Good evening. This is Susan with the Monroe County Women's Commission. It is Thursday, August 20th.
It is 5-34, and we'll go ahead and get started. The commission shall serve in an advisory role to assist
residents, businesses, and the government of Monroe County in addressing issues of gender equity. The
mission is to advance the status of women and marginalized genders in all areas of county life.
first order of business is to send out. Are you sent out the minutes? Did we have any? Commission or
maybe I fixed that so and. I still owe us may though. Or the one that we got is just for June, July.
July. Do we have a motion to pass July's minutes?
I will move to approve July minutes. I second. Five minutes. Commissioner updates will start with Jennifer.
Do you have any general updates we won't cover later? No, I don't think so. I do not. Commissioner Hardesty.
I have a freedom school steering committee update, which is just something that I am working on in the
community. So we have a plan now to begin engaging with the community via some community events this
fall. And we have a mission, and it's to educate students about black history and culture, deepening
their understanding of the past, its impact on the present, and their role in shaping a better future.
So we're very excited about this. So we're beginning things off.
kicking things off with a meeting for any interested parents and their kids to learn about what this
program is going to be and the activities that we have planned for this fall. And that meeting is happening
at the Monroe County Public Library downtown branch on Sunday, September 13th from three to four p.m.
in combo room meeting room one B slash C. So I do have a
community. Um our habitat for humanity. We build on September 26th. If anybody would like to donate
or join, you can go to habitat for humanity. Join my team. My name is Jennifer Bell. Thanks. Julie.
Did you have anything else now? Um my only updates. Update is I did talk to Commissioner Yarrow earlier this
I did have a proxy for them, but I don't know what happened to them. So I did want to announce that
I know Saturday's pride. I guess we should say that. But additionally, because everybody I think knows
that I am on the Monroe County Fire Protection District Board as well, and we have
of our community cookout, which they scheduled for this Saturday, August 22nd at 2026 from 11 to three.
It is out at Monroe Fire Station 21, which is at 9094 South Strain Ridge Road. It's open everybody and
they usually are have a lot of fun and they are doing the food paid the donation collection for Smithville
Food Pantry and Grace Center Food Pantry.
usually are a lot of fun, especially very family oriented and. Great, highly recommend ever. If you
ever have a chance to go meet those people there, the firefighters and staff and board were all amazing.
We should make a little bit more about Bloomington Pride Fest because it's happening all afternoon and
into the evening on Saturday. I don't know what I was like. I don't even know what time it starts. What
time does it start? It's like one ish to you. Yeah, two to what? Just go to Kirkwood. Yeah, that close
in the street, right? And I think the weather is going to be nice. Hopefully it's going to be great.
will come up in old business. Let's, I know we didn't introduce ourselves when we started. Why don't
you just, so this is. Yes, just introduce yourselves and then we'll introduce ourselves. Okay, my name
is Suki. I'm a third year medical student here at the IU School of Medicine Bloomington campus.
My name is Sage. I'm a second year medical student here at the IU Bloomington Medical School campus.
My name is Julie Hardesty. I'm a member of the Women's Commission, but I'm also a librarian at Indiana
University. My name is Jennifer Belton, Women's Commission. I work at the VA, the Veterans Administration
here in Bloomington. Molly with the Women's Commission. I work in
know who I am. I'm Susan slash Gus. Well, I'm the chair and most of us have been on the commission for
many, many years, it feels like. And a lot of time we have in the past, we, like I asked you, I mean,
this has been like a year in the making. I feel like, you know, had people come and present. And like
I've said, it's like, it always seems unimpressive because no one ever comes or watches. But if like,
We do get like a lot of people view us on because they're all recorded on cats and they go up online.
So it's always nice, you know, to one of our big things is to try to amplify voices of programs that
are going on in the community just so to get the more of the word out. And obviously the clinic fits
the bill perfectly and it is such a great
program and project that, that's why I was hoping you guys could come share with us and that actually
I'm going to have an ask as well that I realized. So you guys, so they're going to, TSD, sorry. So can
you promote Sage Sweeney? Cause she's going to, they're going to present, do a presentation for us.
Thank you. All right. Ready? I'm ready. Awesome. We're ready. So I already introduced myself.
My name is Sage. I am second year medical student and one of the medical student chairs for IUSM's Gender
Diverse and Queer Clinic. And Suki is our third year chair. So we're going to share a little bit about
our clinic today.
So first, some general information about what the Gender Diverse and Queer Clinic is, or the GDQC. So
we are a IU Health student-run clinic that provides free health care services to those that are uninsured
or underinsured, both in Bloomington and in Indiana at large. We focus on safe and affirming primary
care for LGBTQ patients. Some of our services include preventative care and health screenings.
labs including cervical cancer screening blood panels urine panels mental and sexual health care resources
medication management gender affirming care and we'll get into some of our other offerings as well a
little bit later. But first I want to talk about
So some health and equity challenges facing our LGBTQ population nationwide. So LGBTQ individuals face
a lot of barriers to care. They're two times as likely to rely on Medicaid as primary insurance compared
to non-LGBTQ adults and more likely to cite cost as a reason for delaying healthcare. They
face discrimination or fear of discrimination, which can discourage individuals from pursuing healthcare.
And we have a historic last year report
of LGBTQ competent health care providers in our country. So a little bit on health care disparities.
In terms of physical health, LGBTQ adults face greater cardiovascular disease risk.
incidence of eating disorders and disorder eating habits and higher risk of sleep health issues, to
name a few. In addition to sexual health disparities with homosexual men, men who have sex with men,
being at increased risk for certain STIs. Interestingly, receptive anal partners are at greater risk
than contracting HIV in comparison to receptive vaginal partners, and this is due to thinner lining
of the anal canal. So just anatomically how we're built can put us at higher risk for certain diseases.
And then in terms of mental health disparities, LGBTQ individuals are more likely to experience mental
health conditions, anxiety, depression, suicide, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse compared to
cisgender heterosexual peers. 41% of LGBTQ youth report seriously considering suicide in comparison
to 13% of their cishet peers.
And a lot of these health disparities are often attributed to the minority stress model. So LGBTQ individuals
experience unique stressors related to discrimination and victimization, such as bullying and harassment
that can compound some of these disparities over time. So in terms of Bloomington in specific, there
were a few founding research publications put out that demonstrated a lack
acute competent care in southern Indiana in particular. So less than half of transgender and gender
non-binary survey respondents reported having a LGBTQ welcoming healthcare provider.
Those who had an LGBTQ welcoming health care provider and a competent provider were more likely to report
their health as excellent or good and to report quality of health as excellent or very good compared
to individuals without an LGBTQ welcoming provider. Some common themes arose in some of these surveys
regarding health care experiences, including discrimination and validation and distrust.
And then this is a clip of the paper that I'm describing, which was published by IU medical students
regarding the research in this area. So the survey included 85 participants and was created by one of
the founding members of the GDQC. Her name is Keely Newsome. She's a physician now. And this survey
demonstrated the need for gender inclusive LGBTQ competent care in order to bridge the health care disparity
gaps that we're seeing in southern and central Indiana. So Suki is going to share some more.
So as Sage said, one of our founding clinic members conducted a survey on not only the rate or really
the self-described health of LGBTQ folks in southern Indiana, but they also conducted a study on IU
medical students perceived
competency in this area. So they did a study on the frequency of IU medical students asking about their
partners, about their patients, sexual orientation and gender identity during the course of a patient
interview or a patient interaction. They found that the number of students asking about sexual orientation
and gender identity significantly decreased with every year of training.
Reasons that these students cited included believing that this is irrelevant to the encounter, limiting
inquiries to patients with sexual health complaints only, and negative influence from their attendings.
However, it's been pretty demonstrated that discussing the sexual orientation and gender identity of
patients can allow for more patient-centered care, even in contexts where it may not seem necessarily
relevant. This can improve
patient physician trust and sexual and gender minority health as a whole. Okay yeah so.
That was, those were studies that were conducted by medical students. We sort of cite those as our founding
studies and kind of like as a reason for existing. There's other studies that exist that show that the
self-assessed LGBTQ care competency of healthcare professionals tend to, they tend to rate themselves
lower in this field rather than in fields, or rather than in discussing cisgender patient concerns.
The knowledge gap permeates all facets of healthcare, so not only is it about sexual health as we've
discussed, but the trust relationship that can come along with having these discussions with your provider
can really improve healthcare and improve the patient relationship in all facets of healthcare and all
aspects of healthcare.
aspects of the patient relationship. So the point of the GDQC is not only to provide gender affirming
care, but it is to cultivate skills in future physicians and to cultivate affirming skills as well as
patient relationship skills and communication skills in our students.
research has consistently shown that additional education about sexual orientation and gender identity
is needed at all levels of medical training, not just in the medical school curriculum, but beyond.
And our findings show that the hidden curriculum of, well, hidden curriculum, quote unquote, about health
care for minority populations can be really powerful and can really improve students' understanding
of their patients and really improve that patient-physician relationship. We hope to model acceptance
of and respect for LGBTQ patients.
through our clinic, and we believe this could go a long way for countering bias and distrust in health
care and ultimately help address health care disparities in the LGBTQ community in Indiana.
A little bit of basic info about our clinic. We meet once a month, second Sunday of every month, at
the IU Health Clinic on South Roger Street. So when we say underinsured, we mean folks whose insurance
is not accepted by IU Health because we are related to IU Health. We cannot accept patients who have
insurance that would be accepted by IU Health. We tend to make exceptions for urgent cases or for folks
that have been consistently seeing us but recently obtained insurance but still have an appointment
on the books.
These are kind of in the weeds, but we really do try to be flexible.
For those who are insured and get in contact with us, we have three physicians that we can sort of vouch
for in their gender-affirming care competency. So Dr. Cassandra Dishman-Kessler is the primary physician
that works with us. She was the physician that helped us found the clinic, and we work out of her clinic,
and we really could not do this without her. But her, Dr. Rebecca Cohen and Dr. Laura Knudsen are three
physicians that work with us in the clinic, and they're also physicians that we refer patients to if
they are insured because
We know that we can count on them to provide Compton LGBTQ care. In the clinic, medical students do
the majority of the work. The patient comes in, we take the vitals, we discuss, you know, whatever might
be bringing them in, and then we present the issues to the staffing physician, and then the student
and physician will go back in together. So every patient will see a physician, of course, but it is
kind of the medical students that do the kind of the upfront patient interaction first.
So we do everything a primary kidney can do, prescriptions, screenings, long-term medication management.
A new development for us that has been really huge and exciting is that we now can do on-site lab draws.
So we can do blood draws. We can do urine samples. We can do swabs for STI screens. So we can check
on hormone therapy levels, general health maintenance, like cholesterol, you know, lipids.
STI testing and pap smears. So we could do a lot and it is really, really exciting that we can offer
a more whole and kind of like holistic healthcare model. Then for things that we can't do, referrals
to specialists, we have connections to gender affirming care in Indianapolis for surgery and such that
we can't provide here. We are trying to build our list of mental health counselors that we also have,
that we also know are LGBTQ affirming and safe to send our patients to. And then we also provide
on safe sex practices, trans rights, and community resources. We give out a lot of stuff, a lot of safe
sex supplies, naloxone, masks, things like this.
So we have really tried to become integrated into our community. It's really important to us that we
are like integrated in Bloomington and that we know what already exists here so that we're not providing
something that's redundant and that we can point people towards resources that we can provide. So we
have met with and spoken to all of these
Different organizations here and we really feel that it's important to educate our patients on what
there is out there. So HIV testing and prep. There's positive link path for you provides birth control
all over Indiana.
We have connections with the Hoosier Health Food Bank, Indiana Legal Services, as well as the Maurer
Law School, County Health Department. We also partner with the Indiana Rural Health Association, and
they are able to assist people with insurance navigation. We've been in contact with the Mobility Aided
Lending Library. Overall, we just want to show that we
really believe in a holistic health care model where health is not just about your physical health,
but also your food security, housing security, mental health, all of these things that kind of come
together that are necessary for someone to live through health and wellness. So we really tried to make
sure that we were aware of the community resources that we have and that we are giving out these, that
we're giving out information so that people can utilize everything that's available to them.
In terms of funding, we get a majority of our funding through the IU Foundation Women's Philanthropy
and Queer Philanthropy Circle. We actually just got another grant about a month ago for about $14,000
from them, which we are really, really excited about and grateful for because it allows us to expand
our lab practices and expand the amount of supplies that we can stock and give out. We also started
focusing on raising community donations in the last
year or so, year and a half, I think in 2020.
I would say the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, we raised about $5,000, which was really
huge for us. This is primarily from local donors. We have a drag show fundraiser at the back door at
the end of every sort of school semester. So every May and December, we've had two so far, and we're
going on our third, which is really huge for us. Shout out Keller for organizing. So this is a really
fun way to, again, engage with the community, raise some money, and spread some awareness about our
So we're really excited about the way that things are going. We're really expanding our services, and
we're expanding our funding sources as well. So future goals, something that we're currently working
on is partnering with the IU pharmacies to get discounted prescription costs and cover medication costs
for our patients. So we can work out a deal with these pharmacies and pay a discounted cost.
on behalf of our patients if they're not able to afford their medications. Some kind of long-term goals
as well is providing its print transportation assistance to patients. We've actually had patients come
from South Bend to come to our clinic and several patients coming from South Bend. And so we're trying
to figure out how to fund gas cards or Uber vouchers for people so that they can make it so that that's
not a barrier for them.
Of course, we're always looking to increase funding. We're hoping to increase clinic days. Our capacity
is not huge. You know, we're able to see about five or six new patients a month and five or six follow-up
patients a month. And so for the last few months, we've been fully booked and we're pretty much booked
for September and pretty close to being booked for October.
So we're trying to increase our capacity however we can because we know that with the cuts to Medicaid
that are happening that we may we are seeing an increase in demand and we're seeing an increase in patient
increase. So we really want to be a consistent source of quality health care.
a little plug for our drag sale fundraiser on December 11th at the back door. It's sponsored by Stonewall
Sports in Indianapolis, as well as some local business sponsors that we have every year. So we do a
raffle. We charge, I think, $10 for admission. And it's really huge for our community engagement. It's
a really fun event. We have a ton of fun, of course, every time. So spread the word.
Yeah. Oh, they're so good. Oh, they're so good. Yeah. So we get like a bunch of local drag queens to
come in and do shows. And then we also host our own little raffle. We crocheted little boobs and penises.
And they give them out as like little key chains. And those were really fun. But we also have family
friendly. Well, it's not true. It's at a bar. So it's not it's not family friendly. I won't say that.
it's a really fun event and we really like to engage their community and yeah we're just hoping to keep
expanding and one more note that I want to say before we end is that even though that we are focused
on LGBTQ health care because that is a huge disparity in our country right now we see anybody we see
any patient
any problem as long as they meet our insurance requirements. We're absolutely very happy to provide
primary care to any Cishet patient in our community or in Indiana because we just believe that primary
health care is a right for everyone and everyone and anyone. So you certainly don't have to be LGBTQ
to come and we'd be very happy to help you out no matter what. So yeah. I would say that
75% of our patient population is LGBTQ, but there is a solid quarter of people that are just seeking
primary care and come into clinic. You are not a part of the community. Yeah, we're very happy to run
lipid panels or check your cholesterol or your blood pressure or help you with your diabetes medication
or whatever it may be. So yeah, we just want to emphasize that point as well. I think that's pretty
much all we've got. Thank you. Yeah, please, any questions? Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
You probably know the answers already. And I say that because Jennifer and I met while working at Planned
Parenthood many years ago. But I'm trying, I mean, like, so what, and I was trying to figure out the
difference between, you know, the services the clinic offers versus, you know, Planned Parenthood. But
you're like saying it's primary care, so it's more than just services that Planned Parenthood or even
the health department
Yeah, right and then what about I don't know what health nut does anymore. So what is But they do it
all they have psych services dental. They do it all they have a pharmacy there also Yeah, we sent a
few patients We've given patients health nuts information because we don't have an OBGYN GYN on site
and things like that So health that's able to provide more specialty services than we are for sure.
Would you say scale also? Would you say that are they LGBTQ plus friend like?
I would assume, but I mean, I don't actually I don't want to assume, but I would say so. Yeah, we've
talked to them and they are. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. We provide similar services,
definitely. And you know, we met with them in the kind of beginning to kind of discuss how we could
kind of complement each other's services. I would say that we provide maybe more specialized service,
but we absolutely, you know, endorse their clinic as well. And we just, you know, hope that we can kind
of work together to cover the population.
Do people, is it a good response to Sunday services? Because in a way, I'd be like, how many people
are open on a Sunday? Does it work for you or against you? Because I don't know. I'm just curious.
I mean, I would say that most of the time Sunday can be convenient for people because they don't work.
But on the other hand, we have a significant amount of patients who do work on Sundays. They do work
weekends. So it's not ideal, of course, to be open just one day a month. And so we're hoping to expand
that because it can be inconvenient. But because we're only open one day a month and because now we're
booked out, if someone does need a more urgent visit or something like that, Health Net may be a better
option in terms of just accessing services quicker.
But yeah, we're hoping to be a little bit more flexible in the future. So how long, I may miss this,
how long has the clinic existed? When did it start? October of 24. So we are on our second year now,
operational. Is that in, when you're,
When you're looking at other places to connect up with is that like a constant like what what services
are are showing up in the community and and that's a constant conversation that's kind of. Yeah we around
yeah so we have a lot of help from our fellow medical students so we have a few committees set up so
that it's not just.
Suki and our and our co-chairs are running everything so we have a partnership committee and they're
really the ones in charge of Making those connections and maintaining them so that we like have a yeah
I'm just, are you all still having to go out and look for things, or are other services coming to you
and being like, hey, we're here to? They're starting to come to us, which is really great. That's awesome.
Yeah, we recently, several months ago, we had SCAP come to a clinic and just leave some resources and
business cards and discuss what they offer, what we offer. So it's been great to get a little bit more
established in the community over time and have people kind of know about us sometimes before we know
about them, which is amazing.
that we're using. But yeah, our Partners Committee, as Sage said, is dedicated to building community
partnerships. One thing that's really cool, too, one of my favorite recent examples, Stone Belt contacted
us and was interested in figuring out how can we help each other. And in addition to talking about what
services we could provide for each other's populations, we have educational talks that we do for medical students.
Researchers clinicians professionals in the field come chat with medical students about topics that
might be underrepresented in our curriculum. So through that connection we made with stone belt. We
actually had one of their sexuality educators come talk with us about
the topic of sexuality and intellectual and developmental disabilities and how to open those conversations
up with patients that might be interested in talking about sex but haven't been presented with that
opportunity before. And that was just one of my personal favorite connections that we've made so far
because that's not a conversation at all that we're having in school. So it was really cool. You guys
have a navigator on site if people want to sign up for insurance?
who are not currently insured? So we have them, we on our like sort of intake form, we have them indicate
whether or not they would like to be connected with the Indiana Rural Health Network. And then we send
our patient's phone number to the Indiana Rural Health Network and they take over from there and reach
out. So AHEC is the one who's setting them up for insurance, correct? Yeah, yeah.
What about the med student participation? Is it picking up or is it kind of like like you have a wait
list for appointments? Is there a wait list for students interested in?
serving and being there. Med students are busy so sometimes it is a little bit it's a little bit pulling
teeth to get people not know like people are pretty enthusiastic and every med student class that comes
in we have more and more people say that like the clinic it was a big reason that they chose Bloomington
because yes it's really a lot most recent year and it was really cool yeah we're having like the Inc
we're doing first years right now. They people have to apply to be part of our clinic to be part of
the committees and stuff. And a few of them have indicated that this is a big reason why they choose
Bloomington, which just makes us really, really happy. This design, you know this. Yes, yes, yes. Our
Dean Dean Hitler is pretty supportive of the clinic and I think that you know having the clinic here
is a big boon for Bloomington. It gives students of really big really in.
like important exposure to patients and really really useful clinical experience. Not only the fact
that it's. Underrepresented like portion of health care but it's just you know an experience it's it's
a chance to interact with patients so.
Yeah, I think we have, we staff our clinics pretty well. I would say we have a significant amount of
medical students from all four classes that are coming to help out. And yeah, as we expand, we need
more and more of them. So getting fully staffed can be a little difficult sometimes, but we have a bunch
of students that are interested and dedicated and really good at helping out. One thing that was really
cool, our last clinic, we had, I think there were 12 students and we had
11 patients on the books. So for every patient, there was at least one medical student in attendance
at clinic, which I thought was really cool.
And you said this is giving med students experience. Is it counting towards getting the degree? I'm
not quite sure how the medical degree works. Not exactly. There's not a requirement that they're fulfilling.
But as an extracurricular activity, as a volunteer activity, we do count our volunteer hours. So this
counts towards that. And it's definitely an experience that is significant to a lot of people to talk
about later when they're applying to residency and stuff. So we do definitely think there's a material
benefit to students.
One other thing that I'll just bring up briefly is that we're hoping to start some academic research
with our patient population. So getting, you know, our names on some papers is always a big boon for
medical students as well, having some academic work. And then, of course, it's really beneficial to
the clinic to understand who is our patient demographic,
Why do they come to our clinic? What barriers exist to them for health care? What reasons do they cite
as either barriers to health care or barriers to other things in their lives, such as issues with food
and housing insecurity? So getting to know the patient population a little bit better is also a really
big goal of ours, because it helps inform us how we can support them. One more.
I can ask about. I'm wondering about for you because you were talking about patients needing transportation
help and you're looking around trying to figure out ways to get that help for them. Is there is there
kind of like a grant writing committee that's part of this that's looking at trying to get grant funding
for things like that? We have our finance committee and they're in charge of one thing that I also there's
everything about this clinic is so awesome.
But all of our grants are student procured, which I think is really special. There's no there's
no professional like helping us raise these grants. And so I think it's a really awesome achievement.
All of our funding is student procured. And so
That's one of the goals for the committee this year is trying to diversify where some of our funding
comes from. As Suki mentioned, so far a lot of it is through IU Affinity Giving, the Women's Leadership
Council, and Queer Philanthropy Circle, and then community funding from our fundraiser. And we always have
a philanthropy link on our website that people can donate to at any time, but that's a big goal of our
finance committee this year is trying to diversify some of our funding sources. It occurred to me that
the Indiana State Chapter of the National Organization for Women might be, I know in the past that now
has specifically funded transportation to go vote, so that's kind of a thing at the national level that
they've been interested in.
transportation needs for voting. So transportation needs for health care. I could see that. I was thinking
the same thing, funny enough. So and there's no there's no there's no county chapter here anymore. We
did have a county chapter for now, but the state still has Indiana State. What was it called again?
National Organization for Women. And there's an Indiana State chapter.
Thank you for sharing. That definitely sounds like our values might align. It would be good to get in
touch. They would want to know about you. Yes. Thank you. That would be great. It was huge. I mean,
we're always looking for connections because some of us come from out of state. We're all pretty busy
with our schoolwork, obviously. So we're always looking for a connection or a recommendation for funding
or community resource or whatever. So we're super open to hearing any suggestions that anyone has.
tell sorry did you guys have well so tell us how like where can we find information about i know you
so you have a website social media yeah um we have our instagram gdqc underscore b town is that right
b town now um our website is gdqc bloomington dot square space dot com
So yeah, I mean we also have Facebook under the same name you can get in touch with us through any of
those avenues our appointment Booking link is on our website as well as other contact information if
anyone Wants to get in touch. We're always available. We will also be tabling at Bloomington pride if
anyone wants to come chat We're always at Bloomington pride Indie pride Spencer pride
We're happy to talk if anyone wants to come chat about the clinic. We'll have lots of stickers.
Thank you. Lots of stickers. Thank you, Susan. Lots of business cards and pamphlets and all of the above
and a big old poster about all of our offerings. So even if you don't want to come talk to us, you can
come read about what we do. Can you drive by? Mm-hmm. Jennifer's probably already there going, I wonder
how I can get involved.
I was just gonna extend. I'm speaking for myself, but I'm speaking probably for even the ones who aren't
here, but I would lend my time, resource, anything that I can do, outreach, and come hang out with you
guys with whatever you need. He's a nurse, too. I mean, with lots of experience.
Lots of experience. That's amazing. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. When this is a finance
meeting, I want to come to the finance meeting, because I have a lot, like, I mean, there's a lot of
us, I think, that would, I would certainly, as you know, I've been, and I know it's hard to figure out
how to handle donors that aren't student, or not donors, but volunteers, that aren't students that aren't
affiliated with IU Health that can help, but I know they're, you know,
I mean, I certainly would, Marty, like, how can I get involved with finance? Because, you know, great
writing experience is just the resources. And I know it's it's difficult to add that time into it, but
I know I would certainly be happy to help in any way. Yeah, definitely. I was going to say we so appreciate
that. And I guess two things. One, currently working on trying to partner with the nursing school so
that we can
I mean, benefit to the nursing students and to our patients as well to see a more complete care team.
And so that's something that we're currently at social work. We have reached out to social work. Yeah,
I don't think that the we haven't been able to like under what it was because there's something about
because I remember there was Emily's sibling and there was something weird when we tried to connect
with them regarding
I think it was because our patient population isn't students, and they're like, I don't know exactly
what it was. I remember there was some barrier that partnerships encountered. It can be like a legal
thing where, so at our clinic, the only people that are allowed to be at the clinic are people that
are covered by malpractice insurance through IU School of Medicine. So we have tried to partner with
social work. So it's something that we're working on still. It's sometimes hard to get in touch with everyone.
I was talking about this with actually Finley a couple days ago, and just in this way, and just in this
sense of, I want to support, I want to amplify, but also sometimes I'm like, in the political climates
that we're in, it's like, how do you get out there, but also kind of fly under the radar? Is it frustrating, that is?
A part of that question for me is how committed, and I know Dr. DK is a big advocate and supporter,
is that how much support has IU Health committed to? Or is it something you worry about? We don't have
to talk about it.
I can't speak too much to the internal workings of IU Health. There are sometimes some moments where
we are a little concerned, you know, for the future. I will say the Bloomington campus has been supportive.
for, you know, for the vast majority of what we're trying to do. But it's really just, you know, at
a state and national level when we start seeing things like the government trying to get involved in
curriculum and funding is just when we start to get worried because the school has certain things that
they have to comply with.
I don't feel like our existence has been threatened at all and we work on one of our priorities for
that reason is independent funding so that we can make sure that we secure funding outside of the school
were something to happen to.
the amount of support that the school and IU Health is able to provide. And I also will say, we are
medical students through the School of Medicine, obviously, but the clinic is associated with IU Health
because it is a clinical service. So we sort of exist in both worlds, and that can be kind of an advantage
because we can provide a clinical service
and an educational service. And so we have a pretty good
sort of like a reason to exist in both spheres that is pretty well demonstrated. So, you know, I do
feel like we have a pretty decent amount of support from our institutions right now. And especially
the most important part is really support from the students because that's kind of what we need to keep
going is staff and engaged folks. And so as long as the community and the students are engaged and enthusiastic,
I think we're going to be good. You know, I mean, we're the women's commission for the county, and we
advise the county commissioners and the county council. So it occurred to me, like, is there anything
that the county could do to support? I'm contemplating things like space or storage or, you know,
I don't know, sharing that you exist as part of Monroe County information. Sharing that we exist is
probably the number one thing. We really just want to make sure that people know that we're there, especially
as I said before, our name can perhaps
seem to kind of put us into a narrow area. But again, we want to emphasize that anyone that is without
health care right now, which is a growing number of people, is very, very welcome to come to our clinic
and receive services. So we are always looking to just amplify the word and make sure that people know.
That would seem like something that Monroe County would be interested in trying to let people know about
that are in need of health care.
Okay so let me bridge the gap now and you guys don't have to stay but I want to talk about the data
and policies committee that we have and the reason why here's my ask will be so we have two committees
that are a part of the Women's Commission it's just the way we divide up our workflow we have policy
and data which we just combined recently and then outreach which we have and
And so a part of, one of the things that we just accomplished over the summer was that we had, we worked
with a graduate class at the O'Neill School and they did a cohort project for us because one of the
big things that I'm a big fan of is data. And so we recognize easily that there is,
no data on women and amazing, I mean hugely marginalized gender. So we, you know, trying to figure out
who we serve through collection of data. So the project was with this cohort was, you know, collecting
a survey and collecting data for us. Well, it was, they had a 12 weeks, it was very small. We have their
report. It was pretty great. But one of the things that we're doing is it's called it's phase two. So
we have left
The survey open, it's run through Qualtrics, et cetera, et cetera. We're working on data collection.
Our campaign theme is Every Voice Matters, help shape the future of women and marginalized genders in
Monroe County. Obviously, a big part of that is access to health care for that.
I was like this week, I was like, oh, well, of course, I need to work with them to get help, to have
the QR code up at the clinic or to wherever, to the survey, because this is the people that we're trying
to access. And I know, I mean, I've had a couple of the conversations with people that I would, in the
community that,
you know, are hesitant about surveys. You know, hesitant about doing, you know, I mean it is anonymous.
It is, you know, there is no, really I think the most specific data that I'm interested in is zip code,
where they live just because, you know, in a GIS map I want to know where people live so you know how
far they are from services, XYZ kind of thing.
Yeah, so that was probably one of my things is, you know, I was either going to try to come down and
maybe, hopefully, if I can, during PrideFest and just bring a QR code. Please do. Like, and, you know,
just try to get, again, just, because it does. I mean, this is very, you know, they go together. I mean,
we'll eventually have our report. Is this the report through the MCEC?
Monroe County Health Equity Council. No, OK. Yeah, this is our the data doesn't exist. Yeah, yeah. And
so I just ask because I knew they also had like grad students working on something or other. So. I mean,
it just it was like, oh, of course. And I actually did present it today at the commissioners meeting
where I came and gave them. So we're an advisory body, so we don't get to act
necessarily on our own, but we get to amplify and be mindful of anything that's happening out there
to make sure all the voices are heard. One of the big projects that we have been focusing on for many
years is the jail, to make sure, I don't know if you are even aware of what's happening. I know you
guys are very busy in your school, but the jail has been sued multiple times by the ACLU for
you know, unlivable conditions, XYZ. And so they are working on either repairing or building or,
you know, all these things that they need to do. And so just one of the things that we've been focused
on is really just in the policy development, is this gender, you know, are women and marginalized genders,
how are they addressed currently? How are those, you know, when you build, are you considering all these
factors in this kind of thing? So, I mean, we,
of the gender equity rubric. Yeah, that's it's separate from that that work, but it is it could be related
depending on what they're trying to figure out. So there's a gender equity rubric that's mostly mostly
focused on policy development. So considering considering women and marginalized genders in creating
creating policy creating new, I guess new law.
or is this something that you guys developed or something that exists? Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, we
put it together and shared it and it's out there. So I don't know that it's been used to this point,
but yes, it's there. So that's really cool. I actually, Susan, I just sent you when you were talking
about data and numbers, totally agree. I sent you, we put together a 2026 so far report essentially
on what we've
accomplished, how many patients we've seen, how much funding we've raised, things like this. So if that
interests you, I just emailed it to you. And in terms of the academic work, we are working on now setting
up a database of our patients to know who they are, where they're coming from, all these numbers and
things so that we can also, as you said, understand where they're coming from, who they are, what they
need, and why they're here type of thing. So yeah, it sounds like our interest
are definitely similar and that our data is probably overlapping. Yeah. Yeah. And there is none. Yeah.
There, I mean, there is, I mean, nothing at this level. You know, there's nothing, you know, because
this feels very micro. There really isn't anything at the macro level either. And it is, you know,
I mean, it's just important to know who is here, how we can serve them. And we would love to share.
if that QR code have it at our table. No, I haven't. That's why I was like, oh, I'm going to go make
stickers. You said it as an email, though, too. You could email it to them. Yeah. I do a lot of printing
maybe for them. I would like to get you guys hooked up with Dr. Gloria Howe at the Black Culture Center
because I think that the LG
plus could help our community and knowing that you were there. Yeah, please. Yeah, we would love that.
Yeah, what is your presence like within the cultural centers on campus? I mean, the Black Culture Center, the
at the beginning we kind of we made the rounds and we put out just like some materials on the on the
campus but the thing is most of the students are insured I think many
I'm not certain about this anymore. I think they have to be insured too. I think we do. I think it's
just grad students. OK, so that might not be correct. Generally, they have the student health clinic
that a lot of them use. Yeah, the students have the student. And many are insured by their parents.
So we kind of realized. For Medicaid, Medicaid is their primary insurance. Some, when they come here,
if they're coming from like us,
century 21 scholars, they already qualify for Medicaid. So that would be their primary insurance. Yeah.
So we kind of realized over time that the students aren't necessarily our target demographic. Regardless
of that, though, we do try to extend information whenever we can. And so do you consider the Student
Health Center to be LGBTQ plus friendly? They have a specific gender affirming care
Center that one of our volunteer physicians actually helped to get started. So they actually do have
really comprehensive Services and provide a lot of affirming care Yeah, yeah, it is really cool in the
IU affinity grant day that Keller one of our co-chairs and I presented at this year in Indianapolis
there actually was a physician I
I cannot remember his name off the top of my head, but from the Student Health Center. And he had a
very similar poster to ours about procuring funds for gender affirming care services for students. Yeah,
I mean, it's just crazy. I know this because I work at the med school too. I just you know this is such.
I mean it is a great and it has so much room to grow, but I also know how crazy busy.
Everybody is already limited by our own time. Just just like such a shame. But just the biggest bummer.
Yeah, it's really frustrating. Yeah. And that's why I do think that I mean, it was a medical student
conceptualized and founded, which I think is really special. But as we're talking about ways to collaborate with
other members of our community there are people who in theory would be able to dedicate more time than
we have. Immediately I'm like because I started a non-profit myself last year you know I'm like so what
needs to happen is it needs you to go out to you know you know I mean technically if you're like okay
so someone out there in the community starts a non-profit you know that is engaged so that way it
some of the work comes out of you and it is becoming like, you know, so it comes out of just in the
med school and now it's like, can be, yeah, that way, you know, we can, you know, people could,
you know, work on the finance team, still work with the school, but there are other partners that can
lighten the load. Yeah, no, I mean, it's a really wonderful idea. To be completely honest, it's never
fully occurred to me that we could have outside partners that,
I feel like it has been just such an exercise like hybrid independence. You have your blinders on in school.
This is our whole world is this little bubble right now from a fire hose and multiple fire hoses yeah
I love that idea because I have I I've thought about it before when I'm thinking about like oh I just
like wish that we had more time to do. Yeah like I don't even we don't even don't even have time to
think about.
I feel like we're in a really awesome spot right now because we've we've expanded our patient base like
our clinics are fully booked we're offering our lab services we've secured the funding that we need
to continue existing over the next couple years and so I feel like I mean if there were ever a time
to explore something like that it's probably now it's at the it's this isn't county but with the city
they've got the volunteer network so that's where they post
volunteer opportunities that are available in the community. So if that is something that you have,
you know, the capacity to have committees that are, you know, filled with folks in the community that
want to volunteer, that would be one way to. That has been, I, we have. Thank you guys for coming. Let
me know what I can do. They have my information. Dr. Gloria, I can't remember. Gloria Howe. Yes. She's
the director of the Neal Marshall. Are you writing that down also?
Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. You too. But yeah, there definitely is no shortage of interest. We have
people emailing us, DMing us on Instagram all the time, which is truly incredible. And it is just what
we're talking about. It's really heartwarming to see. It's only frustrating in the sense that we are
trying to figure out how to better
create opportunities. You know, we've had undergrads ask about volunteering, but we can't have them
in the clinic. So we're like, okay, you know, the places where we could use help is like in fundraising
and in spreading the word. So we're trying to figure out like established ways. But yeah, again, like
because we're just, you know, we're only limited by our time. So we try to, I would say that we've really,
at this point, it took probably about a year to like really
keep our heads above water and figure out our processes to a point where the clinic is smoothly operating.
And because we scaled up pretty significantly within the last six months with labs and stuff, it was,
again, a significant challenge just to figure out how to operate from the day to day. And so now that
we have done that, now that we have created kind of like a foundation of logistics and stuff,
Now it's maybe a time that we can expand to the community in a way that we really hoped to.
So it's really, it is really, really heartwarming to like have people reach out and for you guys to
invite us and things like this. It's really, we've always, we want to be involved in the community like
this. It's a value that is like very deeply held. So it's really exciting to have these conversations.
I'm also thinking like, well, cause you're, one of your stick, one of the big things that, you know,
we've been talking about here,
is period poverty, of course, you know, and so, you know, it's like, you know, how much can you add
on, you know, and it's like, oh, well, you know, maybe, you know, those kind of things because healthcare
in general and access to everything is, I don't know, hard. How you, how that all gets done and,
you know, when you're volunteering your time, I understand, like, you know, it's hard and busy and,
trying to find motivation sometimes when you're drowning in a million other projects is, you know,
it's a lot, but. Exactly. So. We are too. We really wanted to do this. We did. It's hard, you know,
but we're really happy to be here. I mean, we're all volunteers to come here and for us even, like,
you know, all these projects and
ideas that we have and want to do. And, you know, it's hard when, you know, it's hard coordinating and
being motivated even when they are passion projects to do so. But I will probably do some stuff and
either print off and leave for you guys to put down at the tent for tomorrow or Saturday. I don't know
what day it is.
So, and then eventually we'll be able to put all of our stuff out, too, and I don't know. Sounds great.
Absolutely. So much going on all the time. Give them some, they want stickers. What's it going to say?
I don't know, yeah. Flip through them. So like our nice shiny stickers. I know, those are before I got
involved. The good stickers. Those are the expensive stickers, though, and that's crucial.
And even cheap stickers, anyway. It's cost money, man. Is there such thing as a cheap sticker? No, it
turns out. Thank you. Did you know, and Maria might have mentioned it if she was here tonight,
What is the vending machine that they have over it gather it is for you know about it. Yeah contraception
and free contraception and other. Sexual health. So awesome yeah has it was it.
May of last year or the May before? It was, it's only been about a year maybe, yeah. I know they had
an event at Gather sometime this year to talk about it, but one of our commissioners was a part of making
that happen. That's really cool. We should add to our, I know because we, Path for You is normally our
go to in terms of, do you know where, do you guys know where they sourced their stuff?
I wonder, is it passed for you? It might, yeah. I mean, HAP, and then who is the representative that
was there? I would have to look at that. I would have to look through my email. Another organization.
Totally blanking. We should add it to our... Like a refugee organization, but I think that's totally
wrong. Oh, like Exodus, maybe? Exodus.
I'll figure it out. Maybe. We give out similar stuff. We have male and female condoms, latex and latex-free
lube. We have some Plan B, limited amount, but we have some Plan B, things like this. Yeah, so whatever
people need sexual health-wise, we try to cover. You know, it's too bad.
still makes me mad that the clinic closed here with the with the house because that would have been
a great partnership yeah I think they closed so somewhere around the time that we opened and I was like
there was still information online about them and so I like showed up at the door and I was like wait
this is locked yeah but if there was ever anything that you know for expansion purposes bringing something
like that back and
me today. Well, we won't make you stay any longer. I mean, we don't have much. So much. It was so nice
to meet you all. Thank you so much for listening and for letting us speak. Thank you for your work.
Of course. Thank you for yours. Yes. What's the report show, the graduate student report that they put
together? What does it show?
quite a bit behind. Is it like about access or the data that exists for women's health? I'm trying to
think of... It's always access. Distrust in local government. You can take that. If you want, take it
and just drop it off to me some other time if you read it. I can bring it back to you tomorrow. Yeah,
whenever. Yeah, take it.
Thank you. Yeah, rising utility and energy costs. So real. OK, yeah, for sure. Thank you. Thank you
guys. OK, have a good one. Oh, trash. What was that? I got food with something. Thank you. Bye. Bye.
One of my favorite parts about working as a med school
Well, yeah, I mean, it's always makes you feel hopeful, you know, like people still out there doing
the work. And, you know, it's the way I feel about, you know, when I work with artists or like,
you know, people in different cultures that, you know, living outside the norm and still fighting the
good fight makes me feel amazing.
I will talk more about, I just, yeah, so I did present today on the project and how we're working towards
phase two. I gave the commissioners a bound copy of the report and the phase two data collection information.
I did in my head think, oh, I wanted to go down to pride. I know a couple, I figured they would be helpful.
letting me be there to try to collect data. And then I know another business, I know a business that's
going to be down there that would probably be Caveat mDoor, which would probably let me put a QR code
and information at their table, even though I haven't. Just to try to keep going on collecting more
data. I just became an owner of the survey.
And the survey currently is open until October 1st. So we have quite a bit of time to still collect
more information. And even in the report, one of the suggestions was just, you know, ongoing because
you want ongoing collection. It's never going to, you know, but you do need to put end dates on it sometimes
so people actually feel like they need
to do it. So, um, that's all I have about what I've done. Do you have any parts of the data or policy?
Because we haven't met yet. No, I just all I've all I'm trying to do is find a time for us to meet.
So I sent I sent a suggestion for meeting time and we'll see if that works for the two committees to
meet together. And hopefully that'll get us
going. Any updates for like outreach that you want to share? We're going out on Sunday. And Julie was
kind enough to bring us some donations. So Jennifer and I are going to meet up. I'll check in with Tiana.
We'll do it for longer. So we'll have like a bigger report. I still owe everybody like that plan of
who we're going to hit. But I figured we might as well just hit Seminary Park again. But we're going
to bring surveys with us too. Awesome. Yeah.
We owe you a comprehensive update. I was just going to say there is a, I don't remember, but there is
another, I think Kathleen was talking about it when she was here or we talked about it later, but there
is somebody out there in the community already doing this kind of, yeah. So it would be a good idea
to, you know, yeah.
work with them and no reason to recreate wheels and, you know, just to be able to continue to provide
support. I don't recall Kathleen mentioning that when she was here. I don't think she did. I think it
was after. I'll text her. I'll call her and text her. I'm sure we're not doing double work. I'm willing
to do double work, but collaboration is always great. I don't even remember what's on the agenda, but
no new business, any public comment.
Jodi was on there, she's still there. Anything else? I have nothing else and we're actually, there's
only three of us now, so we're not a quorum anymore anyway. I do know, I feel like I announced, we know
this already,
The next meeting September is not here. It is going to be in showers. I think that was being announced
like awhile ago, but I will verify that later and make sure that you know everyone is. Yeah. But it
will be on the same third Thursday at 538, but it won't be in this. They have budget hearings going
on at that time.
Anything else? I gotta go to the comedy attic. Maria Bamford. Anyway, it is 642, 643. I'm gonna call
this meeting adjourned if that is okay. And thank you for coming.