LGBT Health Care Services
LGBT health care. So your family can get the care it needs.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa (PPGI) is paving the way for sensitive LGBT health care in Des Moines and around Iowa. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals often encounter obstacles in accessing open and accurate health care. PPGI is working to eliminate these barriers through our multifaceted LGBT Initiative. The three year effort has three goals:
- Improve health care for LGBT people.
- Raise awareness of the health concerns of LGBT people through community education and outreach.
- Establish adoption services that welcome LGBT people as adoptive parents.
1. LGBT health care activities are centered around Des Moines, Iowa’s largest metropolitan area. A third of the state’s population, or 950,000 people, live within an hour’s drive of Des Moines. It is also the area of the state where PPGI has the largest concentration of health care facilities, with one family practice center and three reproductive health care clinics. PPGI is also providing training to its entire clinical staff statewide to be compassionate and informed health care providers for the LGBT community, which will be especially helpful for those in more rural areas. The training focuses on a sensitive approach to caring for LGBT patients, their specific needs and confronting and correcting myths about LGBT-identified people.
For the LGBT Initiative, PPGI hired an additional physician to join Dr. Tom Ross at its Family Practice Center. Dr. Joe Freund provides health care to all, and as a gay physician, is especially sensitive to the unique needs of the LGBT community including individuals from all around the state. In fact, the Family Practice Center has recorded days in which over 50 percent of the clinic’s patients are LGBT-identified.
Services available at the Family Practice Center include:
- Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender healthcare
- Family and pediatric care
- Minor surgery
- Obesity management
- Cancer screenings
- Preventative care and immunizations
- STI testing and treatment
- HIV testing
- Smoking cessation
2. PPGI is not only providing a culturally competent health care environment for LGBT individuals at its clinics, but is working to break down barriers and stereotypes in the community.
To facilitate community education and outreach in an effort to break down the barriers that LGBT people face in accessing health care, Dr. Joe Freund and PPGI educators make presentations to LGBT groups, health care professionals, faith communities, colleges, universities and the public.
All of PPGI’s regional educators have been trained to address LGBT health concerns and needs. Because of their ongoing work with diverse populations throughout Iowa, these educators will be able to reach thousands of people with accurate information about unique LGBT health concerns and the disparities LGBT-identified individuals face in accessing health care.
For more information on upcoming LGBT training and workshops, please contact PPGI’s Education and Resource Center at 515.883.1863.
3. PPGI has implemented an adoption program that welcomes LGBT people as adoptive parents. Prospective LGBT parents in Iowa may face significant barriers in accessing adoption services as seen by the state’s largest adoption agencies only placing children with legally married couples.
Through a partnership with the Avalon Center, a diversity-inclusive adoption agency based in Mason City, PPGI has been able to implement a statewide adoption program that supports LGBT people in their efforts to adopt. PPGI believes that facilitating parenthood by LGBT persons poses a fundamental challenge to existing societal “norms” and the status quo in Iowa and will eventually lead to greater inclusion, visibility and understanding of all LGBT people.
The Avalon Center has an office at PPGI’s Joseph F. Rosenfield Health Care Center in Des Moines with set office hours and a 24-hour phone line for individuals and couples interested in pursuing adoption. The staff is also available to travel to PPGI centers around the state for options counseling.
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