Scientific Cafe: Is menopause a disease? [Vancouver]

Time sensitive

Is menopause a disease?
We will discuss different perspectives from around the world on gendered aging with input by women doctors from Eastern Europe and India. How does the emergence and popularity of menopause-specific products, pills, and supplements reflect how we view menopause as a society? Hormone Therapy controversies - do women's hormones need replacing? "Bioidentical" vs. "synthetic" hormones: Is one better then the other, and what are the risks of ovarian hormone therapy? Hot flashes and night sweats - is estrogen the only option? Is osteoporosis inevitable?

Expert Panel:
Dr. Jerilynn Prior, UBC Professor of Endocrinology, Scientific Director of CeMCOR
Ms. Karen Coulson, Executive Director with Osteoporosis Canada (BC Division)
Dr. Sheela Mistry, foreign trained OB/GYN and Research Coordinator
Dr. Vesna Stajic, foreign trained MD and Research Coordinator

Date: Tuesday Oct 28th, 2008
Time: 7:00-9:00pm, doors at 6:30pm
Venue: Little Nest (http://www.littlenest.ca),
1716 Charles St, Vancouver (Commercial Drive)

Cost: Admission is free but space is limited - be sure to arrive on time! For more information see: http://www.cemcor.ubc.ca/node/182

Call for Articles: Breast Cancer & Women with Disabilities

The Canadian Breast Cancer Network is hoping to publish the Fall 2008 issue of our quarterly newsletter, Network News, on the topic of living with disabilities and breast cancer. We are looking for articles of up to 2,000 words plus a short bio of the author(s) (100 words or less) and hopefully a photo. Articles can be about research conducted on the issue, including barriers to diagnosis, treatment or supportive care.

We are also looking for articles by women living with breast cancer and a disability or disabilities. It may be that you were living with a disability before being diagnosed with breast cancer, whether a physical disability or mental illness. How did a breast cancer diagnosis affect your life? What challenges have you faced? Or perhaps your breast cancer treatments or surgeries left you with a disability. Consider sharing your experience and how you have learned, or are learning, how to adapt.

We are unable to pay contributors, but will send you as many copies of Network News as you like.

To check out a recent issue of Network News, go to http://cbcn.ca/en/?section=1&category=167&regionid=&page=9792

For information or to submit an article, contact:
Jackie Manthorne
Executive Director/Directrice générale
Canadian Breast Cancer Network
613-230-3044 ext. 222
1-800-685-8820
jmanthorne@cbcn.ca
www.cbcn.ca

Survey: Complementary/Alternative Medicines for Menopause Symptoms

Time sensitive

My name is Carole Lunny and I am now conducting a study, Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicines for Menopause Symptoms in Women With or Without HIV, that looks at how women use complementary and alternative medicine for menopause symptoms.

The study is located online and only takes ten minutes to complete. The study can be accessed by copying and pasting this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s..aspx?sm=1LMRRo6siAL_2bWhvc108oAQ_3d_3d

This study has been approved by the Athabasca University Ethics Board. I am looking for women between the ages of 40 to 60 to participate.

If you know of any women HIV-positive or HIV-negative who might qualify please forward this email to them. I would like to disseminate this study as widely as possible since there has been very little research conducted to date on this topic.

Please contact me at carolelunny@gmail.com with any comments or questions.

Thanks very much,

Carole Lunny

1st World Conference of Women's Shelters--September 8-11, 2008

1st World Conference of Women's Shelters
Discovering the Common Core: Practical Frameworks for Change
Shaw Conference Centre,
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
Sept 8-11, 2008

In 2008, the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters (ACWS) will host the 1st World Conference of Women's Shelters. This event will present a new opportunity for family violence workers in Alberta and around the world to learn from international experts and each other.

Too often, women's shelter work is overlooked in discussions on family violence, when in reality they are at the forefront of dealing with this issue. This will increase the capacity of shelters in Alberta, across Canada, and around the world to affect change in their organizations and their communities to better meet the needs of ethnocultural, multicultural and racial communities when dealing with family violence.

This will be a unique opportunity for individuals at the forefront of dealing with violence against women, to network, share and support one and other.

Help us extend an invitation to shelters around the world!

For more information: http://www.womenshelter.ca/home_en.php

Canadian Women's Health Network magazine Spring/Summer issue available

The Spring/Summer 2008 issue of the Canadian Women's Health Network magazine Network is available online. Articles include:

Editor's Note

Feeling the heat: Women's health in a changing climate

Evidence for caution: Women and statin use

The HPV vaccine, one year later

Charter challenge on drugs ads: A challenge in the wrong direction

Labels, laws and access to health care: How history affects health-care access for First Nations and Métis women

Cherchez la femme in minority francophone communities

Barbara Seaman (1935-2008): Pioneer in the women's health movement

Status positive: Supporting women immigrants and refugees with HIV/AIDS

'Women CARE' in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

Highs & lows: Canadian perspectives on women and substance use

To read individual article or to download the complete issue in PDF format, visit:
http://www.cwhn.ca/network-reseau/index.html

New book: Dissonant Disabilities: Women with Chronic Illnesses Explore their Lives

Whether it is fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, bipolar disorder, arthritis or many other chronic illnesses, most women are aware of at least one female friend, family member or acquaintance who has faced these illnesses.

Anecdotally, women's stories have always circulated, but now, for the first time, Diane Driedger and Michelle Owen have compiled experiences of women with chronic illnesses from all over the world shedding light on the discrimination, stigma, power struggles, misunderstanding by medical professionals and relationship challenges that women face.

Driedger and Owen, themselves women with chronic illnesses, launched their book, Dissonant Disabilities: Women with Chronic Illnesses Explore their Lives at Ryerson University on May 30th, 2008.

"Chronic illnesses are definitely a women's issue. Many illnesses such as depression, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and multiple sclerosis affect women more than men. And it goes without saying that since it is mostly women who occupy the lowest rungs of the hierarchy, it is they who become sick trying to 'do it all' and it is women who are not believed and discounted when they get sick," says Diane Driedger, one of the book's editors.

Professors, students, professionals, psychologists, writers...women with chronic illnesses come together to understand their place in a society which more and more values work and productivity, and devalues sickness and fatigue.

Certain to ring a bell with those familiar with women facing these illnesses, the anthology uses personal experiences and academic research to put women's chronic illness in a social perspective.

"Because of shame, ignorance or fear of repercussions personally and professionally, women with these illnesses often do not disclose and struggle in silence instead. Unlike some physical disabilities which are visible, the needs of women with chronic illnesses are often discounted or overlooked completely," says Bonnie Brayton, National Executive Director of the DisAbled Women's Network of Canada, "This book is important as it creates an opportunity for open dialogue on an issue faced by thousands of women in Canada. This is the first step towards understanding and finally properly accommodating the needs of women with chronic illnesses in our society.

Diane Driedger is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and author of The Last civil Rights Movement: Disabled Peoples' International. A published poet, she is the co-editor of two anthologies by women with disabilities.

Michelle Owen is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Winnipeg. Her primary research interests and publications include gender, sexuality, family and disability. Most recently, Owen worked on two projects involving women with disabilities: a longitudinal study of intimate partner violence, and a participatory action research on violence in the lives of girls and young women.

Publisher: Canadian Scholar's Press Inc, Women's Press
ISBN: 978-0-88961-464-2
Price: $36.95
Format: 200pp PB 6x9
www.dawncanada.net

Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward after Surviving Cancer workshop

Time sensitive
Registration required by: Friday, April 11th

Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward after Surviving Cancer for women with ovarian & gyn cancers
This workshop helps survivors:

• acknowledge changes
• grieve losses
• regain control
• explore possibilities
• adjust to their new normal

Date: Saturday, April 26, 2008
Check-in: 8:30 am
Session: 9 am – 4 pm
Location: The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts
6450 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, BC

Free registration includes lunch & refreshments
Limited enrollment
Registration required by: Friday, April 11th

To register: 1-877-413-7970, ext. 221
or online at http://www.ovariancanada.org

We would like to thank the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown for their generous support of this event. Rooms are available at $135.00 per night, single or double occupancy for those traveling from out of town. Tel 604-438-1200

This workshop will be facilitated by Sherri Magee Ph.D., co-author of the book
Picking Up the Pieces: Moving Forward After Surviving Cancer

Canadian Women's Health Network magazine

Network magazine
Fall/Winter 2007 - Volume 10, Number 1 available online

Feature articles include:

Editor's note by Kathleen O'Grady - The HPV vaccination debate rages on

Women, gender and mental health

Long-term care homes legislation: Lessons from Ontario

"What Older Women Want"

Timely access to care

Women's equality has come a long way and we're not finished yet

Women and private health insurance

Winning the war on cancer

Infant feeding experiences of women survivors of childhood sexual abuse

One woman's experience with early harm reduction programs in BC

New medications target menstrual suppression for healthy women and girls

When a young woman has a stroke

-- and much more!

Full PDF of Network:
Fall/Winter 2007 - Volume 10, Number 1

Get a free copy of Fall/Winter "Network" magazine

Time sensitive!

~~Free issue offer~~
Network magazine, Fall/Winter 2007 issue is now available!
Contact the Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN) if you'd like to receive a ONE TIME free issue of Network magazine, the official publication of the CWHN. Please send your name and full mailing address, including postal code to:cwhn@cwhn.ca (or write to the address below).
This offer is open only to Canadian residents. Those with an Overseas or US address who wish to receive a ONE TIME free copy of Network must submit the postage costs in advance: $10 USD for shipping and handling for US residents and $15 USD for international residents, sent to Canadian Women's Health Network, Suite 203, 419 Graham Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3C 0M3 Canada.

Network Fall/Winter 2007 issue includes the following articles:
*Women, gender and mental health
*Long-term care homes legislation: Lessons from Ontario
*“What Older Women Want”
*Timely access to care
*Women’s equality has come a long way and we’re not finished yet
*Women and private health insurance
*Winning the war on cancer
*How “Mad Cow” disease affects farm families and communities across Canada
*Infant feeding experiences of women survivors of childhood sexual abuse
*One woman’s experience with early harm-reduction programs in BC
*New medications target menstrual suppression for healthy women and girls
*When a young woman has a stroke
--and much more.

Women Wading Through the Web: A Health Toolkit

New from the Women's Health Matters website

Do you rely on the Internet as a source of health information for yourself and your family, or as an “information prescription” for your clients? Then this Toolkit is for you! From beginners to experienced Internet users, the sheer volume of information can be daunting for all of us at times.

That is why the Women’s Health Matters website team at Women’s College Hospital created the resource Women Wading through the Web: A Health Toolkit. We hope this online kit will help consumers navigate the often confusing maze of health information on the Web.

Women can use the Toolkit to:
a.. Learn more about search engines and other search tools and strategies
b.. Judge the quality of a website
c.. Improve skills in finding and assessing reliable health information
d.. Understand medical research
e.. Analyze health information from the media
f.. Communicate more effectively with health professionals

Women Wading Through the Web is a valuable tool for any consumer who wants to get the most from her visit to a health website.

To access the Toolkit, follow this link: http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca/toolkit

"A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities"

A Health Handbook for Women with Disabilities is available free at the Hesperian Foundation website.

Hesperian books are written in plain language and include illustrations. They are developed with the goal that everyone can "understand, apply and share health information." The website states that their health publications are "Developed collaboratively with health workers and community members from around the world, our books and newsletters address the underlying social, political, and economic causes of poor health and suggest ways groups can organize to improve health conditions in their communities. In addition, Hesperian relies on a multi-faceted distribution strategy to ensure our materials reach those who need them most."

The complete book can be downloaded from the site in sections:
Front matter: How to use this book, Contents, Introduction
Chapter 1: Disability and the Community
Chapter 2: Organizing for disability- friendly health care
Chapter 3: Mental Health
Chapter 4: Understanding your body
Chapter 5: Taking care of your body
Chapter 6: Health exams
Chapter 7: Sexuality
Chapter 8: Sexual health: Preventing sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS Chapter 9: Family planning
Chapter 10: Pregnancy
Chapter 11: Labor and birth
Chapter 12: Caring for your baby
Chapter 13: Growing older with a disability
Chapter 14: Abuse, violence, and self-defense
Chapter 15: Support for Caregivers

To buy a hardcopy of the book, visit the online store.

Women's Health Matters

Women's Health Matters provides an archives of short articles "written on a wide variety of women’s health topics; and detailed descriptions of books and periodicals, audiovisual and multimedia materials and websites."

The site also offers:

• "regularly updated articles on research and issues that affect the health of Canadian women"
• Le Club which includes discussion groups, an "ask the expert" section, a "story of the month" section, and a special events area
• the womenshealthmatters.ca monthly e-bulletin

Visit Women's Health Matters website at:

http://www.womenshealthmatters.ca

New Canadian health website: What Older Women Want

A Canadian study of older women's health needs and concerns published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in July 2005, and reported widely in the media, has sparked a new website directed at both patients and health practitioners: http://www.wowhealth.ca/

Known widely as 'WOW' or the 'What Older Women Want' study, conducted by Drs. Cara Tannenbaum, Nancy Mayo and Francine Ducharme, the study asked 5000 older women across Canada which of their health needs they felt were not being met or addressed adequately by their health practitioners.

Among the top unmet concerns Canadian senior women mentioned were: screening and treating urinary incontinence; counselling about memory loss (or perceived memory loss); and exercise strategies to address falls and functional decline.

"Women were very satisfied with the care they were receiving to treat their blood pressure and prevent heart attacks and stroke, but emphasized gaps in care surrounding more 'taboo' issues, such as discussing urine or memory loss," says Dr. Tannenbaum, a Geriatrician at the Institut universitaire de gériatre de Montréal, and lead author of the WOW study. "It may be that women are uncomfortable talking about these issues with their physicians because it is embasrassing, because they believe it is a part of normal aging or because they are unaware that treatments exist."

In order to address this gap in primary health provision and give older women what they want, Dr. Tannenbaum teamed up with the Canadian Women's Health Network and the Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal to create the WOW website: http://www.wowhealth.ca/

The website contains a portal for health consumers that provides health information on the three unmet health needs of older Canadian women: urinary incontinence, memory loss and exercise. The information is clear, straight-forward and easy-to-read, with engaging illustrations and diagrams. The focus is on prevention, with tips on diet, lifestyle changes and exercise; treatment options are also provided.

The WOW website also has a portal for health practitioners, outlining the kinds of questions that practitioners should be asking their older female patients routinely, and the ways in which they can provide prevention and improvement strategies to their patients for urinary incontinence, memory loss, as well as the particular exercise needs of older women.

For full study details on the What Older Women Want study, visit: http://www.wowhealth.ca/pdf/wowCMAJ.pdf

Women’s Stories about Surviving Stroke

A new book by Canadian Sociology Professor, Sharon Dale Stone sheds light on how women experience hemorrhagic stroke [bleeding within the brain which damages nearby brain tissue].

A Change of Plans: Women’s Stories of Hemorrhagic Stroke is a collection of eleven stories by women who experienced hemorrhagic strokes before the age of 50. The author herself experienced a stroke as a young girl. It came on suddenly and the symptoms were misdiagnosed. Who would think that an eleven-year-old girl would be having a brain aneurysm?

As she grew into adulthood, the author thought deeply about the silence that had surrounded her experience and the psychic trauma she wasn't allowed to talk about. In the 1990s, she happened upon an article written by a woman who had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke at the age of 24, and for the first time she felt less isolated in her experience. With her new awareness that there were others like her, she embarked upon a journey through Canada, the US, England, and Scotland to find and publish their stories.

The book opens with a background discussion of hemorrhagic stroke and the disabling consequences that follow. The women's stories are told honestly and movingly, and touch on the themes of recovery and rehabilitation; being a medical patient; self-image; being or not being recognized as disabled; relations with family, friends and co-workers; and how the stroke so suddenly changed their lives.

The book was published by Sumach Press and can also be purchased through Amazon.ca.

Dr. Sharon Dale Stone is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, ON. As an activist and academic, she is committed to giving voice to groups of people whose experiences are marginalized in mainstream society, and has published widely on the many issues facing women with disabilities.

Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC) Tidbits

Tidbits are fact sheets "designed to provide concise and useful information on women and health from a gendered perspective." Topics covered include:

Finding a New Doctor
Taking Charge of Your Health Part 1
Taking Charge of Your Health Part 2
Medical Services Plan
Pharmacare
Accessing Abortion
Endometriosis
Depression
Women's Hearth Health
Health Care User Fees: A Gendered Perspective
Women & Health Care in BC: A Gendered Perspective
Rural Women and Health
Facts on Aboriginal Women's Health
Women, Poverty, and Health
The Vancouver Women's Health Collective Menopause Kit

Tidbits are available free of charge as PDF files which you can download from the Vancouver Women's Health Collective website at http://www.womenshealthcollective.ca/newstitbits.html