In honor of National Women’s Health Week, which runs now through Saturday, May 19, the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), American Medical Student Association (AMSA), and Medical Students for Choice (MS4C) are raising money for the Chicago Women’s Health Center by selling women’s health t-shirts for $15 and lapel pins for $3. Donations are also welcome.
The shirts and pins will be on sale in the Robert H. Lurie Atrium on Friday, May 18, from noon to 2 p.m. They will also be for sale in first-year medical school classes Tuesday through Friday.
National Women’s Health Week is coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. It brings together communities, businesses, government, health organizations, and other groups in an effort to promote women’s health.
“In addition to the disease burden that characterizes the U.S. population at large in 2012, especially obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other forms of chronic illness, women are subject to a wide variety of additional, gender-specific health challenges,” said Adina Goldberger, a first-year medical student.
A member of the National Women’s Health Week Action Committee, Goldberger said, “National Women’s Health Week gives us a platform to reach out to our class and increase consciousness of the issues and challenges implicit in women’s health, the many determinants of women’s health, the barriers women face in achieving healthcare, and current initiatives underway to address all of these.”
The committee chose the Chicago Women’s Health Center because they wanted to be able to contribute to a health organization that is community-engaged and involved in advocacy, outreach, and education.
“We wanted to use the opportunity of National Women’s Health Week to direct students’ attention to helping a local women’s health organization,” said Goldberger. “Some students on our committee have worked with the Chicago Women’s Health Center before, and have identified it as a comprehensive health service organization that provides primary, reproductive, and mental health care for women from all backgrounds and levels of need. Due to persistent social inequalities, it is especially important that women feel empowered to take charge of their own health and are able to receive healthcare and treatment in a respectful, sensitive environment.”