School-Based Health Centers Offering ‘Gender-Affirming’ Care ‘Conveniently at School’
Grassroots parental rights organization Parents Defending Education (PDE) has obtained documents revealing that school-based health centers in Seattle, Washington, are offering students “gender-affirming care” as part of their medical services provided at school.
PDE announced Tuesday the Seattle Public Schools’ School-Based Health Centers are offering middle and high school students access to both cross-sex hormones and referrals for surgery.
The School-Based Health Centers at both Meany Middle School and Nova High School are operated by Country Doctor Community Health Centers (CDCHC), which offers various forms of “specialized care,” including “gender-affirming care.”
“Our mission is to promote health in transgender, non-binary and gender diverse communities through ensuring equal access to gender-affirming medications and procedures, and training staff to be trauma-informed and culturally responsive,” Country Doctor states, adding:
Patients along the gender spectrum will find a welcoming, supportive environment at all our clinics. Our staff work hard to address every patient with correct names and pronouns. Gender-neutral bathrooms are available in our clinics.
Our Gender Health Navigator assists patients seeking gender-affirming surgeries and procedures. Our Gender Health Nurse provides injection teaching and assists accessing hormones and other gender-affirming medications. Our Gender Health Clinician supports ongoing training and assistance with our medical provider team. We strive to support each person’s unique pathway and ensure our patients are seen, heard, and cared for in an inclusive manner.
Country Doctor states “gender-affirming care is integrated into everyday primary care, so that you can get your hormones in the same place you get your wellness exams, cancer screenings, and treatment for acute and chronic health conditions.”
The following services are offered for “transgender, non-binary and gender diverse patients,” with Country Doctor clarifying that puberty blockers for children who have not yet reached puberty are not provided “at this time”:
Gender-affirming medications (estrogen, androgen blockers, testosterone, etc.) and injection teaching as needed
Hormone therapy for adolescents and specialty referrals for younger patients as needed. We do not provide puberty blockers at this time.
Referrals for gender-affirming surgeries (e.g. vaginoplasty, chest reconstruction, etc.) and procedures (e.g. speech therapy, electrolysis)
Assistance obtaining mental health letters of support for gender-affirming procedures and referrals for internal or external behavioral health counseling as needed
Both the Nova Wellness Center and the Meany Health Center state they offer “no cost” and “comprehensive” gender-affirming care, “conveniently at the school.”
The video below was posted by Denver Health for “School-Based Health Center Awareness Month” in February 2022:
PDE observes that while Seattle Public Schools’ School-Based Healthcare Centers are offering “gender-affirming care,” the school district also implements a policy that states a student’s gender identity may remain hidden from parents.
“[S]taff should not disclose a student’s transgender or gender X status to others unless (1) legally required to do so or (2) the student has authorized disclosure," the policy states, and provides this example:
[W]hen contacting the parents/guardians of a transgender or gender X student and it is unclear whether the student asserts the same gender identity at home, it is best practice to avoid using gender pronouns. For example, one could say, “I am concerned about P.J.’s attendance,” rather than, “I am concerned about his attendance.”
"It's bad enough that medical professionals are prescribing cross-sex hormones and cutting off breasts and genitals of minors,” said Erika Sanzi, PDE director of outreach, in a statement. “It is a whole new level of awful and terrifying for schools to be involved."
As Lumen-News reported, the Biden Education Department announced in May that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a “comprehensive guide” to expand Medicaid to allow more students to receive their healthcare services at school, while schools get reimbursed for providing them.
The guide claims:
The school setting provides a unique opportunity to deliver health care services to children and adolescents, especially those enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). School-based services (SBS), including but not limited to preventive care, mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services, physical and occupational therapy, and disease management have been shown to improve both health and academic outcomes.
The key phrase in the above description is “including but not limited to,” and doctors expressed their fears to Lumen-News about the perils that await students and their families with medical care provided at government schools.
"It's obvious that these school-based health centers have gone far beyond the convenient strep test and have moved into areas that raise potential red flags,” Sanzi said in a comment sent to Lumen-News. “Will children be seen and treated without parental consent? Communities need to drill down on these questions and parents need to stay vigilant."