HEALTH-ARGENTINA:  "Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits
By Marcela Valente

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=48183

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 22 (IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.

"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria Ramírez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.

"Buddies" Ease Transgenders' Hospital Visits in Argentina

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/2080/68/
8/26/09

(IPS) - Keeping a hospital appointment in the Argentine capital is a far less fearsome ordeal for transgender persons, a sector of the population that according to doctors had "dramatic" statistics of illness, when they are accompanied by trained health promoters who, like them, have chosen a different gender identity.

"It's easier to communicate among ourselves than with hospital staff," Valeria Ramírez, a transgender promoter with the city of Buenos Aires' Programme to Facilitate Access to the Health System for the Transgender Population, told IPS.