NS Well being works to increase get right of entry to to younger gender-suit care around the province
Nova Scotia Health is working to expand the access to young gender-suit care in the province by mimicking the clinic model introduced in the Annapolis Valley last year.
In February 2024, a young clinic dedicated to providing such health care opened in Kentville. Then another opened this march in Brijwatter, which had more clinics in the works.
Mental Health Physician Julian Davis, who is also trans, said, “Taking care of gender-confusion is not just a city or urban thing.”
“We are also present in rural settings and … ideally should be able to use that care wherever we are.”
Clinic provides youth puberty inhibitors and hormone therapy treatments, who have killed puberty until the age of 16. Children and their families may be referred to before puberty to discuss questions and concerns.
Puberty blockers are one Reversionary treatment This temporarily prevents the progression of puberty, provides a child more time to detect his identity – for example through clothing – without crisis that can come up with developmental changes.
Blockers are not a new treatment, and are also used for children who pass through puberty.
Hormone is therapy Partially reversible And to help trans and gender-related people involves determining hormones such as estrogen or testosterone, which develop physical characteristics that align with their gender.
“These are medical remedies that are Was present for a long time They are available and are safe for the youth, “a mental health doctor said, Bakka McDogal, who sometimes refers to patients and their families in the Kentville Clinic.
According to Canadian Pediatric Society, gender-suit care-health care that supports a person’s gender identity- Standard Trans and gender-class youth care.
Clinic works under an interdisciplinary model, including pediatrics, mental health, nursing and pharmacy physicians.
Davis said that it is a unique feature to incorporate nursing support. Nurses can help administer treatments that require injections, for example, but also teach the youth how to do it safely.
The goal is to open a clinic in Nova Scotia based on the Kentville model, which was the first of its kind in the province outside IWK, which is in line with Nova Scotia Health.
According to Davis, who helped start the Kentville Clinic, it is possible that Sydney would have the next clinic. It is already there due to health care professionals and resources.
Nova Scotia Health is also looking at Antigonish and South -West Nova Scotia as possible places.
Davis said that the employees of the Health Authority traveled to communities in the entire province last year to discuss local needs.
Hiring is also in progress for a gender-suit care co-ordinator, which will help roll out new clinics and join with partners.
The founder of the Cape Breton Transgender Network said that these clinics are required, it is called a “very good step” for several services under one roof.
“It is difficult for many people, who have to go to many different places (to reach sex and care), often to go to Halifax,” said Veronica Maryifield. “Those services need to be more localized.”
He said that many families could not afford to stop and stop work to return.
From a primary-care provider a referral-through virtual care-and to reach the services of the clinic requires an readiness evaluation for hormone therapy for patients.
The evaluation can be conducted either by a private mental health doctor or publicly through mental health and addictions of Nova Scotia Health. Intake process,
Maryfield expressed concern that clinics could hate. In recent years, there has Rapid politicization,
“I am hoping that these facilities are inside … another (Nova Scotia Health) feature,” Meerifield said, to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
While negative rhetoric is out of there, it is young for Davis who uses the clinic that he hears the most closely. He said that the Kentville Clinic has heard nothing but positive response from those youth and their families.
