HEAS INITIATIVES
What is HEAS and their mission?
HEAS helps promote equity and advocacy in science, ensuring all global populations are well-represented across fields of health.
What is Orange Shirt Day (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation)?
This annual observance on September 30 in Canada honours the children who never returned home from residential schools and raises awareness of the ongoing impact on Indigenous communities.
What global campaign day raises awareness for women’s health and equity?
International Women’s Day (March 8)
What are health disparities?
This term describes the unfair and avoidable differences in health outcomes and access to care between racial and ethnic groups.
What is Medicare (Canada’s universal health care system)?
This publicly funded system ensures that all Canadian residents have access to medically necessary hospital and physician services regardless of income.
What is HEAS’s biggest initiative of the year? Hint: it’s not a health-focused event, but an arts one!
The Women’s annual Coffeehouse, in partnership with other women’s and equity clubs! The coffeehouse features women performers and artists.
What is Indigenous Services Canada?
This federal department in Canada works with First Nations and Inuit communities to improve health programs and services.
Which everyday health product was once taxed as a “luxury item” in Canada until 2015?
Menstrual products
How much more likely are black women to pass during pregnancy-related deaths than white women?
Three times more likely
What is the Canada Health Act?
This federal law, passed in 1984, sets out the principles of universality, portability, accessibility, and public administration for Canada’s health care system.
What is an HEAS initiative focusing on student-led research?
The HEAS research journal allows students to submit research reviews on health equity issues!
By how many years is the life expectancy for First Nations males born between 2020–2022 lower than for non-Indigenous males in Canada?
Around 8.8 years lower (71.9 years vs. 80.6 years)
What percent of women feel their medical professionals don’t listen or believe in them?
80%
During the COVID-19 pandemic, what percent of hospitalization rates were among Black and Hispanic populations compared to White populations in the U.S.?
Hospitalization rates were 60.2% for Black patients and 62.3% for Hispanic patients, compared to 47.7% for White patients
Which group of people in Canadian healthcare are overrepresented in lower-wage healthcare jobs, but underrepresented in leadership roles?
Racialized women
How does HEAS promote health equity through social media?
By posting about various health equity topics on Instagram, HEAS expands health equity issue awareness
Between 2017–2020, which Indigenous group in Canada had the highest proportion of people without a regular health care provider (RHCP), and what was the percentage?
Inuit, with 56.5% without a RHCP.
What is the First Nations Health Authority?
A government initiative aiming to support Indigenous health by improving healthcare access in remote areas
Which racialized group in Canada faces a disproportionate risk of diabetes and chronic disease?
South Asians
What is the Provincial Drug Plan/Ontario Drug Benefit?
An insurance coverage to help low-income families in Canada pay for prescription drugs
How do HEAS initiatives differ from typical healthcare, science clubs? (no one right answer!)
Potential answers:
-HEAS focuses on advocacy too
-HEAS looks at science beyond just data
-HEAS focuses more on how people are affected by healthcare
-HEAS is activism AND science driven
What is environmental racism?
The disproportionate burden of environmental hazards in areas where racialized populations are large, such as Indigenous reserves unclean water.
Which chronic diseases affect women more than men in Canada?
Osteoarthritic, osteoporosis, dementia, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis
Compared to White patients, how are Black and Hispanic patients unfairly treated during psychiatric emergencies in U.S. emergency departments?
Black and Hispanic patients are more likely to be physically restrained and chemically sedated, have longer wait times, and are less likely to be admitted or transferred to another hospital
Which province/regions of Canada face the most healthcare inequity and inaccess?
The Northern Territories, due to geographic inaccess