March 23: 'LGBTQ Aging and Healthcare'
'LGBTQ Aging and Healthcare' conference offers sessions for providers, caregivers
1:13 p.m., March 4, 2015--A two-part conference, “LGBTQ Aging and Healthcare: A Cultural Competency Perspective 2015,” will be held on Monday, March 23.
The morning session (7 a.m. to noon), which is targeted toward health care providers at all levels, will be held at Christiana Hospital’s John H. Ammon Medical Education Center. The objectives are to identify issues and barriers encountered by mature LGBTQ individuals in the health care system and to examine local best practices for mature LGBTQ individuals in the health care system.
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There is no charge for this session, which offers 4.0 continuing education contact hours and is jointly provided by the Delaware Nurses Association, the Delaware Academy of Medicine, the Delaware Academy of Family Physicians, Christiana Care Health System Center for Diversity and Inclusion, and United Way of Delaware.
Online registration for continuing education credits is available for nurses and physicians.
In the afternoon (2-5:30 p.m.), a workshop on LGBT eldercare issues for members of the LGBT community and their caregivers will be offered at the Health Sciences Complex on the University of Delaware’s Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus. The agenda includes a welcome by Kathleen Matt, dean of the UD College of Health Sciences.
The workshop is sponsored by the University of Delaware LGBT Caucus, Christiana Care Health System Center for Diversity and Inclusion, and United Way of Delaware .
For more information and to register, visit the website. Day of registration is also available.
Both sessions include the viewing of Gen Silent, a critically acclaimed documentary that shows the disparity in the quality of paid caregiving from mainstream care facilities committed to making their LGBT residents safe and happy, to places where LGBT elders face discrimination by staff and bullying by other seniors.
“The literature on LGBT aging and health care tells us that there is a lifetime of stigma and discrimination that can put our LGBT older adults at a greater risk for physical and mental distress, social isolation, depression and anxiety, poverty, chronic illness, delayed care seeking, poor nutrition and premature mortality,” says Karla Bell, co-chair of the UD LGBT Caucus and board member of United Way Pride Council’s Delaware LGBT Health Equity Task Force.
“We have an obligation to narrow the cultural competence gap for our older adult LGBT patients so they can feel safe and comfortable seeking much needed healthcare. This two-part event aims to start the conversation and provide some foundational information about our LGBT older adult healthcare needs and what resources Delaware provides.”
Article by Diane Kukich