Northwell transgender conference gives voice to community

The Island Now
Photo courtesy of Northwell Health

Two years after establishing a Center for Transgender Care, Northwell Health recently hosted a conference highlighting transgender issues, attracting about 150 people.

The Long Island Trans Gender, Non-Conforming, Non Binary or TGNCNB Conference, held at Hofstra University, marked the health system’s first such gathering – and the first on Long Island attended by transgender people, family members, educators, doctors, psychologists and attorneys.

The event featured sessions on how to be an ally, legal issues, Trans 101 (or basic information), the best approach to “coming out” and a panel discussion among health care providers. Most of all, the event provided a forum to unite participants and highlighted Northwell’s efforts to serve an often overlooked, underserved community.

“When we started the program in 2016, we had no integrated resources for trans individuals,” said David Rosenthal, the Center for Transgender Care’s medical director. “But today, we have a team of experts and we are working to transform the health system to provide health care for this community.” 

Steven and Stacy Hoffman funded the Center for Transgender Care and created the conference out of a belief that it could help others, providing support and resources.

“We felt it was important to help other families navigate through the transition,” said Stacy Hoffman. “We’re believers in education and information.”

The center, a virtual network still seeking to unite many services in one structure, strives to help the health system better serve the transgender and non-binary community. It has grown to 50 providers specializing in everything from psychology and counseling to surgery. 

Trans health navigators work with center staff to help match patients with providers in a wide range of specialties trained in working with this community. 

While much of the conference focused on people identifying with one gender psychologically, doctors also discussed gender affirming therapy and gender affirming surgery.

The center has seen 350 patients since it was founded in 2016. It has also helped change the perception of health care workers, as well as expand the classification of patients throughout the health system who can now be formally identified as transgender or non-binary.  

Rosenthal estimates that there may be as many as 7,000 transgender and non-binary people each in Nassau and Suffolk counties alone. 

The center seeks to provide care specific to transgender patients, as well as culturally competent care for everything from checkups to cancer for those in this group. Something as simple as referring to someone by their preferred name and preferred pronoun is a start.

When a patient arrives, requesting to be referred to as “he” or “she” or to be called by a particular name, providers should accommodate them.

“Sometimes it’s just a matter of calling someone by their chosen name in my office and not anywhere else,” said Dr. Eric Weiselberg, a pediatrician. “Everyone’s an individual.”

Transgender attendees of the conference said they were glad New York State’s largest health system is seeking to cater to this community.

“They are hiring doctors for dual purposes. They’re putting teams together,” said conference guest Gabrielle Spierier. “It’s a huge organization that’s really trying to be dedicated to help us.” 

For more information about the Northwell Health Center for Transgender Care, go to: https://www.northwell.edu/doctors-and-care/lgbtq-services/clinical-services

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