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A BLOG FROM THE CENTER FOR TRANSGENDER AND GENDER EXPANSIVE HEALTH

Affirm Home Center Updates & Events A Message to Members of Our Community Regarding COVID-19

A Message to Members of Our Community Regarding COVID-19

Dr. Paula Neira and Dr. Devin O'Brien-Coon

For the latest news about care during the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit our website. 

To Members of Our Center for Transgender Health Community:

We wanted to reach out and let you know that we understand that unexpected delays in your medical plan, whether from an appointment you had scheduled with us or an upcoming surgery that has been cancelled, are disappointing and a source of anxiety, hurt and frustration. Please know we are here for you during this trying time.

We remain committed to providing exceptional patient care and to ensuring the safety of all of our patients and staff as we continue to provide critical frontline care to the communities that we serve. At the same time, we must consider even more carefully how we direct our resources to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of our patients, their families and our staff. We must maximize social distancing and reduce the risk of exposure to patients with defined and undetected COVID-19.

As of March 18, all non-emergent procedures have been cancelled.

Re-scheduling appointments and surgeries

To ensure we can provide an accurate date for your services, our current plan is to evaluate all of the cases and consultations that have been delayed once we know when these restrictions will be lifted. We will then start building new schedules and reaching out to patients to confirm availability, doing our best to minimize disruptions for everyone.

A note about elective surgeries:

In discussions you may hear the term “elective surgery” used, which refers to procedures that can be rescheduled to a future date, as the timing of these cases is flexible and is unlikely to significantly impact the patient’s health outcome in the short term. This term in no way downplays how critical and important these surgeries are for our patients.

We hope everyone is staying well during the public health crisis.

Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health Leadership

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