Dunedin Pride has published a directory of healthcare recommendations for queer people.
Finding the Right Doctor is a LGBTQIA+ pamphlet that has been distributed to more than 15 locations across the city, including healthcare provider Te Kāika, University of Otago Student Health, Yours cafe, Dunedin Public Libraries and the Dunedin Urgent Doctors and Accident Centre.
It provides links to a 24-page PDF resource that includes information on patient rights, trans and gender-diverse healthcare, mental health support, LGBTQIA+ competent general practitioners and takatāpui health.
The directory was created by Dunedin Pride health advocate Poppy Williams-Cruickshanks.
She said many struggled to access queer-competent healthcare in Dunedin.
"I am a medical student myself, so I have seen it from both sides, as a patient and as a practitioner.
"In Dunedin, the line often is ‘we don’t have queer-specific services in Dunedin’, so I wanted to create something that was community-led, where people could go to find services that they knew were going to be supportive, that they knew were going to be competent in queer healthcare."
Categories within the directory includes general practitioners.
"Because obviously they are the primary healthcare physicians that a lot of people see."
Another key category is trans and gender-diverse healthcare.
This includes topics such as chest binding and genital tucking, all the way up to gender-affirming surgery.
Within this category, information includes types of hormones and surgeries, criteria for accessing them and what the outcomes might be.
Mental health is another key category in the directory.
"Lots of queer people come with mental health issues."
The resource was informed by contributions from the local rainbow community.
"We wanted everything to be recommendations from queer individuals in Dunedin. We didn’t want anything coming from the healthcare profession without verification by people who have experienced the service."
As well as offering access to the directory, Pride Dunedin has established an online social media group so people can share their experiences and help one another.
"It is definitely in its nascent stages at the moment, but we’ve started to get the discourse going."
Dunedin Pride co-chairperson Blake Armstrong said the organisation was hosting an LGBTQIA+ health hui this Saturday from 4pm in room 2 of the OUSA Clubs and Societies Centre at 84 Albany St.
"It distills some of the basic competencies from the professional end, so they know how to approach even things like pronouns, anything like that."
