Support The Empress Walk to Support Women in Need on August 18, 2018
Come join us this Saturday August 18th for our Empress Walk at the 1st Annual Health & Wellness Community Fair at the Rastafest Reggae Festival this weekend.
OUR STORY
The Empress Walk began in 2017 as a result of a community coming together to help one of its members in need. Tanish, a young Jamaican Canadian woman was facing a serious family crisis. Her mother, Coline Gordon, only 42 years old, lives in Jamaica with cancer. Her leg was amputated to avoid further spread of the disease and as anyone can imagine, their lives dramatically changed and her mother's mobility severely restricted.
Tanish and her mother struggled to pay for the surgery and ongoing medical bills. The vision of The Empress Walk was for a giving community of friends to raise money towards the purchase of a prosthetic leg for Coline Gordon. The first Empress Walk took place on October 28, 2017 at the Dream Resto Lounge in Markham, Ontario. The event featured local designers, stylists, makeup artists, speakers, singers and many others volunteering their time and talents to bring awareness to the cause. We raised $2,167 CDN.
Like our motto suggests, This Is Your Walk', we support each individual's journey towards recovery, overcoming the barriers to health and wellness one woman at a time.
FOR WOMEN, BY WOMEN, WITH WOMEN!
The Empress Walk brings awareness to the many culturally diverse women facing barriers to access, quality healthcare and information about high risk diseases, diagnosis and treatment. Poverty, income, status, systemic barriers, financial instability and location are key determining factors to good health.
By 2031, 3 out of every 10 people will be a women of colour and culture (2011 Statscan)
1 in 10 Canadians are poor with 1.5 million women living below the poverty line (Canadian Women's Foundation)
Black women are 43% more likely to die from cancer over Caucasian women (Marc Hulbert, PhD, Breast Cancer Research Foundation)
Cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in the Americas, including the Caribbean, with 1.3 million lives each year (PAHO, 2013)
Black immigrants in Canada were 76% more likely to categorize themselves as unhealthy over other ethnic groups (2012 report by the Wellesley Institute)
About 47% of cancer related deaths occur in The Caribbean and Latin America (PAHO)
In 2014, Canadians with the lowest incomes were twice as likely to report cardiovascular disease than those with higher incomes (Health Status of Canadians 2016, Ministry of Public Health)
The proportion of Canadians living with diabetes, 20 years and older, has doubled between 2000 and 2011, from 6% to 10% (Health Status of Canadians 2016, Ministry of Public Health)
Globally, there is an ever-increasing need for resources and therefore, community outreach is important to spreading awareness and developing vital programs to increase women's participation in their own healthcare. It is even more important than ever for culturally diverse women especially to benefit from the latest medical advancements for prevention and early detection in conjunction with holistic practices to better their chances for survival and life expectancy.
This Saturday, August 18th from 10am to 1pm you can join in this walk for Women's Health, A Walk For Health in the Community at Rastafest Reggae Festival. For more information go to www.empresswalk.org. or www.rastafest.com.
