Indiana U med students start free clinic focused on ‘LGBTQ+ competent’ health care, plan to provide ‘hormone therapy’
The clinic will offer ‘access to gender affirming hormone therapy prescriptions’ and ‘free contraception in partnership.’
The clinic will receive funds directly from the medical school, among other sources.
Indiana University’s (IU) School of Medicine opened a free student-led health clinic specializing in treatments for those who identify as “LGBTQ.”
The ‘Gender Diverse and Queer Clinic’ (GDQC), which opened Saturday, calls itself the “[h]ealthcare home base for LGBTQ+ communities of Bloomington and South Central Indiana.” Though it serves all patients regardless of sexual orientation, it will “focus on care for the LGBTQ+ community,” fourth year medical student and chair Marissa Vander Missen told Campus Reform.
Vander Missen told Campus Reform that the clinic will offer, among other things, “access to gender affirming hormone therapy prescriptions” and “free contraception in partnership.”
Vander Missen, who is “ecstatic” about the GDQC’s opening, said: “Our clinic will offer LGBTQ+ competent primary care and holistic primary care for all uninsured and underinsured patients, regardless of identity.”
The initiative will be funded by IU’s Queer Philanthropy Circle, the Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council, and the IU School of Medicine, Vander Missen told Campus Reform.
The dean of the IU School of Medicine emphasizes: “As a medical school, we strive to be inclusive and welcoming for all and to prepare a health care workforce that provides the best possible care for everyone, including members of the LGBTQ+ community.”
On Sept. 14, the GDQC set up a table at the Bloomington Pride Fest, where members of the clinic promoted the new institution.
Campus Reform has contacted the IU School of Medicine, IU’s Queer Philanthropy Committee, and the Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
