Healthcare for transgender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people is increasingly under threat from the Trump Administration. Philadelphia’s Mazzoni Center wants TGNCNB folks to know their Gender Affirming Services program welcomes all TGNCNB people, with services designed to provide both the best care and environment for the TGNCNB community.
Mazzoni Director of Communications Larry Benjamin told PGN the Center’s policy utilized inclusive hiring and staffing practices and focuses on making all members of the LGBTQ-plus community feel welcome.
“This has always been our policy and we are reaffirming that it’s our policy,” he said.
Mazzoni Center is Philadelphia’s health center focused on the needs of the region’s LGBTQ community. Currently Mazzoni Center provides care and services to more than 35,000 patients and clients annually.
Since July 2003, Mazzoni has been providing care to transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary and genderqueer-identified clients including adults, youth and children.
Mazzoni is a national leader in care for TGNCNB clients. The Center’s annual Trans Wellness Conference is the largest in the world. This year the conference will take place July 25-27 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference was created to educate and empower trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary individuals on issues of health and well being; to educate and inform allies as well as health service providers; and facilitate networking and community building.
In March Mazzoni changed the name of its Trans Care Services program to Gender Affirming Services to further underscore the Center’s commitment to the TGNCNB community.
Gender Affirming Services Manager Anna Kiesnowski explained, “This name change is an opportunity for us to fortify our commitment to affirm all genders and to continue modeling inclusion.”
In addition to providing gender affirming primary care, Kiesnowski said Mazzoni Center’s gender affirming services program “offers supportive counseling, education, and medical, legal, and social support.”
Mazzoni’s gender affirming services include: primary medical care, HIV medical care, hormone therapy and monitoring, laser hair removal, family planning and pregnancy-related services, an onsite pharmacy, breast and chest health care, gynecological services and cervical cancer screenings, pediatric and adolescent comprehensive transgender services, social support and community activities for trans youth and their families, referrals to trans-friendly providers and community resources and staff social workers. Legal services and support groups for trans individuals and their loved ones are also available.
“Mazzoni Center was among the first providers of trans healthcare to adopt an informed consent model, which differs from the WPATH [World Professional Association for Transgender Health] Standards of Care that approaches transgender care through a narrow diagnostic lens,” said Alecia Manley COO and a member of Mazzoni’s leadership team.
“We adopted the informed consent model to enable our staff to provide trans affirmative services that meet each client and patient where they were in their journey,” she added.
According to Manley, there are “more than 4,000 TGNC current patients, and 750 new patients coming to Mazzoni for gender affirming services each year.”
“We remain committed to continually learning, improving and changing to meet the needs of our communities,” she said.
Mazzoni Center is located at 1348 Bainbridge St.; 215-563-0652..