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Rebecca Goodine is adding her name to a list she knows is long and continues to grow.
The 31-year-old Halifax resident has experienced pelvic pain and heavy periods for years. The symptoms have affected her life throughout that time, yet she still does not know the cause.
Faced with a years-long wait before she might get an answer, Goodine is sharing her story.
“I’m someone that can speak out. I know there’s people who [have] worse symptoms than me, worse positions than me that can’t speak out,” she said in a recent interview.
“By doing this, I’m hoping that people can listen and that somebody can take that step to starting to improve things.”
‘Hard to self advocate’
Little has improved for Goodine as she’s tried to understand what’s at the root of her health issues.
Her symptoms caused her to get anemia, which took a year to stabilize, and recurring pain has its own impacts. Then there’s the stress of the unknown. Despite the situation, Goodine has been told her case is considered routine.
In 2024, Goodine, who did not have a family doctor at the time, resorted to attending a private clinic because her symptoms were so bad and happening not just during menstruation. A transvaginal ultrasound was ordered and that produced a recommendation for followup.
The clinic said it would issue a referral for an appointment with a gynecologist, but Goodine learned a year later that the referral was either lost or never sent.
“I was very upset,” she said.
“It’s very hard to self advocate for yourself over and over, so it was quite discouraging knowing that I’m going to have to start from scratch and figure out what I’m supposed to do next.”
Long wait ‘doesn’t seem reasonable’
In 2025, the referral request was resubmitted by the clinic and Goodine was told to expect a wait of two to three years. She tried to speed up the process by looking to join cancellation lists, to no avail.
About a year ago she got a family doctor who also tried to advocate for her in an effort to get a referral sooner. A few weeks ago, Goodine received another update: her expected wait time had changed to three to four years.
“I’m not a medical professional, but that doesn’t seem reasonable,” she said.
Goodine, who shared her experience in a recent email to the premier, health minister and NDP health critic, is the latest in a growing number of people speaking out about the long waits for health-care for women and gender-diverse people.
Increasingly, people are sharing their stories of years-long waits to access specialized care and get answers to health-care questions beyond the scope of primary care providers. Goodine said she knows of 10 people facing similar waits.
Government efforts
Health Minister Michelle Thompson has said her government is focused on trying to improve the situation.
Last month, she provided more details about plans to open a menopause health clinic and create a women’s health clinical collaborative, a group of professionals tasked with assessing needs in women’s health and working toward a more co-ordinated and sustainable system.
Thompson has stopped short of saying she thinks the province needs more gynecologists, deferring to what the new collaborative will say.
But the head of obstetrics and gynecology for the IWK Health Centre said in April that the system needs more resources to meet demand.
Goodine said it’s been both encouraging to see other people share their experiences and also frightening to learn about how many people are facing similar challenges.
The situation has her contemplating leaving the province for care in order to get answers sooner.
“My fear is not knowing what’s going on for three to four years is concerning, and then also just quality of life — dealing with my symptoms for that long without getting treatment,” she said.
“It’s been tough. So, I was quite sick when I was anemic and I just don’t want to go through that again.”
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