Trans services boosted by new plans
Specialized health clinic planned for downtown San Jose as inaugural program director for transgender services hits the ground running
SAN JOSE >> For years, it’s been a community that health officials say has been underserved. But now transgender residents in Santa Clara County will have their own health clinic that specializes in their care.
The county’s first transgender health clinic is scheduled to open in the fall on the second floor of the Valley Health Center Downtown on East Santa Clara Street in San Jose.
“There’s a long history of this community being treated poorly and that has resulted in individuals not seeking care,” said Maribel Martinez, director of the county Office of LGBTQ Affairs. “We want a happy and healthy population, and that’s only possible if all residents have access to medical care proficient for their
needs.”
The county is now hiring a medical director and other employees to help shape the clinic’s service and treatment offerings.
The idea for the specialized clinic came from a county health-assessment survey five years ago, which found that 82 percent of transgender who responded said there were not enough health professionals adequately trained to care for them.
Supervisor Ken Yeager added that the county has heard from many in the South Bay transgender community who have had to travel to San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Fremont for health care.
“We’ve known for quite a while that the county is lacking resources for the transgender community with medical issues,” said Yeager, the county’s first and only openly gay supervisor. “Many residents are going elsewhere for treatment. We had to correct the situation.”
Martinez said the new clinic would help address what she described as a “low cultural competency” in much of the medical community on how to treat and address transgender patients. She also noted that a dedicated clinic can focus expertise on hormone treatments and transition services.
For Anthony Ross, the county’s inaugural program manager for transgender services, the clinic serves as both a direct resource and a gesture of inclusion from the local government.
“It’s going to fill a massive void,” Ross said. “Most providers have no understanding of working with the transgender and nonbinary community. And there’s not really a push for them to learn. The barriers are huge.”
Ross, who identifies as a queer transgender man, joins the county after 15
years with Mountain Viewbased Adolescent Counseling Services, most recently as director of Outlet, a program supporting LGBTQ youth in the South Bay and Peninsula. He is settling into a job with a broad directive and will in many ways define the position as he goes along.
Some of the job’s duties that have been outlined involve training health care and mental-health professionals, helping schools increase their familiarity and sensitivity with the community, and educating other county agencies, including correctional facilities.
Ross’ hiring offers immediate impact. “People will feel safe to be with someone who knows the language, and sees you as human. That is not automatic,” he said.
Both the program director position and the establishment of the clinic continue
a movement of inclusion that was accelerated when two years ago the county created the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, the first such county-wide office in the country. Earlier this year, the county Board of Supervisors approved an emergency shelter and temporary housing program for LGBTQ residents, the only such offering outside San Francisco.
“We’re here to help a seriously marginalized community thrive, instead of just survive,” Ross said.
Yeager said he hoped that the new services also will effectively give the county a more accurate count of the group they’re looking to help.
“This can make people comfortable to come out of the shadows,” he said. “We’re in an era where people are more comfortable than ever with coming out, because the population is bigger than we know.”