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Registration open for the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Conference

The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) Conference, Changing the National Perspective on Hospice Palliative Care, will be held October 28–31 at The Westin hotel in Ottawa, Ontario.

In May, 2009 the DIVA Foundation partnered with CHPCA to host the Celebrating Excellence in Hospice Palliative Care and Recognizing the Challenges of Caregiving luncheon at the National Arts Centre, Ottawa. The DIVA Foundation recognizes the important role that women play in providing end-of-life care in Canada.

The CHPCA Conference is the foremost national conference in Canada focusing on hospice palliative care. This event provides hospice palliative care professionals, volunteers, and family or informal caregivers with the opportunity to share their experience and expertise on a national platform. For more information, please visit: http://conference.chpca.net/chpca 

Throughout the conference, participants will learn about the important issues facing people who work with those who are dying, and will hear experts in a number of fields debate and discuss these issues and offer solutions. Participants will hear both consensus and controversy, and will leave with many answers, and perhaps some questions not thought of before.

The conference will feature the following plenary speakers:

  • The Honourable Sharon Carstairs, a champion for hospice palliative care in Canada since 1994 as a Senator and as federal Cabinet Minister
  • Dr. Kathleen M. Foley, Medical Director of the International Palliative Care Initiative of the Public Health Program of the Open Society Institute
  • Dr. David Kuhl, Associate Professor, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia and the Director of the Centre for Practitioner Renewal
  • Maureen McTeer, Canadian lawyer, author of Tough Choices: Living and Dying in the 21st Century, and recipient of the DIVA Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women’s Health and Well-Being.

Registration for the conference is now open; the early bird deadline for registration is July 15. Click here to register and for more information.

Posted in Events.

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By DIVA – 13 July 2010

G8 leaders pledge $5 billion for maternal and child health initiatives

At this weekend’s meeting of the G8 leaders in Muskoka, Ontario, Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged $1.1 billion of new dollars toward the UN Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health. (The government will also renew $1.75 billion in existing maternal health spending.) In total, the G8 members and other countries will commit a total of $7.3 billion over the next five years for global maternal and child health initiatives.

The UN Millenium Development Goals  for maternal and child health aim to do the following:

  • Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio
  • Achieve universal access to reproductive health
  • Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Prime Minister Harper promoted the maternal health initiative as a key issue at this year’s G8 and G20 summits. Canada set an example by committing, proportionately, the largest amount of funds toward the cause. Aid groups, however, say that the total amount pledged falls far short of what is actually required to sufficiently reduce maternal and infant mortality and illness or provide universal access to reproductive health in the developing world and come close to meeting the Millenium Development Goals.  

Few details are available about any specific plans in place for the funds, although the Prime Minister’s Office stated that funds will be directed toward a limited number of high-risk countries such as Haiti, Afghanistan, Mali, Tanzania and Mozambique. Funding would target initiatives aimed at improving care for pregnancy and child delivery, on nutrition for mothers and young children, and addressing the leading killers of young children. The Canadian government also confirmed in late 2009 that although it would support family-planning measures, including contraception, in its child and maternal health-care initiative for developing countries, it would not fund abortions.

Read more about the commitments toward maternal and child health at the G8 and G20 summits:

The Globe and Mail

CBC News

Read more about the problems facing maternal and child health in the developing world:

CBC News – FAQ: Achieving maternal and child health goals

UN Millenium Development Goals for Maternal Health

UN Millenium Development Goals for Child Health

Canada’s Plan for reaching MDG’s for Maternal Health

Canada’s Plan for reaching the MDG’s for Child Health

Posted in In the news.

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By DIVA – 28 June 2010

Canadians, especially women, are feeling pressed for time

The Canadian Index of Wellbeing released a report on Tuesday that indicates that Canadians, particularly women, are experiencing increasing stress from feeling pressed for time.

The demands of childcare, single-parenting and caring for aging relatives — tasks which are most often taken on by women — are cited as key reasons that people are feeling the time crunch. In general, a higher proportion of females (22.7%) than males (16.6%) reported feeling time pressure.

The report lists the following pressures that are contributing to Canadians’ time crunch:

  •  A greater demand by consumers for services in the evenings, weekends and holiday
  • A lack of comprehensive childcare support for many Canadians
  • An increase in urban sprawl (people are spending more time commuting to work)
  • Greater innovation and adaptation of workplace technologies (smartphones and laptops keep employees perpetually “on call”)
  • An increase in passive activities among children and adolescents (young people are exceeding recommended amounts of time in front of the TV, video, and computer screens)
  •  An aging population (in the absence of community support for seniors, families are taking on the care of their elder members)
  • Leisure and culture activities are becoming more expensive.  

You can read the report, Caught in the Time Crunch: Time Use, Leisure and Culture in Canada (PDF, 1MB), or visit the Canadian Index of Wellbeing web site for more information about factors affecting Canadians’ way of life.

Posted in In the news, Social health.

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By DIVA – 19 June 2010

The G(irls)20 Summit, 2010

The Girls and Women project is a coalition of global partners whose purpose is to generate and support “a global conversation about the economic prowess of girls and women”, and to provide a space where women’s voices and ideas can be shared globally.

The project is culminating this year in the G(irls)20 Summit in Toronto on June 15 to 26, an inaugural gathering of women from each of the G20 countries which will parallel the G20 Summit of political leaders occurring the following week in Muskoka. Female delegates from the G20 countries will meet to share ideas on how to reach the UN’s Millenium Development Goals that most impact women and girls. Panelists from around the world representing corporate, non-profit, research, and education sectors will be speaking during the first few days of the conference. The second part of the conference will consist of workshops covering the topics of blogging, media and public relations, using digital media to communicate to the world, government relations, intergenerational mentorship and leadership, and managing finances. Delegates will also travel to Ottawa to meet with Canadian Members of Parliament and Senators.

Next year, G(irls)20 Summit will reconvene prior to the G20 Summit in France.

Meanwhile, the Girls and Women project is inviting everyone to share their ideas on “how to provide universal education, improve child and maternal health, and eradicate poverty so that girls and women can fully realize their potential and contribute to the economic prosperity and stability of their communities and countries.” Visit The Change Room to share your ideas, or read or vote for others’ ideas about what actions or initiatives should be implemented to maximize the impact of women in the world.

Posted in Events, In the news.

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By DIVA – 8 June 2010

We’re On Twitter!

The DIVA Foundation is now live on Twitter. Be sure to start following us so you can stay up-to-date with what we’re doing, thinking, and posting about.

To follow us, login to your Twitter account and search for DIVAFoundation.

Posted in About DIVA.

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By DIVA – 4 June 2010

Time Is Critical With Heart Attacks

A study released on Wednesday has concluded that it the speed of treatment rather than the type of treatment this is more important when treating heart attacks. This Quebec study concluded that the faster a heart attack patient receives the clot-busting drugs or an angioplasty procedure to open a blocked artery, the better the success rate.

To read more about this study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, see the article on CBC.ca.

Posted in Fitness, In the news, Physical health.

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By DIVA – 4 June 2010

Meagan McGrath reaches another peak!

On March 23, Meagan McGrath, our first DIVA of Distinction, reached the summit of Lhotse, Nepal. Towering 8516 m above sea level, Lhotse is the 4th tallest mountain in the world.

She initially attempted the climb without oxygen, but discovered, after spending two days at an elevation of 7600 m, that the depleted oxygen at that altitude was incredibly fatiguing to the human body. On the advice of her Sherpa, she continued and completed the climb with supplemental oxygen. Meagan says “It was worth it — the view from the summit was magnificent, and looking at Mount Everest from across the way was extraordinary.”

Meagan is currently in Kathmandu busily assessing her next expeditions in the Himalayas: K2 and Broad Peak.

To hear more about Meagan’s climb of Lhotse, you can listen to her audio blogs. 

Support Meagan as she strives to reach her goals by becoming a Mountain Magic Trekking Sponsor with a $150 donation. For more information: http://www.meaganmcgrathadventurer.com/

Posted in DIVA of Distinction.

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By DIVA – 31 May 2010

Healthcare Wait Times

Lets admit it, no one is a fan of visiting the doctor… So as a consequence, we often put off making the phone call to book an appointment when we’re not feeling that great. We rationalize, thinking that whatever it is “will pass” or “I’ll see how I feel in a week”. Eventually though we are forced to admit that yes, it is time to get checked out by a healthcare professional.

Problem is, there simply just aren’t enough doctors and specialists to go around. This is not a new problem in Canada but what is new, in a study released in April that discovered that specialist wait times are in fact higher for women. A study done by Statistics Canada found that women are much less likely than men to see a specialist within a month of their initial visit.

The report states that 51 per cent of men said they saw a specialist within a month, compared with 42 per cent of women.

So, what does this mean for Canadian women? Well, really don’t wait. Go to the doctor when you start to feel sick or there is a problem. And be sure to follow-up if you think it is taking a while to get the appointment with a specialist.

To read more about the Statistics Canada study and its findings, read the article on the CBC website.

Posted in Fitness, In the news, Physical health.

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By DIVA – 28 May 2010

New research in screening and early detection of ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer is one of the deadliest cancers for women: in Canada, more women die from ovarian cancer than all the other gynaecological cancers combined. The key problem with ovarian cancer is that it is difficult to detect in its early stages. Although it is 90% curable when detected early, 70% of ovarian cancers are detected in an advanced stage, when the survival rate is only 10-20%.

This week, American researchers reported that a simple blood screen followed up by an ultrasound as indicated by the blood test detected malignant ovarian tumours with minimal false alarms. Although the study is relatively preliminary, it supports early results from a larger study underway in the UK that will show clearer results in the next few years.

Currently, no reliable screening test exists to diagnose ovarian cancer. Symptoms and markers can be vague or elusive, and exploratory surgery is required to confirm a diagnosis. This can lead to either avoiding or delaying diagnosis, or the opposite problem of treating symptoms that aren’t necessarily cancerous with an invasive surgical procedure. The researchers studying the blood test plus ultrasound screening method believe that they are on track to developing a screening process that will find aggressive tumours while avoiding unnecessary false positives and subsequent surgeries.

According to the Ovarian Cancer Canada organization, the risk of developing ovarian cancer increases as women age: 60% of those diagnosed are over the age of 50. To find out more about the symptoms, treatments and prognosis of ovarian cancer, visit Ovarian Cancer Canada.

Read more about this new research on ovarian cancer screening at Medscape Medical News or CBC News.

Posted in In the news, Physical health.

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By DIVA – 24 May 2010

New iPhone app aimed at women’s safety

A new iPhone application released on Friday by the YWCA is intended to be used by women who feel they are in danger  or in a difficult situation. The “Safety Siren” app sends a call and email that to a friend or family member when the user clicks a button or shakes their iPhone, depending on the settings she has chosen. It also includes contact information for YWCA branches, emergency hotlines, and access to a library of women’s health information, among other resources. The app is available free from the Apple App store.

You can read more about the Safety Siren app in the CBC News or the Toronto Star.

Posted in Physical health, Social health.

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By DIVA – 22 May 2010