Pride Works the Annual Pride Fest!

Pride students set up at the annual San Antonio Pride Festival on July 4th, 2015 to provide both first aid for the festival and to provide general health screenings. Pride students recognized that many festival stations would be providing resources for STI screening and safer sex, therefore student leaders decided to step outside of this realm and address the crucial gap in primary care services that exists for the LGBTQ population. Volunteers demonstrated an interdisciplinary approach to patient care consisting of nursing, medical, physician assistant, and dental student volunteers. 

Over one hundred festival goers stopped by to receive blood pressure and glucose screenings, BMI calculations, dental health education, and relevant counseling on their results. UTHSCSA faculty supervised the student volunteers by verifying and assisting in interpretation of clinical findings. Pride volunteers were so excited to have a direct role in the care of LGBTQ individuals and Pride can't wait to continue its presence at future festivals! 

Pride Presents - Health and Marriage Equality Panel

In honor of the upcoming US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, UTHSCSA Pride put together a panel of local experts from different fields to discuss their work and their viewpoints on the current political climate surrounding the decision. Specifically, we asked panelists to discuss the impacts that these rulings could have on LGBT Healthcare.

We assembled an exciting panel comprising of Amy L. Stone, PhD in Sociology and Anthropology from Trinity University, Christopher Hajek, PhD in the Department of Communication at UTSA, Justin P. Nichols, Attorney at Law from the Nichols Law Firm, and Phillip Schnarrs, PhD from the Department of Kinesiology, Health, and Nutrition at UTSA. Due to some unlucky circumstances, Dr. Stone and Dr. Schnarrs were unfortunately unable to make it, but we were still able to have a very interesting conversation with Dr. Hajek and Mr. Nichols.

We better understood the complicated social implications and social pressures involved in same-sex relationships from Dr. Hajek and Mr. Nichols used his legal practice experience to explain some of the practical implications of the ruling, should it be in favor of same-sex marriage. We are so grateful to all of our panelists and we hope to find another excuse to have them back soon!

Transgender Health Panel for the School of Nursing

Continuing a tradition initiated by the previous Pride co-president, Chris Lam, Pride nursing and medical students collaborated to assemble a panel of four individuals to speak on transgender health and experience for the School of Nursing. Pride has been fortunate enough to develop a relationship with the fantastic San Antonio Gender Association (SAGA) and several community members who identify as transgender were generous enough to share their time and their stories.

Close to 70 nursing and medical students attended the event and listened as the panelists shared stories of struggle and triumph relating their personal journey and their experiences within the often undereducated healthcare system. We were humbled by our conversations and they were so gracious to answer all of our questions. We hope to use all of these lessons to provide more competent and compassionate care to our transgender patients. We are so thankful and we can't wait to have them back! 

PRIDE's Research Wins Award at AMSA Convention

Ly Pham, Kiersten Westhart, Fadi Al-Asadi, and Garry Winkler accept the 2015 Advocacy & Grassroots Activism "Best Poster" Award at the AMSA National Convention!

Ly led PRIDE's big research initiative last year with Kiersten working especially close with her (handling massive amounts of data). Of course, collecting around 400 surveys was no easy task and included many PRIDE members!

The other authors on the poster were Jennifer Leet, Eric Gonzales, Leo Benavides, Jack Flores, Elisha Hwang, Pamela Muñoz, Stefan Jensen, Payton Reiter, Christopher Smith, Camille Spears, Olivia Thornton, Corinne Thompson, Gilberto Vazquez, Chris Lam, Peter Guarnero, PhD, and Robert Esterl, MD. Click here to view the poster!

Kiersten Westhart, Garry Winkler, Ly Pham, Fadi Al-Asadi, Chris Lam

 

Safe Space Presented at Statewide PA Conference

We mentioned earlier last year that our former PA-Liaison, Denise Nemeth, would be presenting Safe Space 2.0 at the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA) conference with Eric Gonzales, our former VP of PRIDE.

Well, it happened... and for Continuing Medical Education credit, too! Here are some pictures from the event.

Left to Right: Eric Gonzales, Gilbert Vazquez, Denise Nemeth

Even during her clinical rotations, Denise is a trailblazer for LGBT health. We miss you, Denise!

Safe Space in the School of Nursing

Two pieces of big news for the School of Nursing:

First, every current 2nd semester student in the School of Nursing has now gone through Safe Space Training, and it will be staying in the curriculum from here on out! This is a huge accomplishment that Leo Benavides has spearheaded.

Secondly, Leo's article on PRIDE was published in the School of Nursing's Alumni Today: Winter 2015 Edition!

It's been an incredible year for the School of Nursing. Leo, our outgoing VP of Nursing, has truly been a leader. We wish him the best as he finishes his last semester and will miss him dearly!

2015 OUT for Health Summit

The 2nd annual OUT for Health Summit doubled in attendance this year, with more than 160 registrants! The TAGH executive board, chaired by the Dustin Staloch and Will Tyson of UT-Houston, hosted event.  The sessions this year included Child & Adolescent Mental Health in the LGBTQ Community, LGBT & HIV Healthcare Law, HIV/AIDS stigma in the Medical Community and Public, PrEP: HIV Prophylaxis, Transgender Sexual & Reproductive Health, Caring for an Aging LGB, T, and HIV+ Community, and a Residency Program Directors Panel.

And with the generous funding of UTHSCSA Student Government Associations, we were able to bring an interdisciplinary group of nursing student and medical students!

UTHSCSA Attendees

Bottom, L to R: Brian Vasquez, Garry Winkler, Veny Maysonet, Corinne McLeod, Stephen Pun, Chris Lam. 
Top, L to R: Dr. Dana McDowelle, Dr. Haneme Idrizi, Christopher Smith, Camille Spears, Fadi Al-Asadi, Ly Pham, Brenda Villareal, Leo Benavides, Gilbert Vazquez

We also had a chance to relax and network with students across the state at an informal social the evening before the summit.

 

At the research poster section, UTHSCSA presented two posters titled “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health in Medical Education: A Review of the Literature” and “Overview: LGBTQI San Antonio Healthcare Needs Assessment.”

Come out with next year to attend this great event that started here at UTHSCSA!

New Officers and Update on Events

All right, we haven't updated this website in a little while, but we've been around. First, I want to congratulate the next executive board of PRIDE!

Co-President: Camille Spears (c/o 2018, MD)
Co-President: Christopher Smith (c/o 2018, MD)
VP (SOM): Phil Palmer (c/o 2018, MD)
VP (SON): Leo Benavides (c/o 2015, BSN)
Treasurer: Jen Nordhauser (c/o 2018, MD)
Research Chair: Fadi Al-Asadi (c/o 2018, MD)
Events/Communication Chair: Chloe Woodington (c/o 2018, MD)
Secretary: Cassandra Leonardo (c/o 2018, MD)
Fundraising Chair: Olivia Thornton (c/o 2018, MD)
Outreach & Communications Advisor: Chris Lam (c/o 2017, MD)
MSIII Liaison: Gilbert Vazquez (c/o 2017, MD)
MSIV Liaison: Garry Winkler (c/o 2016, MD)
Research Liaison: Ly Pham (c/o 2016, MD)
PA-S Liaison: Jason Vercher (c/o 2016, PA)
Graduate Nursing Liaison: Casey Strong (c/o 2016, NP)
ABSN Liaison: Sarah Nishimuta (c/o 2015, ABSN)
BSN Liaison: Brenda Villareal (c/o 2015, BSN)

A few old faces, but a lot of new ones. They're pumped up and ready to have a great year :)

But here's a recap on the events since our last posting:

Brunch Social (1/10): Jack hosted our 2nd brunch social at his place as our last social event for the old exec board :)

Holiday Party Social (12/5): We had our annual holiday party at our place. It was a great time with lots of good food, drinks, and games!

San Antonio Medicine Magazine: Gilbert was published in Bexar County Medical Society's San Antonio Medicine Magazine for writing about PRIDE! Take a look on page 20: http://www.bcms.org/SAM/2014/SAMDec2014/index.html

General Body Meeting & Halloween Goody Bags (10/31): We had a meeting in the medical school, made goodie bags for kids, and passed them out to pediatric patients at the University Health System Hospital. A shout out to Gilbert for this great idea!

RainBOO 5k Fun Run & Walk (10/19): Gilbert organized a volunteer event with SA Pride. We staffed their First Aid booth again for the 2nd year in a row.



I wish we took some good pictures, but if you missed out on anything, we mainly let people know about our events through our Facebook page, and we also have an e-mail list (just shoot us an e-mail with yours and we'll put you on!)