Foria offers virtual health care for trans and non-binary patients in Ontario, Alberta
Feb 15, 2024
Kit Sparrow was faced with two options when he sought out gender-affirming care: wait months for a specialist appointment, or pay out of pocket for a privately run, virtual service.
The Ontario-based accessibility-technology engineer had spent years trying to understand his gender identity. Last March, he decided to visit his family doctor and begin transitioning.
While his physician responded positively, they didn’t have the training or experience to prescribe hormone treatment and instead referred him to an endocrinologist. That referral, Sparrow says, came with a seven-month wait.
“Hearing that I had to wait even longer was just a punch in the gut,” he told White Coat, Black Art host Dr. Brian Goldman.
Depending on where a patient is located in Canada, wait times for gender-affirming care can be months to years — a precarious position for people who are already struggling with their mental health, experts say.
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/foria-gender-affirming-care-privatization-and-politics-1.7115611