Curaçao, March 10 2008

Press release
With picture

Outstanding woman Mila Palm
Acknowledged during the 2008 Conference About Women and Health

Willemstad – The organizers of the annual women conference About Women and Health in Curaçao presented last Friday Mila Palm (72) as the outstanding woman for this year. The award goes annually to a woman who during her career had benefited other women and their families. The rules to be nominated are that the nominees must be female older than 60 years old or that they must have been 60 or older at the time of their death. The work that they had done must have meant something for women and must have benefited women directly and they must either be from the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba or the Caribbean.
The four nominees this year and who are already deceased are from Aruba Laura Wernet and from Bonaire Maria Carmen Hellmund-Boom (Shon Chechi) and two who are still with us: from St. Maarten Mary Hellmund and from Curaçao Mila Palm.

The jurors Dr. Peggy Dolet from Washington, Joyce van Genderen Naar LLC from Belgium and Orphaline Saleh MBA from Bonaire had the interesting task to choose from four nominees. The jury chose Mila Palm for the work that she has done and is still doing to help women to empower themselves and to move forward in life and this is benefiting their daily work and their children.

Jury member Orphaline Saleh made the announcement while organizer Reyna Joe presented the award that is symbolically a high heel shoe on which she can stand tall.
Mila Palm was pleasantly surprised and she expressed her gratitude for the recognition for the work that she has been doing and is still doing.
More information on the Outstanding Woman Award and pictures will be published on
www.aboutwomenconference.com.

On the picture from left to right Mila Palm, Reyna Joe and Orphaline Saleh.

Curaçao, March 9 2008

Press Release
With picture 

Successful 2008 Conference About Women and Health

Willemstad – ‘Taking responsibility for your own health, recognize what threatens your health and make use of the available information to benefit your health’ those were the conclusions of the fifth annual women conference in Curaçao ‘About Women and Health’, organized by Bright Ideas and Services.
The conference that took place on March 7 and 8, 2008 in the International Trade Center was visited by professional men and women and also students from the local University UNA and of the Nurses School IFE.

‘About Women and Health’ was opened on Friday night by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles Emily de Jong Elhage after the opening words of organizer Reyna Joe. The prime minister said that she hopes that professional women will continue to look for information that will benefit themselves and their career.
Keynote speaker Rita Andrews MA from RIJAAN Consultant in Washington followed with a presentation on misogyny. In her presentation she showed the different ways of misogyny in communities around the world and how this has a negative impact on the health of women.

At the end of the evening it was member of the juror committee for the Outstanding Woman Award, Orphaline Saleh that presented Mila Palm as the 2008 outstanding woman, based on her contribution during her career as a teacher, adviser and coach that benefited women and their families.

The About Women and Health conference continued on Saturday morning with an invocation by Lieutenant Governor of Curaçao Lizanne Dindial LLC. Mrs. Dindial expressed that professional women must realize that what ever happens and no matter what medical condition they may have, that this may never be in the way of their professional work.
Next it was Dr. Justine Heyden from Curaçao who in a clear way presented different tips for everyone and in this case especially professionals; to be able to help themselves when they need to seek medical help. Her emphasize was on taking care of physical, mental and sexual health.
Minister of Health of the Netherlands Antilles Omayra Leeflang on her turn presented emphatically the need to have more healthy people since this will benefit the long term medical costs.
And finally it was plastic surgeon from Aruba Dr. Hunt Riley who in an eloquent way explained what a healthy person must know before undergoing cosmetic surgery to change what she does not like of her body.

The About Women and Health conference ended with a presentation of Dr. Heyden who showed the women how to look for a good bra and why they need a good fitting cotton bra. She also explained why it is necessary to have a good bra if you have a job where you have to sit for long hours.
Rita Andrews MA finally did a workshop for participants to recognize misogyny around them and to see their internalized misogyny in order to benefit from this knowledge.

Master of ceremony for the conference Nohraya Godfried did a very good job. The participants expressed their satisfaction for the conference, especially because they acknowledge the need to continue to get information on this level. And the topic health also got very good reactions

More detailed information of the conference will be put on the website www.aboutwomenconference.com.

The picture shows Prime Minister de Jong Elhage doing the opening ceremony, next to her Reyna Joe.