BCIFV home > Media Release > September 2, 2005

For Immediate Release: September 2, 2005
Contact: Susanna Tam, Executive Director, BCIFV
phone: 604.669.7055, 1.877.755.7055, or
stam@bcifv.org or www.bcifv.org

Media Release:
Health Impacts of Family Violence Cost Billions Yearly
Last Issue of Aware Publishes Frightening Facts and Figures

When most people consider the health impacts of family violence, they think in terms of bruises and broken bones. Few people know that research shows family violence is among contributing factors to sleep and eating disorders, migraines, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, fibromyalgia, cancer, osteoporosis, asthma, anemia, lung disease, liver disease, thyroid malfunction, arthritis, gastric ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, fetal trauma, and poor neonatal outcomes.

The Summer 2005 issue of Aware, the publication of the BC Institute Against Family Violence, looks closely at the health impacts of family violence on its primary victims: women and children. The issue features articles by Dr. Liz Whynot, President of BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, an agency within the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA); Dr. Colleen Varcoe, an Associate Professor at the UBC School of Nursing and a research team member for the Women’s Health Effects Study, a national, longitudinal look at the long-term impacts of violence on women’s health; and other authors with high profiles within the women’s health and anti-violence communities.

The inescapable conclusion is that not enough is being done to minimize the health impacts of family violence, or its financial costs. For example, a 2003 study demonstrated that, in any year, the cost of providing immediate, intermediate, and long-term care to children and adults whose current ill health may be related to child abuse alone is a staggering $2,041,200,981.

It is difficult to imagine another health issue with such potential for suffering, loss of life, and expense that would not be declared a pandemic and evoke immediate, proportional allocation of human and fiscal resources. In efforts to raise awareness of this tragic reality, the Institute is using this issue of Aware to reach out more broadly to BC’s health community. In addition, in the fall of 2005, the Institute will organize a forum on family violence and health for the PHSA.

Ironically, while this issue underscores the critical need for attention to family violence, this will be the last issue of Aware to be published by the Institute for at least a year. Due to reduced core funding from the PHSA, BCIFV is undergoing radical restructuring, affecting staffing, location, Aware, and other aspects of its daily efforts to perform research on and provide education about family violence.

“After 15 years of stellar work, the Institute is faced with change on every front,” says Susanna Tam, the Institute’s new Executive Director. A lawyer with experience in immigration/refugee law, Tam has worked for the past eight years with multicultural, health, and family-violence non-profits, including some that have been undergoing similar, radical change.

“My experience tells me that change and challenge can provide important moments in which to evaluate and organize priorities,” she says. “With the Institute’s solid background in research and education on family violence, I’m confident that we will survive this tumultuous period and emerge a stronger and more dynamic force in our field.

“Although the current issue of Aware will be our last for some time, I trust that its powerful message will have far-reaching impact that will support both a growing awareness of the importance of ending family violence, and the vital role that the Institute can play in making that happen.”

To read the Summer 2005 issue of Aware, visit www.bcifv.org/resources/newsletter/index.shtml. To receive a hard copy, call Patty Ginn at 604.669.7055 or toll-free 1.877.755.7055.

To learn more about the Institute’s current and upcoming activities, call 604.669.7055, toll-free 1.877.755.7055, or email reception@bcifv.org.

To interview Susanna Tam, call one of the numbers above or email her directly at stam@bcifv.org. A digital photo of Tam is available upon request.

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