Vancouver Women’s Health Collective

The project proposal for the Community Health Advocates Program was proposed by the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC) to the Community Health Innovation Fund of the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board. The overall goal of the program was to "provide the women of Vancouver/Richmond region with a consistent means to deal with the systemic violence they may experience in the health care system." The proposal details the program objectives and the outcomes measurements that would evaluate the success of the program, and provides an action plan and timeline for the program. The proposal also addresses the appropriateness and feasibility of the program, and provides a project budget. Finally, the proposal includes a list of several community organizations who have agreed to support the program by providing space for community health advocates, as well as a long list of quotes from letters of support from community organizations and unions.

A Spanish brochure describing the Community Health Advocates project, a project of the Vancouver Women's Health Collective and funded by the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board. The project trained women in different communities in the Lower Mainland to act as advocates for women with different needs, including disabled women, African women, Somali women, lesbian and bisexual women, etc. The brochure suggests different ways a health advocate might be useful, how to get in contact with a community health advocate, and information about patients' rights.

This poster advertises the Vancouver Women's Health Collective's Community Health Advocate Project. It lists questions a woman might ask her community health advocate, such as "What are my rights as a woman in the health care system?", and suggests that a Community Health Advocate will listen, and provide support and information to women in her community. Contact information is included.

This pamphlet, produced by the Minneapolis Lesbian Fat Liberation group and distributed in Vancouver through a Fat Issues Workshop, addresses some of the stereotypes and stigmas associated with sexuality, weight, and women. The pamphlet includes a list of 20 actions to take or ways to change thinking processes in order to end the oppression of fat women, and fat lesbian women in particular. The list includes statements such as "Let yourself be attracted to a Fat Dyke/womyn. It's not an accident that you've 'never' been attracted to a fat Lesbian." The pamphlet encourages consciousness-raising, exposure of "fatophobia" and building pride rather than self-hatred.