National Women's Health Week
April 28, 2008
National Women’s Health Week
May 11-17, 2008
It’s Your Time: Get Inspired. Get Healthy.
May 11-17, 2008 is National Women's Health Week
The week is a tool to encourage women to make their health a top priority and take steps for a longer, healthier and happier life.
Monday, May 12, National Women’s Check-Up Day*, is an especially important day.
The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) has got some great suggestions for how your union can participate:
· Write an article in your Local newsletter or website.
· Link to one or all of these:
o CLUW Health Links: http://www.cluw.org/links-health.html#link
o CLUW’s Cervical Cancer Prevention Works: www.cluw.org/cervcancer.html
o My Health Test Reminder: http://www.myhealthtestreminder.com
o National Women’s Health Information Center (HHS): http://4women.gov/
· Put on a health fair or hold a health seminar.
· Include a health section as part of an education program/monthly meeting.
· Bring in speakers on health to meetings.
· Sponsor a wellness walk.
· Look into negotiating a "wellness program." Unions can initiate them with management or have their own.
· Ask the union to sponsor a speaker at a community organization that you belong to. This can make people aware of your union and how it benefits the community.
· Write a letter to the editor to your community newspaper or issue a news release to make sure the community sees your union's involvement with health and wellness.
If you do sponsor an event, be sure to add it to the national calendar of events for Women's Health Week at: http://www.womenshealth.gov/whw/events/register.cfm
National Women's Health Week is coordinated by the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health. See: www.womenshealth.gov/whw for additional information about observing the week.
* Women can participate in National Women's Check-up Day in several ways:
· Women should contact their current health care providers or one of the participating health care providers to schedule check-ups and screening services on National Women's Check-up Day.
· During their check-ups, women should discuss with their health care professionals which of the tests are right for them, when they should have them, and how often.
· Women can prepare themselves for their check-ups with "A Checklist for Your Next Check-up," developed by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Carolyn J. Jacobson
Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)
815 16th St., 2nd Floor South
Washington, DC 20006
202-508-6901 (Direct)
202-508-6968 (Fax)
cjacobson@cluw.org
Cervical Cancer Prevention
does work!
To find out what to do, click here:
www.cluw.org/cervcancer.html
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If you would like to join an existing team in the Washington, D.C. area, read the following flyer.
Be part of the CLUW Team
in the fight against Cervical Cancer:
Walk To Beat The Clock DC 2008
…because every hour a woman in the US is diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Every 2.5 hours one dies.
We must beat the clock!
Saturday, May 17, 8am-noon
around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC
Meet at West Potomac Park (Ohio Dr between
Independence Ave and West Basin Dr, SW) for the
8 am Walk Ceremony (registration begins at 7:30am)
$30 donation to benefit Tamika & Friends, a national nonprofit
that raises awareness about cervical cancer, created by union
and CLUW member Tamika Felder, a cervical cancer survivor.
www.tamikaandfriends.org
One Life That Ended Too Soon: A Tribute To Susan Holleran
Susan Ellen Holleran attended the First Annual “Walk to Beat the Clock.” Her goal was to be at the Second. But Susan won't be there. She died on December 15, 2007 of cervical cancer. She was 66. Susan's story is an especially poignant one, as she knew that cervical cancer could be prevented, as well as how to prevent it. But Susan didn't think it was something that could happen to her.
Everyone who knew Susan will tell you that she was an extraordinary person. She was a creative, talented activist and advocate for women and the working class. And she was loved by her family and her many friends. Susan was shop steward for the staff union at the union
(AFSCME) where she worked; founding member of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) in 1974 and an elected national, state and local union officer.
Since retiring from her union job in 2005, Susan worked as a volunteer at the CLUW Cervical Cancer Prevention Works program, whose goal is to raise union awareness of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and its link to cervical cancer. Without meaning to, Susan became a symbol of the critical need to take our message regarding the prevention of cervical cancer to heart.
Susan's sister, Mary Beth, said it all: "What hurts the most about Susan's death is that this disease is so easily preventable. Cervical cancer robbed Susan of the many dreams she had for her future - traveling, supporting the many causes that were so important to her and spending time with family and friends who loved her dearly and miss her so much."
The second annual Walk To Beat The Clock will raise awareness about cervical health and
the tools that women have to prevent this disease:
Ages 9-16 – HPV vaccine
By age 21 – Liquid Pap
Age 30 and up – Pap and HPV test
Join the CLUW Team by registering at
http://tamikaandfriends.org/btc/aboutthewalk.html
