Health | Nellies

Posts Tagged ‘health’

World Health Day: What Determines Our Health?

Posted on: April 8th, 2013 by Nellie's No Comments

When Edena arrived at Nellie’s Shelter, she had chronic pain, asthma, high blood pressure, and depression. She’d arrived in Canada as a refugee with her partner, whose abuse escalated after he lost his job. Edena’s blood pressure started reaching dangerous levels just before she left her partner, and the nightmares she used to have in her homeland returned. The hospital told her to get her own family doctor and to start taking expensive medication. She was on a waiting list for trauma counseling but was advised not to start until she settled into her own home. The hospital staff did not speak her language; neither did any family doctors or trauma counselors.

April 7th is World Health Day, a day to recognize the importance of healthy lifestyles. What can be easy to forget when talking about health is the role played by the Social Determinants of Health. According to The Canadian Facts, “The primary factors that shape the health of Canadians are not medical treatments or lifestyle choices, but rather the living conditions they experience.” Financial wealth is one of the most important determinants along with gender, Aboriginal status, housing, food security, racialization, job security, disability, and education. Many studies show that women and children who struggle with homelessness, poverty, violence, colonialism, racism, unemployment, and lack of access to resources are more likely to experience physical and mental health challenges.

Nellie’s highlights the Social Determinants of Health in our position papers, especially our paper on Women and Mental Health, and Women and Accessibility.

Working with Edena, we arranged Cultural Interpreters to help her communicate with doctors and counsellors. We helped her fill out the complicated form for Trillium Coverage for her medication. We helped her apply for the Special Diet Allowance so she could afford the healthy food she needs to keep her blood pressure down. Eventually she received Special Priority Housing and began her trauma counselling. Life is not easy for Edena, but we continue to support her through our Community Support and Outreach Program.

We hope someday all Canadians will have access to healthy lives. Here are some ways that we can make this happen:

– Join campaigns to increase the minimum wage.

–Promote housing as a human right.

-Ask our Government to expand access to Employment Insurance to part-time workers

– Ask our Government to allow foreign-trained professionals to practice their professions in Canada

Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week

Posted on: February 12th, 2013 by Nellie's No Comments

The two little girls in my life are more precious than anything else I have accomplished so far. My daughters are precious to me and to my family, however, I was privileged enough to have a supportive and stable partner, to have the financial means of raising a child and to have a strong support system surrounding me. More importantly, the choice of having a child was MY choice, not anyone else’s. Every woman should have the right to choose what is best for her body, for her well-being and for her life.

Being pro-choice is about caring for other women enough that we provide them with options and resources so they don’t have to be put into precarious situations. There are a few reasons why being pro-choice is safer. First, laws against abortion do not stop abortion; they simply make it less safe. Death due to complications of abortion account for about 13% of all deaths during pregnancy and childbirth, and almost all of those happen in countries where the procedure is illegal. Making abortion illegal doesn’t save any babies, it just kills women (source.)

Second, reproductive choice can be the only thing that stands between a woman and poverty. There is a reason that the 1 billion poorest people on the planet are female. In sub-Saharan Africa and west Asia, women typically have five to six children, which leaves them powerless to provide for not only their own families, but themselves (source.)

Third, without publicly funded contraceptive services, there would be 40% more abortions each year in the US. The rate among teens would increase by 58%. The teen birth rate and births to unmarried women would both increase by about 25%. Also, low-income and minority women who do not want to become pregnant are twice as likely as other women to be non-users of contraceptives (source.) *Note: American statistics were used because no comparable Canadian stats could be found.

At Nellie’s, we recognize that the control of women’s sexuality is another facet of the oppression they face. Sexual and Reproductive Health Awareness Week is an opportunity to educate and empower women to take charge of their own sexuality and their own lives. Please join us in empowering our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and all of the other women in our lives.

*written by Nellie’s Social Justice Committee member.