Time to read:
Last Wednesday, as rain fell on Coffs Harbour before most people had finished their morning coffee, something quietly extraordinary happened.
Our community showed up.
The Walk for Women’s Health – held as part of the Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre’s 40th anniversary – brought together Directors, staff (current and past), local leaders including Councillor Cath Fowler, our previous CEO Brownwyn Chalmers, Lifeline CEO Ange Martin and an incredible number of community members. On a wet and drizzly Wednesday morning. Before work.
That kind of showing up says something.
Women’s health has always relied on people who believe in it enough to show up – even when it’s inconvenient, even when conditions aren’t ideal, even when the road ahead is uncertain. Forty years ago, this Centre began because passionate local advocates refused to accept that women in our region deserved anything less than accessible, compassionate, women-centred care. That same spirit was on full display last week.
As I said at the Walk – the theme of this day was not just celebration. It was continuity.
In 2023-24 the the NSW Government’s boosted funding for Women’s Health Centres across NSW – an additional $34.3 million over four years – is a meaningful recognition of the work Women’s Health Centres do for the most vulnerable women in our communities. We are cautiously optimistic that our next contracts will continue to reflect that boost. And when they do, it will mean expanded reach, more outreach, more nurses and mental health clinicians, more women who don’t fall through the cracks.
But investment – is never the finish line. It is a foundation.
Women across our region continue to face barriers to care. Reproductive health, pelvic pain, mental health, the compounding effects of violence and poverty and isolation – these are not small problems and they do not solve themselves. The Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre exists because this community decided, 40 years ago, that women deserved better. Keeping that promise requires all of us – government, sector, community – to keep resourcing this work.
Thank you to everyone who walked with us last week. To Councillor Fowler, to our Board, to our extraordinary staff, to the women who trust us with their health and their stories – and to artist Karly Morris, who’s beautiful Nyami’s Healing artwork carries the spirit of this milestone.
Here’s to the next 40 years.
Taz
Catch Health Voyage CEO Tazmyn and Women’s Health Nurse Berry on NBN News sharing the importance of the Walk for Women’s Health.
💜 Watch the snippet here and join us in supporting women’s health in our community.
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