On April 1, students gathered to listen to Tasleem J. Padamsee, a professor at Ohio State University, talk about women’s health. Shippensburg University Professor Allison Carey gave some information for students regarding the launch of two Public Health programs. One is an interdisciplinary minor, and the second is a concentration for Sociology in Public Health.

Tasleem narrowed down women’s health to a few issues. These included reproductive, maternal, heart disease, menopause, care giving, mental health and cancer screening. There has historically been a lack of research into these areas but that is changing, according to Tasleem.

There are five important things to look at when considering women’s health including those who are affected, the health risks, conditions of the risks, the underlying causes of the issues and how the issues can be fixed. 

These become important to know when looking at Tasleem’s project: The Daughter Sister Mother Project. She focused on their efforts on breast cancer and spreading awareness to women about breast cancer. For women with heightened risk of breast cancer, they want to make sure they know of risk management methods. 

These risk management methods include enhanced surveillance options, chemoprevention, preventative mastectomy, preventative oophorectomy, and nutrition and exercise alternatives.

They did an interview project of women with breast cancer and talked to them about their lived experiences with breast cancer. In doing so they found out some issues some of them were facing.

An issue that can affect some women’s ability to utilize these methods is finances. Some women do not have insurance, and if they do have it, treatment methods may not be covered or have high deductibles. 

Another issue some women could face is practicality and being able to have time to do the treatments. For example, if a woman does not have anyone available to watch children or cannot have time to take off a job they may put off getting treatment.

A student asked a question about what age to start thinking about risks. Tasleem answered that it depends on personal cancer history. Initial testing should be done ten years prior to a youngest relative’s diagnosis.

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