You know, one of the ways we can verbally describe Moebius Syndrome is to say that we are people who have a "facial difference." And the thing to remember there is--we are not alone. Many other people around the world have facial differences, too. They can come in many different ways.
But just as we try not to let out differences keep us down or prevent us from achieving our goals, others blaze that same trail. For example: have you ever heard of Elizabeth Baugh? She is now recognized as one of Canada's most successful women; but she also, years ago, helped found an organization with which we are very close--AboutFace. Read more:
*************************************
After dedicating 17 years to Ovarian Cancer Canada, Elisabeth Baugh has now joined an elite group of Top 100 Award Winners that includes some of Canada’s most iconic women trailblazers.
Not only has the Colborne resident built
and unified the only national charity dedicated to overcoming ovarian
cancer, but she has also helped formalize partnerships with national
organizations representing cancer specialists, cancer nurses and family
physicians to join the movement.
Her accomplishments during those years have
already netted her two previous Top 100 Awards from the Women’s
Executive Network’s, and a third one in 2014 for once again being one of
Canada’s Most Powerful Women.
According to WXN, the Top 100 Awards
recognize Canada’s strong, fearless female leaders who have become
agents of change in reshaping Canadian organizations at the highest
levels.
“It’s recognition like this that sets us apart, that reminds the people in the community we’re trying to influence and those looking for a good cause to support.” Elisabeth Baugh, CEO, Ovarian Cancer Canada
“It’s a thrill,” Ms. Baugh, the CEO of
Ovarian Cancer Canada, said when asked about the recognition. “We
couldn’t have achieved what we have without a terrific team and a
broader, even global community.”
As chairwoman of World Ovarian Cancer Day,
Ms. Baugh captured the attention of corporate and industry partners,
inspiring them to get involved in raising awareness about the disease,
WXN said in its release of this year’s award winners.
The network said she has built and unified
the charity while her efforts have formalized partnerships with national
organizations representing cancer specialists, cancer nurses and family
physicians to join the movement.
But before organizing the first Forum on
Ovarian Cancer in 1999, Ms. Baugh made the Top 100 list as a founder of
AboutFace, a national organization that provides support and information
to people with facial differences.
“I was born with a facial difference and in
the early 1980s had surgery to correct it as a adult,” she said,
pointing out that it was the medical team that treated her who suggested
she help others, including the parents of newborns with a facial
difference. “I really had no experience (besides) undergraduate degree
in psychology and I was an at-home mom with four kids.”
After meeting with families, she started AboutFace which quickly became a national organization.
“Then we actually took over the American
organization and it expanded into other causes of facial difference,
because when you have something different about your face, it’s not how
you got it but how you live with it that matters,” she added, noting
that it is a big social disability.
Her second award came when she worked
briefly as the head of neonatal followup for the Hospital for Sick
Children, Mount Sinai and North York General Hospital.
“It was a great opportunity and I did my
masters while I was there, but I missed the close connection with the
community,” she said.
That’s when she saw a job posting for executive director of a new charity for ovarian cancer.
“I knew nothing about ovarian cancer. I was
well educated but I didn’t know this was such a terrible disease,” she
said.
After joining the team she realized that
the local chapter could amalgamate with its western counterpart, helping
to reduce the duplication of services which were funded by public
dollars.
“With 2,700 women diagnosed in Canada every
year, I could not understand the benefit of having two organizations.”
Ms. Baugh said. “It was dividing the community ... (and) the best thing
for the women of Canada was one group.”
Seeing that amalgamation was a “real professional thrill,” she said.
Asked about the latest award, Ms. Baugh
said that having this kind of recognition for a not-for-profit is
important.
“We have all of the same challenges as the
corporate world. We have IT issues, have to be accountable financially,
have HR challenges and we’re expected to do it all on 20 cents on the
dollar,” she said. “It’s recognition like this that sets us apart, that
reminds the people in the community we’re trying to influence and those
looking for a good cause to support.”
Growing up in Montreal, raising her family
in Niagara-on-the-Lake and moving to Toronto in the early 1990s, Ms.
Baugh has called Colborne home for five years after locating her “dream
home” in the community.
“I permanently moved there in the last two
years since it was a good distance from Toronto and was a small town,”
she said. “I wanted to live somewhere that once I got there I didn’t
have to drive and Colborne just fit the bill.”
Other Canadian women presented with the Top
100 Award include astronaut Dr. Roberta Bondar, Venture Communications
CEO Arlene Dickinson, Sleep Country Canada president Christine Magee,
Royal Bank of Canada chair Kathleen Taylor, and former Governor General
of Canada Michaëlle Jean.
******************************
No comments:
Post a Comment