Mautner Project launches training project on lesbian health (7576)

The Mautner Project for Lesbians With Cancer announced Friday that the organization has developed the first national program to train health care professionals to provide culturally competent care to lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered women. The program, called "Removing the Barriers," is "designed to overcome the obstacles that prevent women who partner with women from receiving fair and equal access to the health care they need and deserve," said Mautner Project executive director Kathleen DeBold. Chief among these barriers are homophobia among health care providers and unwelcoming environments that discourage women who partner with women from seeking care, often with serious--or even deadly--results.

"Removing the Barriers" was developed in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Training sessions are already scheduled for various locations in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington, D.C.

The goals of the project include: improving individual health care providers' skills in giving culturally competent care to women who partner with women; creating systemic change in the health care system so women who partner with women can feel safe in accessing care; and recruiting and training community partners to implement the program in their local service areas.

For more information about the "Removing the Barriers" program, visit the Mautner Project's Web site at www.mautnerproject.org, call (202) 332-5536, or send E-mail to mautner@mautnerproject.org.