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<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nFifteen years ago, The MetroHealth System launched a clinic designed to offer the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community a safe, affirming place to receive care. What started as a single clinic on Cleveland\u2019s near West Side has since grown to a full network of providers throughout Northeast Ohio committed to the same goal: to treat LGBTQI+ individuals with the humanity they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They have a place to go where they’re going to be accepted,” says Douglas Van Auken, MD<\/a>, one of the founders of the Pride Network, the first of its kind in Northeast Ohio and among the first in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They’re not going to be confronted with people that use their wrong name or treat them more like a disease than a person,\u201d Van Auken says. \u201cUniversally, they will hear something like, ‘I’m so glad you’re here, and your life is important.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Today, the MetroHealth Pride Network includes nine primary care providers at various MetroHealth locations throughout Greater Cleveland and offers telemedicine services for individuals farther away. Since 2019, the Pride Network has also hosted a clinic at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland in the Gordon Square neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These providers offer general primary care for all ages. Care includes chronic disease management, family planning and pregnancy care, affirming care for LGBTQ+ kids and the children of LGBTQI+ parents, hormone therapy, testing for sexual transmitted infections, HIV prevention and care, immunizations and other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith our network, the majority of our providers are part of the LGBT community and understand the issues so many of these individuals face,\u201d says Mark McLoney, MD<\/a>, Medical Director, MetroHealth Pride Network. \u201cPeople should expect their medical providers to listen to them, make them feel comfortable and encourage them to be their genuine selves \u2013 and I\u2019m confident that\u2019s what our team here does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, stigma and discrimination have deterred LGBTQI+ individuals from seeking medical care \u2013 something MetroHealth\u2019s providers are adamant about addressing. A 2020 national survey<\/a>, for example, reported that 15% of LGBTQ Americans reported postponing or avoiding medical treatment due to discrimination, including nearly 3 in 10 transgender individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt really is a privilege to be invited into their lives, and I take that responsibility very seriously in terms of my obligations to them as their provider,\u201d says Meghan Fibbi, DO<\/a>, one of the Pride Network\u2019s Family Medicine physicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even beyond the Pride Network, MetroHealth is committed to ensuring questions and concerns rooted in historical disparities \u2013 like those faced by the LGBTQI+ community \u2013 are met by its caregivers with compassion, patience and flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pride Network works closely with specialties across the system, including behavioral health, plastic surgery, gynecology and speech therapy, to ensure individuals receive the gender-affirming care they deserve. In fact, this fall, MetroHealth will begin to offer vaginoplasty and phalloplasty surgeries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs a doctor, one of the most important things to do is listen and bear witness to our patients\u2019 lived experiences,\u201d says Vikas Gampa, MD<\/a>, one of the Pride Network\u2019s newest primary care physicians. \u201cWe are here to provide non-judgmental and inclusive care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about The MetroHealth Pride Network, visit <\/em>metrohealth.org\/pride<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fifteen years ago, The MetroHealth System launched a clinic designed to offer the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community a safe, affirming place to receive care. What started as a single clinic on Cleveland\u2019s near West Side has since grown to a full network of providers throughout Northeast Ohio committed to the same … <\/p>\n