BC Proposes Shutting Down Health Care!

Canada Don't Slam the Door on Health Care!

From the Care 2 Petition Site:

Officials in British Columbia are as good as abandoning women in desperate need of health care. Five health clinics in BC are scheduled to close at the end of this month.

Canada's nurses warn that these closures will mean a loss of care, especially to the poor and disenfranchised. Women in need of cancer-preventing pap smears and young people who need STI screenings will be left without any form of help.

The clinics, located in Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Grand Forks, and Cranbrook, saw hundreds of people a year, including women who do not have a family doctor.

The Winnipeg Free Press even predicts that the clinic closings will accelerate the spread of sexual infections. And this comes at a time when sexually-transmitted infections are on the rise in the province.

This is not just irresponsible; it is plain unethical. Tell Canada's health authority to keep the British Columbia clinics open!

The Petition:

We the undersigned urge you not to close affordable health clinics in Kamloops, Kelowna, Penticton, Grand Forks, and Cranbrook. According to your country's own nurses, these clinics are critical to the welfare of hundreds of women who need pelvic exams and pap smears, but do not have a family doctor. The confidential services offered at these clinics also encouraged those with sexually-transmitted infections to get diagnosed and treated rather than ignoring symptoms and infecting others.
Don't disenfranchise the poor and infected. Keep your clinics open.

Get Involved!

WWOOM is a very grass roots, fledgling group. The most important thing to do is to take care of yourself, then try to pass the message along to at least 3 women each day.

There are many different ways people can be involved in the WWOOM project. Here are a few ideas:

 

Posting on the Blog: 

Guest posts are welcome in any of the following formats:

• Orally recorded on YouTube or another audio device, or 
• a piece of writing  or
• a photo, picture, or other artwork

Submissions can be  posted on http://wwoom.blogspot.com either by email, or using a free blogging tool such as Windows Live Writer

Twitter

Women can  tweet their self-care message using text messaging or a computer. Messages with the hashtag #WWOOM  automatically appear at http://WomenWOOM  allowing others to easily find  messages and respond with words of encouragement.

Responding to Messages

Men and women can also participate  by responding to messages women post about their self-care with words of positive encouragement either by "Liking" a post on the blog, or anywhere they are found and tagging it #WWOOM to raise awareness of the importance of women caring for themselves.

 

Attend/Host a WWOOM Party

A fourth way women can get involved is by either coming to, or hosting a public WWOOM party on the 8th of the month, and perhaps bringing an example of something they would like to share about the importance of women caring for themselves. If you are hosting an open public event, please comment on the blog about it , so it can be added to the WWOOM map and calendar.

 

Men can Participate Too

Gentlemen are encouraged to assist women in their lives in caring for themselves. first (I pointed out to one man at Peterborough Square: Encouraging women in your life to care for themselves first is really a selfish act- if they are ill, they can't care for you!) Men are welcome to post about how they are encouraging women in their lives to care for themselves first, and encourage other men to do the same.

 

Aims of WOOM Participation

We want this to be helpful to all women everywhere. WWOOM is meant as a way of  validating the importance of what we women are doing to care for ourselves, whether it is caring for our bodies and physical health, our spiritual health, or mental health and feeling of well being. It is also a validation of our own cultural knowledge about how women can care for themselves. Thanks to Google translate, writing is accepted in any language. Messages must be family friendly as it is an open blog.

If you would like assistance in participating in this project, I am more than willing to help either by phone, Skype, email or in person*.

Please let me know  how I can help you.

Looking forward to helping you implement this important project,

Suzanne Sholer B.A.B.Ed.

Co-founder:WWOOM

*Note Travel expenses for in person assistance must be born by the person or group asking for assistance.