Fall Impact Report 2021

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INVISIBLE TO
INVINCIBLE

2020/21 IMPACT REPORT

Our Impact Report, INVISIBLE TO INVINCIBLE, highlights the many ways your investments are amplifying the voices of women, making systemic changes in policy and practice, bridging the gender gap in women’s health research, and helping to fund vital equipment and upgrades at the province’s dedicated women’s hospital.

ON OUR COVER

MEET ASHLEY SINDAYEN

‘I believe in the power of [the Foundation’s] message and the impact they are having on the lives of women today.’

Ashley Sindayen is a mother of three and a care provider for adults with disabilities. Ashley is a BC Women’s Health Foundation community champion who uses her personal story of reproductive mental health to draw attention to the health needs of all women.

OUR VISION
TO ENSURE ALL WOMEN AT ALL LIFE STAGES IN BRITISH COLUMBIA HAVE ACCESS TO THE HIGHEST QUALITY HEALTHCARE WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW THEY NEED IT.

LETTER FROM
CEO + BOARD CHAIR

There were times throughout 2020-2021 when all we could do was courageously keep taking steps into the unknown as the global pandemic brought daily challenges to our mission at BC Women’s Health Foundation…

Genesa M. Greening
President + CEO
BC Women’s Health Foundation

Karim Kassam
Board Chair
BC Women’s Health Foundation

OUR 4
PILLARS

BC Women’s Health Foundation is the largest non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the full spectrum of women’s health in the province of British Columbia. Together with you, we address the barriers to health equity for women and gender-diverse people at every life stage through initiatives across our four-pillar mandate: Education + Awareness, Advocacy, Capital + Equipment, and Research + Innovation.

EDUCATION +
AWARENESS

BC Women’s Health Foundation is dedicated to driving a gendered approach to healthcare in BC that is culturally-safe and trauma-informed.

ADVOCACY

BC Women’s Health Foundation is dedicated to ensuring the investment models in health, research, policy, and practice are shifted towards being gender equitable.

CAPITAL +
EQUIPMENT

BC Women’s Health Foundation is dedicated to ensuring the facilities, equipment, and programs at BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre match their world-class model-of-care.

RESEARCH +
INNOVATION

BC Women’s Health Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that the health needs of women and gender diverse people, have been validated as unique, real, and important through solutions-focused research and innovation.

YOUR IMPACT

APRIL 2020 – MARCH 2021

0

contributed by donors

0

individual donors, Foundations,
and corporate donors

0

projects funded

0

women’s stories shared

AMPLIFYING THE VOICES AND
HEALTH NEEDS OF WOMEN THROUGH

EDUCATION + AWARENESS

Your support of our education + awareness initiatives increases knowledge, and changes the conversation about women’s health. You can help to shift the discourse by investing in the most urgent priorities of the Foundation.

EDUCATION + AWARENESS

IN HER CIRCLE

The horrific, ongoing discoveries of the bodies of thousands of Indigenous children buried outside residential schools across the country…

DESTIGMATIZING MENTAL HEALTH

Pre-pandemic, British Columbia had the most women-owned, small-businesses of any province in Canada, and this was

GENERATING TRANSFORMATIONAL INVESTMENT
AND SHAPING POLICY THROUGH

ADVOCACY

Your advocacy for women’s health shapes systemic change for healthcare policy, practice, and investment. Become a monthly donor today. Your investment will ensure women have equitable access to quality healthcare, now and in the future.

ADVOCACY

A MAJOR STEP FORWARD

In May 2021, Health Canada took a significant step towards providing equitable access to reproductive healthcare by greenlighting…

ADDRESSING HEALTH NEEDS AND QUALITY OF CARE FOR ALL WOMEN THROUGH

CAPITAL + EQUIPMENT

Your support of the capital + equipment needs of British Columbia’s only dedicated women’s hospital, helps to provide accessible, world-class healthcare. You can help medical teams catch life threatening conditions in mothers and infants by investing in urgently needed fetal monitors ($50,000 each).

CAPITAL + EQUIPMENT

CULTURAL TRADITIONS HELP HEALING

Access to traditional medicines, healing, Indigenous cultural spaces and increasing visibility of Indigenous cultures in healthcare…

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE AND ENABLING
EXCELLENCE THROUGH

RESEARCH + INNOVATION

Your investment in women’s health research bridges the gendered funding gap, exposes biases in women’s healthcare, and accelerates change in our province, nationally, and internationally. Your donation towards a virtual platform developed by the BC Reproductive Mental Health Program ($1.46M) is a significant step towards achieving this goal.

RESEARCH + INNOVATION

DONOR SPOTLIGHT

Artist and entrepreneur, Lisa Turner, has been a passionate supporter of BC Women’s Health Foundation since 1999. As a result…

AND THE AWARD GOES TO

Women’s health research is chronically underfunded, and always has been, resulting in significant knowledge gaps about…

BRINGING COMMUNITY
TOGETHER IN A VIRTUAL
WORLD

Your commitment enables us to support community partners with initiatives that serve the unique healthcare needs of women throughout the province, including virtual resources for women experiencing violence.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Ava experienced severe depression during her pregnancy journey. She’s not alone – almost one-quarter of women in Canada…

IMPROVING WOMEN’S HEALTH BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF OUR FOUNDATION

Fueled by the power of our collective impact to positively affect the lives of women across British Columbia, we are building a community of like-minded organizations that lead with commitment, compassion, and resilience.

Our donor supported partnerships range from assisting anti-violence programs across the province with the Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC), to sourcing personal protective equipment for WISH Drop-in Centre Society (WISH), to funding new telehealth supports for Options for Sexual Health’s telehealth service.

Ninu Kang

Executive Director of EVABC

“When organizations like ours join forces, there is so much more we are able to accomplish. Through our partnership we amplify the needs of women in British Columbia and effect change. I’m looking forward to a new era of collaboration and innovation.”

Mebrat Beyene

Executive Director, WISH

“We are grateful for BCWHF’s recognition of the needs of women who are chronically under-served by the healthcare system, and grateful to them for providing WISH participants with much-needed PPE at the outset of the pandemic.”

Michelle Fortin

Executive Director,
Options for Sexual Health

“Support from BCWHF helped us to expand the reach of our telehealth service, giving Options staff and folks we support in remote communities, consistent and timely access to physicians.”

FINANCIAL MEASURES

2020-2021

THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO ENSURE ALL WOMEN, AT ALL LIFE STAGES,

HAVE ACCESS TO THE HIGHEST QUALITY HEALTHCARE, WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW THEY NEED IT.

VIEW OUR PAST IMPACT REPORTS