Healthcare for LGBTQ+ community targets preventative medicine and education

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – As Pride Month ends, we are getting a better sense of the healthcare resources available for the LGBTQ+ community.

For several years, Mecklenburg County has provided funding to improve access to healthcare in the LGBTQ+ community through the health department.

Dr. Raynard Washington is the director of the county’s Public Health department.

“It’s about whether or not they have access to the type of care they want to receive, as well as making sure that the care is readily accessible, easily accessible,” Washington said.

Washington said healthcare for this community goes beyond testing – it’s preventative medicine and education.

“The most significant impact that we’ve had, obviously, are the resources that are coming directly to us that we have now had to stop,” Washington said.

According to Washington, five disease investigation specialists – or DISs – were laid off at the end of May when the Centers for Disease Control did not release funding needed to keep them.

A DIS would help notify people if they were diagnosed with or exposed to sexually transmitted diseases.

“Now they’re going to experience some delays in that outreach that we typically do because we have just an overabundance of cases,” Washington said.

This means more work for the remaining staff.

Right now, Washington said HIV cases have stayed stable, but there is a resurgence of syphilis and a higher volume of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the county.

“It is having a huge impact on a lot of communities,” Washington said. “It has impacted the LGBTQ + community, but also other communities as well.”

Mental health could also be impacted. The Trevor Project is an extension of the National Suicide Hotline for LGBTQ+ Youth. It was ordered to be shut down on July 17.

Rebekah Collins provides youth outreach and education with Mental Health America of Central Carolinas.

“Many youth and young adults do not have that supportive person, so they turn to resources like the Trevor Project when they are struggling to have that support, especially when they are in times of crisis,” Collins said.

According to Collins, LGBTQ + young people are at a higher risk of suicide. Collins said transgender and nonbinary youth are four times more likely than their peers, but that risk goes down 40 percent when there is a trusted adult in their lives supportive of their identity.

“I think it’s unfortunately safe to say these numbers will increase if they don’t have the support and resources they need,” Collins said. “I am seeing the increase in anxiety of young folks being afraid to come out to loved ones, to speak on their identity because they’re fearful when they’re seeing these messages.”

Collins and Washington agree that education and work to eliminate a stigma around the community could make a huge difference.

“Those stigmas cause people to not seek care, create an environment where people cannot seek care,” Washington said. “And that’s really important that we don’t feel for rhetoric that’s going to further stigmatize anyone in our community.”

This is a toolkit for additional resources for Mental Health America of Central Carolinas.