How health care organizations can work to improve LGBTQ+ care

How health care organizations can work to improve LGBTQ+ care

The moments that can negatively shape an LGBTQ+ person’s experience with the health care system often happen before they even see a doctor.  

“We could talk all day long about screenings, disparities and outcomes—the things that health care professionals want to talk about—but [many LGBTQ patients are] not even going to the doctor in the first place. That’s where this crisis really starts and ends,” says Jessica Halem, who works as a consultant for health care organizations and served as the inaugural LGBTQ Outreach and Engagement Director at Harvard Medical School. “The discrimination and barriers that LGBTQ people face from even going to a doctor’s office is the greatest risk we have in our lives.” 

Read the full article HERE.

Tegan and Sara Foundation Share Findings From Survey of LGBTQ+ People and Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out

Vaccine Hesitancy for LGBTQ+ People Affected by Previous Bad Experiences with Healthcare System

Tegan and Sara, award-winning musicians and founders of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, are sharing the results of their most recent healthcare survey to understand experiences with the COVID-19 vaccine within the LGBTQ+ community. The survey was developed by the Tegan and Sara Foundation in collaboration with health communications firm Entree Health and reviewed by researchers at SurveyMonkey, a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback, with contributions from physicians and healthcare experts specializing in LGBTQ+ healthcare.

Key findings include:

• The LGBTQ+ population in the US is highly accepting of the COVID-19 vaccine

• More than 2 in 3 respondents are already vaccinated

• 84% of the remainder want to get the COVID-19 vaccine “as soon as possible”

• Gender minority people are more likely to want to get the vaccine as soon as possible, but are less likely to have already been vaccinated

• Wanting to protect others is the most important reason LGBTQ+ people have gotten or will get vaccinated

• Previous bad experiences with the healthcare system is an important driver for LGBTQ+ people who say they will wait to get vaccinated

Tegan and Sara, award-winning musicians and founders of TSF, said:

“We’re passionate about healthcare access for LGBTQ+ people, and always have been. As advocates, we have focused on healthcare because we see how access to quality and affirming care affects our community. Most studies aren’t asking queer people the questions that we need to get better care.”

“That’s why we launched the LGBTQ+ COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes Study, to better understand the needs and concerns of our community on the pandemic and vaccine efforts. Without these perspectives, healthcare can’t truly be inclusive - which will have repercussions for a long time. We hope the readers of this study can use these results to make meaningful change in their own communities.”

Tegan and Sara and the Foundation encourage all members of the LGBTQ+ community and beyond to review the results of the survey, which can be accessed at the LINK.

Survey Background

COVID-19 has a unique impact on LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized communities (including people of color and rural communities). LGBTQ+ Americans are more likely to live in poverty and lack access to adequate medical care, paid medical leave, and basic necessities - all of these issues have been exacerbated by COVID-19.

The completely-confidential survey, developed with leading LGBTQ+ healthcare experts, was designed to be sensitive to the needs of the community. While current gender was asked in this survey, there was no question asking sex assigned at birth. These questions are often asked insensitively and create unnecessary barriers for gender nonconforming, nonbinary, and transgender people. The survey did include 17 gender and sexual orientation choices, including the option to write-in or choose not to disclose.

To obtain a holistic understanding of the queer community, TSF prioitized survey outreach and distribution to community-level organizations and underserved groups, to make sure that survey response included the diverse voices of the LGBTQ+ community. Key to this outreach was TSF’s Community Grants partners, which reach 39 grassroots organizations across the U.S. and Canada.

About Tegan and Sara Foundation

Tegan and Sara Foundation (TSF) was founded in 2016 by Tegan and Sara to address inequalities faced by LGBTQ+ women. TSF’s mission is improving the lives of LGBTQ+ women and girls. This mission is founded on a commitment to feminism and racial, social and gender justice. Learn more about TSF’s work and flagship programming at the OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

About Tegan and Sara

Tegan and Sara have openly identified as queer since the beginning of their career in 1998, and have been outspoken feminist advocates for LGBTQ+ equality and gender justice. The essential message that underpins their worldview and identity is inclusion. The Tegan and Sara Foundation is an extension of their work, identity and longstanding commitment to supporting and building progressive social change.

As musicians, Tegan and Sara have sold more than one million albums, and have received seven Gold certifications, one Double Platinum certification, three Juno Awards, two Polaris Prize nominations, and a Grammy nomination. They have performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, from the 2015 Oscar Telecast to major festivals such as Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury.

About Entrée Health

Entrée Health is a communications and medical strategy agency serving the life sciences industry and focused on the belief that people deserve access to the healthcare they need. It helps companies secure insurance coverage for their brands, communicate to physicians and patients about the coverage and financial aspects of biopharmaceuticals, and create materials that help overcome coverage hurdles. Entrée Health’s proprietary, integrated data enables them to optimize market access and value strategy and create award-winning communications for drug, device, and diagnostics manufacturers. Reducing the impact of health inequity is a key component of their work; Entree Health has partnered with the Tegan and Sara Foundation since 2018.

Watch the full video of the webinar in collaboration with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Kaiser Family Foundation to discuss the state of LGBTQ+ Communities in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The Advocate's Champions of Pride 2021

The Advocate's Champions of Pride 2021 are the unsung heroes who are making inroads for LGBTQ+ people in their fields of work and in their communities every day despite the risks or challenges. More than 100 changemakers (two from each state, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Territories) have been named to the list.

With trans rights and safety under siege across the country, it’s imperative to amplify and elevate the breadth of LGBTQ+ identities. The Champions of Pride print and digital editions and virtual event is our way of honoring the diversity and dedication of so many in the LGBTQ+ community.

Jessica Halem - Massachusetts

With a long history in working with LGBTQ+ folks, Jessica Halem, MBA, was the inaugural LGBTQ outreach and engagement director at Harvard Medical School. Previously, Halem ran the Lesbian Community Cancer Project in Chicago. There she implemented the nation’s first cultural competency trainings for the Centers for Disease Control and served on then-candidate Barack Obama’s first LGBT Advisory Committee. Halem, who identifies as a Jewish queer femme, also trained in improv at Chicago’s famed Second City. She utilizes the knowledge she gleaned there to “coach individuals and teams on dealing with difficult moments,” she says. “I like bringing my sense of humor, years of connections and experience, together with great ideas and teams,” she says. “I am passionate about helping LGBTQ people take up more space with more confidence and more joy while manifesting the world we all deserve.”

Currently, Halem, also serves on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which, “launched a microgrants program to get money quickly into the hands of LGBTQ creators, nonprofits, and activists.” she says. “I am so excited to see what these partners are doing on the front lines of issues like incarceration, trans youth, queer history, and housing.”

Why Do You Call Us Ladies? History, Gender, and Manners in Public Life

The term ‘ladies’ itself has a history that illuminates how power, privilege, and oppression have functioned throughout American history. From early modern times through much of the twentieth century, the term ‘lady’ signified women with power and authority over others by virtue of their race, class, marriage, or ancestry. A lady was a queen or head of household who oversaw subjects, children, servants, and slaves.[1] As Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham notes, “Ladies were not merely women; they represented a class, a differentiated status within the generic category of “women.”” During Reconstruction, for example, married black women who didn’t work outside of the home and aspired to such status were socially condemned for even trying.[2] A lady was a quintessentially normative white woman who set the standards by which other women were judged.

Read the full article at Public Seminar.