NEW YORK (Press Release) — Over three hundred women from across the country gathered last week for the second annual Women’s Health Empowerment Summit. The Summit, which took place on May 16 during National Women’s Health Week, advocated for women’s health to be a national priority.
This year’s second annual summit, hosted by Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc., (HWZOA) and the 28-member Coalition for Women’s Health Equity, focused on the inequities that endanger women’s health and overall safety. The event featured National Women’s Law Center President & CEO Fatima Goss Graves — whose organization administers the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund, along with Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. (CA-36). Samantha Abrams, Executive Director of the March on Washington Film Festival, served as the summit emcee. Summit panels were sponsored by the American Heart Association, WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s, and the Shane Foundation, and the Summit Planning Committee also included HealthyWomen, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, and WomenHeart
The Summit served as a direct response to the systemic gender bias in healthcare that stops women from accessing preventive services and equitable care. It also provided the opportunity for women from all walks of life to come together to advocate for their safety and well-being. In that spirit, Hadassah convened the Coalition for Women’s Health Equity and organized the summit so that it could join forces with other like-minded organizations to advocate for all aspects of women health.
Hadassah’s National President Ellen Hershkin opened the event with a bold proclamation: “Women are refusing to stay silent about misdiagnoses, the disproportionate burden of caregiving responsibilities, and the lasting scars of harassment and assault.” Hershkin affirmed, “Women’s health doesn’t advance itself — we have to fight to advance it.”
Hadassah Executive Director/CEO Janice Weinman similarly observed, “We’ve also seen how women’s health equity intersects with many aspects of our lives.” Weinman outlined the various policies and regulations where advocates are moving the dial on women’s health—including the recently reintroduced Health Equity and Accountability Act, upcoming reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and urging the Department of Health and Human Services to address women’s health equity in its new strategic plan. “We will continue to fight for these and other policies that improve women’s health at every stage of their lives. We will make 2018 a year of success and progress for women everywhere,” stated Weinman.
Legislative keynote speaker and physician Rep. Raul Ruiz detailed the severity of the inequities women face. “We lack public health outreach, preventative services that could screen for illnesses that could catch them early on that could save their lives … We also lack enough women in our healthcare profession and in healthcare studies so that we can truly understand the way different illnesses present between women and men,” stated Rep. Ruiz. He further announced plans to address the gender health gap, stating “I’m working on a health equity bill with all of you to make sure no woman falls through the cracks and they get the care they need.”
Keynote speaker Fatima Goss Graves, President & CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) spoke about the female patient cases that the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund — which NWLC administers — is handling. “What we rarely discuss are the manways patients themselves experience harassment … Just know that women are and have been saying #MeToo as patients as well,” she noted. “In this moment, we will win and we will heal.”
The summit also featured panels focused on women’s health disparities in caregiving, mental health, and clinical trials.
Because of societal and cultural norms, women often assume the role of providing care for family members with long-term care needs. The panel Caregiving Across the Lifespan: The Disparate Impact of Caregiving on Women and Opportunities for Change focused on the caregiving connection to heart disease and Alzheimer’s, economics of caregiving for women, and legislation for the development of a strategy to recognize and support family caregivers.
The panel was moderated by Jill Lesser, President of WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s and included Jane Heller, New York Times best-selling author; Dr. Tamilyn Bakas, Professor and Jane E. Procter Endowed Chair at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing; Diana Drake, Chair Elect, National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH); and Yanira Cruz, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. Cruz observed that “When [women] become caregivers we are often at a point of inequity. Often times, we ourselves are suffering from chronic illness, economic inequities. We are not educated enough to be able to navigate the system.” She further noted, “those are important elements to keep in mind as we look to work with diverse populations.”
The fireside chat about mental health included a lively and informative exchange between Mary Giliberti, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Dr. Jennifer Payne, Director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Forty percent of women report that the shame [of mental health] prevents them from getting help. That needs to change. And it’s particularly problematic when you look at the high rates of women that suffer from mental illness … We need to change the attitudes and we need to change the treatments to go with that,” stated Giliberti.
The day concluded with the panel Women and Clinical Trials: Past, Present and Future, which discussed efforts and programs that educate women about clinical trials and encourage their enrollment, as well as the necessary steps to eliminate women’s barriers to clinical trial participation.
The panel was moderated by Fran Hawthorne, award-winning author and journalist, and featured Associate Professor of Department of Neurological Sciences at Rush University Medical Center; Zikria Syed, Co-Founder and CEO of VitalTrax, Dr. Jamie Holloway, Clinical Research Advocate at Science 37 and Dr. Monica Mallampalli, Scientific Consultant at HealthyWomen. Mallampalli provided an honest assessment of the current health equity landscape: “We have come a long way, but we also have long way to go to achieve equity in clinical trials. We need to continue the momentum to advance women’s health on all fronts by including important stakeholders from the federal agencies, academia, patients, advocacy groups–most importantly clinicians— to ensure that women of all colors have equal access to healthcare and quality treatments.”
The Summit also featured the real-life stories of women who experienced the dangerous effects of health inequities first-hand.
Kathryn Fox, a Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (MECFS) patient advocate, explained that although chronic illness can make it hard to continue the fight, there is strength in numbers “…We are so sick that we can’t advocate for ourselves,” Kathryn said. “Contact your members of Congress. Ask your senators to support a resolution for MECFS and ask your reps to request a hearing on MECFS because when women stand together, we are a force. And our voices can no longer be ignored.”
Patient advocate Starr Mirza shared her story of being misdiagnosed for years and then having a heart attack at age 23. Mirza delivered a powerful message and rallying cry for women everywhere: “Listen to your body. You know your body better than anyone. You’re not a faker. You are not dramatic. And, you are not alone.”
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Preceding provided by Hadassah