Xtra West Article on our Trans Health Care Crisis

VANCOUVER – June 18th, 2008: Patty Comeau of Xtra! West (Vancouver) wrote an article covering the current trans health care crisis in BC.

Read the article here.

Dr. Bowman was interviewed and he highlighted the predicament of hundreds of trans people being approved for surgery by our Surgery Assessors (i.e. vaginoplasty) here in Vancouver, but because of our VCH crunch surrounding trans surgeries, they cannot be performed here. Instead, trans patients are still being told to shuttle themselves off to Montreal.

Two of our VanTAG team members, Lauren and Ashley, were also interviewed by telephone for the article.

The article also outlines how only vaginoplasty is covered, how top surgery is only being partially refunded, how breast augmentation is only covered in rare cases, and how trans patients are still missing coverage for other medically-necessary services and surgeries, such as facial feminization surgery and hair removal.

Thank you Patty, for drawing attention to our "silent crisis" within the greater GLBT community!

We would really appreciate your feedback on this article. Please don't hesitate to comment on your own experiences with accessing surgery and services here in BC! Please post via blog comments or via email: vantagblog@gmail.com