October Message from the SOGC President
I hope that all of you have now settled into your fall routines and that you were able to enjoy some time with your family and friends over the Thanksgiving weekend.
This past month, I had the privilege of presenting at the NAMS meeting in Philadelphia, the Quebec CME in Trois-Rivières (a great success!), and the FIGO conference in Paris, France. We had a strong Canadian contingent in France, many of whom gave invited presentations and/or were confirmed as FIGO Committee Chairs, and our AOGQ Colleagues hosted an academic half day for FIGO attendees. The FIGO meeting also provided us with an opportunity to collaborate with our colleagues at ACOG, RCOG, and RANZCOG – more to come on that!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the SOGC has created a podcast with Ottawa Breast Cancer Specialist, Dr. Jean Seely. Please take a moment to listen to this update on breast cancer screening guidelines once it’s available online. This month, World Menopause Day takes place on October 18th and we would like to remind our members of important resources available to them, including the SOGC Menopause Guidelines , the SOGC menopauseandu.ca website, the upcoming Ontario CME in Toronto on November 23-25th , and the Canadian Menopause Society meeting on November 10th-11th in Vancouver.
Of course, the SOGC is continuing our advocacy work for a Universal Contraception Policy. As Dr. Wendy Norman in B.C. has said, coverage for contraception should not depend on your postal code!
If you haven’t already, please add your voice by writing to your MP asking them to make universal contraception coverage a priority for their political party (regardless of which party that is). The list of MPs, a sample letter, and how to send it to them (no postage required!) can be found at the following links.
Wishing you all a wonderful (but not too scary!) Hallowe’en. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or any member of our Board of Directors if you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns.
Dr. Amanda Black
SOGC President