Pediatric Nursing Certification Board promotes caring for LGBTQ youth

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Peggy L Chinn

This post is contributed by Lori Anne Boocks, Director of Marketing & Communications, The Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.  Lori reached out to LavenderHealth.org in order to let us know about the affirmative work they are doing to address the needs of LGBTQ youth!

To encourage more high school and nursing students to consider pediatric nursing careers, the Institute of Pediatric Nursing (IPN), a committee of the non-profit Pediatric Nursing Certification Board, offers free posters and downloadable flyers as part of its Campaign for Poster 3 LGBTQPediatric Nursing. Materials offer a wide range of cultural diversity, age ranges, and complex health needs. Men in nursing, LGBTQ youth, and family-centered care are represented as well as choosing a pediatric nurse practitioner career. Due to high interest, the LGBTQ poster is now available as a free 12×18 inch poster.

Displaying this poster in schools, clinics, and anywhere children receive nursing care sends two messages: consider a pediatric nursing career, and that this setting offers nursing care sensitive to LGBTQ concerns for youth. Faculty and clinical educators can use the poster to start dialogues with students and staff as well as reinforce the need for culturally sensitive care for LGBTQ youth.

Pediatric nurses are key to facilitating improvements for the health and well-being of LGBTQ children and adolescents. In schools, at the hospital bedside, and other settings, they have opportunities to identify concerns, start conversations, and connect children and teens to support. Pediatric nurse practitioners during annual check-ups or other interactions can play a key role in discussing issues in a safe environment. As faculty and clinical educators, nurses impact LGBTQ cultural competence. A surprisingly broad range of roles have requested the poster since its May release including community health center and home health care leadership, case managers, and elementary school nurses.

Pediatric nurses are uniquely positioned in a variety of settings to advocate, educate, and support youth and their families. The IPN recommends the following respected resources about care for LGBTQ youth:

Poster1_pdf

Posted in Education, LGBTQ youth, Nursing | 1 Comment

Deep sorrow in the face of Orlando massacre

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Peggy L Chinn

We join our many friends and colleagues in healthcare in expressing our utter grief and sorrow over the brutal shooting in the Orlando nightclub where hundreds of LGBTQ people were gathered. As President Obama notes in his remarks to the nation (see full video of this remarks below), “this was a place that was more than a nightclub, it was a place of solidarity and empowerment, where people come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights.”  Tragically, this is the most deadly shooting in American history, and shows the extent of the horrid hatred that threatens our communities every moment of every day and night.

This is also a reminder of the great courage that we must all call forth in responding to not only this incident, but the prevailing climate of discrimination and hatred in which we live our daily lives.  However, the very fact that the President of the United States offers remarks that affirm LGBTQ people and our full human rights inspires hope that we also live in a time when there is hope, and a time in which there is growing awareness and support for our strongest weapon – that of living our lives openly, with pride, and in solidarity with our LGBTQ friends and family.

So we are stepping forward to extend our solidarity with all whose lives have been directly affected by this tragedy.  The nonprofit Equality Florida (EQFL) has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser for shooting victims and their families. The nonprofit advocates for gay and lesbian rights and has assured donors that 100% of the donations will go to the victims, “nothing to be gained by EQFL.”  Visit this website to donate.

Posted in Activism, Events, LGBTQ Human Rights | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Gettin’ Excited about the LGBT Legal Fair

Posted on June 8, 2016 by bowie21

I was reading through upcoming LGBT events in my community and came across what initially struck me as the most tame of postings I’d ever seen in my party-loving, adopted home of New Orleans. Advertised as an “LGBT Legal Fair”, this event was hosted by ourrainbow scale local LGBT senior’s advocacy group, NOAGE, and was taking place at the AARP office a couple blocks from my house. After just completing another clinical rotation where I observed family tension regarding medication decision-making, I was reflecting on what would be done if something happened to me.

At 34 years-old, I’m a few decades shy of identifying as an LGBT senior, however I do have a long-term relationship with a woman who would be much better placed to make emergency decisions on my behalf than my family, who live over a 1000 miles away. Marrying automatically affords you the right of health care proxy for your loved one, but for those individuals who don’t plan on marrying, or who would rather identify a close friend as your proxy, attendance at a legal fair can help. While we aren’t planning on marrying until after I finish the insanity of my accelerated nursing program, we did want to ensure we were one another’s health care proxies and decided to visit the LGBT Legal Fair.

When we arrived, we were directed by the AARP staff to the conference room where snacks were being served, and half a dozen attendees were chatting with a bevy of friendly lawyers ready and willing to speak with us about our legal needs. We were taken to a private office to discuss: estate planning, living wills, medical power of attorney, and  legal advice for adopting in Louisiana.  We left feeling ecstatic about our signed and notarized medical power of attorney and living wills, all done pro bono!  We are now legally able to make medical decisions for one another if one of us becomes incapacitated.

For members of the LGBT community who are estranged from family, or unmarried but have identified a friend or partner who you would you trust to make medical decisions, consider attendance at an LGBT legal fair. You can find out more about them via your local chapter of SAGE (http://www.sageusa.org/). Many of these events are pro bono and as such, have no cost for you!

 

 

 

 

Posted in Education, Events, Family, Join the discussion, Legal Issues, LGBT Elders, LGBT Health | Leave a comment

Transgender Lives and American Potty Politics

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Thomas Lawrence Long

Live long enough and you find that what’s old is new again. When the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, passed by the US Congress in the early 1970s, was making what seemed to many of us as its inexorable way through state-by-state ratification, it was stalled and then stopped, failing to meet an extended deadline by 1982, when its opponents raised the specter of federally mandated unisex bathrooms.

Now the extension of legal protections for transgender people has been blocked by another round of Americans’ potty paranoia. “History doesn’t repeat itself,” Mark Twain observed. “But it rhymes.”

Infamously North Carolina’s HB2, which voids local gender ordinances and requires bathroom use according to one’s “biological” sex assigned at birth, is only one such legislative initiative.

That law would include Aydian Dowling, a Men’s Health magazine cover model in 2015.

AydianDowling

Imagine him adhering to the law by using the women’s room?

The prospect of a potty police to provide toilet surveillance would be laughable were it not that such laws have demonstrably negative health consequences for transgender people.

One recent study by Kristie Seelman associates bathroom constraints with suicidal thoughts: “Transgender university and college students are at a significantly higher risk for suicide attempts when their campus experience includes being denied access to bathrooms and gender-appropriate campus housing,” according to a press release by Georgia State University.

Using the framework of the minority stress model, the Institute of Medicine (2011) has already documented the vulnerability of transgender people:

  • LGB youth are at increased risk for suicidal ideation and attempts as well as depression; small studies suggest the same may be true for transgender youth.
  • Almost no research has examined substance use among transgender youth. Limited research among transgender adults indicates that substance use is a concern for this population.
  • Some research suggests that young transgender women are also at significant risk for homelessness.
  • Limited research suggests that transgender elders may experience negative health outcomes as a result of long-term hormone use.

What most of us take for granted (simply locating a bathroom, hoping it’s not fully occupied, and counting on finding toilet paper and towels), becomes a conscious and often fraught experience for transgender people. Several years ago, as I was leaving a classroom with one of my transgender students walking ahead of me, I observed her pause, looking at the women’s room and then at a unisex single-toilet bathroom beside.

Imagine having to face that decision every time you gotta go.

Posted in Transgender Health | Leave a comment

Tonda Hughes to Keynote the 2016 GLMA Nursing Summit

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Peggy L Chinn

Tonda Hughes, PhD, RN, FAAN, whose research on sexual minority women is known world-wide, will be the keynote speaker for the 2016 GLMA Nursing Summit to be held in St. Louis on September 14, 2016.  Her talk is titled “From gay bars to marriage equality:

Dr. Tonda Hughes

Dr. Tonda Hughes

The evolution of research on sexual minority women’s health from one researcher’s perspective.”  Tonda’s wealth of experience and expertise will provide the perfect start to the day on the theme “Challenges of Advancing LGBTQ Health in Nursing: Finding You Way.”

The day will emphasize networking and interaction along with a great line-up of speakers and panelists, all of whom will provide not only valuable and inspiring information, but time to discuss, ask questions, and find sources of encouragement and support for nursing initiatives to improve LGBTQ health, education, research and practice.

At the end of the day, the 34th Annual GLMA Conference will kick off wth a welcome reception, followed by another three days of presentations and discussions around the theme “Intersectionality in LGBT Communities: Gateways to New Understandings.” 

Watch the GLMA Nursing and the GLMA website for more information about this double-header, premier event for all LGBTQ healthcare professionals and our allies!

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