Friday, 6 February 2015

Aging Out: Moving towards queer and trans competent care for seniors

Qmunity, Vancouver’s queer resource centre, in association with the Vancouver Foundation and local health authorities, funded the Aging Out Project, a two-year research and education project aimed at determining the needs of queer and trans seniors when transitioning from independent to assisted living or residential care, and developing a set of recommendations on how long-term care facilities and staff can become more queer and trans competent. During their research many LGBTQ seniors in focus groups around British Columbia expressed concern and fear that they might feel the need to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity in long-term care facilities where staff might not be queer and trans competent. One of the primary recommendations made in this resource is to ensure that the elderly have the opportunity to self-identify in during intake assessment.
This resource can be accessed here : http://bit.ly/16nt1gk