WWHP Newsletter June 2015

Vol. 2, No. 6

June 2015

40th Anniversary

of the

Chicago Women's

Health Center

Troubled by what they saw as disparities in the delivery of women's health care in Chicago, a group of health care providers, counselors, and health educators founded the Chicago Women's Health Center (CWHC) in 1975. Believing that health care is a right rather than a privilege, the founding members emphasized patient education and affordability.

In the 1980's, CWHC was an early provider of alternative insemination services to single women and lesbian couples. In the early 1990's, CWHC began offering counseling that followed a feminist model.

CWHC currently provides many services, including: gynecology; primary care; acupuncture; massage and bodywork; alternative insemination; health services for the trans community; and health education. Its approach encourages clients to advocate for themselves, and participate actively in their own health care.

CWHC is in the process of contracting with health insurance companies. All of its services are offered on a sliding scale basis, and will continue to be offered that way even after starting to accept insurance. Since its founding, CWHC has grown from serving hundreds of clients per year to more than 6,000 annually. This year, as the Chicago Women's Health Center observes its 40th anniversary, it is collecting stories from clients who have used its services over the years. Those who are interested in sharing their stories can visit Chicago Women's Health Center website by clicking here.

40th Anniversary of the National Women's Health Network

The National Women's Health Network will commemorate its 40th anniversary on Monday, November 16, 2015 in Washington, D.C. https://nwhn.org/event2015

On December 16, 1975, a group of women health activists held a protest outside the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to memorialize women who died from complications while using high dose estrogen birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy. While two of the women began officially planning for a women's health lobby in the fall of 1974, the 1975 event marked the first public action of what became the National Women's Health Network (NWHN).

Founded as a way to give women a greater voice on health care issues, NWHN is a membership organization of 8,000 individuals and organizations, and receives no money from drug, medical device manufacturers, or insurance companies. Its mission is to use research and analysis of health issues to affect public policy and support decision-making by consumers. NWHN keeps watch over federal regulatory agencies, the health industry and health professions, identifies abuses within them, and effects change by exposing its findings and calling for public action.

Over the last several decades, NWHN has made an impact on women's health care in numerous ways, including in:

1983 sponsoring the first national conference on African-American women's health issues, leading to the formation of the National Black Women's Health Project;
1987 surveying mammography clinics nation-wide to evaluate standards of care (after hearing the survey results, Congress required Medicare to cover screening mammography;
1991 pushing the federal government to fund a study of hormone therapy in healthy women. The study enrolled 25,000 women and debunked many formerly held beliefs about the benefits of hormone therapy.
2013 urging the FDA, which complied, to take an unsafe and ineffective osteoporosis drug, calcitonin salmon, off the market.

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Our Founder

Yolanda "Bobby" Hall

April 29, 1922 - June 19, 2015

Yolanda "Bobby" Hall founded our organization in 1995 to tell the stories of working women's struggles and achievements. Our first play, Come Along and Join, was an ambitious undertaking in 1996 featuring Mother Jones, Lucy Parsons, Jennie Curtiss of the seamstress local in Pullman, Mary McDowell of the Women's Trade Union League, Margaret Haley of the Chicago Teachers' Federation, Bessie Abramovitz of the clothing workers, and Elizabeth Maloney who represented Chicago waitresses. With Bobby's leadership, we produced original plays about labor union women at our annual galas. The Thread That Binds in 1997 (by Mary Bonnett) told the stories of Agnes Nestor from the Women's Trade Union League in Chicago and Lillian Herstein, the first woman on the Executive Board of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

Bobby encouraged us to recognize women currently working on social justice issues. We made sure our galas included a woman activist to speak on a current issue. Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Norma White was the featured speaker at The Thread that Binds. We also honored a woman activist at these events with the "Mother Jones Award."

Our newsletter, "Working Women's Stories," often told the stories of little known women. The cover story of one issue in 1997 was on the organizing efforts of Julia Blackwell and Allene Johnson in the early 1940s. They worked at the South Center Department Store at 47th and South Parkway (now Martin Luther King Drive).

As an experienced union organizer, Bobby understood the value of working with other organizations. Our newsletter was supported by eight different organizations and our galas were supported by two or more collaborating organizations.

Bobby was eager to include women's labor history in education. We partnered with the Chicago Metro History Education Center and formed a schools' committee which developed curricula for some of our plays. When a play was presented at a school, teachers had the material to integrate the play's message into their classroom work.

Also, Bobby helped organize the "Welfare to Work Roundtable" with the Center for New Deal Studies which brought together academics, community organizers, and union members to discuss issues that impacted low income women workers.

Bobby Hall's leadership provided a model of collaboration among organizations who would work together to recognize - in many different venues -- the importance of the everyday working woman, especially one who steps forward to work for social justice and improve the social environment.

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"Spread the Word"

CLUW'S Campaign on Preventing

Heart Attacks in Women

The national Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is embarking on its first major women's health project since 2004 when it launched Cervical Cancer Prevention Works and raised awareness on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) testing, sought insurance coverage for HPV testing, and advocated for widespread use of vaccination against strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer.

In April 2015 CLUW launched "Spread the Word," an initiative that focuses on raising women's awareness of the symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the testing options available. CAD can be more difficult to diagnose in women. "Spread the Word" provides information on testing for blocked arteries so women can partner with their healthcare providers in finding the best and least risky tests to determine if their symptoms are due to coronary artery disease. Testing options are increasing and now include a sex-specific blood test for CAD in addition to cardiac stress tests and various scans.

Learn more by going gospreadtheword.com or go to the CLUW webpage (www.cluw.org).

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