Centretown Community Health Centre is taking the lead in eliminating barriers in trans-health after a study by Trans PULSE project revealed transgender Ontarians are avoiding public spaces because of the impact of transphobia on their daily lives.
Judy McConnery, a member of the social services team at CCHC, says they offer training for social workers, nurses and doctors. The training involves general trans* health, information on how to start hormones for people who want to start to transition.
The CCHC started offering this service a bit over a year ago with their own funds, “stretching and finding crumbs at the bottom of the drawer,” says McConnery.
The Local Health Integration Network recently provided the community centre with funds to expand their services around trans* health.
“Now we can hire an extra mental health counsellor for the French speaking trans* population,” says McConnery.
The centre uses some of the funds to support a nurse navigator. This medical professional can navigate the system more effectively.
“They know who goes where when people call to find a family doctor or to find a social worker or to start hormones.”
They also wanted to offer some training on trans-health because “there was and still is a huge gap for services” in Ottawa, says McConnery.
“There’s a lot of good services in Toronto, but outside Toronto it is difficult for the trans* population to find a safe place to seek care.”
This is not the only gap that exists for the trans* community in the health sector.
A trans* person may not feel safe to go just anywhere for medical appointments
Trans* people rarely go to the ER for example because it “just doesn’t feel safe,” says McConnery.
“They feel stigmatized. The dream is that one day all centres are trans* friendly,” she says.
To transition can involve various personal, legal and medical adjustments. The CCHC follows a set of guidelines including offering transgender people hormone therapy assessments. The assessments take about five visits so it can take up to several months according to mental health counselor Yael Sela before they can start taking hormones.
Part of her job is to write a hormone assessment letter. This assessment is done to ensure the person is ready to take on hormones.
Lots of physicians do maintenance in Ottawa but “there is only three physicians who do hormone starts,” says Sela. “The ones who are doing it now are very busy,” she adds.
When thinking of the future the Centre would like to see the trans community have more access to medical care.
CCHC has a meeting every two months to share information, problem solve and think of ways to advocate because the wait time just to get to see somebody, to start the process is very long.
The CCHC also plans to continue “looking for people to start this initiative in other communities and improving inclusiveness in public health for trans* people.