Empowering wellness together

A celebration of women’s health at The Floating Hospital

On Saturday, March 9, we celebrated our bi-annual Women’s Wellness Day at The Floating Hospital’s flagship Long Island City clinic. Our spring event bloomed with joyful activity. Staff, volunteers, donors and partners came together to help make self-care a priority for women and girls. We offered a range of services and educational opportunities, including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings, HPV vaccines, spa treatments, beauty services, workshops and giveaways of clothing and personal care items.

Women’s Wellness Day was founded 13 years ago by a health educator at The Floating Hospital to provide essential care and relief to women who rarely have the opportunity to take care of themselves: female heads of household living in New York City’s family shelters and domestic violence safe houses. Today, this event is more than just a health initiative; it celebrates women’s health and empowerment and is a lifeline for women who could not avail themselves of preventative healthcare services otherwise.

An ongoing partnership with the American-Italian Cancer Foundation (AICF) has ensured that any woman who attends the event can receive a mammogram, some for the first time in their lives. Preventative care is a major pillar of The Floating Hospital’s approach to whole health; while mammograms address physical needs, the event’s self-care offerings provide a much-needed opportunity to de-stress.

According to a National Library of Medicine study “awareness and resilience do predict self-care, and self-care mediates the negative relationship between stress and health.” The Floating Hospital is acutely aware that our patients too often face barriers to self-care, which impact their health in visible and invisible ways.

Sreeta Quintana, the director of clinic operations, has been expanding the program since its inception. During the event, dressed colorfully in a flowing red cape to signify that any woman can be a superhero, she shared, “Today, we are celebrating women. We want to empower our patients, make them feel welcome, and engage them in activities that help them relax and de-stress.”

Quintana went on to emphasize the opportunity on Women’s Wellness Day for potential new patients to see what The Floating Hospital is all about: “We want them to get a mammogram and a pap smear—and also browse our racks of free clothing, enjoy a massage, get a haircut, get a henna tattoo and enjoy good food. And laugh.”

Kenya, a patient who attended Women’s Wellness Day, shared her delight in the experience and The Floating Hospital’s impact on her life. “I did two workshops today. I did a workshop on stress management, and I just finished the workshop on menopause—which was important for me because I am going through the process.”

As always, volunteers are essential to our work. From set-up assistance to patient personal “shoppers,” volunteers from myriad organizations helped make the day special for everyone—and themselves!!

“One woman said she wasn’t going to come today—she has a four-week-old at home, and all of the things we were giving her were going to help with that. Another woman, who had just had her hair done, said she felt like a million dollars. She said, ‘This is a very, very special day for me.’ It’s really wonderful to be a part of this…to see how happy these women are and how special they feel coming to this event and seeing all the things available to them.”

This post is featured in our monthly newsletter from March 2024.

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