‘Winging it’: Trans health-care coverage spotty, hard to navigate across Canada
Donna Battaglia knew she was born in the wrong body from a very young age, but it wasn’t until she got older that she learned the words to explain what she knew was true.
“I’m involved in a couple of groups and I hear the stories. People are always asking: ‘Please give us some recommendations, tell us where we can go. This person was like this when we went to them and they didn’t really want to see us, didn’t want to talk to us, things they didn’t want to get involved in.'”Experts want to see more providers — nurse practitioners, general physicians, social workers — trained and authorized to provide gender-affirming care.
He points out that gender diversity was removed from the International Classification of Diseases as a psychiatric diagnosis. “We can transition all we want, but if there is no health-care service that can properly serve us and our general health-care needs, then the health-care system is still failing.”
At the request of the territory, he and his team also provided free, inclusive health training for any Yukon practitioner who wanted it. “Think about somebody living in Terrace, B.C., who has a vaginoplasty in Montreal and a week later, they’re getting on a plane, flying across Canada, flying to Vancouver, then having to switch planes and fly again to their home community. I cannot personally imagine having to do that a week after surgery.”Townsend says being able to have surgery locally means improved pre- and post-care, consultations and a closer support network.
“The surgeon that was doing that is very familiar with the whole process, has done work for people coming back from Montreal. I sort of just mentioned it at an appointment. I had no idea or plan where I wanted to go with it — just get rid of the stuff that I don’t want. That’s as far as I want to go with it. He said: ‘It’s easy to do. It’s 20 minutes’ extra work.
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