National Call Your Doctor Day is celebrated on the second Tuesday of June, which is June 13 this year, to encourage and remind women to schedule their annual Well-Woman Exam. The Well-Woman Exam is a review of reproductive health administered to women. This day is observed in the middle of the year because many women defer routine care. They place other responsibilities, such as work, family, and other obligations, above their health. Thus, they disregard the fact that a single phone call could save their lives.
The background of National Call Your Doctor Day
In 1921, the first successful sanitary liner was introduced, marking the first significant advancement in women’s health. The company Kimberly-Clark introduced Kotex (from the phrase ‘cotton-like texture’), which was composed of Cellucotton and developed during World War I as a bandage material.
In 1916, the first birth control clinic in America opened in Brooklyn, New York. In 1931, New York gynaecologist Robert Tilden Frank published a paper linking premenstrual disturbances to ovarian cycles, coining the term premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Dr. Earle Haas patented the first disposable contraceptive in 1933, which led to its introduction in 1933.
In May of 1960, the FDA authorised the sale of the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, also known as the Pill, which was manufactured by the Searle pharmaceutical company. Within two years, more than one million American women were taking Enovid.
Mammography and the development of low-radiation mammograms in 1969 facilitated improvements in breast health. In 2000, the first digital mammography equipment was authorised.
In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that state and federal restrictions on first-trimester abortions were unconstitutional. In 1999, the FDA formally authorised the prescription use of the emergency contraceptive pill (Plan B). However, it took the FDA an additional seven years to approve Plan B for sale over-the-counter to women older than 18 years. In July 2009, the age was lowered to 17 years.
Lindsay Avner founded Bright Pink, the NGO that founded Call Your Doctor Day. In 2007, she was the youngest woman in the United States to undergo a double mastectomy. Bright Pink proclaimed National Call Your Doctor Day on June 21, 2016 to encourage women to schedule their annual Well-Woman Exam.
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5 FACTS ABOUT WOMEN’S HEALTH THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW
Excluding visits related to pregnancy, women are 33% more likely to visit a doctor than males.
According to a 2015 survey, nine out of ten millennials do not schedule preventive doctor’s appointments.
It is recommended that women over the age of 21 visit a gynaecologist every six to twelve months.
In the 1890s, Mary Putnam Jacobi was the first woman to be admitted to the New York Academy of Medicine.
Lisa Lindahl, a runner and graduate student at the University of Vermont, came up with the concept of sewing together two men’s jockstraps to provide support and comfort for female athletes in 1977.
NATIONAL CALL YOUR DOCTOR DAY DATES
Year | Date | Day |
---|---|---|
2022 | June 14 | Tuesday |
2023 | June 13 | Tuesday |
2024 | June 11 | Tuesday |
2025 | June 10 | Tuesday |
2026 | June 9 | Tuesday |