Today, heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. Sudden cardiac death is the most frequent presentation of the disease in women. The statistics from the American Heart Association are eye opening.
As parents sought to navigate a situation where their healthy daughters had become sick and, in the worse case scenario – died, they turned to the Internet for answers. Scouring the web for information, checking message boards and chat rooms, they found out that their predicament was not isolated.
As the average American tries to make sense of the constantly shifting health plan and attendant debates, one issue remains crystal clear. Women’s reproductive rights are being used as a football and bargaining chip in the fight to secure a long awaited health care bill.
“The most important point that I have always said from day one, is that the use of this vaccine must be done with informed consent and complete disclosure of the benefits and harms of Pap screening and HPV vaccines. The decision to be vaccinated must be the woman’s (or parent’s if it is for a young child), and not the physician’s or any board of health, as the vaccination contains personal risk that only the person can value.
Dr. Gibstein suggested that time would tell if the protection is durable, and if complications can be directly attributable to the vaccine.
The film explores three separate histories. As Jones wrote me via e-mail, “We wanted to look at the subject of HIV/AIDS in the light of people living with it, rather than dying from it.”
I talked with Media Relations spokesperson, Pam Eisele, about the vaccine. I submitted a series of questions for the company to answer via e-mail, referencing red flags that had come up in my research. All my queries were responded to, and Eisele offered to put me in touch with a clinical researcher if I required further explanations.
When I first started looking at the HPV vaccine, I didn’t realize that the story would grow exponentially, touching on a wide range of issues. My goal is to present basic information in conjunction with various points of view. It is an evolving narrative.
With First Lady Michelle Obama leading the charge to put the struggle for work/life balance front and center, the issue is finally getting top-level attention.
We need to move forward with advocacy and legislative solutions. For the caregivers devoted to either our older citizens or those who make up the future generation, there has got to be a better way.
"The Jump Rope Line" by Marcia G. Yerman is included in the Seal Press anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom.
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