Happy Mother’s Day! It’s Your Time: May 13-19, 2012 is National Women’s Health Week
Dear AMWA Readers,
Starting with Mother’s Day, May 13, we are observing National Women’s Health Week from May 13-19, 2012. The theme for 2012 is “It’s Your Time.” We can all celebrate the women in our lives during National Women’s Health Week by encouraging them to make the time to address their own health. National Women’s Health Week empowers women to make their health a top priority. It also encourages women to take the following steps to improve their physical and mental health and lower their risks of certain diseases:
- Visit a health care professional to receive regular checkups and preventive screenings.
- Get active.
- Eat healthy.
- Pay attention to mental health, including getting enough sleep and managing stress.
- Avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and not wearing a seatbelt or bicycle helmet.
National Women’s Health Week is a weeklong health observance 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.
According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius,
“ Healthy, strong women are essential to having healthy strong children and communities, but too often women place the needs of others before their own needs. Because of the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act, being a woman will no longer be considered a pre-existing condition. Women with non-grandfathered health coverage or Medicare can now obtain preventive care, such as well-women visits, mammograms, pap smears, and cancer screenings without co-pays or other cost-sharing. National Women’s Checkup Day, May 14, serves as a reminder that women should schedule a visit with their doctor to discuss which screening tests they need. Regular checkups and appropriate screenings can help detect diseases early, when treatment is most effective.”
Celebrate National Women’s Health Week and encourage women in our lives to make their health a priority!
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| jkklglh (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
To learn more about National Women’s Health Week and to find a National Women’s Health Week event in your community, visit www.womenshealth.gov/whw.
For more information on the Affordable Care Act and what it means for women, visit www.healthcare.gov.
To see The State of Women’s Health Video Townhall with Secretary Sebelius, visit http://www.healthcare.gov/blog/2012/01/video_townhall.html.
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Founded nearly a century ago, the American Medical Women’s Association is an organization of women physicians, medical students and other persons dedicated to serving as the unique voice for women’s health and the advancement of women in medicine. This is achieved by providing and developing leadership, advocacy, education, expertise, mentoring, and through building strategic alliances. The association functions at the local, national, and international level to advance women in medicine and improve women’s health and is an active participant in setting national health care policy and influencing legislation on women’s health issues. Become a member now!
