In 1869 British MP John Stuart Mill was the first person in Parliament to call for women’s right to vote. On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Women in other countries did not enjoy this equality and campaigned for justice for many years.

In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day – a Women’s Day – to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women’s clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin’s suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women’s Day was the result. Continue reading this post…

What are Medical Errors?

Medical errors happen when something that was planned as a part of medical care doesn’t work out, or when the wrong plan was used in the first place. Medical errors can occur anywhere in the health care system: Hospitals. Clinics. Outpatient Surgery Centers. Doctors’ Offices. Nursing Homes. Pharmacies. Patients’ Homes. Errors can involve: Medicines. Surgery. Diagnosis. Equipment. Lab reports. Continue reading this post…

Peer helping is simply people helping other people. When people experience frustrations, worries, concerns, and other life events, they typically turn to their friends, not professionals, for help, advice, practical assistance, and support. Our job is to strengthen what friends have to offer, thereby increasing a person’s ability to find a safe and satisfying solution. Friends can also assist in determining the need for referral to professionals and can often provide the empathy, understanding, and practical support needed to resolve a number of dilemmas. Continue reading this post…

Everyone periodically experiences fear and anxiety. Fear is an emotional, physical, and behavioral response to an immediately recognizable external threat (eg, an intruder, a runaway car). Anxiety is a distressing, unpleasant emotional state of nervousness and uneasiness; its causes are less clear. Anxiety is less tied to the exact timing of a threat; it can be anticipatory before a threat, persist after a threat has passed, or occur without an identifiable threat. Anxiety is often accompanied by physical changes and behaviors similar to those caused by fear. Continue reading this post…

“How can I know if I need counseling?” If you have asked yourself this question, there’s a good chance that counseling can help you.

This article cannot tell you if you need counseling, but it will help you think through some important questions. Don’t be ashamed to ask for advice from counselors; they talk every day to people who want to make their lives better.
When should I get counseling? Continue reading this post…