Care we provide at the Orlando VA
Our LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Program Coordinator can answer your questions, advocate for your right to quality care, handle complaints or concerns you have about your care, and help you get started with any of our services for LGBTQ+ Veterans. These include:
- Mental health services, including readiness evaluations for hormone therapy and pre-surgical clearances for gender affirming surgeries
- Individual, couples, family, and group therapy
- Hormone therapy
- Gender-affirming prosthetics
- Speech therapy
- HIV and STI testing, counseling, and care, including PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) for Veterans at risk for HIV
- Other prevention, screening, wellness, and testing services
Policies and practices to know
The care coordinator can help you get started with care or with navigating any of these issues.
Visitation: A same-sex partner, family member, friend, or other individual can be present with the patient for emotional support during the course of the patient's stay.
Definition of family: "Family" may include individual(s) not legally related to the individual. Family members include spouses, domestic partners, different-sex and same-sex significant others.
Advance directives: Veterans may designate any person as a decision-maker for care if they won't be able to make these decisions themselves. This includes same-sex partners. Advance directive agents are chosen by the Veteran and do not need to be biologically related.
Documentation in medical records: The Orlando VA maintains the confidentiality of information about sexual orientation, sexual behavior, and gender identity, just like any other private health information.
Changing name or sex in records: Your name in your medical record will reflect your legal name. The sex in your medical record should reflect your self-identified gender. You have the right to request that your name and sex are updated as appropriate. There are established procedures for changing your name and sex with the Orlando VA enrollment department. Veterans can also contact the LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Program Coordinator for how to have a preferred name and their pronouns added to their record.