What is Every Woman?
Every Woman is a health education initiative for women of the Upstate provided by Greenville Health System (GHS). Through this effort, we want to encourage you to embrace a fit and healthy lifestyle, the key to reducing risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and other illnesses.
The National Women's Health Information Center offers the following 10 steps that you can take to help live longer, live better, and live happier:
- Be informed. Learn about health promotion and disease prevention and ask your physician for specific information regarding your needs.
- Be good to your bones. For healthy bones, be sure to replenish your stock of calcium every day with plenty calcium-rich foods, such as milk, and other dairy products, tofu, leafy green vegetables, canned salmon or sardines, and calcium fortified juices or breads. Speak with your physician about calcium supplements.
- Avoid illegal drugs and alcohol. For women, the definition of moderate drinking stops at one glass. Where illicit drugs are concerned, there is no such thing as "moderate" use.
- Take medicine wisely. Read the labels, follow the instructions carefully, and remind your physician or pharmacist about any other medications or supplements you might be taking that could interact with the medication in question. If you have any concerns about possible side effects, call your physician or pharmacist.
- Play it safe. Avoid injuries. Buckle up. Wear a bike helmet. Use smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Wear sunscreen and UV-protected sunglasses. Use street smarts and common sense. Practice safe sex.
- Get checked. Get regular checkups, prevention examinations, and immunizations. Do not forget self-examinations, too. Do not be afraid to ask your physician questions, including when you need the consulting services or other medical specialists.
- Do not smoke. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in our country.
- Eat smart. It is the secret to good health. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Enjoy a variety of foods. Balance foods from each food group and eat in moderation.
- Get moving. The other secret to good health: just 30 minutes of physical activity, accumulated over the course of each day, can radically improve the way you look and feel, both physically and mentally.
- Be happy. Take time for yourself. Get connected with family, friends, and community. Do things you enjoy!
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What is Every Woman?
The goal of the Every Woman health initiative is to help women of all ages, races, and economic backgrounds achieve and maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle through prevention, early detection, and appropriate medical interventions available through GHS.
The Every Woman health initiative targets all women in local communities through educational lunch-and-learns offering health advice at churches, businesses, and hospital locations throughout the year. In addition, there is a major signature event each year drawing over 1,000 women to learn more through educational speakers and demonstrations throughout the day-long event.
Each month, the lunch and learn topics are different, varying from breast cancer awareness to lowering heart disease risks. It is GHS’s mission to improve the health of people in its community in a caring, cost effective manner. By providing women with important health education and encouraging healthy behaviors, they hope to decrease hospitalization rates and readmissions, help women identify potential risk factors, and perhaps improve the health of entire families.
The “Heart of Every Woman” health initiative began in 2003 as a year-long community health awareness effort designed to educate women about the prevalence, prevention, and causes of heart disease. The initiative employed a variety of educational events and materials that reached over 10,000 women.
Using input from focus groups, surveys, and participant evaluations, the “Heart of Every Woman” evolved into the “Every Woman” health initiative. The purpose remains the same—to educate and empower women—but has expanded to include more health and lifestyle topics, such as diet and diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, menopause, and stress management. Educational lunch-and-learn sessions continue to be held at churches, businesses, and hospital locations and many are targeted specifically to minorities. The initiative’s largest event drew more than 1,000 women this year, taking a more holistic approach by adding activities and demonstrations focused on the mind, body, and spirit.
Staff members who participate in the initiative and apply what they learn not only improve their own health, but become role models for their patients. Patients can then benefit from the personal experiences of the people treating them as well as the expert health advice they receive during the education sessions.
Visitors and the community both benefit from this initiative just knowing that our hospital has trained experts who not only know how to treat various illnesses, but know what it means to live a longer, healthier life.
GHS as a whole benefits from this initiative by fulfilling its mission to improve the health of the people we serve, while also building relationships with businesses such as Bi-Lo and the local media who share a common vision: to foster the health and well-being of every citizen and, in doing so, to build a better future and improve quality of life.
Since 2003, the “Every Woman” health initiative continues to grow and expand, advancing patient-centered care by focusing on the health of the women in our community before they become patients. By encouraging healthy behaviors and helping identify potential risk factors, these women can improve their health and the health of their entire families.
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