Long Island guide: Kinder health care for LGBTQ community
Members of Long Island's LGBTQ community who have felt mistreated or disrespected by their health care providers will soon have access to an online directory launched by the LGBT Network in Hauppauge that lists more suitable providers. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Members of Long Island's LGBTQ community who have felt mistreated by health care providers because of their gender or sexual identity will soon be able to access an online directory of medical providers considered safe and accessible.
The LGBT Health Access Program is designed to give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals confidence their medical provider will treat and meet their needs, LGBT Network chief executive Robert Vitelli said Wednesday.
“We know from experience that one negative experience from an LGBTQ person accessing services can really set them back a lifetime,” said Vitelli said during a news conference at the group's Hauppauge office to announce the online directory.
“That one negative experience,” Vitelli added, “could mean they never go back and access these services, including … primary health care.”
In addition to a free directory of health care providers, the program will provide online training and education to participating providers — the first such seminar began Wednesday — and a health fair bringing patients and physicians together. The network already publishes a directory of businesses friendly to the LGBTQ community.
Nearly three dozen health care groups and social service-based nonprofits have already signed up for the training, Vitelli said.
A 2022 survey, conducted by Stony Brook Medicine, said 37% of respondents — including 60% of transgender people — reported mistreatment by health care providers and said they'd been treated “disrespectfully or in a non-affirming way” by a provider or office staff. Two-thirds of respondents said they experienced verbal harassment because of their gender or sexual identity, and nearly 32% experienced physical harassment.
Nationwide, LGBTQ people are more than twice as likely as heterosexual people to have a mental health disorder in their lifetimes, and 2½ times more likely to experience depression, anxiety or substance misuse, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
“The communities that we serve are already struggling with so many issues and so many obstacles that this should not be another roadblock in their recovery or their road to healing,” said Andrea Ramos-Topper, division director of children’s services at the EAC Network, a nonprofit social service agency based in Garden City.
Krista Whitman, senior vice president and chief operating officer at the Outreach Development Corporation, a Brentwood nonprofit that provides drug, alcohol and mental health treatment, said the needs of the LGBTQ+ community continue to rise in New York State.
“It is critical that we form alliances and partnerships to address those needs and increase accessibility to reduce barriers to care for this community,” Whitman said.
Stony Brook, Northwell Health and NYU Langone health care systems were each recently designated as LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leaders by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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