"Women With Disabilities: Quality of Care/Quality of Life"
Betsy Ruf, ‘01

With the insight and compassion so admirable in the field of nursing, the Villanova University College of Nursing sacrificed hours of time and effort in order to organize a conference devoted to the needs of women with disabilities. The efforts of the committee, under the leadership of Dr. Suzanne Smeltzer, associate professor of nursing, were well rewarded: An open forum in which facilitators and participants explored health care challenges facing women with disabilities, analyzed existing strategies to address these challenges and identified innovative new approaches to support improved health care for disabled women. The goal of the conference was to motivate not only discussion but, more importantly, legislative opportunity and action.

In addition to presentations and discussions, the conference boasted several notable speakers. Among them was Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A., United States surgeon general, Rear Admiral, and Senior Science Advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services where she previously served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health. Blumenthal spoke in her keynote address of "Critical Health Issues in the 21^st Century: Implications for Women with Disabilities." The conference and the issues she addressed through her work hold a personal significance for Blumenthal. The "fear and helplessness" she felt as a 10-year-old learning of her mother’s cancer diagnosis motivated Blumenthal’s desire to become a doctor. During her first year of college, her mother developed breast cancer and, in her last year of medical school, the cancer traveled to her mother’s spinal cord. Blumenthal’s mother lived just long enough to see her daughter become a doctor. Blumenthal’s efforts are not simply part of her occupation – they are part of a personal crusade.

Also featured speakers at the conference were Villanova College of Nursing professors Nancy Sharts-Hopko and Maureen Sullivan, speaking about "Beliefs, Perceptions and Practices Related to the Ability to Prevent Immobility and Fracture Among Women with Multiple Sclerosis," and Vanessa Zimmerman and Suzanne Smeltzer, discussing "Bone Density Testing and Risk Factors for Osteoporosis in Women with Disabilities."