Jump to content
Required Reading for any Longhorn ×

Daily Texan: UHS moves to provide hormone replacement therapy, LGBTQ students keep up the pressure

Mappable

By Mappable
in Daily Texan

 Share

Recommended Posts

Mappable

Mappable 37

Posted
Posted

UHS moves to provide hormone replacement therapy, LGBTQ students keep up the pressure

This fall, University Health Services will begin providing hormone replacement therapy, a service the LGBTQ community has long been pushing for.

While the service will initially only be available for patients already on HRT, UHS doctors hope providing hormone therapy will help them better serve their patients, said Melinda McMichael, interim chief medical officer at UHS.

“We want to make sure that when we do this, we do it correctly and that we provide the high quality services that we’re proud of providing to our students,” McMichael said. “We just want to do it right.”

HRT — the practice of using testosterone or estrogen hormones to alter one’s outward appearance to better match one’s gender identity — is a common step taken by transgender people to affirm their identity. While hormones can be prescribed by primary care physicians, they have not previously been available at UHS, a primary care clinic.

“Honestly there aren’t a lot of training programs for … physicians and other providers to learn how to do this,” McMichael said. “There’s a little bit of a learning curve.”

While McMichael said UHS doctors have attended conferences and hosted focus groups on how to properly administer medical services to transgender students, some students say prescribing these medications should not be that complicated.

Callum, a women’s and gender studies junior, said seeking HRT at other clinics can be frustrating because patients are put on waiting lists for months at a time — something Callum knows from personal experience. Callum recently got on the waitlist at another clinic and anticipates months of waiting for an appointment.

“UHS is supposed to be there for students on campus (with) basic health care things, which should include HRT,” Callum said. “Since it doesn’t, that forces people to have to wait months to get care that is very dire. … You have to wait months to be on the waitlist (and) you have to wait months for your actual appointment when we have enough doctors that do general medicine at UHS that should be able to write a prescription.”

McMichael said three UHS physicians will be providing HRT in the fall, and eventually UHS plans to start prescribing hormones to new patients as they gain more experience.

While UHS is working to make sure the program initiates smoothly, George Short Schaertl, an electrical engineering graduate student, said she is frustrated that it has taken UHS so long fulfill what she sees as a basic health care need.

“I think they’re ready, and I’m pretty upset with them for the delay,” said Schaertl, who has been on HRT for three months from another provider. “I think one thing that is disappointing is the mentality that transgender health care is something exceptional or unusual, rather than within the scope of things you might expect to encounter in your medical practice.” 

The work UHS is doing is good, Schaertl said, but not enough.

“I’m very glad they realize this is a problem, and they’re taking steps to fix it,” Schaertl said. “I am worried that they may start taking any action and start to think that they’re doing enough.”

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anastasis

Anastasis 23471

Posted
Posted (edited)

This is all fine and well, but exactly what hormones are they replacing? This isn't exactly HRT, which has a specific meaning. It's using hormones to trigger expression of certain characteristics that did not exist previously.  

Edited by Anastasis
Link to comment
Share on other sites
safe sex

safe sex 11800

Posted
Posted

I would imagine in the case of the trans students, estrogen and testosterone levels will be altered with a selection of different drugs. As far as I'm aware, and I could very well be mistaken as this is not an area in which I work, these treatments are still referred to as HRT. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
phdhorn

phdhorn 6224

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, Mappable said:

 

The work UHS is doing is good, Schaertl said, but not enough.

“I’m very glad they realize this is a problem, and they’re taking steps to fix it,” Schaertl said. “I am worried that they may start taking any action and start to think that they’re doing enough.”

 

Jeezuz, shut your fucking piehole. They're workin' on it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hornin04

Hornin04 261

Posted
Posted

Has shaggy  Surly become too PC for me to express my true feelings about this and say that it is bullshit?

Especially this quote 

Quote

 

“UHS is supposed to be there for students on campus (with) basic health care things, which should include HRT,” Callum said. “Since it doesn’t, that forces people to have to wait months to get care that is very dire. …

 

Basic healthcare things?  GMAFB

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites
futureman

futureman 22562

Posted
Posted

didn’t wanna start a thread for this so I’ll put it here, in this currently existing thread of ridiculously stupid shit that involves our beloved university.  

https://pjmedia.com/trending/university-of-texas-to-treat-masculinity-as-a-mental-health-issue/

don’t really know the source so I’m not even sure it’s real.  but it’s a real laugher.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
troph

troph 24916

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Am I the only one that feels sorry for those with gender identity disorder?

It seems like science hasn’t figured out a proper treatment yet.  

Don’t feel sorry for me, I’m very content with my life in those respects.

Edited by troph
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anastasis

Anastasis 23471

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, futureman said:

didn’t wanna start a thread for this so I’ll put it here, in this currently existing thread of ridiculously stupid shit that involves our beloved university.  

https://pjmedia.com/trending/university-of-texas-to-treat-masculinity-as-a-mental-health-issue/

don’t really know the source so I’m not even sure it’s real.  but it’s a real laugher.  

Oh its real.

 

https://cmhc.utexas.edu/vav/vav_masculinut.html

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
troph

troph 24916

Posted
Posted (edited)

I realize it’s fun and easy to pick on us but from our vantage point this care is fundamental, it’s easy and not that complicated, it changes lives radically for the better and it saves lives.  It really should be a no brainer. Trans specific health care should be a routine medical treatment regimen, not a political issue.

Popping my first estrogen pill over 4 years ago changed my life in so many amazing ways and I would be devastated if my health care was taken away from me.

Edited by troph
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

Posted
Posted
27 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

That pjmedia article is laughable, and you know who could have probably benefited from some healthy masculinity?  Charles fucking Whitman.  It's an easy target but is probably a useful discussion.

 
Excerpt from the UT Health center.
 
  1. Unhealthy masculinity works by excluding students who are judged not to measure up to the values of "real men." This is especially pronounced in the exclusion of feminine gender expressions, gay, bisexual and queer men, and gender-expansive students, which perpetuates sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.
  2.  
  3. To prove who is a "real man" means proving who is not a "real man." This can take the shape of competition between men, which often results in devaluing and/or hurting some men in order to appear more masculine. If unhealthy masculinity is not questioned, it could lead to racist, classist, ableist, and other violent behavior to devalue other students in the competition to prove who is a "real man."

And they made a nice pictorial for us to think about:

https://cmhc.utexas.edu/vav/images/gender.png

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
futureman

futureman 22562

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

That pjmedia article is laughable, and you know who could have probably benefited from some healthy masculinity?  Charles fucking Whitman.  It's an easy target but is probably a useful discussion.

does estrogen therapy treat brain tumors?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Phillip91

Phillip91 2

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

That pjmedia article is laughable, and you know who could have probably benefited from some healthy masculinity?  Charles fucking Whitman.  It's an easy target but is probably a useful discussion.

Charles Whitman is about mental illness, not masculinity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NameAlreadyInUse

NameAlreadyInUse 5132

Posted
Posted

So UHS is going to start treating for this now.  This is great for those that need it.  For those of us that don't, its much like them treating the flu.  Great for those who need it, and not worth thinking about for those that don't.  Can't believe anyone is wasting brain cycles being upset about this, but some people need to make everything political I guess.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Lhorn

Lhorn 4971

Posted
Posted

Not sure why this would be something that UHS should be involved with.  There are many elements of health care that would theoretically benefit a student, yet they don't feel the need to provide to that student.  

I'd also share the concern that they just don't have the expertise to provide this service competently. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
po elvis

po elvis 2083

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

So UHS is going to start treating for this now.  This is great for those that need it.  For those of us that don't, its much like them treating the flu.  Great for those who need it, and not worth thinking about for those that don't.  Can't believe anyone is wasting brain cycles being upset about this, but some people need to make everything political I guess.

who are those that need it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
troph

troph 24916

Posted
Posted (edited)
23 minutes ago, slorch said:

It is not basic healthcare.

Yeah it is dumbass, much more than blood pressure meds or cholesterol meds.  The treatment is basic, easy and life saving.  It costs almost nothing — I bet not even $100 a month with no coverage.  The shit we do for what most think is basic healthcare is far more expensive and less effective than cross hormone therapy for trans folk.

Edited by troph
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
troph

troph 24916

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, slorch said:

What one does with their body is their business, I guess.

Why do i need to foot the bill?

Same shit.  If your heart is a wreck why should I pay for your old Medicare ass getting bypass surgery? 

Fuck your kind thinking my basic healthcare is elective and optional just because you can’t fathom the science and the need for it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, troph said:

I realize it’s fun and easy to pick on us but from our vantage point this care is fundamental, it’s easy and not that complicated, it changes lives radically for the better and it saves lives.  It really should be a no brainer. Trans specific health care should be a routine medical treatment regimen, not a political issue.

Popping my first estrogen pill over 4 years ago changed my life in so many amazing ways and I would be devastated if my health care was taken away from me.

Nobody is picking on you.  You are not a victim.  You also cannot have everything you want just because you say it is so.

It's a matter of BASIC healthcare provided by a state subsidized entity.  

 

Do it on your own dime in a regular medical facility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
troph

troph 24916

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, slorch said:

Nobody is picking on you.  You are not a victim.  You also cannot have everything you want just because you say it is so.

It's a matter of BASIC healthcare provided by a state subsidized entity.  

 

Do it on your own dime in a regular medical facility.

I’m not a victim, didn’t claim to be and don’t think anyone is picking on me but yeah the trans community is an easy target.  I’m actually quite the opposite of a victim and have the good fortune to stand and be visible about these issues.  

I don’t know what the economics are st the university health care center but I paid fees into it and never went.  There certainly is an aspect of basic care that it should cover and again you are dead ass wrong about what is and isn’t basic care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...