ADVOCACY & POLICY ADVICE
Women and Health Reform Working Group Report
|
|
PROGRAMS & SERVICES: ADVOCACY & POLICY ADVICE Women and Health Reform Working Group Report |
|
|
|
The Winnipeg Process In January 1996, the Women's Health Clinic took a lead role in starting the information process by co-ordinating consultative meetings among representatives of MWI, UNPAC, MWAC and PCW. Following informal discussions, these women determined they had shared concerns about the health reform process as it would affect women. This group proceeded to contact other women and women's groups, holding several community information meetings in the process. Women from over 60 community and professional organizations, as well as interested individuals, were eventually involved in the networking. As a result of these informational sessions, the ad hoc Women and Health Reform Working Group (WHRWG) was formed. The community meetings included presentations by Heather McLaren, legislative analyst assigned to drafting Bill 49 - The Regional Health Authorities and Consequential Amendments Act; Arlene Wilgosh, Director, Northern/Rural Regionalization Task Force (N/RRTF); and Donna Hill, member N/RRTF and involved in developing guidelines for community health assessments to be conducted by the RHAs. Through these meetings, the Women and Health Reform Working Group determined that the draft legislation raised a number of concerns to which the group should respond. Following consultation with a variety of groups, the WHRWG developed a working paper from which member groups of the WHRWG and individual women could develop presentations for the legislative committee reviewing Bill 49. As a result of the activities of the WHRWG, six presentations were made to the legislative hearings on October 15 & 16, 1996 by groups or individual women who used the information developed by the WHRWG as a basis for their presentations. On October 15, 1996, core members of the WHRWG -- Mary Scott, United Nations Platform for Action Committee; Laurie Potovsky-Beachell, Manitoba Women's Institute; Monica Singh, Provincial Council of Women; and Barbara Wiktorowicz, Women's Health Clinic -- met with then-health minister Hon. Jim McRae and Hon. Rosemary Vodrey, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, to discuss concerns that had been raised by women through the group's networking process. In a subsequent letter [1] on behalf of the WHRWG to the two ministers summarizing the meeting, the women said, "We are supportive of some of the goals which we believe underlie the Act such as the creation of mechanisms to increase co-ordination among health service providers and to increase local control over health services. We know our health system would benefit from consistent approaches in these areas." However the group also cautioned that it had serious misgivings that women's health services would not receive the attention required through the restructuring process unless addressing women's needs and mechanisms for input from women were specifically included in Bill 49. At the same time as they were collecting information and meeting with those involved in the reform/regionalization process, the WHRWG members also recognized that there was a need for a method to disseminate information to the broader community of women and to establish a channel for their input into health reform. Consequently, the group dedicated five meetings to developing a strategic plan. As a result of the strategic plan, four new goals were set by and for the group:
With the appointment of members to the boards of directors for the province's rural regional health authorities in April 1996, and the requirement that RHAs submit business plans by year end in preparation for taking over health services management by April 1, 1997, it was apparent that health reform and regionalization would be a reality in Manitoba and that it was moving ahead quickly. Yet, the WHRWG perceived that, from the perspective of consumers of health care, there seemed to be little real information that could inform and educate Manitobans about the upcoming changes. In response to the developments in rural health reform and the stated goals of the WHRWG, the group made application to Health Canada for funding to conduct an outreach pilot project to the rural and northern Manitoba regions. The proposal was accepted by Health Canada on the basis that it was provided with:
The outreach pilot project was carried out during March 1997 in the communities of Dauphin and Thompson. (See the Provincial Outreach section for details on the project.) Also in March 1997, the WHRWG met with Paul Brackstone, Chief Executive Officer, South Westman RHA. He was invited to present an overview of health reform in Manitoba. The members of the WHRWG took the opportunity to discuss with him a number of women's issues related to health reform. After reviewing a number of health reform-related documents and meeting with both RHA and government officials, it became apparent to members of the WHRWG that the significance of gender sensitivity in health issues had gone largely unrecognized. Of particular concern was the community needs assessment document which appeared to be without any references to gender sensitivity. As the WHRWG believes that any discussion of health and health reform is incomplete without addressing gender sensitivity, it contracted with Elizabeth (Liz) Loewen [2] to prepare a gender-based analysis of existing documents and health issues in order to develop additional recommendations on how best to incorporate the needs of women in the health reform process. The Women and Health Reform Working Group continues to meet on an ad hoc basis to share information about health reform, to develop outreach material for women, and to network with women concerned about women's health issues. NOTES |
Women's Health Clinic * Women's Health Clinic * Women's Health Clinic * Women's Health Clinic * Women's Health Clinic * Women's Health Clinic
