Women & Health: Right Here at Home In Canada

Women & Health: Right Here at Home In Canada

Good day fabulous ladies (and men if you happen to read this, good day as well!)
This blog is going to be geared more to my fellow Canadian ladies but if you're a man reading this and perhaps want to pass on any information to your girlfriend, spouse/partner - please feel free!

Anyway, interesting information I found today. I had some questions about health stuff I was feeling/experiencing and turned to good ol' "google". It really does take a bit to filter out the stuff you really need. I consider myself fairly comfortable by nature with techonology so if you're not, I can totally see how it would be an indimidating process!

I digress....I came across a website by the Government of Canada outlining a mandate for them. The following is a direct quote from their website:

The Women's Health Strategy is an integrated framework for addressing major
women's health issues. It consolidates Health Canada's current and new
initiatives. The Strategy has seven main attributes: it is balanced, respectful
of diversity, egalitarian, evidence-based, coherent, multi-sectoral and
incremental.
The goal of the Women's Health Strategy is to improve the
health of women in Canada by enhancing the responsiveness of the health system
to women and women's health.
To meet its goal, the Strategy is organized
around four main objectives which are intended to bring about changes to the way
Health Canada discharges its major responsibilities: its leadership, networking
and coordination roles; policy development; research, surveillance and data
collection activities; regulatory functions; direct service delivery; and its
work to promote health and prevent disease.
Source link here Health Canada Website here

Wow! Really? Fortunately, I have a great family Doctor but I know there are others whom are not so great with us. She (yes, thank goodness it's a woman because she knows and understands....I wish there were more women Doctor's). However, I had an Obgyn whom was just a jerk. I'm sorry but there's no other way to say this. He WAS nice when I first met him and he helped me with all three children. However as time went on I noticed how much he changed and any "customer service" went out the window as he became busier. He became actually dismissive when I noted my needs and health concerns. Now I am not a complainer. I know my body and try not to even take Tylenol or pain meds if I don't have to. Anyway, he totally disregarded my complaints and that it was "all in my head". How many times has this happened to you?

Well, I don't want to start my day on a negative. This is for informational purposes only. So, I'm glad to see the Government & Health Canada recognize women as requiring special needs and assessment for Health. Baring children and all the stresses we endure really does put a toll on our bodies. Also the fact that we always seem to put everyone else's needs first and then our own. It really is about balance and trying to find it. We're not good to anyone else if we don't take time for ourselves and there's no shame in that.

I'm going to post some links regarding women's health. If you have symptoms of something and have questions, before you see a Health professional, perhaps you can find something here. Or, perhaps you met with your DR and he/she didn't really have the time to explain something and you have more questions. I hope someone finds them useful. Please DO see a Health Professional though as this should not be a replacement of this. Again, just for informational purposes only.

And on a personal note from my experience....don't cause added stress to yourself worrying! Find out first from the Dr (and DON'T be afraid to get multiple opinions). I got information overload once and got several opinions before I did something. I found out it wasn't as bad as I thought (or told by one Dr). I had an operation and seem to be doing better! ;)

http://www.womenshealthcanada.com/

http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/index.cfm

http://www.cwhn.ca/indexeng.html

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/

http://womenshealth.com/

http://womenshealth.about.com/

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/

Have a great day!

Shannon Murree for...

****Empowering Women, Inspiring Change****