Calling all women: IWK Foundation wants to listen to your health stories
The IWK Foundation has launched a survey in the hope of better understanding women’s health experiences in marine provinces and removing inequality in health results between men and women.
Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that raises funds to support IWK Health, a major hospital at IWK Health, Halifax that provides care to women, youth and children of Nova Scotia, New Breanswick and Prince Edward Island.
Foundation President and CEO Jennifer Gilivan said that the online survey invites women aged 18 and to share their views about their overall health experiences, challenges and results. It also asks questions about his health in different stages of his life.
In an interview on Thursday, Gilivan said, “A part of our mandate is to educate and advocate for women. And so we realized – we need to listen to women. We need women’s voice.”
The IWK Foundation wants to better understand women’s health experiences in Maritimes, and hopefully help closes some sex intervals compared to men who meditate and care. It is looking for some Prince Edward Island women to participate in a survey. Foundation President and CEO Jennifer Gilivon interacted with CBC’s Lewis Martin.
“I mean, you go out to eat with your girlfriend or your family and you start talking about experiences in health, and they don’t stop talking. So we thought that this is an unprecedented way to collect all that data and then understand where the pressure points are.”
The survey is anonymous. This includes such questions: “Does your overall physical health positive or negatively affect?” There is also a full page dedicated to the “good, bad or ugly” of one’s health care story to share in detail.
Gilivon stated that the results, which will be reviewed by a team of researchers, will help inform where women need more support and where are the intervals in the system.
This may include intervals in education and awareness or access to equipment and information. But the most important thing is that it tries to change fundamentally how the health of women is understood, preferred and is given in a country where women spend 25 percent more time in poor health than men, Gilivon said.
“Women need to give a real push on research, as research informs care care. It changes everything. And we need better training for doctors on women’s health,” he said.
Gilivon said that women’s health has been historically done and in total, only seven percent of the total National Research Fund has been allocated, despite that women are forming 50 percent of the population.
He said that the findings of the report would be informed by IWK’s own practices and operations, but will also be shared with governments, health officials and other non-profit organizations in Canada.
He said that the efforts to educate the broader community would help guide that women’s bodies are basically different from men, and their health care needs to be preferred and research, he said.
The Maggi Archball is a patient advocate located in Halifax, who has been officially diagnosed with an 18 -year -old pain due to endometriosis that was officially diagnosed only two years ago.
She said that she often dismisses the health care system.
“You often do not believe in symptoms and women often have to fight hard to get help,” Archball said. “I am really excited to see the results and what comes out of it and hope that we may have some real changes.”
The foundation expects to share the results publicly on 1 October.
