Transgender health resources still lacking in B.C.By Gail Johnson
August 2, 2012
http://www.straight.com/article-744211/vancouver/transgender-health-resources-still-lacking
Many transgender people feel isolated, with about 62 percent experiencing depression and 32 percent attempting suicide, according to
B.C. Partners for Mental Health and Addictions Information.
Worrall says three members of the trans community killed themselves this past Christmas. Being shunned by family is a common experience among transgender people; so is having trouble finding work and a place to live.
Worrall says that health services in Vancouver specifically targeted at the transgender community are sorely lacking.
When she was hospitalized in February because of suicidal thoughts, the doctors released her after a few days, saying they couldn't help her because she didn't have a specific psychiatric diagnosis.
She describes Vancouver Coastal Health's Transgender Health Program (THP) as lacking sufficient resources to serve the entire province, as it's supposed to.
THP medical director Gail Knudson explains that the program offers educational rather than health services.
....
A huge concern is that B.C. residents who wish to have sex-reassignment surgery have to go to a private clinic in Montreal for the procedure.
Not providing the surgery locally costs B.C. taxpayers more, says the NDP MLA for Vancouver–West End, Spencer Chandra Herbert.
