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GayCityNews.com | April 7 - April 20, 2022
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Founding Member
Bringing Visibility, Inclusivity to Trans Healthcare
BY MATT TRACY
Asia Lyons spends
her days working
with clients as part
of the Visiting Nurse
Service of New York’s (VNSNY)
Gender Affirmation Program,
which provides home-based
care to transgender and nonbinary
individuals in New York
City following gender affirmation
surgery. Lyons is a licensed
social worker, meaning
she is particularly equipped to
help clients — but her professional
expertise is just one
part of what she brings to the
people she serves.
“Having been through gender
affirmation surgery myself,
I have first-hand knowledge
of what our patients are
experiencing,” Lyons said during
a recent phone interview
with Gay City News. “When I
call patients and explain I’m
trans, many are in tears.”
Those kinds of connections
demonstrate the importance
of the Gender Affirmation
Program, which has served
more than 1,100 patients and
counting. The program taps
into a network of clinicians,
nurses, physical therapists,
and home health aides — and
they all undergo training on
how to take care of trans and
non-binary patients in the aftermath
of surgery.
The program, now six years
old, was moving full speed
ahead until the COVID-19
pandemic arrived and prompted
the cancellation of elective
surgeries, including genderaffirming
surgeries. But now,
with many restrictions lifted
while cases are lower, demand
for surgeries has jumped back
up.
“The floodgates opened and
people scheduled as many
surgeries as possible,” Shannon
Health
Whittington, who leads
the Gender Affirmation Program,
told Gay City News.
The Gender Affirmation Program’s
clients include people
like Cookie Carter, who has
lived in Harlem for 14 years
and received a range of services
as she recovered from surgery.
She said VNSNY helped
her obtain a grab bar for her
shower and coordinated care
with her doctors to ensure her
medical needs were being met
throughout the recovery process.
“After coming home, I was
visited by a beautiful nurse,”
Carter said. “And you know
what she said when she came
into the room? She introduced
herself, called me Cookie, and
said, ‘I am here for you.’ That
made all the difference in the
world.”
Among other services, VNSNY
also helps to facilitate
food distribution for clients
in need, but many people are
often reluctant to admit food
insecurity. Lyons recalled a
time when a client was receiving
services for weeks before
asking for help with getting
food and attending medical
appointments. Another client
was recuperating from surgery
in the Bronx when Lyons
said she noticed that the client’s
tone of voice indicated
that they had not been eating
enough food.
There are also times when
clients simply need some reassurance
before undergoing
surgery.
“I had one patient who called
me two days ago and she said,
‘I need to hear your voice. Tomorrow
is my voice surgery,'”
Lyons explained. “She needed
to know everything was going
to be OK — and that, to me,
was a testament to the relationship
I build with my patients.”
Establishing a foundation
of trust is critical for VNSNY
at a time when so many providers
lack the necessary
knowledge to serve trans
and non-binary individuals.
Whittington explained that
the Gender Affirmation Program
seeks out clinicians
who are competent and sensitive
enough to work with
trans folks.
“Many don’t have access to
another trans person who has
had these procedures,” Lyons
said. “Many are isolated. There
is so much going on and some
say they are not sure who to
talk to for support.”
The lack of shared support
systems, Lyons said, underscores
the importance of
Transgender Day of Visibility,
which is recognized annually
on March 31. While she
stressed the need to stand up
against hate and violence, she
also pointed to the positive impact
of visibility.
“Our voice counts and we
matter, and sometimes it’s OK
to come out of the shadows
because we need to let our
community know we are not
alone,” Lyons said.
VNSNY has generated
support to build on its work
through the Gender Affirmation
Project. The New York
City Council has allocated
funds to it, according to
Whittington, while the federal
government funded a
five-year, $3.4 million grant
for VNSNY and the Center
for Home Care Policy and
Research to study up to 300
clients for 18 months after
undergoing surgery to determine
how to best serve the
clients in the future.
Asia Lyons
Asia Lyons is a social worker for Visiting Nurse Service of New York.
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