Children's Minnesota launches multidisciplinary Gender Health Program for transgender and gender-diverse youth

MINNEAPOLIS, April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Minnesota announced today that it is launching an exclusively pediatric, multidisciplinary Gender Health Program that will provide comprehensive care for youth who identify as transgender or gender-diverse. Children's joins only about a dozen hospitals in the nation with a program dedicated to providing specialized care and support for youth and their families.

"Our goal is to become the go-to resource for transgender and gender-diverse children from across the region," said Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, medical director for the program and vice chief of staff. "Often, families find themselves having to educate their primary care pediatricians, schools, neighbors and family members about how to appropriately care for gender-diverse children. At the Gender Health Program, families can access medical experts they can trust and get the answers they need to help them navigate the complexities they may encounter."

Children's is committed to providing equitable, inclusive care to all patients. Yet, despite healthcare industry efforts in recent years to address health disparities, there are still communities experiencing inequities and need additional help, including transgender youth. Through this comprehensive program, Children's will offer compassionate and personalized care, including a variety of services that will support transgender and gender-diverse youth in their health and development.

"The launch of the Gender Health Program at Children's Minnesota will help improve health equity and outcomes for children and families who need these services," said Dr. Marc Gorelick, president and CEO of Children's Minnesota. "We know that transgender and gender-diverse children face health disparities and our multidisciplinary clinic aims to offer a robust level of care to kids and their families."

The multispecialty clinic will provide an array of services, including:

• Gender consultation: This involves meeting with a gender-health expert to discuss developmental questions and concerns about gender identity and develop a personalized care plan.
• Pubertal suppression: Treatment includes putting puberty "on pause" for kids in mid to late puberty. This is a fully reversible intervention, and is given as an injection or done as an implant.
• Menstrual suppression: This involves medication, shots or implants to stop menstruation for patients as necessary.
• Gender-affirming hormone treatment: This involves hormones that create changes in the body to align with patient's gender identity. The treatment is for patients in late puberty or post puberty.
• Fertility preservation consultation: This involves meeting with a fertility specialist to discuss options prior to starting gender affirming treatment.

To learn more, visit childrensMN.org/genderhealth.

About Children's Minnesota
Children's Minnesota is the seventh largest pediatric health system in the United States and the only health system in Minnesota to provide care exclusively to children, from before birth through young adulthood. An independent and not-for-profit system since 1924, Children's serves kids throughout the Upper Midwest at two free-standing hospitals, 12 primary and specialty care clinics and six rehabilitation sites. Additionally, Children's is Minnesota's only Level I pediatric trauma center inside a hospital dedicated solely to children. Children's maintains its longstanding commitment to the community to improve children's health by providing high-quality, family-centered pediatric services and advancing those efforts through research and education. This work is made possible in large part by generous philanthropic and volunteer support from individuals and organizations throughout the state and region. An award-winning health system, Children's received Magnet® recognition from The American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) and was verified as a Level I Children's Surgery Center by the American College of Surgeons in 2018. Additionally, Children's is regularly ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top children's hospital. Please visit childrensMN.org.

SOURCE Children's Minnesota

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