Workshop promotes care for aging LGBT community

A local nonprofit is having a workshop Friday on how aging-services providers – specially social workers and caregivers – can offer better care and understanding to Spokane’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender aging adults, a high-risk population that is often poor and has a higher percentage of health problems.

These types of cultural competence trainings are rare, not only in Spokane, but across the country, even though recent estimates suggest there are at least 1.5 million lesbian, gay and bisexual people 65 and older in the United States, about 3.8 percent of the population, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Law. This population, which is difficult to measure and likely underreported, is expected to double by 2030.

In the Inland Northwest, there are no specific aging services for LGBT elders.

“This is a problem we’re seeing nationwide and in Australia as well,” said Jude McNeil, an adjunct professor in Eastern Washington University’s social work department and a cultural diversity trainer with his company Coaching Leaders. McNeil also is the outgoing executive director of Odyssey Youth Movement.

He will teach the workshop, which organizers say is specifically for social workers and caregivers but could help everyone become more familiar with the language and diversity of LGBT individuals and learning best practices for working with LGBT elders.

This lack of professional training for service providers can create serious barriers for aging members of the LGBT community.

A recent nationwide study of agencies on aging found that staff members who had received LGBT training were twice as likely to receive a request to help from a lesbian, gay or bisexual individual and three times as likely to receive a request to help a transgender adult, according to according to Service and Advocacy for Gay Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE).

SAGE also reports that in a separate national health study on LGBT elders, participants identified senior housing, transportation, legal services, social events and support groups as the most needed services and programs for LGBT older adults. Assisted living, referral services, in-home health services, short-term help for caregivers and fitness and exercise programs were other identified programs and services.

Because there are no specific aging services in the region, McNeil suggests that LGBT elders contact the national SAGE organization to help make informed choices about their futures.

Older LGBT adults have lived a lifetime of discrimination, remembering when homosexuality was outlawed and classified as a mental disorder, and conversion therapy was seen as a cure for the so-called disease, McNeil said.

They often fear discrimination and harassment, especially by medical and care providers, and avoid seeking medical help until a crisis or emergency. McNeil said that LGBT people often won’t share their sexual orientation or gender identity when in assisted living communities so they are at risk for physical and mental distress, social isolation, depression, anxiety and even premature death.

Research suggests that LGBT older adults are less likely than their heterosexual peers to access aging services and reach out to providers, senior centers, meal programs and other programs because they fear discrimination and harassment, according to SAGE.

Because of this lack of trust with providers, many LGBT elders become invisible and that leads facilities to thinking they don’t have any LGBT residents or patients. McNeil said that gives elder service providers an excuse not to teach staff and health care providers about caring for LGBT people, especially transgender.

Ten years ago, when McNeil asked if providers worked with LGBT clients, nobody raised their hand. Today, most everyone – whether social workers, caregivers, police or housing authorities – has worked with someone in the LGBT community.

A recent national survey of LGBT older adults in long-term care facilities found 89 percent predicted that their sexual orientation or gender identity would set them up for discrimination from staff, and 43 percent reported instances of mistreatment, SAGE reports.

“No,” is the response SAFE Chairwoman Joyce McNamee received when she asked the board of the Senior Assistance Fund of Eastern Washington to put on the workshop, in which all are invited but social workers can receive continuing education credits.

She refused to accept that answer.

“We need to talk about this,” McNamee said. “We have a community of people, regardless of sexual orientation, that needs to be loved and cared for.”

McNamee recently attended the American Society on Aging Conference in Washington, D.C. and participated in several workshops focusing on LBGT elders. She said one of her fears is for LGBT people whose partners have died or who are single and they have no one to care for them as they age.

LGBT elders are twice as likely to live alone, twice as likely to be single, less likely to have children and are often estranged from their biological families, McNeil said. It’s common for conservative regions, such as Spokane, he said, to worry that even sponsoring professional development training about the LGBT population will promote homosexuality.

“That’s the one thing about this training is knowing best practices and having tools,” he said. “Nobody has to compromise. The main takeaway is people will have a basic knowledge of diversity and culture within the LGBT community.”