How a Military Intel Officer is Fixing the Broken Healthcare System
Tenay Benes has a background that most people in healthcare do not have. She was born in Turkey and moved to the United States as a child. This gave her a unique view of how different cultures work. She eventually studied biology at Johns Hopkins and joined the Army as an intelligence officer. After serving two tours in Iraq, she faced her own battle with chronic illness and PTSD. Now, she uses her military and business training to help others navigate the confusing world of healing and medicine.

From the Battlefield to Biology
Tenay’s journey started with a desire to cure cancer. She went to Johns Hopkins to study biology. The school was very competitive and stressful. To pay for her education, she took an Army ROTC scholarship. This meant she had to serve in the military after she graduated. Instead of going to medical school right away, she chose to become a Military Intelligence officer. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were starting. She wanted to use her skills to help. Her job was to predict the future so commanders could make better plans.

Using Intelligence to Predict Results
In the Army, Tenay developed new ways to analyze information. She looked at the whole environment. This included things like local medical systems and schools. Her methods were very successful, but they were hard for others to follow. Some officers did not like her new ideas because they required more work. However, leaders on the front lines loved her approach. They knew that better information meant they could win more easily. This experience taught her how to look at complex systems and find where they are failing.

The Struggle with Chronic Illness and PTSD
While serving, Tenay faced her own health crisis. The stress of war made her childhood trauma worse. She eventually suffered from a medical injury due to taking too many different medications. She had to be medically evacuated to Walter Reed hospital. Later, she struggled with Chronic Fatigue: Some days she could not get off the couch for more than an hour. PTSD: She had complex trauma that the military did not fully understand. Work Challenges: She lost a high-paying job because she could not work a steady schedule. She realized that the American medical system is not built for people with complex illnesses. It is too fragmented. Doctors often do not talk to each other, and information gets lost.

Lessons from Business School and Consulting
Tenay did not give up. She earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA). She studied how groups of people behave in organizations. This is called organizational behavior. She was surprised that the Army did not teach these leadership skills to everyone. She went to work for a big firm called Deloitte as a consultant. She learned how to train large groups of people. However, she felt the focus was too much on selling more work instead of truly helping the client. She wanted a mission that felt like life or death again.

Creating a New Way to Work and Heal
Tenay started her own business to help people like herself. She hired people who needed flexible schedules. This included disabled veterans, students, and stay-at-home parents. She proved that a business can be successful while putting the well-being of workers first. She also began writing about her experiences. Her book, Heal or Die, tells the true story of her trauma and how she found unexpected help. She used her intelligence training to research her own conditions. She found that there is often a 30 year gap between medical research and what doctors actually do.

Changing the Healthcare System
Tenay now works as a speaker and advisor. She uses her skills to show why the healthcare system is failing. She believes the system is designed to keep people sick because it is so disconnected. She brings together three main areas of expertise: 1. Biology: Understanding how the human body works. 2. Military Intelligence: Knowing how to find and use complex information. 3. Business Strategy: Understanding how to change large, broken systems. By looking at healthcare through the eyes of an intel officer, she identifies the “pinpoint” decisions that can lead to better health outcomes. She wants to win the war on complex illness.

Conclusion
The journey from a war zone to a healing journey is not easy. Tenay Benes shows us that we can use our hardest experiences to help others. She combined her military service, business education, and personal health battles to create a roadmap for others. If you want to learn more about her story or have her speak at your next event, you can visit Tenay Benes’s website. Her work reminds us that even when a system feels broken, we can find a way to fix it with the right information and a lot of heart.

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Key topics: Systems Thinking: Viewing health as interconnected systems. Integrated Healthcare: Addressing social and medical factors together. Strategic Changes: Small, targeted decisions for big impacts.Cultural Shift: Creating supportive environments for healing.

DONATIONS: To support our cause to end the complex illness epidemic in the U.S. or pay it forward to support our next podcast, donate $10 here: https://buy.stripe.com/dRm3cvflvfiE14UdbmaR200

RESOURCES:

1. KEYNOTE SPEECHES: Tenay is offering two dynamic keynote speeches:

• ‘Winning The War On Complex Illness’ geared to help health, wellness, and human services organizations ask the right questions to optimize their teams’ cohesion and clients’ health outcomes.
• ‘Heal or Die’ geared to empower complex illness sufferers with the mindset and lessons Tenay used to go from bedridden to thriving in family and business.
  GO TO: http://tenaybenes.com/speaker to learn more or book Tenay for your next event.

1. CONSULTING: Consulting Services to help health, wellness, and human services organizations, corporations, and practices optimize their systems to improve client and team outcomes without spending a ton of money or rebuilding from scratch.
   GO TO: http://BenesCompanies.com to learn more and submit your request for proposals.
2. HEALTH-TECH LAUNCH: The Care We Need is new platform designed to streamline the matching and intake process for clients and providers alike. Think “Thumbtack for Healthcare”
   GO TO: http://BenesCompanies.com to sign up for our newsletter, be the first to know about user testing opportunities, product launch, patient and provider signups, and investment opportunities.
3. BOOKS: We offer several health and wellness education books, including “Heal or Die” by Tenay Benes, for sale on our Amazon storefront here: [https://amzn.to/4bH7vHH]

CONTACT:
Tenay Benes on LinkedIn or at: mailto:Tenay.Benes@benescompanies.com

Brett Benes on LinkedIn or at: mailto:brett.benes@benescompanies.com

DISCLAIMERS: We receive a small kickback if you use these links to purchase these products. The opinions expressed by guests on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or of Benes Companies and does not constitute personalized health advice. To obtain personalized health advice, consult a professional directly.