A consulting firm dedicated to creating thriving communities by engaging individuals, businesses and systems. Communities thrive when individuals have dignity, purpose and self worth, businesses have happy, healthy employees and the systems that support them are high quality, equitable and efficient.
RWJF Center for Health Policy
Women’s Health Policy Unit
Fall 2011 Brown Bag Lunch Series
October 12: Breast Health, Mammography and the ACA
November 9: Sex/Gender Implications of a Health Insurance Exchange
December 14: Office on Women’s Health Agenda: Research Topics for 2012 and Beyond
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
RWJF Center for Health Policy
1909 Las Lomas NE
Downstairs Conference Room
Listen to the 30 second promo: Women’s Health Today Promo for September 23, 2011
Tune in to Women’s Health Today on September 23 at 8am on KUNM 89.9fm or online at www.kunm.org. The show will cover birthing options in New Mexico featuring interviews with Abigail Eaves of Dar A Luz Birth Center, Annette Lindeman of Lovelace Women’s Hospital, and two home birth midwives: Nandi Hill and Terry Simmons.
For more information on birthing options and midwifery in New Mexico:
NM Department of Health Midwife Roster
NM Midwives Association
American Association of Birth Centers
The Albuquerque Birth Center
Dar A Luz Birth Center
Northern New Mexico Midwifery/Birth Center
The Big Push for Midwives
New Mexico Midwives
Lovelace Women’s Hospital Natural Birthing Center
UNM Mother Baby Unit
July 21, 2011
Statement from Dr. Susan Wood Regarding IOM Report that Recommends Eight Additional Women’s Health Preventive Services for Coverage
Statement from Susan F. Wood, PhD
Associate Professor of Health Policy
Director, Jacob Institute of Women’s Health
The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services
Former Assistant Commissioner for Women’s Health, FDA
Women know that preventive services for women includes family planning. Today the IOM confirmed that contraception is prevention and is part of the prevention package that should be covered by all health care plans. By reducing co-pays and deductibles for women getting contraception, this will help women and couples plan their families, space their children, reduce unintended pregnancies, and promote better health for women and children. Preventing unintended pregnancies is the best way to prevent abortion.
Women spend decades of their lives trying to prevent pregnancy, and only a few years actually trying to get pregnant and having children. Making contraception affordable by eliminating co-pays and deductibles is common sense for millions of women and couples across the country – and a real benefit that women will see immediately in their pocketbooks. This coverage of contraception will truly help “Close the Gaps” for women.
Contraception is not controversial – except sometimes for politicians. But this should not be political; coverage of contraception should be based on the evidence as outlined by IOM, which shows that contraception for women is indeed safe and effective prevention. Along with well-woman visits and critical screening for gestational diabetes, STDs, domestic violence, and other important women’s health preventive services, the IOM report “Closing the Gaps” has helped ensure that women’s health counts when we talk about prevention. Women should not be blocked from these critical preventive services due to cost or political debate.
Women’s Health Today
About Women, For Everyone
Friday July 22, 2011 8am MST
KUNM 89.9fm or www.kunm.org
Listen to the promo here: wht-promo 7.22.11
How do sex and gender impact health? Does health policy adequately address systemic problems rooted in the relationships between patient, provider and insurer? Women’s Health Today looks at health from an interdisciplinary and woman-centered perspective, examining the many biological, psychological, environmental and social factors effecting health.
Tune in this Friday (7/22) at 8:00am MST for Women’s Health Today on KUNM 89.9fm or www.kunm.org. On the show I will discuss how health care reform will impact access to birth control. My guests include Judy Waxman of the National Women’s Law Center and Lois Uttley of MergerWatch and co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices. Listen to the promo here: wht-promo 7.22.11
KUNM Broadcast Times – 2011:
Friday, January 21st at 8:00am
Friday, April 22nd at 8:00am
Friday, July 22nd at 8:00am
Friday, September 23rd at 8:00am
Friday, December 23rd at 8:00am
Host: Giovanna Rossi
A must for anyone working in health! It’s short, watch it.
July 13, 2011|By Marissa Cevallos, HealthKey / For the Booster Shots blog
Cancer kills more men than women — some forms more than others, finds a new study.
In the new assessment of cancer data, men are more than twice as likely than women to die from lung, skin, kidney and liver cancers. Overall, not including sex-specific or breast cancers, men’s death rates are 1.9 times higher than women’s, according to the new research.
Scientists already knew men were at higher risk for developing most cancers, but it wasn’t clear if men also died more from cancer. Researchers from the National Cancer Institute pooled together cancer death rates between 1977 and 2006 from a large U.S. cancer database.
They found for the vast majority of cancers, men were more likely to die than women. Only three cancers kill more women than men (well, besides the ones men don’t get): the relatively rare peritoneum, omentum and mesentery; gall bladder; and anus, anal canal and anorectum cancers. The research was published online Tuesday in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.
The reason? It’s not necessarily that women are better than men at surviving cancer once they have it. The authors write in their discussion:
“This supports the idea that sex disparities in cancer mortality arise from the sex differences in cancer incidence. … It is feasible that differential environmental exposures and/or physiologic processes, such as sex hormones, could explain the observed sex disparities in survival.”
Such factors include differences in lifestyle. For example, the researchers found that men are more than five times as likely to die from lip and larynx cancers, two cancers linked to tobacco and heavy alcohol use.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/13/news/la-heb-cancer-men-women-20110713
While states consider cuts to Medicaid, a new report by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows poor people (many of whom are women) do better when they are insured.
RWJF Center for Health Policy at UNM
Women’s Health Policy Unit
“Stellar Medicine: A Journey through the Universe of Women’s Health”
Presented by Saralyn Mark, MD
President, SolaMed Solutions, LLC
Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine & Ob/Gyn
Yale and Georgetown Schools of Medicine
Affiliate Professor, George Mason University School of Public Policy
Senior Medical Advisor-NASA
Monday, July 11, 2011
12:30 – 1:30 pm
RWJF Center for Health Policy lower level Conference Room
Jonson Gallery Building (1909 Las Lomas)
Dr. Mark will read from her book from the chapter “Stardust Connection” which
discusses spirituality, faith and healing followed by an interactive discussion of topics covered in the book including sex/gender-based medicine, menopause, alternative medicine, faith and healing, pandemics, medical myths, veterans health, the benefits
of sex, chocolate, wine and shopping and many other issues.
RWJF Center for Health Policy
The RWJF Center for Health Policy is the only health policy center dedicated to increasing the number of leaders from Latino and American Indian communities helping to shape the future of our nation’s health and health care. A collaboration of the University of New Mexico and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the RWJF Center for Health Policy focuses on inserting the perspectives of Latino, American Indian and other underrepresented groups into the most pressing health policy debates today. Visit http://healthpolicy.unm.edu for further information.
For more information contact the Center at 505–277–0130 or center@healthpolicy.unm.edu or at our website http://healthpolicy.unm.edu
Researchers calculated 133,000 deaths attributable to poverty, and said that factors like poverty and segregation kill people the way smoking and obesity do.
Social Ills Like Poverty Can Cause Death, Researchers Say
One of the last things I did as Executive Director of the Women’s Health Office was to report policy recommendations about substance abuse and pregnancy to the Legislative Health and Human Services Committee. Some of those recommendations were drafted as legislation and introduced this session:
HM13 (Stewart) Gender-specific Treatment Standards
HM14 (Chasey) Oversight Memorial
SB353(Lopez/WilsonBeffort) Substance Abuse and Family Planning Services
SB354(Lopez/WilsonBeffort) Substance Abuse and Pregnant Women Services
There will be one more bill introduced regarding informed consent for drug testing.
Tweet
FinalReportSM19
The Senate Memorial 19 Taskforce (SM19) was created by the New Mexico Legislature in 2009 to assess and improve access to substance abuse treatment and prenatal care for pregnant women with substance abuse problems. The SM19 Taskforce was composed of a diverse range of stakeholders and included input from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with technical assistance from two out-of-state experts in the field. The SM19 Taskforce met monthly between September 2009 and August 2010 and performed an extensive review of the literature, an evaluation of data on substance abuse in New Mexico, a review of state laws, systems of care and organizational policies, and consultation with experts. Angie Vachio and I served as co-chairs of the Taskforce. This report represents the Taskforce’s findings.