18 Jan Healthcare Resources and HRT for the Transgender Community in Arizona and Arkansas
Hi Everyone,
You know that we want you to be healthy and safe. To help you with your health care journey we are creating a list, by state, of health care organizations that serve the transgender, nonbinary, gender queer and non-conforming community. While we are creating this site for you, we are also doing this weekly post on health care. While it’s nice to have a list, in these posts we can also give you a few details on what each of the organizations we post actually do. We’ll just go through the states alphabetically, unless you send us a note and request a particular state and we’ll move requests to the top of the list.
Some state have lots of resources and we’ll let you know as best we can where in the state the resources are located. Other states don’t have as many resources. So the number of states we post each week will vary. Sometimes it will be a post about one or two states with lots of resources and sometimes it will be a post about several states with a few resources each.
This week we are looking at Arizona and Arkansas. Many resources across the country are, to their credit, creating comfortable places for transitional medicine as well as routine proactive health maintenance and interventionary health care. We will try to highlight what is offered in each case.
If you still can’t find the health care you need, drop us a note on FB (B.UR.SLF LLC), instagram/ twitter @burslfllc or email burslfllc@gmail.com and we will see what we can do to help.
This week we are covering resources for Arizona and Arkansas.
Arizona
El Rio Health (Website – El Rio Health Transgender Medicine, FB – El Rio Community Health Center, IG – @elriohealth)
El Rio is foused on providing affirming and respectful high quality health care to the LGBTQ community. El Rio specifically states they have a transgender medicine program. El Rio offers primary care including preventitive, chronic, and acute services. Gender affirming hormone therapy and referrals to specialists. Puberty blockers are available. Sexual and reproductive health care is available, including routine and cancer screenings. El Rio also offers dental care.
Payment Options: El Rio accepts most insurance and offers a sliding scale for the uninsured.
El Rio has multiple locations in Tuscon and Telehealth.
El Rio accepts adult, adolescence and pediatric patients into their LGBTQ and transgender medicine programs
University of Arizona Campus Health Care Service (Website – LGBTQ+ Health, FB – UAZ Campus Health Service, IG – @UACampusHealth)
University campuses are starting to offer an interesting variety of services to LGBTQ+ students including transgender, gender queer, gender non-conforming and non-binary students. University of Arizona is providing a LOT of interesting services. All students who identify as trans, gender non-conforming, genderqueer and non-binary identities will be welcomed and supported.
Services include consultation, initiation and continuation of HRT, letters of support and referral for surgical transition, and general wellness. General wellness and annual exams are offered and includes at-birth bodies, and bodies in any stage of medical transition. They also offer sexual health services with STI/ HVI testing and treatment including PrEP and PEP, birth control, and safer sex tools and information. Trans support services & treatment ensure medical and mental health staff collaborate for a continuity of gender confirming healthcare and direct communication between your treatment team members.
UA campus health has other unique and interesting benefits including a gender reassignment benefit throught student health insurance. UA also offers speech feminization. Check these previous links and the website above for all of the health care information and for the gender reassignment benefit at UA.
Payment Options: Check the payment & billing link and student health insurance above for futher information.
University of Arizona is located in Tuscon
UA students are accepted in these programs check the UA website for student eligibility.
CODAC Health Recover and Wellness (Website –CODAC Health Recovery Wellness, FB – CODAC Health Recovery Wellness, IG – @CODACTuscon)
Medical services are primarily referrals. CODAC’s focus is on recovery and behavioral health for the community including LGBTQI perople. They provide Primary Care and Wellness. They also refer transgender people to El Rio Health Transgender Medicine for transgender medicine (see above).
CODAC is located in Tuscon.
Planned Parenthood of Arizona, Inc. (Website – PP Arizona, Inc., FB – Planned Parenthood, IG – @pparizona)
PP of Arizona offers primary care, sexual health care with testing and prevention for STIs and HIV including PreP and PEP, and birth control. PP of Arizona doesn’t specifically offer HRT to transgender patients, but they do offer HRT and other PP health care sites that have HRT offer it to transgender patients, even if not specifically stated. Call the health care sites to find out
Payment Options: Planned Parenthood accepts insurance and will help you work through insurance options too! If you don’t have insurance or medicaid, some PP sites are able to offer discounted payments. Check the location links for insurance and other payment options and contact PP for details.
PP of Arizona has (7) health care locations in Flagstaff, Glendale, Mesa Central Phoenix, Phoenix – Desert Sky, Tempe and Tuscon
Planned Parenthood generally offers HRT to patients 18+
Arizona VA Health Care Systems (Websites – Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System, Phoenix Health Care System and Southern Arizona VA Health Care System FB – U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, IG – @VeteranAffairs)
According to the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, Patient Care Services for LGBT veterans includes the following (and other) services – hormone treatment, treatment and prevention of STIs/PrEP, cancer screening, prevention and treatment. If there are questions reach out to the LGBT Veteran Care Coordinator (VCC) at the site.
Payment Options: VA Health Care is offered free of charge to veterans. Veterans may have some copays.
Northern Arizona VA Health Care System has (1) medical center in Prescott (Bob Stump) and (11) associated clinics in Anthem, Chinle, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Kayenta, Kingman, Lake Havasu, Page, Polacca and Tuba City. Click the location and directions link at the website for directions to the sites.
Phoenix VA Health Care System has (1) medical center in Phoenix (Carl T. Hayden) and (10) associated clinics in Phoenix (Phoenix Outpatient, Southwest, and Midtown), Surprise, Scottsdale, Globe, Payson, Show Low, Gilbert, and Thunderbird. Click the location and directions link at the website for directions to the sites.
Souther Arizona VA Health Care System has (1) medical center inTuscon and (9) associated clinics in Tuscon (Northwest and Southeast) Casa, Cochise, Green Valley, Safford, Pinal, Sierra and Yuma. Click the location and directions link at the website for directions to the sites.
LGBT Veteran Care is for U.S. veterans.
Arkansas
Arkansas Children’s Gender Spectrum Clinic Website (Gender Spectrum Clinic), FB – Arkansas Children’s , IG – @archildrens).
Gender Spectrum Clinic provides gender affirmative health care for youth. An interdisciplinary team creates and individualized treatment plan in collaboration with patients, parents/guardians, mental health therapy providers and schools to ensure the best possible health care outcomes.
Sevices include HRT, feminizing therapy, masculizing thearapy, menstration suppression, puberty suppression therapy, treatment for dysphoria, and referrals to additional speacialists.
Payment Options: Many managed insurance plans are accepted. Financial assistance and online assistance applying for SNAP are both available, check the website for details.
The Gender Spectrum clinic is located in Little Rock.
The program serves children and adolescents.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains (Website – Little Rock in Aldersgate, FB – ppgplittlerock, IG – @plannedparethood) Offers hormone replacement therapy, at the Little Rock Aldersgate Road Health Center in Little Rock and HRT is also offered via Telehealth, so it is accessible to all of Arkansas. This service is not listed on their website, but was confirmed by phone with the Health Center. Use the link above to set up physical or virtual appointments and get additional Health Center information. The Little Rock Aldersgate Health Center is part of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains organization.
The ArkansasTimes reported on 12 April 2020 that “patients in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and the Kansas City metro area will be able to access care through the telehealth program at PPGP.”
Payment Options: Payment options are given on the website. Contact the site for help if you do not have insurance or medicaid.
PP at Aldersgate is in Little Rock and HRT is also offered to the entire state of Arkansas by Telehealth.
Planned Parenthood generally offers HRT to patients 18+, but call telehealth to check. Some PP sites offer HRT to patients aged <18 with parental consent.
Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition (ARTEC) Website – Medical Options for Transgender People, FB – none, IG – )
Akansas online community and resources for transgender and non-binary people. Search online for resources for physical health, mental health and HIV & AIDS resources in NW Arkansas.
Payment Options: check with individual providers for payment details.
Resources are located in NW Arizona, check individual providers for exact locations.
Check individual providers for ages of patients accepted.
Arkansas VA Health Care Systems (Websites – Central Arkansas VA Health Care System, and VA Health Care System of the Ozarks FB – U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, IG – @VeteranAffairs)
According to the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, Patient Care Services for LGBT veterans includes the following (and other) services – hormone treatment, treatment and prevention of STIs/PrEP, cancer screening, prevention and treatment. If there are questions reach out to the LGBT Veteran Care Coordinator (VCC) at the site.
Payment Options: VA Health Care is offered free of charge to veterans. Veterans may have some copays.
Central Arkansas VA Health Care System has (1) veteran’s hospital (John McClellan) in Little Rock, (1) Health Care Center (Eugene Towbin) in North Little Rock and (8) associated clinics in Conway, El Dorado, Hot Springs, Mesa, Mountain Home, Pine Bluff, Russelville and Searcy. Click the location and directions link at the website for directions to the sites.
VA Health Care System of the Ozarks has (1) medical center in Fayetteville and (7) associated clinics in Branson, Fort Smith, Springfield (Gene Taylor Outpatient), Harrison, Jay, Joplin, and Ozark. Click the location and directions link at the website for directions to the sites.
LGBT Veteran Care is for U.S. veterans.
About the author, Gayle M. Frankenbach, Ph.D. is the mother of a Daughter, Lise and a transgender son Elliott. Elliott and Gayle both passionately desire to care about and care for the trans community. Elliott and Gayle also both love the unbound creativity of the cosplay community. When we realized there is a big overlap between the two communities B.UR.SLF, LLC was born at the interface of these two great communities to serve them individually and together. Elliott and Gayle also enjoy running a trans son & parent business to be visible for parents on a journey to visibly support their own trans kids and be a great allies.