View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Crystal M. Wilson
Nominee: Jenni Saake, Author of “Hannah’s Hope,” Founders of Hannah’s Prayer ministry

Jenni Saake is author of “Hannah’s Hope: Seeking God’s Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage and Adoption Loss.”

She and her husband, Rick, established Hannah’s Prayer, a ministry that has since reached tens of thousands of families worldwide with comfort, hope, encouragement and support in the face of fertility challenges.

She also keeps up a blog that offers further encouragement, bridging two very different worlds of 10+ years of infertility (including three miscarriages and seven failed adoption attempts), followed by motherhood of three living miracles.

“InfertilityMom” Jenni Saake shares about her daily life working at home, writing, homeschooling and juggling chronic health challenges including endometriosis, polycystic ovaries (PCOS), fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) / chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) / XMRV Associated Neuro-Immune Disease (XAND).

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Emilia Gianfortoni
Nominee: Promotoras de la Salud Sexual Community Educators

The Latino community experiences vast sexual health disparities nationwide. Latinos disproportionately experience high rates of teen pregnancy and STIs compared to other ethnic groups. In Massachusetts, Latinas have a teen birth rate that is six times higher than non-Latinas.

The communities of Holyoke and Springfield experience the highest teen birth rates in the state, at 95.4 and 84.3 per 1,000, respectively, compared to 22 per 1,000 for the state as a whole.

As studies clearly show, teen pregnancy and birth rates are much related to high school drop out rates. Holyoke and Springfield are no exceptions with the two highest drop out rates for Latino teens in the state (34.9 and 33.3 per 1,000, respectively, compared to 22.8 in MA overall).

In Latin American countries and culture, health care is often provided in a more personal and informal way than in the United States. Promotoras offer customized health information from volunteers with first-hand knowledge of the communities they serve and the experiences they have that effect their health care knowledge and access.

Through a partnership with the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, the Promotoras, or community health workers, in Springfield, Mass., have been providing sexual health education to their community in group and individual settings to raise awareness and increase access to sexual health information and services.

In just four short months, and with strong leadership and dedicated guidance from Iris Coralí, the Latino community health education coordinator from Planned Parenthood, the promotoras have connected with over 1,300 individuals in their community through charlas, health and community fairs, and family and friends. Each person they connect with receives accurate information about sexual health from someone they can identify with, along with answers to questions they may have and referrals to health services in their community. The promotoras include:

* Maribel Cabrera is 32 years old and was born and raised in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. She recently moved to the United States, to Springfield, and is studying English at the Massachusetts Career Development Institute. For Maribel, being a promotora means being a leader in her community and a confident advisor. As promotoras, she believes she can access and attain knowledge, information and resources to advise the Latino community. Maribel has two sons who are her main reason to keep moving forward.

* Paola Figueroa is 25 years old and was born and raised in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. She came to the United States to achieve some of her greatest drams, which included seeing snow and having a better life – both of which she has achieved. Paola is studying English at the Massachusetts Career Development Institute to be able to have a better job in the future. She loves being a promotora de salud sexual because she believes it is a very important topic for our children and their future and to be able to give advice to the community. As a promotora she has the skills to give correct information and be knowledgeable about the health services.  For Paola, being a promotora signifies the confidence in her community. She has a very intelligent 5-year-old daughter, Lenalisse, and a wonderful supportive husband.

* Jessica Rivera was born and raised in Arecibo, Puerto Rico and is 29 years old. She decided to come to the United States to find a better job and to give her sons a better future. Jessica has two sons who, along with her family, are her biggest love; they are 8 and 9 years old. She has a bachelors degree in Elementary English from Puerto Rico and is currently studying English at the Massachusetts Career Development Institute. Jessica likes to help other people, and to talk a lot. Being a promotora means she is an example for the community to give correctly information about sexual health and sexuality to help the community. Through her knowledge as a promotora she can help other people in need be able to have a healthy future.

* Sandy Soto was born in 1969 and raised in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic. She completed her law degree from the Universidad Technologica de Santo Domingo and moved to the United States in 2006 after visiting a few times before. Sandy has always liked to work with people to help them and she believes that by being a promotora she can do that. Being a promotora means she can advise her community about how to protect their physical and mental health and how they can help their families. Sandy has three sons and one grandson.

So far, they have received very positive feedback, and it is clear many community members are appreciative of the information they are receiving.

A woman staying at a homeless shelter in West Springfield, where she lives with her two children, took a bus to the Center’s recent Three Kings Day Celebration. The woman was 35 years old and moved to Massachusetts from Puerto Rico six months ago after divorcing her husband and escaping domestic violence. As part of the process for signing up for toys at the Center, the woman attended a charla and filled out a subsequent evaluation. On the evaluation form, the woman mentioned having little knowledge of birth control options and STI prevention. She also listed that she had never had an annual gynecological exam.

After listening to the charla, the woman was very happy to have received such helpful information and commented that she felt many in the community could benefit from it. She also wrote that she would like to become a Promotora herself, and provided her contact information.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Bailey Delves
Nominee: Kathie Lindstrom, LCCE,CD,CDT Coordinator of Perinal Studies Douglas College

Kathie Lindstrom (pictured in the middle) has been THE guiding force in perinatal education in Canada.

She has been a doula and an educator for many years. She is a great teacher and an inspiration to anyone aspiring to make a difference in maternity care.

I cannot say enough good things about her. She is humble, she is strong, and she has truly made a difference in the lives of hundreds (maybe thousands) of women, babies and their families worldwide.

Ask anyone in Canada’s birth community, and they will all tell you — Kathie is fantastic.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Alexis Greeley
Nominee: Emily Boyes-Watson

I have known Emily since we were 5 years old. We met in kindergarten class and now, 19 years later, we are like sisters. While Emily does not work in the health field, she is my health hero.

Women’s health issues are often treated as matters that are not meant to be seen or heard, and women are taught to deal with such issues discreetly and quietly. This can lead to feelings of shame and isolation when problems or curiosity occur regarding health and sexuality. Women aren’t offered, and aren’t encouraged to seek out, very many safe spaces to talk and share about their health and sexuality. In addition, women can end up viewing their health and sexuality through only negative lens, rather than as parts of themselves to celebrate and explore.

Emily provides the necessary space for me to be open about issues regarding my health. It is truly invaluable to have a friend who I can turn to about anything and everything. I can confide in Emily about issues ranging from struggling with body image to feeling ashamed about relationship choices I have made. I don’t have to worry about judgment at all, and Emily helps me to work on my confidence and feel comfortable in myself. She doesn’t make me feel bad about mistakes that I have made, but rather helps me learn how to move forward and grow from them.

Many of my women friends have admitted lying to their doctors because they feel ashamed for choices they have made or they are too embarrassed to ask certain questions. This fear and shame can lead to mental, emotional and physical risks. When women are able to open up to one another and support each other, it usually is realized that a lot of the same themes, worries, experiences, etc., are shared in regards to health and sexuality. Emily provides me with a space to voice my concerns, share my experiences, and learn how to celebrate who I am as a woman.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Vicki Elson
Nominee: Marianne Bullock and Lisa Andrews, Co-founders, Prison Birth Project

Marianne Bullock and Lisa Andrews founded the Prison Birth Project (PBP), which serves incarcerated mothers at the regional women’s jail in Chicopee, Mass.

PBP visits inmates prenatally and postpartum. PBP provides childbirth education classes or individual instruction, as well as time-intensive labor support (“doula care”).

PBP doulas ease transitions between jail and hospital, support single mothers and whole families, help mothers cope with labor, and help mothers to make informed decisions about medical care.  They’ve even made it possible for some incarcerated moms to breastfeed successfully.

I’m utterly moved by the two young women who saw a need, and just started going into the prison to serve these mothers. Marianne was all of 24 years old when she and fellow young mother and college student Lisa (whose background is in nutrition and organic farming) started going into the Women’s Correctional Center.

Now, in addition to childbirth education and doula care, they have taken theMotherWoman training, and they have created a program called Mothers Among Us — support groups for mothers inside and those who have been released.

Whether or not mothers and their babies are ultimately reunited, PBP believes that both mothers and children are served when pregnancy and childbirth are well supported with skill and compassion.  No matter what has come before in these women’s lives, PBP believes that there is nothing to be lost by adding loving kindness to the equation.

The collective members — especially Marianne and Lisa — work very long hours for very little pay, performing services and growing the organization. They are making a big difference in the lives of some of the most appreciative members of our community.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Cheryl Bartlett
Nominee: Diane Legg, Co-Chair, Lung Cancer Alliance-Massachusetts

Diane Legg is a young mother of two children who was diagnosed with lung cancer over five years ago. With great determination, she is leading the charge to increase awareness and education about lung cancer, who it affects, and the status of research today compared to other cancers that all together do not have the mortality rates associated with lung cancer.

Fortunately, Diane is one of the lucky ones here to remind us that more must be done to better understand lung cancer and how to detect it early so that treatment can be curative.

With an 85 percent mortality rate, we need more people like Diane advocating for more funding to research diagnostic and treatment tools to increase the survival rates. In newly diagnosed cases, we are seeing younger and more women, espcially non-smoking related cases.

Despite her need to maintain a healthly lifestyle, she is tireless in her efforts to engage more leaders in this battle to reduce morbidity and mortality from this deadliest of all cancers.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Melinda Bartlett
Nominee: Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, Director of “Absolutely Safe”

I nominate Carol Ciancutti-Leyva as a Women’s Health Hero for the 2010 Our Bodies, Ourselves Women’s Health Heroes awards. She is the director of “Absolutely Safe,” a documentary exploring the safety of breast implants in the United States.

Ms. Ciancutti-Leyva has a personal connection to her project, as she believes silicone breast implants contributed to her mother’s decline in health. According to the documentary’s website, “Absolutely Safe” does not set out to prove that all breast implants are harmful to women, but rather it explores both sides of the argument and puts forth all information pertaining to the safety of implants.

I admire Ms. Ciancutti-Leyva’s bravery to question implant safety in the United States. I admire her conviction to question what we have been told about breast implant safety by medical professionals, plastic surgeons, and those set to profit from breast augmentations.

I believe that women deserve to know whether there is a possibility that breast implants could be harmful to their health, and Ms. Ciancutti-Leyva is making great strides in creating a new discourse surrounding the absoluteness of breast implant safety.

Made in 2007, “Absolutely Safe” follows the stories of five women and their experiences with breast implants. Some women are considering getting breast implants; others want their implants removed, or have had their implants removed and yet still feel ill.

While some women in the film are excited about their upcoming surgery, others share their negative experience with breast implants, as the women explain how they felt sick after getting implants, and how their health has steadily declined. Many of the women believe that their implants have been detrimental to their health.

“Absolutely Safe” explores these issues and speaks with doctors and advocates on both sides of the argument. I nominate Ms. Ciancutti-Leyva for her advocacy on behalf of women everywhere.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Anne Welch
Nominee: Project Bread

Project Bread serves the needs of Massachusetts families who struggle to put food on the table every year through the Walk for Hunger and other fundraising and advocacy activities. The Walk for Hunger is the nation’s oldest continual pledge walk in the country, and in 2008 raised an unprecedented $4 million dollars to help feed hungry families in Massachusetts.

According to its website, Project Bread funds over 400 food pantries, soup kitchens and food banks across Massachusetts and advocates for systematic solutions to prevent hunger. It helps put healthy and nutritious food in schools and on the tables of families across Massachusetts.

Additionally, Project Bread runs the only nationwide hunger hotline, and answers about 37,000 calls every year from families in need of food. Project Bread works in conjunction with many local schools, ensuring that children have a nutritious breakfast and lunch, even in the summer when school is not in session. According to Project Bread, too many families have been forced to choose between food or paying their bills, and they believe that no one should have to go hungry, or have to choose between eating and having a place to live. It is their mission to eradicate hunger in Massachusetts.

I nominate all the individuals involved with Project Bread, including the board of directors, walkers, volunteers, donors and anyone who advocates eradicating hunger, as it affects the health of men, women and children alike. The burden of caring for children and families so often falls on women, that in times of need it is comforting to know that there is assistance for those who need it. As a Walk for Hunger walker, I am very proud to have helped Project Bread with their mission.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Jackie Flores
Nominee: RH Reality Check, sexual reproductive health and rights blog

I’ve been an avid reader of RH Reality Check for years. They provide accurate coverage of issues pertaining to sexual reproductive health and rights. But what I love most is the thought provoking commentary offered by their wide variety of contributing writers. Any time I want to learn more about abortion, birth control, global perspectives on reproduction, or whatever the hot topic of the day is I know I can rely on them.

Lately I’ve been following their Earth & Birth posts, which focus on the environment, reproductive health and how they’re connected. The conversations and viewpoints have been fascinating, and I’m glad this stuff is being discussed. It makes me feel more connected to fellow reproductive health activists.

So thank you, RH Reality Check, for making my morning coffee educational and cutting edge.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: A friend in Boston
Nominee: Eugenia Lopez Uribe, Mexican activist and coordinator of the MARIA Abortion Fund for Social Justice

I had the incredible pleasure of meeting Eugenia last November in Boston. She was touring the United States speaking about the MARIA Abortion Fund and social justice issues in Mexico. I was totally blown away by her knowledge and dedication.

Eugenia helps women access safe, legal abortion and defends the right to abortion in Mexico. This is no small task. Abortion throughout Mexico has been restricted to cases or rape, life or health of the woman, or fetal malformations. Even when women “fit” within these restrictions, it’s impossible to find safe abortion care because most states do not have protocols to provide it. Finally in 2007, Mexico City became the exception and decriminalized abortion up to 12 weeks.

Yet, abortion continues to be a matter of social justice in most Mexican states. Upper class women can pay private providers or travel to Mexico City or leave the country. However, poor women continue to risk their health and lives by seeking back-alley abortions. This is why the work Eugenia does is so important. The MARIA Abortion Fund for Social Justice helps these women.

Eugenia works directly with women who don’t have the resources to access legal abortion services available in Mexico City. She and her fellow MARIA Fund members transport women to, from and within Mexico City, provide housing, help schedule the appointment, pay for part or all of the abortion procedure, accompany the women when they request it, and offer informative materials and counseling. By providing these services, Eugenia and her fellow volunteers are changing Mexico by saving lives. She is truly amazing.

View all of the Women’s Health Heroes nominees. Who’s your hero? Submit here.

Entrant: Shailey Smith
Nominee: Dorothy Height

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Dorothy Height. I immediately felt the need to so something, so I am nominating her as my health hero.

Dorothy was an extraordinary woman who fought for racial equality through seven decades of this country’s history.

When people think of civil rights leaders, people like the Rev. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and W. E. B. Du Bois easily come to mind. But Dorothy was a constant presence in the movement and often the only woman in meetings that included the easily recognized male leaders. Yet she didn’t care because she was determined that the needs of women and children were not lost in the daily struggle. She took that task upon her shoulders to make sure their needs were heard. Dorothy did this until her death at 98.

When I read Ms. Height’s obituary this morning, it was the the final quote that inspired me the most:

“We African American women seldom do just what we want to do, but always do what we have to do. I am grateful to have been in a time and place where I could be a part of what was needed.”

I’m grateful you were part of what was needed, Ms. Height. Thank you for shaping the world I live in.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Zoe French
Nominee: Dr. George Tiller

Dr. Tiller was an abortion provider, one of only three nationwide who provided abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy. He was murdered at church by an anti-abortion activist on May 31, 2009.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Emma McGuinnes
Nominee: Rita Arditti

As a women’s studies major, I have learned the importance of examining and understanding connections when fighting for social justice. Rita Arditti, a feminist, a human rights activist, an environmentalist and a biologist, spent her life exposing these intersections and advocating for the need to develop a consciousness about such links that contribute to oppression.

Rita was born in 1934 in Argentina and studied biology in Italy before settling in the United States. She co-founded the Science for the People movement in the 1970s, which pushed to show the connections between science, the Vietnam War and politics. The movement, which was anti-war in spirit, was to raise awareness about how science can be manipulated to support certain political agendas.

In 1974, Rita was one of four founders of the New Words Bookstore in Cambridge, Mass., a women’s bookstore that offered a space for words and voices of those who had been silenced to be showcased and heard. The bookstore also hosted several activism events bridging the gap between academia and the community.

Later in life, Rita also helped to found the Women’s Community Cancer Project, whose mission was to raise awareness about environmental exposures that contribute to women’s cancers. Rita herself lived with breast cancer for decades, and she was dedicated to showing the links between chemicals and the rise in cancer in women. Intersecting her feminist, environmentalist and biology background, Rita critiqued the medical world for being male-dominated and influenced by major chemical producers. She was not satisfied with the treatment-oriented approach to cancer research and advocated for looking at how to prevent women from getting cancer in the first place.

Rita Arditti passed away on December 25, 2009. She will be greatly missed and always be remembered. She raised a critical awareness about how fields traditionally taken as fact, such as science and medicine, can be misused to support certain political ideologies and to perpetuate oppression. Rita worked endlessly for social justice and for providing the space for those who have been marginalized to be heard.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Meghan Ward
Nominee: Dr. Roseanna Means

Imagine having no roof over your head during the frigid winters. Imagine the pain and panic of not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Imagine getting sick, but with no health insurance or personal physician, having absolutely no where to turn for help.

These are issues that nearly all homeless women face at some point during their lives. However, one Boston-area physician and her dedicated staff of volunteer doctors and nurses are helping to dramatically change the health and well-being of homeless women in and around the Boston area for the better.

I nominate Dr. Roseanne Means as a Women’s Health Hero for the 2010 Our Bodies, Ourselves Women’s Health Hero Awards, as her dedication to poor and homeless women in and around Boston is truly admirable.

Dr. Roseanna Means, a Boston-area internist, has taken a special interest in the health and well-being of the city’s most vulnerable population: homeless women. Women of Means, first established in 1999, is a non-profit organization that serves the health needs of homeless women and children. Founded by Dr. Means, Women of Means operates under the notion that homeless women should not have to sacrifice basic needs to receive quality healthcare.

The organization works to improve immediate access to healthcare for Massachusetts’s poorest women and children and provide medical supplies and services to health care professionals and shelter staff treating homeless and poor women. Women of Means shares its alternative model of care with other medical professionals and advocates for women at clinical, social justice, academic and health policy levels.

Women of Means addresses and serves not only the physical needs of poor and homeless women, but the emotional and mental needs as well. Homeless women often face a barrage of physical, emotional and psychological challenges in regards to their overall health and well-being. This includes but is not limited to stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, drug and alcohol problems, lack of education, mental illness and feelings of guilt and shame — as well as myriad physical health ailments that come from lack of care, proper nutrition and harsh living conditions.

Furthermore, poor and homeless women face tremendous difficulties that so many of us take for granted, such as how to physically get themselves to a doctor, especially if they have no means or money for transportation. Dr. Means suggests that sacrificing scarce money that could possibly be used for food or shelter is certainly often not an option for homeless women. This is why Dr. Means and her staff personally visit shelters where many homeless women stay. The guilt and shame that often accompanies homelessness hinders women from seeking medical care or maintaining chronic illnesses or conditions, and by visiting them personally, many women receive care and companionship that they would otherwise go without.

Dr. Means and her dedicated staff truly respect and advocate for poor and homeless women, and are proof that despite times of economic hardship, one person can truly make a difference. Her dedication to providing quality healthcare to women who often go unrecognized by others is remarkable and worthy of recognition. I nominate Dr. Means on behalf of homeless women everywhere.

____________________

Dr. Means was nominated twice. The second nomination is below.
____________________

Entrant: Liza D. Molina ScD,MPH
Nominee: Roseanna Means, MD, Founding Director of Women of Means Inc.

It is with profound honor, that I nominate Dr.Roseanna Means MD, founder of Women of Means (WOM) Inc. WOM was founded in 1999 and Incorporated as a non-profit in 2000, with the single mission of providing access to free and compassionate health care to homeless and battered women and their children.

During the decade before establishing WOM, Dr. Means served as the Medical Director for Health Care for the Homeless. In that capacity, Dr. Means quickly observed that women were disproportionably less likely then their male counterparts to take advantage of clinical services. Her  female patients candidly cited avoiding using many of the same facilities frequented by homeless men for several reasons – the greatest being fear of using facilities to which men had free access – thus placing them at a higher risk of being located by their batterer and possibly violated. In addition, more culturally conservative women expressed a feeling of deep humiliation and shame on sharing clinical facilities and clinicians with men.

Realizing that women are more likely to suffer premature death as a consequence of homelessness, Dr. Means began providing free medical care to homeless women and their families in secure and familiar environments including safe houses, shelters, and drop-in centers.

She has since inspired hundreds of other clinicians to volunteer their services – growing what started as a singular heroic act of volunteerism into an organization which now consists of a team of rotating physicians,  nurses, medical, nursing, medical language interpreting students, interns and residents – all whom collectively over the past decade have provided a unique model of compassionate, patient-centered medical care to over 65,000 homeless, battered women and children.

View all Women’s Health Heroes. Voting closes May 14. Background info here.

Entrant: Meghan Ward
Nominee: Kathleen Ward, Nurse, Mother, Friend

“God couldn’t be everywhere, therefore He created mothers.” – Yiddish Proverb

Recently, I lost my grandmother after a period of failing health. She passed away in hospice care, in the hospital surrounded by family and friends. I have always believed that it is in times such as those that people’s true character is seen, and it was during this time that I came to know my own mother as a health hero in every sense of the word.

As my grandmother lay in her bed — sick, confused, and not knowing who was with her or what was going on — the one thing that remained constant was my mother’s presence. My mother was the one who sat with my grandmother in the middle of the night, just to hold her hand, making sure that she was comfortable and calm. It was my mother who sacrificed night after night of sleep to be with her in the hospital. It was my mother who recognized if she was in any pain, advocating for her and ensuring her that she was not alone. It was my mother who was with her when she took her last breath.

As my grandmother became sicker, the responsibilities of caring for an elderly relative weighed heavily on my family. However, it was my mother who was there, constantly. It was my mother who visited her in the middle of the night, during snowstorms and times of health crises. It was my mother who brought her dinner and made sure she ate, and it was my mother who was there during times of great sadness and loneliness. It was my mother who took her to the hospital time after time, before her final days. It was my mother who bathed and cleaned her when she could no longer do it herself, and it was my mother who held her when she died.

My grandmother who passed away was my mom’s mother-in-law; however, I believe my mother was more like a daughter than a daughter-in-law to her. Being married to her son, my mother was welcomed into the family by my grandmother, who herself was widowed with five children to raise on her own during the 1960s. Both women — strong, resilient and kind — exemplify the kind of woman I strive to be every day. I am incredibly proud of both my grandmother and my mother, and I feel this nomination as a women’s health hero does not begin to adequately thank my mother for all she done, for me and for my family. I am truly honored to be her daughter.

My mother is many things. She is a nurse, she is a daughter, she is a sister, she is a grandmother, she is a friend, she is a caretaker, and most importantly, she is my hero. She is someone who cares for others whenever they are alone and in need. She is the kind of woman who will simply sit with someone as they die, so they are not alone. She is kind, comforting, caring, selfless, and incredibly strong. She is the kind of woman deserving of the title of health hero, for herself and on behalf of mothers everywhere.