Everybody Deserves Quality Healthcare

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. At VBCF, we believe that everybody deserves quality health care. People who are part of the LGBTQ+ community have a different experience with breast cancer than people who are heterosexual (“straight”) or cisgender (a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex a person was assigned at birth), so VBCF has been spending time trying to find and create resources for our LGBTQ+ community in Virginia.

With many state partners, we co-hosted an LGBT Health Conference in April that focused on educating providers on their LGBTQ+ patients. The program covered a discussion on gender identity and sexual orientation, some fears, and barriers LGBTQ+ patients face when using the medical system, and what we know about different cancer screening recommendations for this population. The program was very well received, and there are plans in the works for another conference next year.

One major barrier we face when it comes to providing the best medical and supportive care for LGBTQ+ breast cancer patients is that there is so little cancer research being conducted specific to this population. None of the major cancer databases collect information on gender identity and sexual orientation on a national scale, let alone at the state level.

There are also issues with screening and treatment recommendations for transgender patients because of the difficulty in getting an adequate sample size for any results to be relevant. Healthcare providers also get very little education on LGBTQ+ health in school, so many patients end up educating their doctors, which is not a burden a patient should have to bear on top of whatever health issue they are having.

If you want more information on breast cancer and LGBTQ+ patients and what VBCF is doing in the community, take a look here or contact Erin Steigleder, Education Manager, at erin@vbcf.org.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month