Dear Members,
Welcome to our first newsletter of 2024! It is time to reflect on last year’s activities while also looking ahead to Endometriosis Awareness Month in March.
As always, thank you for your support, we look forward to continuing to support our endometriosis community in 2024.
Best wishes,
The Endometriosis Association of Ireland
We are very excited for a busy 2024 and to continue supporting the Endometriosis Community. March is Endometriosis Awareness Month and there are a number of events happening! Tallaght Athletics Club will hold a 5km Road Run on Sunday 17th March ☘️ and we are grateful to be this year’s chosen charity. We will also be hosting our Annual Information Day on Saturday 30th March in the Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane. In person tickets are now sold out but you can still book free online tickets here.
Reminder
EAI Membership is now FREE!
You can sign up to become a member of the EAI for free via our website. Click here to sign up. Our membership will include:
- Exclusive invites to take part in EAI surveys to better enable us to advocate on behalf of our members and the wider community
- First access to EAI events
If you were a previous member and would like to remain being a member of the EAI, we will need you to resubmit your interest. Due to the redesign of the site and the change in server platforms, current members will need to sign up again. This will also ensure we have the most accurate membership list going forward.
For those who have paid for membership in 2023, if you would like to request a refund, please email info@endo.ie with details of how you paid. If you paid via PayPal, please provide your email address that is used to access your PayPal Account.
PLEASE NOTE: if your membership is paid via PayPal, you need to cancel the recurring payment in your PayPal account. We will NOT be able to cancel the recurring payment that is set up, it will only be able to be cancelled from within your own account.
Employment Law Guide and 2023 Information Day
March is always a busy and exciting time for the EAI with Endometriosis Awareness Month. In 2023 we launched the publication of our Employment Law Guide to inform people living with endometriosis of their rights in the work place and held our annual Information Day.
The Oireachtas
June marked a momentous occasion for the EAI as we addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health. This was the result of dedicated advocacy work and the combination of the voices of each member of the endometriosis community. We presented a statement highlighting the issues that the endometriosis community faces on a daily basis. This provided an opportunity to engage with NWIHP and led to two meetings in 2023 regarding the new National Endometriosis Framework. There is still a long way to go in getting to the standard and level of care we need, however it is a small step in the right direction. In 2024, we hope to survey our members to provide vital data that we will use to engage with NWIHP to ensure we keep the patient voice at the centre of policy.
Members Survey
This EAI would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of the members who took time to fill in our survey and provide us with invaluable feedback! We gained essential insight into how we can provide a more focused approach to support the endometriosis community.
The findings demonstrate four key priorities, which we have aligned to the four pillars underpinning our 2024 strategy:
- Engaging with political and medical stakeholders
- Providing support and advice to members
- Increasing public awareness
- Promoting scientific research awareness and support
First Employees
September marked a significant milestone for the Endometriosis Association of Ireland as we welcomed our first-ever employees, Ayisha and Sharon. As a small volunteer-run charity, we are delighted to now be in a position to have two members of staff for the first time in the history of the EAI, thanks to the generosity of our community. Ayisha and Sharon both struggle with endometriosis and have years of experience working in the community and voluntary sector. They are passionate about engaging in work that promotes equality and diversity in healthcare access and the management of chronic conditions and will assist the EAI to further its objectives in supporting the endometriosis community.
Strategy Day
Following the survey, the Trustees of the EAI then held our strategy day in October, to review the EAI’s mission, align our priorities with insights from the survey and set its objectives for 2024. We exist to support and represent those impacted by endometriosis and are on mission to empower the community and advocate for change. Our main objective for 2024 is to significantly grow our membership base. The more united the community is, the stronger our collective voice will be.
Website Redesign
Another priority is to improve the functionality of our website and you may have noticed a redesign. This is a work in progress and we are busy bees in the background to continue to improve our site. We look forward to sharing more updates with you in the coming months!
Media Engagement
In the EAI, 2023 was a busy year for media engagement. On News Talk’s Lunchtime Live, we, participated in a live panel discussion with Andrea Gilligan. It was encouraging to see endometriosis getting airtime! The Shona Project included an interview with us on endometriosis in their Shine Festival as part of a range of topics that will form part of the school curriculum. We also contributed to features on endometriosis in the Irish Examiner and Irish Independent and the Irish Pharmacy News.
We also took part in a live panel discussion during the Women’s Health conference hosted by the UCC Translational Medicine Society. It was great to be part of an event that centered on research in women’s health, and we look forward to building relationships and continuing the conversations around research and endometriosis.