Popular sexual-health program geared to immigrant women in jeopardy
Cam Tran, right, a counsellor at the Immigrant Women's Health Centre in Toronto translates for client Guangqun Xia, left, during an exam with Dr. Sheila Wijayasinghe, physician and medical director at the clinic Jan. 3, 2011. (Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail)
Winnebago is a sexual health service that operates out of a mobile home. It provides services such as translation, medical and other support services for women who are poor, lack health coverage and having trouble accessing proper medical care. This service has been around for 20 plus years. This service is supported by City of Toronto which recently proposed a $200,000 cut to Winnebago's budget.. The proposed cut amounts to roughly 25 per cent of the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre’s city funding which amounts to almost 25% of Winnebago's budget. This comes in the face of growing demands for the service. The organisation will be left with some tough choices if this goes through.
Politicians such as city councillor Mike Layton are rallying support in an effort to spare the Immigrant Women’s Health Centre from the axe.
The agency currently provides outreach, counselling and translation in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Portuguese, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Italian and Vietnamese. “We see a lot of women who have faced abuse, who come from countries where rape is not uncommon. To be able to provide culturally sensitive care in that situation, it’s a vital service for that reason.”
I hope the City of Toronto realises that this is a small price to pay for what they could pay if these women are not treated. They could end up in the hospitals, psychiatric wards and in other institutions where it would be much more costly to maintain them.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/popular-sexual-health-program-geared-to-immigrant-women-in-jeopardy/article2290712/?service=mobile
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