Each June, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning and/or Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month celebrates LGBTQ+ people and honors decades of activism for equitable treatment and care for all.
At the forefront of all essential hospitals is the mission to aid and care for the nation’s most marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ patients.
Take a closer look at what association members nationwide have done and will continue to do this month and beyond to celebrate the LGBTQ+ people in their local communities.
Several members participated in local Pride marches and festivals this month, through banners, floats, informational tables, and more. For example, The MetroHealth System, in Cleveland, MetroHealth Pride Alliance, and the MetroHealth LGBTQI+ Pride Network participated in a march at the Pride in the CLE® festival on June 3. MetroHealth sponsored the overall festival as well as an accompanying Health and Wellness Village, where members of the community could meet with MetroHealth Pride Network providers and caregivers.
The health system also will host its annual Transgender Job Fair on Saturday, June 24. MetroHealth has sponsored the fair since 2015 to connect LGBTQ+ community members with organizations, workshops, and resources to secure employment.
Erie County Medical Center (ECMC), in Buffalo, N.Y., participated in the Buffalo Pride Parade on June 4, and hosted an internal Community Pride Fair on June 7, featuring a variety of vendors. On June 23, ECMC will host an Employee Pride Walk on the ECMC health campus.
The hospital also illuminates the ECMC tower lights with the colors of the LGTBQ+ flag.
On June 10, Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), in Cambridge, Mass., participated in the Boston Pride Parade and Festival, where community members were invited to join. CHA also had a table at the Pride Festival to celebrate, empower, educate, and support LGBTQ+ people in Boston.
Additionally, CHA will host LGBTQ+ Pride Day on June 28. Staff are encouraged to dress in rainbow colors to commemorate the date of the Stonewall Riots, a turning point in American LGBTQ+ that inspired the first Pride celebrations. Police and gay rights activists clashed on June 28, 1969, outside of a gay bar in New York called the Stonewall Inn, which led to six days of protests.
Eskenazi Health, in Indianapolis, had a booth at the Indy Pride Festival, where attendees could learn more about how the system supports its LGBTQ+ patients.
Alameda Health System, in Oakland, Calif., participates in the annual Oakland Pride Festival, which is held in September instead of June. This year’s festival will be held Sept. 9–10.
St. Luke’s Health System, in Boise, Idaho, sponsored the Twin Falls Southern Idaho Pride Festival held on June 10 to foster education, representation, and celebration. During June, St. Luke’s will run Rainbow Wednesdays, where staff wear rainbow-colored shirts as a visible display of support and allyship to LGBTQ+ patients.
In addition to these annual festivities, members also seek to foster long-term diversity in staff and leadership and work year-round to meet the unique health care needs of LGBTQ+ patients.
MetroHealth, for example, offers a year-round LGBTQI+ Pride Network, a primary care network established 16 years ago specifically to offer a respectful and accepting space for LGBTQI+ patients to receive their care.
In Brooklyn, N.Y., SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University offers an LGBT Health Initiative Clinic at its STAR Health Center. The health system tells the story of clinic founder Mag Robinson, MA, LMHC, senior administrator for ambulatory care services, in a recent feature on Downstate TV. The health system offers staff training on LGBTQ+ sensitivity issues and hospital-wide educational sessions.
Video by SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Essential hospitals also work to ensure that hospital leadership represents the diversity of their patient population. For example, Harris Health System, in Houston, recently announced the historic appointment of Cody Pyke, MD, as the first openly transgender and nonbinary member of the health system’s nine-member board of trustees.
UNMC and Nebraska Medicine, in Omaha, Neb., have an LGBTQ+ Employee Alliance Group to promote the well-being of LGBTQ+ faculty, students, and staff. The alliance and the UNMC Office of Inclusion will host on June 22 keynote speaker Sarah Phelps, director of operations + programs at OutNebraska, to speak about mental health and cultural barriers within the LGBTQ+ community.
Nebraska Medicine also streamed online the documentary CURED from June 1– 15, in conjunction with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Office of Inclusion and the Psychiatry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. The documentary highlights a pivotal point in the LGBTQ+ equality movement, when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses. On June 15, the UNMC Office of Inclusion and Psychiatry DEI committee will host an in-person conversation with CURED co-director Patrick Sammon.
Essential hospitals are constantly seeking new and improved ways to support LGBTQ+ patients and their families, all while monitoring ongoing local, state, and federal policies that directly affect them. From innovative practices to serving as resources for patients and staff, essential hospitals are leading the way to create equitable spaces for all.
How is your hospital celebrating Pride Month? Contact us at DEPT-Comms@essentialhospitals.org to share!
Author