TransAtlas

New York City, NY, USA

By Micah Domingo
transgender, resources, health, social services, wellness,

A guide connecting Transgender and Non-binary citizens to competent, and friendly health and wellness resources across New York City's five boroughs.

Callen-Lorde Community Health Center serves almost 20,000 people a year, with a mission to provide care for anyone regardless of ability to pay. The vast majority of their patients identify somewhere along the LGBTQI spectrum, with about 4,000-5,000 (20-25%) of their patients identifying as transgender. It is estimated that Callen-Lorde is one of the largest providers of transgender medical services in the world.

Transgender people face daily harassment and discrimination, which impacts their ability to access necessary services. According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey put out by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 34% of respondents who experienced mistreatment on public transportation reported negative experiences, including verbal and physical harassment.(1) In addition to this, they tackle added challenges when receiving services due to lack of competence, and prejudice from service providers. This group carries a statistically disproportionate burden of HIV infections in the United States, with communities of Black and Latinx Transgender women having the highest rates of new diagnoses.(2)

TransAtlas, a GIS based resource guide, is an interactive tool for the transgender community that aims to open up access to otherwise unknown resources. Fueled by the need for innovations in transgender care, and the unique ways this community accesses and navigates public spaces, TransAtlas acts as a connector between community members and necessary supportive services.

Using Callen-Lorde’s newly updated TGNB (Transgender and Gender Non-Binary) Community Resource Guide(3), I mapped around 400 Medical and Social supportive services across New York City. These were further broken down into categories: Advocacy and Activism, Alternative Medicine, Elders, Electrolysis and Hair Removal, Housing Services, Legal Services, Medical and Health, Mental Health and Addiction Support, Religious, Reproductive Services, Sexual Health Services, Social and Supportive Services, Speech Therapy, Surgeon and Youth. By pulling resources directly from the in-house referrals department, I was able to ensure these services had been thoroughly vetted through a process of provider and patient feedback.

Cutting-edge technological approaches are needed to help ensure Transgender communities have the tools to connect to services that will support and treat them with dignity. GIS technology can be successfully utilized to bridge gaps in care for patients whose social determinants of health inhibit their access to adequate healthcare. GIS has the power to transform the way patients access care and navigate complex health networks, helping organizations and agencies meet their patient population where they are at, instead of maintaining their gatekeeper role for the community. Transgender people deserve unhindered access to safe and supportive services, especially through community-based and community-led initiatives.

Sources

  1. James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (23 April 2018), HIV Among Transgender People. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/gender/transgender/index.html.
  3. Callen-Lorde Community Health Center (2018), NYC-METRO AREA TRANSGENDER AND GENDER NON-BINARY (TGNB) COMMUNITY RESOURCES. Retrieved from http://callen-lorde.org/graphics/2018/03/2018-NYC-Metro-Area-Transgender-and-Gender-Non-Binary-Community-Resources.pdf