Putting New York City Women First
Op-ed
BY CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER CHRISTINE C. QUINN AND FIRST DEPUTY MAYOR PATRICIA E. HARRIS

The recently released National Report Card on Women's Health showed that New York's women are falling behind when it comes to getting proper health screenings and engaging in preventive care. Mammography rates have declined and more than a quarter of women in New York have high blood pressure. In fact, of all five boroughs, Queens has the highest percentage of women over 40 not getting screened for cervical cancer and 31.5 percent of Queens women are overweight. These alarming trends can be reversed, if we work to make our health a priority.

We recently announced free breast health education workshops for hundreds of thousands of city employees and CUNY students throughout the coming year. While a lot of our work in city government consists of creating innovative legislation and ground-breaking policy, we are also dedicated to improving New Yorkers' everyday lives by putting their health and general welfare first.

This past month the City Council, together with the Health Department, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, and the New York City Commission on Women's Issues, launched the NYC Women First campaign to raise awareness about the most pressing women's health issues and encourage New York City's women to take charge of their health.

Over the course of the next year, NYC Women First will focus on a new women's health issue each month and provide concrete steps to help women maximize their health. For instance, as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we kicked off our campaign by encouraging more women to get screened for breast cancer. We have partnered with Macy's Department Stores to post signs in women's dressing rooms, reminding women to get their annual mammograms. In the coming months, we'll be talking about preventing diabetes, getting a colonoscopy and keeping our hearts healthy.

While New York City's women face serious health risks, the good news is that many of these problems, like declining mammography rates, don't require only complex medical solutions. They require education, action, and combined knowledge and resources of the public and private sectors. NYC Women First is just one way to educate women and empower them to take charge of improving their health. The best way to make sure that our city's women are healthy and active is by getting the word out, keeping an open dialogue and working together to put our health first.

Starting a conversation about women's health is our goal. We believe that an open dialogue between New York City's women could be the difference between life and death. For more information, visit www.nycwomenfirst.org or call 311.