Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) older adults face a number of challenges with respect to access to healthcare especially towards end-of-life.
August 4, 2021: To honor Pride Month, C-TAC hosted its first Member Meet-Up event with SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders) in June. SAGE is the largest organization in the U.S. dedicated to improving the healthcare experiences of LGBTQ+ older adults.
The report is online. (C-TAC, 8/4/21, https://www.thectac.org/2021/08/exclusive-c-tac-member-event-highlights-care-for-lgbtq-older-adults/)
LGBTQ+ Resource Guide
NHPCO released a resource guide for better providing hospice and palliative care services to LGBTQ+ individuals.
The content, developed by NHPCO’s Diversity Advisory Council (DAC), covers LGBTQ+ healthcare disparities, offers suggestions for providing better LGBTQ+ patient care, and suggests outreach strategies. The guide is online for download
Resources
5 Tips for People Living with Serious Illness Who are LGBTQ+ Resource
June 2022 is Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community’s voices, culture, and civil rights. In honor of Pride, GetPalliativeCare.org spoke with Dr. Noelle Marie Javier, who is a palliative care doctor and a woman of transgender experience. She works with patients every day who are living with serious illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease.
In GetPalliativeCare.org’s conversation with Dr. Javier, she shared a few things that people who identify as LGBTQ+ may want to keep in mind when visiting a palliative care doctor (or any other doctor, really!). Read the full interview.
Focusing on what matters most to LGBTQI+ Individuals
Over the years, LGBTQ+ community members have taken the time to talk with The Conversation Project about ways to best meet their needs when it comes to having conversations about what matters most for their health care through the end of life. Here is some of what they’ve learned, what you can do to advocate for your own care or the care of someone important to you, and suggestions for health care providers to keep in mind. MORE
For Providers:
The questions we ask and the resources we provide matter when it comes to making sure that everyone can have their wishes for care understood and respected. Many LGBTQ+ people have reported delaying or avoiding necessary medical care because they fear discrimination or mistreatment by health care staff. We encourage anyone creating patient-facing resources to consider:
- Using gender-neutral language (for example, “child” instead of son/daughter, use of the singular “they” instead of he/she)
- Avoiding assumptions of relationship types (not assuming marital status, offering space to include information for more than one partner)
- Providing wider examples of who matters most (such as partner, chosen family, cousin, friend, or faith or spiritual advisor)
- Adding illustrations and enhancing diversity of photos, including representation of relationships
AMA’s Moving Medicine has a series of videos that “highlight developments and achievements throughout medicine.”
The 16 minute video (and transcript) “End-of-life care considerations for LGBTQ older adults with Carey Candrian, PhD” was recently placed online and is available at the link below.
Review Healthcare and End-of-Life Needs of Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Older Adults: A Scoping Review
Through a systematic search and scoping review of the literature, this review sought to answer two related research questions. In particular, the purpose of this scoping review was to determine the healthcare needs of LGBT older adults nearing end-of-life as well as the factors that contribute to a good death experience among older adults who identify as LGBT.
If you know of other resources that can be added here, please let us know
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