Accessing healthcare during COVID-19

How to prepare for if you or someone you live with gets covid

Community member Egan Magee from Every Body Massage, has put together an incredibly helpful covid preparedness kit, you can find the original post here.

If you or someone you live with have tested positive, you can find out more about managing it here.

Looking after our health is essential and there may be things you will need specifically if you or a loved one is trans:

• Enough supply of gender affirming hormones, syringes, alcohol swabs and sharps containers 

• Up-to-date prescriptions for 1-3 months of hormones/anti-androgens and other medications (this does not mean a 1-3 month stockpile of meds)

• Vaginal dilators or other medical items

• Find your Medicare and Healthcare cards, and any important medical letters 

• Gather identification that shows your chosen name and/or gender, including birth certificate, change of name certificate, passport etc

• If your gender is not reflected through your Medicare card, a statement from your doctor, if you have one, will assist you to update your Medicare record

• Specific grooming or beauty items: razors, make-up, wigs, binders, packers and other prosthetics, etc.

• Take care of yourself – sleep, connecting online with others, talking about your feelings, offering help to others, eating regularly, staying hydrated etc. Good general health is as important as any affirming care.

• Consider printing a statement such as the following, if you need to go to hospital or see a doctor you do not know":

Access to mental health care

Your mental health is especially important during times of stress and uncertainty. Making time for looking after your regular mental health needs, or doing more than normal if needed, is a valid need at the moment.

Consider asking your counsellor if they can do appointments over Skype, or use a phone or web-chat based counselling service such as QLife. It’s okay to be struggling at the moment, but it’s important to take care of yourself if you are.

Access to hormones

Supply to some gender affirming hormones has been affected by travel and shipping restrictions. We recommend talking to your GP to learn if a hormone is in short supply, and find an alternative that is safe and comfortable for you. It’s ok to ensure you have a 14-day supply of daily items, please do not stockpile.

Feminising Hormones (including anti-androgens)

• Progynova - Bayer

• Estradot - Sandoz Pty Ltd

• Zumenon - Mylan Health Pty Ltd

• Estalis- Sandoz Pty Ltd

• Prometrium- Besins Healthcare Australia Pty Ltd

• Provera- Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd

• Cyproterone - Sandoz Pty Ltd

• Sprirolactone - Alphapharm Pty Ltd

• Finasteride - Merck Sharp & Dohme (Australia) Pty Ltd

Access to surgeries

As part of the first wave of COVID-19 in Australia, many elective surgeries were cancelled in the country, including gender affirming surgeries that we acknowledge are necessary and not elective in many cases.

Since the start of COVID-19, many elective surgeries around Australia have resumed. If you are concerned about potential cancellation or delays to gender affirming surgeries due to COVID-19, we recommend getting in touch with your surgeon or their team to find out what your options are.

AusPATH recognises that gender affirming surgery is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of many trans people, including those who are gender diverse or non-binary, and that the cancellation of such surgeries will cause disappointment and distress to many…Surgeries will resume once conditions related to COVID-19 have stabilised. We don’t yet know how long this will take, and recognise that this uncertainty may be very unsettling for those awaiting surgery. Those affected will be contacted by their surgeon as soon as practicable.

Further information from AusPATH here.

Creating an action plan

Talk to your COVID-Network – family members, housemates and close friends, or the people you interact with daily.

Decide your course of action in case of an outbreak in your community.

• Identify who are the most vulnerable people: older people (ages 60+), people with disabilities, smokers, and those with a compromised immune system are the most prone to the virus and need the most support.

• Identify specific rooms in case you or your loved ones need to self-quarantine in an isolated setting.

• Get to know the people in your community (while practicing social distancing). Find out about their plans of action.

• Create an emergency contact list and share this with your support system and stay in touch frequently. Make sure to include your doctor and emergency numbers (outside of the COVID-Network). Google Sheets can be a good tool for this. 

• Create an online group chat with your COVID-Network. In the group description or notes area, list the most vulnerable and why.  

• If you are employed: find out your employer’s plan of action.

• If you have children: find out your child’s school/child care’s plan of action.

• Review the NSW Ministry of Health endorsed Emergency Pantry List 

• Staying Trans and Strong is available here

• Mental health in an emergency info is here

• Please do:

  • Stay home except to get medical care

  • Separate yourself from people in your home

  • Wear a face mask when around other people

  • Call ahead before visiting your GP

• Please do not:

  • Walk into a GP or community health service (please call ahead instead).

  • Stay in public spaces or use public transportation

  • Share personal household items 

• Trans people report high levels of discrimination and stigma in healthcare settings. We are regularly misgendered at hospital, particularly those of us who live visibly trans and those whose name and gender are not reflected accurately with Medicare.

• Bathrooms (where we should all be thoroughly washing our hands) are highly policed spaces for trans people, and even going to wash our hands leaves us at risk of harassment and violence.

• Isolation and quarantine in wards or hospitals is complicated by transphobia from staff and other patients.

• It’s important to understand the elevated risk for trans people and to help us stay uninfected so that we can avoid closed settings.

• LGBTQ+ people, including trans and gender diverse people, have higher rates of HIV and cancer, and may have a compromised immune system.

• LGBTQ+ people, including trans and gender diverse people, also use tobacco at substantially higher rates than the general population. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that could be especially harmful to smokers.