Interdisciplinary Program to Address Health Disparities Among Gender Minorities
Published March 2, 2023 By Darlene Muguiro UTEP College of Health Sciences
This spring, the College of Health Sciences will launch BLOOM, an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at addressing barriers to health care and increasing health equity among transgender and other gender minorities in El Paso.
Dr. Brandon Merritt, assistant professor of Speech-Language Pathology and director of the PRIDE Lab, explained that he was first made aware of the need for LGBTQI services last February by Dr. Brenda Risch, director of the Borderland Rainbow Center, during his interview for his current position at UTEP.
“Brenda shared with me at that time that there were much smaller cities than El Paso that have more community resources for LGBT health and mental health, as well as social opportunities and opportunities for collaboration,” said Merritt. “This is why she began the Borderland Rainbow Center. But she also shared that their space was limited and that more needed to be done.”
When Merritt became aware of the CAP2 grant opportunity, he recalled his conversation with Risch, and reached out to her and faculty from across UTEP who had experience in working with the LGBTQ population and others who had expressed an interest. Soon, a collaborative group of five faculty with expertise across health fields formed – Merritt, Dr. Pat Lara (Speech-Language Pathology), Dr. Oralia Loza (Public Health), Dr. Christopher Medline (Pharmacy) and Arlette Werthmann (Social Work).
In late October 2022, the group received $7,000 from the College of Health Sciences dean’s office to begin developing a series of seminars in predetermined areas – gender affirming voice change and nonverbal communication; safe use of gender-affirming hormones; health disparities and social determinants of health for gender minorities; finding health resources and interpreting credentials of healthcare providers; how to navigate various systems in the city and state for gender-affirming services; and self-advocacy in health care.
The seminar series will launch on March 25th, and will be offered at various settings across the El Paso area, including the Borderland Rainbow Center. Merritt says they are also considering sites in San Elizario and Tornillo. A group of between 15 and 20 graduate students, under the supervision of faculty and staff, will deliver the workshops. Students will be able to earn clinical practicum hours for participating in the initiative. While the program is mainly targeting transgender individuals, their friends and allies are also welcome to attend.
Merritt says that while he is aware that El Paso does have a sizeable transgender community, the data that is available is sparse, due largely to the fact that the community often prefers to keep a low profile for safety reasons.
“That’s part of the challenge in recruiting for this program,” he said. “So, we’re trying to do as much outreach to as many outlets as we can, to promote this as a safe space. We want folks to know that this is something that we plan to continue developing and growing, and we’re open to feedback about it, so that it can evolve over time.”
At the conclusion of the grant, the team will evaluate pre- and post-data concerning students’ knowledge about the transgender community and their competence in providing gender-affirming care to address health disparities. The group has already begun investigating larger funding sources to continue offering programming in the future.
For more information about the BLOOM series, please visit the BLOOM and PRIDE Lab Instagram channels at:
@bloom.el.paso
@the.pride.lab
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Go Miners!