Sunday, May 19, 2019

I’m Not A Big Fan Of The HRC

But once in a while to do something good.

I was at meeting last week down in the southern part of the state and at the meeting a passing remark made me look this up. I am on the steering committee for the LGBT Aging Advocacy and also a member of the State Unit On Aging Long Term Care Ombudsman Program “Inclusive Community Workgroup” so when I heard this mentioned my ears picked up.
HRC & SAGE Partner for First-Ever Assessment of Care Facilities Serving Older LGBTQ People
By Elliott Kozuch
April 15, 2019

HRC Foundation and SAGE, the world's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ older adults, announced a historic partnership to fundamentally improve the experiences of LGBTQ older adults as they seek long-term care and services.

A centerpiece of the effort will be the Long-Term Care Equality Index (LEI), the first-ever nationwide assessment of how long-term care facilities are treating their LGBTQ residents. The new survey will build on the decade-plus success of the HRC Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which scores healthcare facilities on policies and practices ensuring the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees.

As work begins to develop the specific evaluation tools for the LEI, facilities are being asked today to take the first step by signing onto the HRC Foundation and SAGE’s “Commitment to Caring” pledge. Leaders from HRC and SAGE made the announcement today in New Orleans at the annual American Society on Aging Conference -- the nation’s largest multidisciplinary conference covering issues of aging and quality of life for older adults. The American Society on Aging is the first signatory to the pledge.

“All too often, LGBTQ elders do not receive the care and support they deserve,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “With experts predicting that as many as 4.7 million LGBTQ elders will be seeking care and services by the year 2030, the time to act is now. It is incumbent on us to ensure that all LGBTQ elders are treated with dignity and respect, and HRC is proud to join with SAGE in this historic effort to fundamentally improve the experiences of LGBTQ older adults as they seek long-term care and services.”
We are all getting old and hopefully we will live to a ripe old age but we might need a long term care facility so it is important that they are LGBTQ+ friendly.

The one problem I have with these Equality Index is that the company fills out the forms and sometimes those businesses that have a 100 percent rating does filter down to the employee level. I know a trans woman who worked for a company that had a perfect rating down she was harassed so bad and her bosses did nothing she had to leave (she worked in a state that had no protection for us and that’s why she moved to Connecticut).

However, the Equality Indexes are a step in the right direction.

No comments:

Post a Comment