Health and well being of gay and lesbian seniors

Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria (GLHV) has announced it will be launching a new program of activities to promote the health and wellbeing of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI ) seniors.

Concerns that aged care service providers lack adequate education to deal with the specific needs of elderly GLBTI have led experts from GLHV to develop the program.

“We are launching two parts of the program, the first one is on education and consultancy,” GLHV’s Dr Catherine Barrett told Melbourne Community News.

“There are a lot of progressive organisations that want to proactively educate their staff and they don’t want to wait until there is a problem, they want to act now.

Anecdotal evidence that GLBTI people in aged care facilities experience discrimination led to Dr Barrett’s report, ‘My People – a Project exploring the experiences of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Seniors in Aged Care Services’.

“There is interest from aged care service providers in how to address these issues and this new program is about helping them to get there,” Barrett said.