Marking Transgender Awareness Week, New York City Health + Hospitals unveiled a new Transgender Healthcare Resource Guide intended to help patients and providers navigate the system’s gender-affirming health services.
The guide provides a breakdown of the offerings available at the six different Health + Hospitals Pride Health Centers — Bellevue, Jacobi, Gouverneur, Judson, Metropolitan, and Woodhull — as well as at other Health + Hospitals locations providing a range of services. The Pride Health Centers provide gender-affirming health services; HIV/STD prevention, screening, and treatment; adolescent care; social work and behavioral services; and primary care, according to Health + Hospitals. The guide also notes where folks can find voice therapy and modification services, substance use assistance, and youth services.
In an effort to help direct folks to services in their local communities, the guide organizes a list of Health + Hospitals facilities that have been designated as a “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality” — and those locations include additional hospitals beyond the Pride Health Centers, such as Health + Hospitals/Coney Island and Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst.
Many of the points outlined in the guide are intended to help patients, but it also includes information for healthcare centers and providers on how to create an LGBTQ-affirming clinic.
“Every person who seeks health care deserves to be affirmed, respected and understood,” Health + Hospitals chief diversity and inclusion officer Matilde Roman said in a written statement. “These resources will help providers offer access to gender-affirming and transgender-inclusive services to meet the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming people in need of care.”
Health + Hospitals has opened up multiple Pride Health Center this year, including the Jacobi Pride Health Center, which opened in October at 1400 Pelham Parkway in the South Bronx. Another Health + Hospitals LGBTQ health center opened at Lincoln Hospital in June.
