“As women, it’s important that we are proactive about our own health and advocate for what we need”
For two years, Toronto-based jewelry designer Jenny Bird and her husband tried without success to have a baby. After seeing a fertility specialist, they discovered that Jenny had undiagnosed endometriosis – a disorder that can make it difficult or impossible to conceive.
Told that she would require a laparoscopy procedure to treat her endometriosis, Jenny was referred to Women’s College Hospital for the laser-based surgery. The following year, she gave birth to her first child – a boy named August. Several years later, she underwent another laparoscopy at WCH and, this past March, welcomed daughter Georgie Love.
“Women’s College Hospital made both of my pregnancies possible,” she says. “This is a place that’s advocating for women’s health and helping women become mothers and grandmothers.”
Jenny’s personal experiences receiving care at WCH made the decision to support the hospital’s work through her fashion jewelry brand, JENNY BIRD, an easy one. In the fall of 2018, Jenny designed a special jewelry item – a gold-dipped, solid sterling silver piece that can be purchased as a necklace or a brooch – for guests of Women for Women’s, Women’s College Hospital Foundation’s flagship annual fundraising luncheon. The piece sold out quickly.
Featuring stones that represent four key virtues of Women’s College Hospital and its community – courage, resilience, compassion and innovation – Jenny’s design reflected her personal passion for the work of WCH.
“Women’s College Hospital is all about women lifting each other up, and that’s in total alignment with my own personal commitment and the mandate of the JENNY BIRD brand,” she says. “The more we can advocate for our own health, and the more we can support places like Women’s College Hospital that are working hard to deliver research and care that improve healthcare for women, the healthier and stronger we’ll all be.”
Jenny encourages more women to be proactive about their health by staying on top of women’s health news and research through resources like Women’s Health Matters, an online portal of women’s health information from the experts at WCH. She also hopes to inspire others to support the hospital by giving back.
“As women, it’s important that we are proactive about our own health and advocate for what we need,” she says. “I am proud to support Women’s College Hospital – a place that is committed to advancing women’s health through research and innovation, and to helping women look after themselves.”
