{"id":18362,"date":"2019-10-09T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18362"},"modified":"2019-10-18T14:48:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T21:48:38","slug":"queering-on-queer-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/10\/09\/queering-on-queer-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Queering<\/em>: On queer health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have waited with clammy palms in many doctors\u2019 offices. I mentally prepare myself for all medical appointments, fighting against anxiety by listing out what I need to communicate to my care provider, rehearsing the most concise words to use to avoid being spoken over or having my needs assumed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Accessing health care despite the fear of discrimination or misunderstanding has become a deliberate, strategic act for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are specific wellness needs for queer and trans patients compared to those who are straight and cis. Proper sexual health resources and education, reproductive health access, mental-health support, and gender-affirming care are all services that queer folks struggle to access. Providers often overlook or are not educated on queer-competent care, leaving our needs unmet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Queering<\/em> is a column looking at queer issues (graphic by Astrid Helmus\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have seen my queer and trans friends avoid accessing health care in fear of facing discrimination and a lack of accessible services. I have entered many medical appointments feeling as if I had to prove myself and my queerness.<\/p>\n

Informed care providers are necessary to change this. Open conversations and education systems on queer and trans care are essential for all health-care providers. The approach that patients are cis and straight until proven otherwise needs to be abandoned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is incredible work taking place to aid gender- and sexuality-comprehensive health care. Here in Victoria, Foundry operates a clinic that has created an open, comfortable, and accessible space for queer health to thrive, providing health care, sexual-health resources, trans care, and youth counselling.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first clinic that I, as a queer woman, have felt met my wellness needs. There is an amazing community of providers working toward meeting what hasn\u2019t been met within health care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This growing culture of accessibility in the medical field is what excites and motivates me to pursue a medical career and to join a community of queer-comprehensive caregivers.<\/p>\n

Still, it needs to be addressed that in the past, queer-comprehensive health care hasn\u2019t existed. This lack of accessibility has a long and painful history, and it continues to hold queer individuals and families back from a human right they have been promised.<\/p>\n

The systematic restraint that surrounds so much of our lives as queer people cuts deep into our access to health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have waited with clammy palms in many doctors\u2019 offices. I mentally prepare myself for all medical appointments, fighting against anxiety by listing out what I need to communicate to my care provider, rehearsing the most concise words to use to avoid being spoken over or having my needs assumed.\u00a0 Accessing health care despite the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-october-9-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18444,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18362\/revisions\/18444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}