Pride Month is wrapping up, but those in the LGBTQ+ community say the end of June does not end the need for healthcare for transgender people. Some major healthcare systems are defending those medical resources in our state.
“I was a transgender child. And things were very difficult for me,” Beau Triba, of East Hartford, said.
Triba spent much of his childhood feeling out of sync with his gender at birth, but the 22-year-old is taking change in his own hands now. Two years ago, he went to Hartford HealthCare for primary care and ultimately for gender affirming care.
“I have been utilizing hormones through them. I'm also pursuing top surgery, I have a consultation coming up, which is really exciting,” Triba said.
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Then one year ago, a new resource opened up within the health system specifically for transgender patients: The Center for Gender Health.
“This is the young adult support group,” Triba said. “This is some patient made art.”
The multidisciplinary clinic offers primary care, social and mental health support, and transition services for adults, including gender affirming hormone therapy and referrals for voice therapy or surgery.
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“Receiving gender affirming care in all aspects of your healthcare is lifesaving,” Triba said.
The Center for Gender Health opened its doors last June. In the past year, there have been 300 referrals, according to Director Dr. Laura Saunders.
“The level of interest has been far beyond what even I anticipated,” she said.
Saunders saw the need to expand services within Hartford HealthCare for Connecticut patients. Now, the system is also serving transgender people looking to Connecticut as other states bring legislation targeting gender affirming care.
“We absolutely have been getting referrals from out of state. I actually just got a call from someone from a parent from Austin, Texas,” Saunders said. “So as other states really shut down access to services, they are looking to states that really are expanding access to services, and Connecticut is definitely one of those states.”
At Middlesex Health, nurse practitioner Katy Tierney sees a similar trend.
“We're seeing people move to Connecticut from other states and come to Connecticut for care, because it's available here and we have our Safe Harbor laws,” Tierney, medical director of the Center for Gender Medicine and Wellness, said. “Quite honestly, as an ally to the trans community, it is my job to go out on that limb and make sure that we're doing the right kind of care.”
The Center for Gender Medicine and Wellness has been meeting needs for the past eight years, but Tierney says some patients are reconsidering the timing of their procedures, or even moving them up, as they consider the vulnerability of protections for this care.
“We definitely see that stress coming through and patients are springing to plans about what would happen if they can’t access their hormones, or if there was a national ban or some kind of thing like that. For now, we're good,” Tierney said.
Triba is now working at the Center for Gender Health as a recovery specialist, working with 30 or so patients at a time. He is simultaneously utilizing and providing resources that he does not take for granted.
“I feel incredibly privileged,” Triba said. “But also uncomfortable, because this is a privilege that everyone should have. It's not really something that a few people in a few states should have access to.”
