UVa Transgender Clinic Helps Teens with Health Needs

[Ayla]

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (NEWSPLEX) -- Medical help and support care for transgender people is becoming more available.

"I think until recently our cultural climate wasn't such that folks felt comfortable coming for medical care and I'm very happy to say that now they are starting to do that," said Dr. Christine Burt Solorzano, the clinic's co-director.

With the help of resources like the Transgender Clinic, transgender youth are able to seek professional help without fear or worry.

"In the past, these transgender individuals would hide and they would often have developed psychiatric problems because they were not able to express themselves as they wanted to and needed to," said Burt Solorzano.

"It's important for the transgender youth who were forgoing care not getting care of going to places that were insensitive to what some of their issues are," said Dr. Nancy McLaren, the clinic's co-director.

McLaren and Burt Solorzano created the clinic about a year ago, after seeing a need for a place for patients to go to get help with emotional issues, physical changes and surgery referrals.

Instead of having to bounce around to several different departments, it's all under one house, in turn, creating some familiarity for patients.

"Our nurse knows them well and feels comfortable talking with them. We have one front desk person, so they get to know her and she's very careful about making sure that she's using the right name and right pronoun because what used may not be right now what's in the medical record," said McLaren.

It's a safe place for guidance.

"One of my patients was asking where does he get shoes that are going to fit," added McLaren. "Some of the transgender females, where do they get clothes or makeup they can find and who can help advise them on that."

The Transgender Clinic eventually hopes to hire an on-staff psychologist or a therapist.   

www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/UVa-Transgender-Clinic-Helps-Teens-with-Health-Needs-363115181.html   

[Deleted]

Wow!  Does this bring back memories?  Dear old UVa!  My old alma mater.

If I remember correctly, back in the old days when I was a student there, and long before I wanted to deal with my own gender issues, the UVa Medical Center was already giving treatment to trans individuals.  I have no specifics on that, exactly what sort of treatment was available.  And I also believe that requirements for treatment were pretty strict.  You had to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that you were trans.  Nonetheless, it was fairly progressive for the times.

Here's a link giving you the location of the UVa Teen and Young Adult Health Center, the green bubble on Main St. 

uvahealth.com/locations/profile/teen-health

Now if you follow Main St. west, you'll see a little line (the rail line) crossing Main St. right where 14th St. runs into Main St.  Go just a few yards further west, that's the location of a bookstore I used to work in at the time (although that bookstore is no longer there).  The railroad actually crosses Main St. on a low bridge, and there were plenty of signs warning truck drivers, "LOW BRIDGE!!!!".  But inevitably from time to time some idiot truck driver would ignore the warning signs.  In the bookstore we'd hear a huge crunch.  We'd look at each other and say, "Well, the bridge got another one."  We'd go out front and take a look.  The top of truck would be absolutely crumpled up like an accordion.

Now go a few doors further west on Main St., you'd come to a tobacco and general store, at the top of which a good buddy of mine rented an apartment for a while.  One afternoon he had a bit of cooking to do.  There was a frying pan full of water on the cooker, so he just tossed the water out the window.  A minute later he heard a knock at the door.  So he went to open it, and who did he see?  Officer Monk.

Now Monk was a legend around UVa.  He was a holy terror.  Main St. was his beat, and he was going to rule it as he saw fit.  And one thing he wasn't going to do was take any grief from any spoiled, snot-nosed, preppy university student.  He was not the least bit impressed with university kids.

So there's my friend opening the door to Officer Monk.  And Monk's got water still dripping off his hat onto his uniform.  And Monk doesn't look happy.  And Monk says to him, "Alright!  I just wanted to get a look at you.  I won't forget you."

My buddy was still trembling as he told us the story.

One other thing: a while back I wanted to get my diploma updated to my new name.  The first official I contacted by e-mail told me, "Sorry, we don't do that."  "Why not?" I asked.  "Well, your diploma shows your name as it was while you were a student here."  "Well, duh! I understand that. That's precisely the problem."  And the guy I was dealing with realized, I think, that it was a pointless policy, but he was an underling and it was out of his hands.  He encouraged me to take the matter to his superior.

Which I did.  And she gave me the same story, while informing me that I could take the case to the big boss, the Dean of Something-or-Other.  Which I did.  And then I didn't hear anything for a long while.  After two or three months, I got back on to the big boss, and I suppose in the meantime she'd had a think about the matter and realized there was no real reason not to issue an amended diploma, especially since there was a fairly hefty fee to be charged for such services.

Now at that point they wouldn't have known they were dealing with a transperson.  I was dealing with them under my new name.  But at that point the boss lady wanted my old name so that she could confirm that they had in fact issued me a diploma in the old days.  So when I gave them my old name, it would have been obvious to them that they were dealing with a transperson, but that didn't put them off.  They were still giving me the green light.

Then we ran into a snag.  I'm in Ireland, and the University of Virginia is in Virginia.  At least it still was at the time.  So how to get my money to them to cover the fee?  I couldn't send them a check.  Irish banks don't really do those any more, and American banks don't like foreign checks.  They couldn't take my credit card number and my PayPal account was no good to them.  So what to do?  Well, the boss lady said, "We'll waive the fee in your case."  But I did figure out a way to get them their money, so in the end they were happy.  And I'm happy because I now have a diploma (about the size of a bath towel) proudly displaying my new name.

But it seems clear that was the first time that they'd dealt with such an issue in the case of a transperson, and they came through for me.  So well done, dear old UVa.

So thanks for this post, Aisla.  As you can see, it brought back many fond memories.