(upbeat piano music)
- Access to quality health care is crucial
for every American, and yet it remains
out of reach for so many.
For LGBTQ people, the added risk of facing discrimination
in medical settings means
they often don't get the care they need.
(brooding music)
And that's especially true here in the South,
where clinics that are accepting and affirming
of LGBTQ people are hard to find.
A problem that grows even worse in rural areas
where access to health care is already limited.
But here in Jackson, one doctor is trying to change that.
Hi! - Hello.
- [Dyllon] You must be Dr. Rodgers.
- I am.
- Dr. Rodgers is an openly gay psychiatrist
and co-founder of the Center for LGBT Health.
How did this clinic come to be?
- When we began three years ago,
we really didn't have much in the way
of clinical care for the population.
So, we started asking questions about what was needed,
what could we do to help the LGBTQ people living
in Mississippi, and ultimately came up
with the idea of opening a multi-disciplinary clinic
because there really had not been any kind of effort
in that direction from within the medical center,
so we thought we would do it,
and we started the Center for LGBTQ Health.
(upbeat music)
- This multi-disciplinary clinic offers pediatrics,
internal medicine, mental health services, and more.
All specifically geared to the LGBTQ community here.
- Did you sort of face any opposition to that?
- We didn't.
I think a lot of people would assume in Mississippi
because it's a socially conservative state,
you would assume there would be a lot of opposition,
but what I found, which was a pleasant surprise,
is that many, many people from across the medical center,
when they became hearing about what we were doing,
they contacted me and said,
"I wanna be a part of that."
So, I'd love to show you around.
Would you like to come in, and see the clinic?
- [Dyllón] I would love to.
- [Dr. Rodgers] Well, okay, great!
Well, come on in.
- What are all of the different health concerns
that this community faces,
that are specific to this community?
- So, for my field in psychiatry,
what we know is that there are higher rates
of some of the more common illnesses like depression,
and there's a higher rate of suicide
and the most at-risk group are the transgender youth,
and also transgender adults.
But that's a very high-risk group.
We're also just doing primary care here,
and so we're managing things like hypertension,
diabetes, and all the things that any other clinic would do,
but we're doing it in an environment
that is not judgemental, that is affirming,
where it's completely free of prejudice, discrimination.
- [Dyllón] Having a space free
of discrimination is critically important.
In the Deep South like Mississippi,
it's legal for doctors to deny service
to LGBT people based on religious beliefs.
And to make matters worse,
the South has the highest concentration of people living
with HIV and AIDS in the country,
with many calling it an epidemic.
And results from one recent study show that
in Jackson, Mississippi, a staggering 40% of men
who have sex with men are living with HIV.
Yet, the threat of discrimination prevents many
from seeking the care they need,
something Dr. Rodgers is determined to change.
- I wannna introduce you to a couple of people.
- Okay.
- So this is Dr. Joy Houston.
- [Dyllón] Hi.
- And this is Wes McComason, and Wes is a patient here.
- Nice to meet you.
- And so for you, Wes, what is it like
to have a pla ce like this to come to?
- It's a breath of fresh air.
I also am from Mississippi and grew up in Mississippi,
and it's a place where I can be myself
and have discussions, talk,
and say whatever I need to say as a gay male.
I came out in 1986.
Even when I went to get an HIV test,
right down the street from health department,
and I was told that I needed Jesus.
They were more concerned that I was a sinner
than the fact that I could be HIV positive.
And that changed my life forever.
Since then, I've had a very hard time going to clinics,
trusting anyone, doctors.
There would be things that I would never tell them about,
if I had a boyfriend or what I was doing.
I wouldn't talk to them about it.
And physically, there were things that happened
because I didn't tell them.
I kept it quiet because I didn't want
to go through that again.
- Yeah. I mean I think when I go to the doctor,
one of the most important things for me is being able
to be as honest as I can about what I've been going through.
If I'm going in for a testing,
or for sexual health things,
I need to be open about my sexual activity.
I need to be able to be open about my mental state
to be able to discuss and actually have adequate treatment.
Do you encounter a lot of patients who are guarded
when they're coming in here that have
to get used to the fact that this is an open space?
- Not in this clinic, because we've basically posted
on the door that this is an open space,
this is a safe space.
This is the place that you can come and get services,
and be assured that people are going to treat you
in a respectful and affirming manner.
And I think that actually relieves a lot
of the tension, a least for people that I've seen,
because they've got the guarantee at the door.
- Yeah. How's your health care changed
since they've been open?
- Well, my high blood pressure's down.
I actually can talk to a doctor
who I know will take care of my needs.
I didn't go to a doctor for a very long time.
And I'm a social worker, you'd think you could trust people,
but this is deep down here.
We talk about Mississippi, being gay, and the medical field.
And I feel much healthier now.
I really do, and I feel like I can come
and talk about anything and get help.
That means a lot to me.
- Dr. Rodgers is also dedicated to serving another group
that often faces barriers when it comes to health services.
The trans community.
Despite the fact that there are
over 500,000 trans people living in the South,
Dr. Rodgers and his colleagues are one
of the few medical teams
in Mississippi providing health care
with a focus on trans issues.
- Were you trained in transgender issues
when you were going through medical school?
- [Dr. Rodgers] No.
- No?
- For me, I went to medical school in the '90s
and then did residency training in the late '90s,
finished in 2000, and there was minimal,
minimal coverage of the topic.
Really, no coverage of transgender health at all.
- And so how did all of you get educated?
What was your process of figuring out
how do you care for these people?
- For me, it was having been in Boston,
I learned about the Fenway Clinic,
and now it's called the Fenway Institute,
serving 35,000 patients,
half of whom identify as LGBTQ.
Took a delegation from this university to Boston.
We spent three days up there learning as much as we could.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel.
There's a lot that's already understood,
there's a process, we just had to learn it.
- [Dyllon] The need for better training and competency
when it comes to trans health issues is huge.
- Our patients are allowed to give their preferred names,
their pronouns, and then we do everything we can
to use that name and that pronoun
as we communicate with our patients.
We also updated all of the policies in the hospital,
to be LGBTQ-friendly, and that needed to happen.
And so, we're doing what we can now
to try to educate the next generation of providers.
- So, you are actually impacting the way
health care is happening in other areas,
in other fields, across the board.
- Because our mission is to improve the health
of three million people calling Mississippi home
and that includes LGBTQ people.
So, that's what we're trying to do.
It means a lot to us that you came though,
and spent time with us this afternoon.
Thanks so much for that.
- And thank you for the work that you do.
- Thank you so much
- It's a pleasure to meet you.
(cheerful music)