Neighbor News
Local Hospital Establishes Unique Health Fund for LGBT Care
For more than a decade, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center has been recognized as a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality
Last week, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center hosted a kickoff event in support of the newly established LGBT Health Fund, a broad-purpose fund designed to address health disparities in the LGBT community.
Specifically, the LGBT Health Fund will help improve LGBT patients’ access to health care services. The fund will also support training and education initiatives to improve the LGBT-specific care experience.
The kickoff event featured several performances as well as an expert panel featuring providers from Advocate Illinois Masonic, including:
Find out what's happening in Lakeviewfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Dr. Andrew Albert, gastroenterologist
- Dr. Philippe Tapon, psychiatrist
- Maja Luke, advanced nurse practitioner specializing in urogyencologic cancers
- Dr. Alison Shore, plastic reconstructive surgeon
The providers spoke about the particular disparities faced by LGBT patients in their specific specialties and the steps both providers and patients can take to make health care safer and more inclusive for all.
The LGBT Health Fund builds on a legacy of LGBT care at Advocate Illinois Masonic. During the 1980s and 1990s, the hospital housed Chicago’s first multidisciplinary care unit dedicated to housing, treating and supporting patients with AIDS and HIV.
Find out what's happening in Lakeviewfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Though the unit closed in 1999, Advocate Illinois Masonic continues to offer comprehensive and culturally competent health care services for LGBT patients and established an internal task force and community advisory council to guide these efforts.
###
About Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is part of Advocate Health Care (Advocate), the largest health system in Illinois and one of the largest Accountable Care Organizations in the country. A national leader in population health management, Advocate operates nearly 400 sites of care and 12 hospitals, including three of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals, the state's largest integrated children's network, five Level I trauma centers (the state's highest designation in trauma care), three Level II trauma centers, one of the area's largest home health and hospice companies and one of the region's largest medical groups. Advocate trains more primary care physicians and residents at its four teaching hospitals than any other health system in the state. As a not-for-profit, mission-based health system affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Church of Christ, Advocate contributed $692 million in charitable care and services to communities across Chicagoland and Central Illinois in 2016. Advocate is part of Advocate Aurora Health, the 10th largest not-for-profit, integrated health system in the United States. We help people live well. To learn more about Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, please visit us: www.advocatehealth.com/immc.