Hospital Recognized for LGBTQ Heathcare Equality Efforts
Throughout the country, bias and discrimination are often obstacles for members of the transgender community, prompting them to postpone seeking health care when sick or injured or to not seek preventative care at all.
In a 2010 survey of more than 6,000 transgender Americans, 70 percent reported having health care providers who refused to touch them, who made disparaging comments, or who physically abused them.
Middlesex Hospital is accepting of all individuals. It understands the challenges that those who identify themselves as transgender, or somewhere along the gender non-conforming spectrum, have in finding appropriate medical care to meet their needs, and it is uniquely positioned to be a leader in transgender care. Its compassion and high-quality care are its hallmarks, and its effort to help the LGBTQ community is a natural extension of the Hospital’s vision: to be the clear, first choice for medical care.
While the Hospital has always welcomed and treated members of the LGBTQ community, a special committee was formed in early 2016 to develop a comprehensive program to ensure that all LGBTQ individuals have access to care. The Hospital kicked off this effort by hosting a special medical symposium that featured a panel discussion and a presentation from Caroline J. Davidge-Pitts, an endocrinologist and specialist in transgender health at Mayo Clinic. The symposium was followed by a well-attended community program, which was open to the public, as well as educators, youth counselors and area agencies.
As a result, the Hospital has developed a network of providers, including primary care physicians, surgeons and other specialists who work with transgendered persons to meet their specific needs. It also revised policies and procedures and practices; addressed facility issues, such as establishing gender neutral bathrooms, and better coordinated services throughout the Middlesex Health System. It continues to provide education on transgender matters to staff and the community.
The Hospital’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.
In March, the Hospital earned the “Leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality designation from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization. It was the only general acute care hospital in Connecticut to earn the honor.
“At Middlesex Hospital, we are committed to helping everyone who walks through our doors, and we do this by putting the needs of our patients at the center of everything we do,” says Hospital CEO Vincent G. Capece, Jr. “Earning the designation of being a leader in LGBTQ health care equality is a natural byproduct of putting our beliefs into action."
A PATIENT’S STORY
Tony Ferraiolo was born female, but always knew he was not. Living as a woman, he was petrified to look in the mirror, and he knew change was needed. In 2005, he embarked on a journey – one that has led to both positive and negative interactions with the medical community.
Ferraiolo, now an advocate for the transgender community, started the medical transition process by having a double mastectomy, and the result was powerful and changed his life. He wasn’t immediately put on testosterone, and he had to search for a doctor who was willing to perform a hysterectomy. Offices would hang up on him when he called to explain his situation, but he persisted because he needed it to survive.
By late 2007, after starting the gender transition progress, he finally started to feel like his body was in sync, but that didn’t stop doctors he spoke with from asking questions – both appropriate and inappropriate.
“There’s a big difference between curiosity questions and medical questions,” Ferraiolo says.
Eventually, Ferraiolo made his way to Middlesex Hospital, and he’s found a level of acceptance that he has not experienced at other facilities.
“There’s no stress,” he says. “There’s no anxiety. When I go to Middlesex Hospital, I go there with confidence that I will be treated with dignity and respect.”
For more information about LGBTQ services, visit our website.
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