Latest news with #OfficeonWomen'sHealth
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Shelburne woman hand-makes one quilt for each resident of care home
SHELBURNE, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) – According to the Office on Women's Health, one of the most important things you can do to keep your mental health at its best is to get a good night's sleep. A Vermont woman is hoping to help the residents of a residential care home do just that. Shelburne resident Gisele Kloeckner made 16 quilts by hand, one for each of the 16 residents of the Lakeview House, a Howard Center building in Shelburne for adults with mental health concerns. 'Quilting is something I enjoy doing very much and knowing I had somebody to give them to who would appreciate them makes it even better,' said Kloeckner. She completed the majority of the work of making the quilts on her own, but said that her friend Karen Allen helped with longarming – stitching the quilts' intricate designs. GOP bill raises fears of major reduction in home care for seniors, disabled The Howard Center's Cathie Buscaglia oversaw the construction of the home, which was completed in 2024 after commencing the previous year, as previously reported by MyChamplainValley. She said that the handmade quilts were perfect for a place designed to be welcoming and comfortable, rather than clinical. 'When Gisele reached out with a handmade quilt for each resident, it was the perfect finishing touch to the whole project.' Community to 'break ground' on new Vt. child care center Kloeckner was inspired to create the quilts when she learned about the construction late in 2023. Lakeview House includes a library space, exercise room, and common dining room, along with a private bedroom for each resident. The Howard Center says it is the third location for their residential care program, which began in 1998, and that some of the residents have been together for many years. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
19-02-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Citing ‘Biological Truth,' Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday that his department had issued new 'guidance on sex-based definitions' aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports and fulfilling President Trump's pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. 'This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,' Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. 'The prior administration's policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.' As part of the initiative, the Health and Human Services Department has launched a new web page for the federal Office on Women's Health. The page, entitled 'Protecting Women and Children,' features a video with Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky all-American swimmer who says she was put at a competitive disadvantage when competing against a transgender woman. The guidance offers detailed definitions for the words 'male' — 'a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing sperm' — and 'female' — 'a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova).' The announcement came in response to an executive order Mr. Trump issued on Jan. 20 that gave the health department 30 days to issue 'clear guidance' to the public on how to interpret sex-based definitions. 'These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,' the order declared. On Tuesday, Mr. Kennedy delivered a welcome address to department employees in which he said his agency would work toward helping Americans 'to discover our own paths to living our fullest lives, unleashing the potential in every one of us to make good personal choices that allow us to nourish, to heal and to develop ourselves.' There are roughly 1.6 million youths and adults in the United States who identify as transgender, according to an estimate by the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law. Mr. Trump's predecessor, President Joseph R. Biden Jr., made protecting transgender people a cornerstone of federal policy. Mr. Biden's assistant secretary for health, Dr. Rachel Levine, a pediatrician, made history by becoming the first transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate to a federal position. Mr. Trump has rapidly reversed Biden administration policies. He has followed up his Jan. 20 executive order with a string of others aimed at stripping away the rights of transgender people in almost every corner of American life — including schools, hospitals, prisons, the military and housing. Critics have objected not only to the substance of the orders, but to their harsh language. The order barring taxpayer dollars from financing medical interventions for transgender children is headlined 'Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.' Government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is under the health department, were ordered to delete any language mentioning 'gender ideology' from their websites. A judge has since ordered the C.D.C.'s page restored. Some are still down. Other sites — including the C.D.C.'s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System — now carry a disclaimer. 'This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it,' the disclaimer says, adding that the information presented is 'extremely inaccurate.'
