to a charity or to set up a regular gift. And we’ll talk a bit about a bit more about that perhaps later on.

 

Rob Carter  12:39

But there’s a whole range of different ways that people can get involved in fundraising, and it’s and it’s a joy. I mean, as as a fundraiser, one of the one of the most satisfying elements of the role is that people can really feel a sense of purpose and a sense of joy. I mean, the hacky phrase is “putting the fun into fundraising”. But there is a there is a real sense of of joy in terms of being able to give something; either your time, in terms of taking part in fundraising, or your own, your own money if you’re in a position to be able to do that  which really meets individuals’ needs, as well as obviously meeting the needs of the organizations that they’re supporting.

 

Alex Holden  13:21

It’s back to that sense of community, isn’t it, which we started off talking about the beginning of the podcast. But so much of fundraising actually is about bringing people together and sharing experiences and meeting new people or having a great time with people you know really well. And the raising of money is often quite incidental to that. Often it’s sort of an excuse for bringing people together and it can be really good fun. And I think you make a really good point. There’s probably a whole separate series of podcasts about the culture of philanthropy in different countries. Obviously, we’re a global organization, and it is a very different culture of giving in different places, but, but it is important to say that it’s, you know, actually tiny donations and what people can afford are just as valuable as the bigger donations and that volume of the more people we’re able to reach, and the more people who donate, that has such power as well. it’s the power of people’s voices as well as the money that they’re donating, which I think is key.

 

Rob Carter  14:21

Absolutely,

 

Alex Holden  14:23

Talking of people’s voices, I see a lot on social media, on our Friday fundraisers and on our website, and just from our conversations around some really amazing people doing some really fun things. And you share photos every now and again of what people have been up to, which are brilliant. Do you want to give us a couple of examples of things people have done that have been particularly creative?

 

Rob Carter  14:45

I’d love to, and you will have to stop me, Alex, because I could go on for another couple of hours, I think.

 

Rob Carter  14:50

But so people like Jane and Ian, who are very unassuming but incredible couple based in Devon  who got involved in what they called the door to door challenge. Well, Ian cycled and Jane followed. They cycled from Devon to the Pyrenees – just the 950 miles. And they did that in 16 days. And they raised £6000 and counting actually – in excess of £6000 in doing that. And that was just an incredible activity just based on their lived experience of MS.

 

Rob Carter  14:59

Someone like Raf Jackson who is an incredible young man who is following in the footsteps of his father and older brother, Ted and Oscar, in terms of getting involved in unbelievably impressive challenges as far as I’m concerned. He did the Antarctic Ultra Challenge for us last year which is 50 miles across Antarctica, raising over £20,000. And again, there’s a family connection there to MS. And I’m sure they won’t mind me saying because they’re public, the mom Sophie it has got MS. And it’s been incredible how the family have got involved. Ted has been fundraising for Overcoming MS almost as long as Overcoming MS has been around and has literally has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and raised awareness as well.  And they’re, they’re incredible examples of what people have done.

 

Rob Carter  14:59

More recently, someone like Bella has got involved in the, the Cambridge half Marathon for us. And, and again, there’s a family connection that shehas run, has run that for us. There’s a chap called Chris, Chris holbrood, who’s with a group of eight friends, and hopefully they’ll remain friends afterwards as well. Over a 24 hour period they’re running, let me get this right. I’ve got it written down, so make sure I do get it right. They’re running 10 kilometers every four hours for 24 hours around Leeds City Center. Now what Leeds City Center is going to be like at four o’clock in the morning for running? I’m not entirely clear, but that’s something that’s coming up in in July. And it’s, it’s just an incredible example of how people, and again, that sense of community as well, kind of bringing together friends, family to get involved in, in fundraising as well. And that’s, there are many, many more examples, as you can probably tell Alex, I could share, but I should stop there else we’ll run out of tape.

 

Alex Holden  16:20

Tell everyone to go to our social media pages, because there’s always a it’s every Friday, isn’t there that there’s a shout out for someone. But I sometimes I like the simple ideas. I am a big fan, I know they’re a bit dated now, but I’m a big fan of a sweepstake. Every time there’s a World Cup or something comes around, and everybody puts in one pound or five pounds. I mean, it’s not huge amounts, but every penny helps. It really does. And again, it’s a way of bringing people together for a shared interest, for example, football or a race or a TV program or whatever the sweepstakes about. But also gives you a stake in the outcome as well. So it always makes it more interesting as well. She says, you can tell I’m not a huge football fan, but you know, if I’ve got money in it, I’m excited,

 

Rob Carter  18:04

Please don’t pick England. 

 

Alex Holden  18:07

I never get England.

 

Alex Holden  18:10

So there’s people, you’ve sort of given us examples then of people who’ve clearly fit it around their own interests, so people who are runners, or people who were bakers, or people who are cyclists. But what about people who just don’t know what to do and are thinking, I just want it organized for me? Do we have any options for them?

 

Rob Carter  18:26

I’m glad you asked. Alex, yes, we’ve got a couple. In fact, one’s coming up very shortly when this podcast has gone out. So on the 7th of June, we’ve got people taking part in Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), as it’s known in English, the Snowden Sunrise Trek. And that’s an opportunity for people to climb Snowden and see an incredible sunrise at the end of it.

 

Rob Carter  18:56

We also have an event happening on the 12th October, Sunday, the 12th of October, which is the Hadrian’s Wall Trek. And this is a trek of 22 kilometers, I think, in total, across the most scenic parts of Hadrian’s Wall. You’ll go past the Sycamore Gap. Unfortunately, it is a gap without a sycamore now, but it’s an incredible experience. And it’s a again, it will be a great opportunity for people to to meet other members of the community as well as perhaps family and friends that want to want to come along with them. And both those opportunities are advertised on the on the website.

 

Rob Carter  19:33

We’ve also got a whole range of different different challenge events that people can get involved with as well that are listed on the on the website. And they they absolutely will include marathons and half marathons, but they include shorter obstacle races that you can do with your your whole family and and different kind of walking events as well. So absolutely, there is something for everyone there.

 

Alex Holden  19:56

And what about sort of the non-physical? What about people who don’t want to or, of course, aren’t able to take part in a physical challenge. How can those people get involved?

 

Rob Carter  20:07

Absolutely, we’ve got a, an A to Z of fundraising challenge opportunities on listed on the website. But absolutely, it’s not all about people that can run or cycle or swim. So if people want to get involved in putting together an art auction, for example, or if they want to put together a bingo night or a cake sale or it could be a zip wire challenge or Zumba farm. I mean, and that’s gone from absolutely, from A to Z. But thinking about elements of the Overcoming MS program, the pillars as well. So if there’s something around nutrition that would work in terms of putting together some beautiful, kind of tasty Overcoming MS treats and using that as a way of engaging people and raising some money, some funds. Likewise, with mindfulness and meditation, getting engaged in a mindfulness activity, and again, inviting people to to support through through donation. So there are all sorts of way. And obviously, for vitamin D, as we come into what will hopefully be a nice, warm summer here in the in the UK and Europe, then there’s opportunities for going out, having picnics, having garden parties, things that will raise that will raise awareness, but also raise money for the charity

 

Alex Holden  21:27

brilliant,  and a plug for the team because I know if people get in contact with you or Melissa, who’s also in our fundraising team, that you guys can offer support and materials and advice and are always there to be helpful, aren’t you?

 

Rob Carter  21:41

Absolutely. We’re only a click away or a phone call away. So fundraising at overcoming ms dot org is is the best way to come through. And please do, do get in contact however wild or wacky or unsure you are about fundraising activity that you might want to get involved with, contact us. Let us know, and we’ll be there to support you.

 

Alex Holden  22:01

Even if they’re downright sensible. They don’t need to be wild and working. They can be downright sensible. Well and people can hear that you’re very nice warm and friendly on this podcast. And Melissa is as well so that’s my personal plug for the fundraising team. Theyre great. Do get in touch.  

 

Alex Holden  22:19

Regular donations. Talk to us a bit about regular giving, because that’s sort of a term, again, that’s used often in fundraising. What is regular giving? Why does that make a difference?

 

Rob Carter  22:30

I mean, it’s incredibly important to almost every charity, partly because it’s, it’s, it tends to be, as the name suggests, a regular and predictable source of income. So someone that signs up normally by direct debit, again in the UK, sets an amount that they want to give to a charity on a monthly basis. So that might be five pounds, it might be 10 pounds, it could be it can be any amount. It’s whatever amount works for them. but but one of the great joys about regular giving is that obviously it’s something that many people can get involved with. So just thinking about this podcast series, the podcast that we’re that we’re featuring on now. The costs of that to us to to run as a charity are around about £18,000 a year. So if a fifth of the people listening to this podcast were able to make a regular gift of five pounds a month that would pay for this, for for the for the years’ kind of podcast budget, which is an incredible, incredible thing for people to accomplish collectively. And really, absolutely at a at a level that that is affordable for them and and that they can control. And one thing I would say, as well, at the moment, as this podcast has gone out in June 2025, is that we’re we’re running a little campaign to to promote regular giving. So during this month, if you do sign up to a regular gift, you’ll receive an Overcoming MS pin badge, which is very desirable little commodity and and it’s something we’ll send out as a tangible thank you for people that that get involved in setting up a regular gif.

 

Alex Holden  24:11

I suppose also from my point of view, sort of as a as a non-fundraiser, as a chief exec in terms of balancing budgets, the joy for me about regular donations is it’s the planning. It’s just means that I know, because with with fundraising, with an organization like Overcoming MS, every year we’re starting again from the beginning. So it’s the predictability of being able to go, oh no, we can deliver that next year. We can plan to have that event next year. Or we can, we know that we’ll be able to deliver the podcast or the webinars, or whatever it is because we’ve got the regular donations coming in. That’s what gives us the ability to plan. It’s the ad hoc income, which is amazing and fantastic, but because we can’t guarantee it, we’re often then sort of planning in reverse. So it’s those regular donations from a as a chief exec’s point of view, they’re so essential, because it means I can go, yes, we can do that next year and that the year ahead, because I know that that money will be coming in for us.

 

Rob Carter  25:09

Indeed.

 

Alex Holden  25:10

What about non financial support because, yes, we need the money. Absolutely. We can’t deliver what we do and we can’t offer the support that we offer for free if we don’t get that fundraising coming in. But there’s absolutely loads of ways that we would encourage people to get involved, even if they’re not able to financially. And of course, a lot of people just aren’t able to financially. We know that. That’s okay. You know, we we recognize that. How can those people get involved, Rob.

 

Rob Carter  25:42

Well, there are ways that you can support us financially without actually putting your hand in your own pocket, which sounds too good to be true. But there are schemes, again, running in the UK, but there are similar schemes I know that operate elsewhere in the world as well called things like Give as you Live, Easy Fundraising. They’re two of the programs that we’ve signed up to, which basically are online shopping platforms. And as you shop, as you do your online shop on a huge range of different products from a huge range of different retailers, a proportion of the money that you spend with those retailers, it may be one or 2% it may be a little bit more in some instances, but that will be then directed to a charity of your choice. So at no cost to you, you’re buying a product that you would otherwise be buying, but a proportion of that, of that sale price will come to us as a charity. And again, aggregated up across 1000s of people potentially that we can reach, even if you’re not doing a huge amount of shopping, you’re just doing a little bit of shopping, that all adds up absolutely. But clearly there are non kind of fundraising opportunities to be involved with Overcoming MS as well.

 

Rob Carter  26:54

So there are a range of volunteering opportunities. So you can volunteer as an ambassador, be a person that facilitates our circles, our communities coming together. You might want to volunteer to join our communications advisory group and really help us in terms of how we plan out our activities and how we communicate with the community. There are other digital opportunities for people to get involved in volunteering as well, and we’re bringing more and more of those on stream all the time. But also, I would say, just by being and an engaged member of the Live Well Hub. I mean, if you’re involved on the Hub. Sign up to the Hub in the first instance, and then and then get involved in the communications there. You’ll find that incredibly valuable. You’ll find lots of information a community, a real sense of of belonging and inclusiveness, but you’ll be able to help others as well by sharing your own your own experiences, your own advice, your own insight and tips, whether it’s following the program specifically or other elements of your life within or without MS. I mean, it’s a really incredible community that people can that can get involved in, and it’s there for people. and it it will only continue to be there as long as people are continuing to contribute there.

 

Alex Holden  28:08

And there’s always ad hoc sort of volunteering opportunities. We don’t know, everybody’s so unique, aren’t they? We don’t know everybody’s unique experiences and what they can contribute. I’m very conscious that I’m doing a not as good job of hosting and interviewing you as Geoff, our regular interviewer would do, who’s a volunteer and does absolutely brilliant job on our podcast. We’ve had a lady who’s been in contact recently to support us. We’re looking at some data processing. You know, we’ve no idea what skills people have that are very unique to them, and I think that’s in terms of skills contribution as well as financial contributions. Everyone’s got to do what’s right for them and what fits with them. You know, that’s that’s essential, and that’s what makes our community our community. It’s what makes us all unique, is we’ve all got to do what’s right for us. So I think that’s do get in contact, I think probably is the main message, isn’t it? People would like to be more involved. Yeah, we just basically setting you up so everyone’s going to be emailing you, Rob, this is this is it? You’re going to be bombarded by people wanting to give ideas and suggestions and opportunities.

 

Rob Carter  29:15

Oh bring it on. That’s again,that’s the best part of the job as a fundraiser, being able to engage with the community generally.  That’s absolutely, I’d much rather have too many emails that it feels like to respond to than not enough.

 

Alex Holden  29:31

Completely agree, best part of my job as well. Anything else for today, Rob that you’d like to talk to people about fundraising, about income, generally, or yourself?

 

Rob Carter  29:41

I’m now going to have to dust out my running shoes. I appreciate it was 20 years ago that I did my last marathon, so I’m not quite sure…

 

Alex Holden  29:48

Never too late, never too late.

 

Rob Carter  29:50

I am going to take part in the Hadrian’s Wall Trek, so that will be, that will be a way that I can get involved. And no all I would like to say as I finish is that Overcoming MS is a truly remarkable organization. And it only exists, and it only is as remarkable as it is because of the community of people that are that are involved with it. And if you can get involved as a as a fundraiser, that’s wonderful. If there is a way that you can contribute, that’s wonderful. But if that’s not right for you at the moment, if you’re able to get involved in the community in another way, that’s wonderful as well. And even if you’re not able to do that at the moment, y perhaps you will at future and a future point, and we’ll be we’ll be here, we’ll be ready for you.

 

Alex Holden  30:36

Yes, at any point, just exactly, the community, you have to do what works for you at any particular time, and we will be here when anyone is ready to get in touch. Absolutely. Thanks, Rob. Lovely to hear from you, and thank you to everybody for listening.

 

Overcoming MS  30:55

Thank you for listening to this episode of Living Well with MS. please check out this episode’s show notes at overcoming ms dot org/podcast. you’ll find useful links and bonus information there. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And please rate and review the show to help others find us. This show is made possible by the Overcoming MS community. Our theme music is by Claire and Mab Dean. Our host is Geoff Allix. Our videos are edited by Lorna Greenwood and I’m the producer Regina Beach. Have questions or ideas to share? Email us at podcast, at overcoming ms dot org. We’d love to hear from you. The Living Well with MS podcast is for private, non commercial use, and exists to educate and inspire our community of listeners. We do not offer medical advice. For medical advice, please contact your doctor or other licensed healthcare professional.