Treat LGBT residents with dignity, respect

Facilities that provide care to older individuals may not be familiar or may even be uncomfortable with the needs of those individuals. The issue has become so prevalent that the state Department of Health and Human Services has established a resource center to assist communities, agencies and long-term care facilities in its efforts to provide services and support for those individuals.
    Sexuality becomes a very uncomfortable situation for health care providers between men and women, never mind other sexual orientations. The alliance has had many interventions on behalf of elderly residents who are involved in physical relationships while residents in long-term care facilities. It usually starts with a telephone call to the office from a very uncomfortable staff person stumbling to explain that they have just discovered a male and female resident engaged in a sexual activity. The first question we ask is, “Are they both competent to make this decision?”  If the answer is yes, we try to explain that the facility must provide a space for the couple and privacy. The next response from the staff is “their (the residents’) children disapprove.” At that point in the conversation it’s very tempting to say, “How do their children think they got here?”  Instead, we attempt to calm the staff and provide the support they need to be able to back the two residents not only because are they required to address the issue, but also the residents have a right to free choice.
    There have been a few cases of problems because a resident at a facility is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. How depressed LGBT individuals must be; not only are they debilitated by a disease that affects the elderly, but also they live in isolation because they fear their sexual orientation will be made known. I have never been able to grasp why some long-term care staffers have such judgmental views on any form of sexuality. Perhaps it could be based on religious, ethnic or cultural background, which is understandable; however, it does not make it acceptable to judge or punish or defame individuals en-trusted to their care. Nothing is more disgusting than to learn that staff members are singling out LGBT individuals from the other residents and mocking them.
    The time has come for all of us to realize that LGBT individuals have not chosen their sexual orientation, nor do they have the ability to change it. Rhode Island, being a very religious state, has even a more difficult time accepting LGBT individuals. I recommend that anyone who operates a facility or has a family member who is LGBT to contact Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) -- a national advocacy agency that has championed the rights of the older LGBT individuals for many years.
    There is a professional and ethical responsibility all health care providers are obligated to follow: provide the best medical, spiritual and psychosocial needs for our elderly. The best solution is to educate caregivers on the needs of this special population. In closing, I guess the best way to summarize is to remember, judge not lest you be judged.  For more information about SAGE, go online to www.sage-usa.org.

    Kathleen Heren is executive director of the Alliance for Better Long-Term Care. You can contact her at (401) 785-3340.