MSU celebrates LGBT Awareness Week

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MSU’s College of Human Medicine LGBT Allies in Medicine will host several speakers this week as a part of LGBT Health Awareness Week: Closing the Gap.

The week is aimed toward educating the MSU medical community about the difficulties faced by members of the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender, or LBGT, community concerning health care. Allies in Medicine, which formed a year ago, is a group of about 40 medical students interested in educating themselves about the LGBT community.

LGBT Health Awareness Week has been observed nationwide for the past eight years, but this is the first year it has been brought to MSU.

“As future physicians, we believe it is our responsibility to advocate on behalf of all of our patients,” said Emily Antoon, a first-year medical student and member of LGBT Allies in Medicine. “Many health care professionals wish to provide friendly care, but it is not enough to simply say you are friendly. We have to educate ourselves.”

The LGBT community faces various challenges in the medical field. Children of same-sex couples cannot be legally adopted by both parents, and if a child’s legal guardian does not have health care but their partner does, the child is not able to access it.

The transgender community faces a unique variety of issues in dealing with health care and insurance.

“Trans individuals have a wide range of health care issues,” said Brent Bilodeau, director of the MSU Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender Resource Center. “Some may need support for lifelong health concerns related to gender reassignment.”

André Wilson is a consultant senior associate with Jamison Green & Associates, a group that works with employers to create a work place where everyone is welcome. Wilson gave the first lecture of LGBT Health Awareness Week on Monday about the transgendered community and health care.

“Primary care providers have not been trained for when a trans person walks into their practice,” Wilson said. “And when they say they will treat you, they don’t know the first thing of what that means.”

Wilson said doctors and physicians lack proper training when it comes to serving the unique needs of the transgender community.

Physicians also are concerned they are not fully prepared to treat the transgender community. Currently, a national campaign led by the American Medical Student Association is working to add an additional hour to the three hours of LGBT-related curriculum already required by medical school curricula.

Antoon said LGBT Allies in Medicine is in talks with the College of Human Medicine for MSU to adopt the initiative.

“This is the first time Health Awareness Week has come out of the College of Human Medicine from the medical student organizations,” Bilodeau said.

He said although the LBGT Resource Center has conducted health-related education and training in the past, this was the first time MSU’s College of Human Medicine led an initiative.

“The effort is just outstanding,” Bilodeau said. “Because being able to sensitively interact with LGBT clients and their families is a critical skill for health care providers. … It’s critical that a health care provider doesn’t assume that everyone they see is heterosexual.”

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