Vancouver Women’s Health Collective

A leaflet inviting women to join the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC) in national actions against Dalkon Shield IUD manufacturers for making dangerous birth control devices available to women and continuing to market IUDs even after it was clear that not enough research had been done to ensure the safety of users.

An information sheet on the concept of self-help, prepared by the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC). The document critically analyzes the gender-based hierarchy of the health care system, and of the relationship between doctor (typically male) and patient. The document briefly examines historical types of health care, women centred health care, and the ways that formal health care was institutionalized in the 19th century in a way that made alternate forms of health care inaccessible or illegal. The document encourages women to share information with one anther in order to take back control over their bodies and their health.

An information sheet prepared by the Vancouver Women's Health Collective (VWHC), with step-by-step instructions for self-insemination.

This document introduces women to the Vancouver women's Health Collective (VWHC) Doctor Directory. The directory was established by the VWHC as a tool for women searching for a "good doctor" in the Lower Mainland, and is a "formalized grapevine" of evaluations of doctors filled out by women in the community. However, the document reports that the search for a good doctor is misguided because of implicit problems within the health care system, which is a hierarchical, profit-driven industry. It explains that the tendency for patients to place blind trust in doctors creates dependency and ignorance about our own bodies, which doctors rely on. Instead we should remember that we should expect good care from doctors, who are highly paid professionals, rather than feel grateful for the care we receive. Moreover, doctors should be perceived as resources, not gods. The document encourages self-education and preventative care, and provides a list of patient rights as well as contact information for legal aid.