Cooper opens LGBTQ+ health center
S. Ryan Kirker, MS, PA-C Physician Assistant, Center for LGBTQ+ Health
“When you’re comfortable with your medical provider, you give and receive more information, which is a basic tenet of good healthcare provider/ patient relationships. We do everything we can to better the lives of those in our community.”
This month, Cooper Care Alliance will open a new office in Collingswood dedicated to providing healthcare for the unique needs of the LGBTQ+ community of South Jersey and beyond.
“Patients who come to this center will know they can come to this safe space where knowledgeable providers will advocate for them and provide the care they need. We’ve created a space where providers understand the specific needs of this community,” says S. Ryan Kirker, MS, PA-C, Physician’s Assistant at the Center for LGBTQ+ Health at Cooper. “Many of our patients have gone to providers who don’t have experience dealing with queer-related health issues, so their needs aren’t taken seriously. That leads to healthcare avoidance and unaddressed health needs. So when we have a space where patients are seen and their health needs are validated – that’s huge.”
The need for this specialized care has become critical in South Jersey and throughout the Philadelphia region. Often, patients must wait up to 6 months for an appointment at the closest facility offering care – in Philadelphia. Because of the lack of LGBTQ+ healthcare centers, patients from the entire Delaware Valley region have been sent to this Philadelphia office.
Increasing access
While providing a full range of primary care services in the Cherry Hill office, Kirker and his colleagues at Cooper have been building a comprehensive network of specialists willing to address the specific needs of members of the LGBTQ+ community. Opening a comprehensive and inclusive center for the LGBTQ+ community, in one central location, has been the goal from the beginning.
The new center, which will be located at 17. W Knight Ave. in Collingswood, will collaborate with a wide variety of services to meet the different needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Specialists will include OB/GYNs, breast surgeons, pulmonologists, speech therapists, oral/maxillofacial surgeons and psychologists. ENTs will also be part of the team to focus on certain needs of transgender patients, such as vocal surgeries, the masculinization or feminization of certain vocal qualities, and tracheal shave, or reducing the size of the Adam’s apple, for example.
Kirker also emphasizes that finding providers who understand the importance of using a patient’s preferred pronouns and chosen name has been critical.
“All our care is individualized and always gender-affirming. It’s important to be able to connect on a human level with your healthcare provider,” Kirker says. “Our team understands the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, where there is often a high rate of healthcare avoidance because of past negative experiences.” The center will provide a safe space and specialized – as well as primary – care, which is important, Kirker adds.
“Everywhere a patient goes in the Cooper system is LGBTQ+ friendly and inclusive, and this center provides a seamless coordination between the different areas in that system,” Kirker explains. “When you’re comfortable with your medical provider, you give and receive more information, which is a basic tenet of good healthcare provider/patient relationships. We do everything we can to better the lives of those in our community.”
In addition to primary care, the new center offers gender-affirming hormone therapy, HIV care (including PrEP), surgical services and mental health services. By the end of the year, the center expects to have a plastic surgery provider with regular office hours to offer gender-affirming surgeries.
The psychologists and therapists working with the center will address pressures experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community that often lead to substance abuse, depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies.
“Some of our patients who are living their truth have gender dysphoria – that feeling of not being comfortable in their body – which can cause anxiety,” says Kirker. “We deal with mental health conditions every day.”
Cooper Care Alliance is known for providing coordinated, total healthcare for the entire family, and CCA is committed to helping break the healthcare barriers often faced by those in the LGBTQ+ community and their families.
“Our mission at Cooper is to serve, to heal and to educate, and that’s what we’re doing for our LGBTQ+ patients. Cooper wanted a true collective, and the consortium of LGBTQ+-affirming providers has grown and expanded,” says Kirker. “Patients will know they can come to this safe space where knowledgeable providers will advocate for them and provide the care they need.”
The LGBTQ+ Center at 17. W Knight Ave, in Collingswood opens in June.
