Saturday, March 20, 1999
Health event kicks off; women urged to cop attitudes
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall calls it “health with an attitude.”
Women who want the best treatments for their health problems have to become relentless, tenacious consumers who are willing to switch doctors and challenge health plan bureaucrats when necessary.
“You are the consumer. Women make 75 percent of all the health care decisions for their families. That translates into about $500 billion worth of attitude,” Dr. Lewis-Hall said. “If you can't find what you need, go somewhere else.”
Dr. Lewis-Hall, a psychiatrist and director of women's health at Eli Lilly and Co., was the keynote speaker Friday for the start of a three-day “Speaking of Women's Health” conference at the new Northern Kentucky Conven tion Center.
The sold-out event is expected to draw more than 2,500 women. Topics includethe often underestimated risk women face of heart disease, sleep disorders, hormone replacement therapy, breast cancer, osteoporosis, sexuality, weight control, mental health and spirituality — even tips on managing finances.
The conference, which started in 1996 as a one-day event in Cincinnati, has grown into a national foundation that will run conferences in six other cities this year, including Detroit and San Jose, Calif.
“We're helping women learn to take better care of themselves. When it comes to health care, we're usually the last ones we take care of,” said Kathy DeLaura, executive director of the Speaking of Women's Health National Foundation.
As recently as 1990, women and women's health concerns were deeply underrepresented in research, Dr. Lewis-Hall said. Now, however, many health organizations are recognizing the concept of gender-specific medicine.
The term describes a growing body of research that looks at the differences in symptoms between men and women for many common diseases, and differences in how men and women respond to treatments.
“Doesn't anybody wonder why women get heart disease later than men or why women with depression outnumber men two to one?” Dr. Lewis- Hall said.
In addition to its various seminars, the conference announced several grants to support women's health initiatives and honored three Tristate women for their contributions to women's health.
The honorees were Sue MacDonald, Enquirer health writer; Maureen Wood, Women's Research and Development Center executive director, and Dr. Denise Davis, an obstetrician-gynecologist and author.
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