THE DIVISION OF
EDUCATION & TRAINING
The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center
The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center provides educational programs, training, technical assistance, resources, and consultation to health care organizations with the goal of optimizing quality, cost-effective health care for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and all sexual and gender minority (LGBTQIA+) people. In FY2020, faculty from the Education Center presented at conferences and facilitated trainings and webinars, educating health care professionals on a range of topics from achieving health equity to care for transgender and gender-diverse patients, to care for LGBTQIA+ older adults, to affirming care for intersex patients. The Education Center also produced seven new publications and resources in FY2020.
Online Learning and Education Offerings
Publications
New publications in FY20:
Conferences
On March 20–22, 2020, the Division hosted the 2nd Advancing Excellence in Sexual and Gender Minority Health conference. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was hosted virtually. Over 80 people attended and expert faculty presented on 21 different topics. The conference also featured a panel of LGBTQIA+ community members and a panel of expert faculty discussing care for LGBTQIA+ people.
The 5th annual Advancing Excellence in Transgender Health Conference took place at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel on November 1–3, 2019. 350 attendees from 38 states, DC, Puerto Rico, Canada and New Zealand attended. For the second year, 20 full-tuition scholarships for the conference were provided. At this conference the Division and Course Directors also prioritized providing spaces for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people to network, learn from each other, grapple with challenges and share opportunities unique to TGD providers working with the TGD community.
The Evidence-Informed Interventions Coordinating Center for Technical Assistance
In 2019-2020, the Division of Education and Training continued its four-year initiative funded by HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau titled The Evidence-Informed Interventions Coordinating Center for Technical Assistance (E2i CCTA). This project provides support for 25 Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program-funded recipients for the implementation of evidence-informed interventions. Its aim is to facilitate and guide recipients in their efforts to reduce HIV-related health disparities and improve health outcomes, including increasing retention in care, improving treatment adherence, and improving viral suppression for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Milestones in the Third Year (August 2019-July 2020) of the project included:
The LGBT Aging Project
In FY 2019 the LGBT Aging Project staff conducted 63 trainings, workshops and webinars for a total of 2,306 participants including five local and national conferences and 12 media interviews/articles that reached nearly 1 million people. The Aging Project also participated in 15 community events reaching nearly 1000 LGBT older adults and caregivers. LGBT Aging Project staff focused much of the year on developing an online learning module as implementation of the Commonwealth’s first in the nation legislation requiring all those who work with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs to complete LGBT aging cultural competency training. LGBT Aging Project also continued their leadership on the Massachusetts LGBT Aging Commission.
Partnerships
The Division of Education and Training partnered with many organizations to provide trainings on LGBTQIA+ health. Some of these partners include:
New England AIDS Education Training Center (NEAETC)
The Division continued to work with NEAETC to educate providers on PrEP through webinars, live trainings and the dissemination of its PrEP tool kits.
New York City Health & Hospitals
A continued partnership with NYC Health & Hospitals saw training of health care providers across the city. Employees in all five boroughs received training on LGBT competency. Additionally, FY18 saw the launch of a new training program around building a transgender youth clinic. The Institute partnered with BCH’s GeMS team to facilitate trainings. It also launched a series of trainings specifically focused on collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data, with trainings for staff hosted across the city.
Duke University Medical Center
In FY 2020, the Division collaborated with Duke University to develop six e-learning modules to train staff on topics from collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data, to clinical care for transgender and gender-diverse patients. They also produced eight video skits that will be used to further training of staff and traveled to North Carolina to host three in-person trainings. The Division also hosted an on-site Train-the-Trainer workshop to prepare select participants to train their colleagues, allowing more people to be trained in the future.
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital
The Division partnered with Brattleboro Memorial Hospital to develop a series of three e-learning modules for health professionals at the hospital to participate in through an online learning system. They also visited the hospital in September 2019 to provide on-site training for the LGBTQ+ Council and Senior Leadership/Management.
