COMING OUT FOR HEALTHCARE EQUITY
Wallace’s New Designation is First in Pacific Northwest
Gresham, Oregon, October 10 – In celebration of National Coming Out Day*, Wallace is thrilled to come out as a leader in healthcare equality for all, including LGBTQ+ individuals. Wallace is the first community health center in the Pacific Northwest to earn recognition from the Human Rights Campaign’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), the nation’s leading benchmarking tool for inclusive policies improving outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and trans (LGBTQ+) patients and staff in healthcare facilities.
The Healthcare Equality Index measures four categories of commitment to fair treatment of LGBTQ+ community members. As a Healthcare Equality Index Member clinic Wallace is now equipped to:
- Ensure foundational protection for patients, visitors and staff in patient and staff policies, and provide cultural competency training on LGBTQ+ inclusion.
- Demonstrate progress toward inclusion on LGBTQ+ patient care and support.
- Cultivate an inclusive workforce by providing LGBTQ+ inclusive employee support and benefits.
- Demonstrate public commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.
This first year of participation in the program Wallace was recognized at the “Builder” level, according to the HEI 2024 report.
“We are so proud to make this announcement on Coming Out Day,” said Wallace CEO Lisa Cline, MPH. “Wallace is dedicated to serving our community as an inclusive, low barrier, welcoming home for primary care. Our participation in the Healthcare Equality Index program will have a positive impact on our organization and our entire community. I especially want to acknowledge the leadership of our Medical Director, Bethany Stairs (DNP/MBA/FNP-BC), our project lead Ari Rapkin (RN) , and our Clinical Quality Manager Lucas May for providing the inspiration and the impetus to embark on this journey.”
Wallace is being recognized by the Healthcare Equality Index for its affirming, inclusive model of care that acknowledges the specific experiences and needs of LGBTQ+ patients:
- LGBTQ+ friendly providers trained in health issues unique to LGBTQ+ individuals
- Patient care coordinators experienced in addressing the needs of the LGBTQ+ community
- Full range of services including hormonal therapy and monitoring; trans-affirming gynecological care; non-judgmental sexual health screening and STI treatment; PrEP/PEP; linkages to care for HIV+ patients; referrals to gender affirming surgery; referrals to specialists in providing pre-pubescent gender affirming care
“Sexual and gender minorities face worse health outcomes when we don’t get care that is inclusive of the issues that impact our lives,” said Ari Rapkin, RN. “The more barriers, the more adverse social determinants of health a patient faces, the bigger struggle they have with optimal health. We know there’s stigma around sexual health. Being able to reduce those barriers and provide services for screening for sexually transmitted infections and providing HIV prevention, is absolutely essential.”
An innovative component of Wallace’s program is its nurse led STI clinic, open to all, which offers education, HIV prevention, testing, PrEP and doxy PEP . “We’re here three days a week, offering our services to everyone—in English and Spanish. Just come and get it,” Rapkin said.
“The nurse-led clinic that Ari championed has so many benefits,” said Medical Director Bethany Stairs. “We’re expanding services, encouraging our staff to work at the top of their licenses, and most importantly, increasing access to Wallace patients and the whole community.” For example, she noted that Wallace serves a high number of Latine patients. “We’ve been told that there’s not a great place for Spanish speaking patients, especially LGBTQ+, to seek this care, outside of downtown Portland.”
“Inclusive care means creating an open door,” said Rapkin. “We want to be a place where people can be who they are and don’t have to hide who they are in order to get good care.”
Stairs agrees. “One word that keeps coming to mind is ‘safety’. There are so many spaces in our community and reasons to feel unsafe these days, and we’re focused on providing that welcoming safe place where people can come for inclusive care. To us it’s obvious it’s the right thing to do, because we firmly believe health care is a human right.”
“Whatever your gender, your sexual identity or expression, and whether you are publicly out or not,” added CEO Lisa Cline, “we see you and we want to give you a big warm welcome to the community at Wallace. Because we are all in it together.”
*By highlighting National Coming Out Day, Wallace brings attention to the many barriers, both historic and current, to accessing healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. We acknowledge it is not always safe to live as your authentic self and our staff is here to support your journey.
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Wallace is a non-profit community health center providing comprehensive, patient-centered and culturally responsive primary medical, behavioral health and dental care for individuals and families in East Multnomah County. For more information, please visit www.mywallace.org
More information about the Healthcare Equality Index:
https://www.hrc.org/resources/healthcare-equality-index
