Women’s Health Access Program
As a part of ICS’s ongoing commitment to helping women with disabilities receive the best possible health care, the ICS Women’s Health Program published a tip sheet in March 2013 entitled, “Women with Disabilities and Breast Cancer: Know Your Rights.”
The publication draws attention to the need for women with disabilities to receive regular breast exams and outlines their rights while doing so. Specifically, it highlights the increased health risks faced by women with disabilities, the importance of receiving regular mammograms, and the ways in which women can communicate with clinic staff to ensure that they receive the care they need.
Download your copy of the tip sheet today, available in English (top left) and Spanish (above left).
ICS’s Health Access Program for Women with Physical Disabilities seeks to promote health care equity for women with physical disabilities by increasing access to women’s health care services, in collaboration with New York City medical facilities that serve the general public.
This goal is based on the belief that women with disabilities should have access to the same medical facilities as others; that those facilities should be able to provide the best possible care without seeing that care as something “extra,” over and above, and a burden; and that only by moving in this inclusive direction will women with disabilities finally receive the health care they need and to which the Americans with Disabilities Act gave them a basic legal right.
The first step in the process of developing a Women’s Health Program was the creation of ICS’s Breast Cancer Screening Project for Women with Physical Disabilities. A pilot project, it aimed to create and test a model to increase access and reduce barriers to breast cancer screening for women with physical disabilities. Funded from the start by Greater NYC Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® and selected by Komen as 2010 Grantee of the Year, ICS’s Breast Cancer Screening Project has been very successful. For more, go to:
This year, a fifth year of funding from the Greater NYC Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure ® will allow ICS to continue to partner with hospitals in Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn to identify barriers for women with disabilities and continue to build our breast cancer screening program.
ICS also received a generous grant from the Baisley Powell Elebash Fund in 2012, enabling us to expand the Women’s Health Access Program to include gynecological and primary care for women with physical disabilities, while continuing to advocate for changes in policies and practices that affect access, disability competency training for health care personnel and students, and education and empowerment for women with physical disabilities to advocate on their own behalf.
ICS seeks dedicated partners to further develop and implement our pioneering Women’s Health Access Program. For more information, contact Marilyn Saviola, Women’s Program Director, at saviola@icsny.org or 212-584-2587, or Anna Martinez, Breast Cancer Screening Project Coordinator, at amartinez@icsny.org or 718-907-1614.
Learn more about the ICS Care System; contact us at 1-877-ICS-2525 or intakereferrals@icsny.org; or start the application process online.
