ACTION ACCESS ADVOCACY 2015‑2016 ANNUAL REPORT IN THE LAST YEAR, CALLEN‑LORDE SERVED MORE THAN 17,000 PATIENTS WHO MADE NEARLY 100,000 VISITS – AND FOR WHOM WE PROVIDED OVER $5 MILLION IN DONATED CARE. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Letters From Us 6 Callen‑Lorde On The Map 9 Advocacy & Policy 12 Our Namesakes 13 Our History 14 Kristen’s Story 17 Roscoe’s Story 18 Callen‑Lorde Bronx 22 Meera’s Story 24 Aydian’s Story 27 Georgina’s Story 31 Cres’s Story 32 By The Numbers 34 Patient Satisfaction 40 Howard J. Brown & John B. Montana Societies 44 Events 46 Board of Directors & Senior Staff 48 Our Supporters 50 ABOUT US Callen‑Lorde Community Health Center offers comprehensive primary care aimed at New York’s LGBT communities and people living with HIV, including dental services, sexual health and STI care, a full continuum of integrated HIV/AIDS care, transgender care, gender affirming gynecology, psychiatry, mental health services, laboratory services, supportive case management, facilitated enrollment into Medicaid and other insurance plans, and community outreach and education. Our Health Outreach to Teens (HOTT) program is New York State’s only comprehensive medical and mental health program serving LGBT and other homeless youth in the streets of New York City. As a Federally Qualified Health Center, all of our services are provided regardless of ability to pay. 3 “I love you Callen-Lorde, you have saved my life again and again, and I don’t know where I would ACTION be without you. Our community needs you. And we are lucky 4to have you.” ACTION 5 A LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear Friends, Supporters, and Community Members, We are proud to present our 2015‑16 Annual Report in which we focus on Action, Access, and Advocacy. For almost 50 years, Callen‑Lorde Community Health Center has served New York City’s LGBTQ communities and those living with HIV/AIDS, regardless of patients’ ability to pay. We are rooted in the core values of our namesakes, Michael Callen and Audre Lorde, whose activism sparked generations to fight for equal healthcare access. The demand for LGBTQ culturally competent heath care has never been greater. The tragedy in Orlando as well as the daily violence faced by our communities reminds us of the ongoing hate and trauma that overwhelmingly impacts those we serve. Callen‑Lorde is on the front lines of meeting the medical and mental healthcare needs of our vast communities across New York City. The opening of Callen‑Lorde Bronx represents a significant milestone in addressing the healthcare necessities of LGBTQ New Yorkers, particularly those who are underserved and face significant barriers to care. Our Bronx facility is up and running and welcoming new patients for full‑service primary care. In the pages of this report you will learn how our team is confronting healthcare obstacles on the clinical side and through our public policy work. One key example of this effort involves working in conjunction with New York’s “Ending the Epidemic” initiative. We have expanded our PrEP services and continue to advocate for laws and policies that allow access to this critical protocol, as well as overall expanded access to testing and treatment for all those most profoundly affected by HIV and AIDS. Together we are building a stronger, more sustainable organization that will continue serving LGBTQ communities long after we have finished our own service. We are incredibly grateful for your support, which makes our work possible. Onward together! Yours in service and solidarity, Wendy Stark Executive Director 6 A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD Dear All, I am truly honored to have taken on the position of Chair of the Board of Directors. My own relationship with Callen‑Lorde began when I started my transition over 15 years ago; Callen‑Lorde lies near and dear to my heart, as it does for the countless individuals we serve. Callen‑Lorde has been a trailblazer in providing compassionate, high quality, and LGBTQ+ affirmative medical and mental health services for the past 45 years. When many in our communities have had nowhere else to turn, Callen‑Lorde was there. We have consistently driven healthcare forward from our early adoption of Informed Consent protocols for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, to our prominent role during the horrifying peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis. We provide best practices and cultural competency trainings to other organizations and providers while working closely with our communities to constantly develop new and essential programs to target critical needs. And so I ask you to join me, my fellow Board members, our wonderful management and staff in supporting this groundbreaking organization in whatever way possible. Only through our coming together can we serve the needs of all vulnerable New Yorkers, LGBTQ+ or not, to stay healthy and to live affirmative, joyful lives. Thank you for all your help. Laura A. Jacobs, LCSW‑R Chair, Board of Directors 7 A LETTER FROM OUR CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER Dear Friends and Supporters, This has been another exciting and eventful year at Callen‑Lorde as we strive to balance continuing growth in demand for our services with the highest quality comprehensive care for our patients. Through both expansion and careful collaboration we have been working toward improved access to quality healthcare for NYC’s LGBTQ communities. Simultaneously we’ve seen improvements across the board in a variety of metrics including HIV, mental health, chronic health conditions and screenings such as mammograms. Very importantly we can now identify differences in our quality measures for men/women, cis/ TGNC and by sexual orientation allowing targeted interventions to address discrepancies. Responding to community need and in coordination with the State’s ‘Ending the Epidemic’ blueprint to reduce the transmission of HIV, we’re proud to be the largest PrEP provider in New York State, building a program that has started 2,400 patients on PrEP and ensures patients are supported and quality is maintained. At the same time 9 out of 10 of our patients living with HIV are virally suppressed – the second highest rate in the state. Achieving viral suppression helps to protect patients by strengthening their immune systems and protects partners by significantly lowering the chance of transmitting HIV. Recognizing that LGBTQ communities experience higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide, Callen‑Lorde has been integrating mental health throughout our programs. Screening for depression has become routine and the numbers screened has increased tenfold. For those with a positive screen, we have expanded mental health services at 18th Street to enable a detailed assessment and a plan for ongoing care. Access to healthcare ‑ quality healthcare ‑ is a human right. As we work hard to meet strong demand for LGBTQ affirming care, we remain focused on quality. This year we look forward to sharing more data with staff and patients demonstrating the high quality care that Callen‑Lorde provides. Sincerely, Peter Meacher, MD, FAAFP, AAHIVS Chief Medical Officer 8 A LETTER FROM OUR SENIOR DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION Dear Friends, Callen‑Lorde has had an extremely successful year with multiple publications and presentations at national and international meetings. While we directly provided care to nearly 17,000 people over the last year, we have impacted thousands more through our research and education efforts. The World Professional Association of Transgender Health Symposium was held in Amsterdam on June 17‑21, 2016. A delegate of Callen‑Lorde providers and Board Members attended and presented their research on varied topics in transgender health including informed consent models for hormone care, cancer disparities among LGBTQ people, community participation and youth care. Later this summer, Callen‑Lorde staff participated in the International AIDS conference (IAC), held in Durban, South Africa. The IAC is the largest healthcare conference in the world with over 18,000 scientists, policymakers, advocates and people living with HIV in attendance. The conference highlighted the latest scientific advances in HIV cure research as well accomplishments and challenges around HIV prevention, treatment and care. For the first time a one day pre‑conference on transgender health was held on the eve of the 21st International AIDS Conference. Throughout the week Callen‑Lorde presented on multiple topics, with 2 oral sessions and 6 poster presentations, and one of our very own researchers, Pedro Carneiro, was awarded the esteemed Lange/van Tongeren Young Investigator Prize for his poster on PrEP implementation in New York, serving as a model for other organizations looking to scale up their own PrEP efforts. As you will see on the following pages, Callen‑Lorde has trained and presented to hundreds of agencies in over 20 countries over the last year, helping to enhance the health and wellness of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS on a global scale. With the help of our funders and donors, we will continue to pioneer and lead the way in making LGBTQ health a reality for our communities. Sincerely, Asa Radix, MD Senior Director of Research and Education 9 CALLEN‑LORDE ON THE MAP Callen‑Lorde continues to share our research and academic expertise with other agencies and organizations around the globe to improve the health and wellness of LGBTQ people beyond our doors. Since our 2014‑15 report, our team met with nearly 130 such entities representing over 20 countries on a myriad of subjects