A Central Coast university has added new medical services for its students aimed at helping the school’s transgender community.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s slate of healthcare services now includes gender affirming care, with options like hormone replacement therapy, as well as counseling and lab testing.
Tina Hadaway-Mellis, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Health and Wellbeing, says while these types of services are available elsewhere, they are harder to come by in San Luis Obispo County.
“San Luis Obispo County is not as densely populated, and as such we have access to limited healthcare resources," she says. "So this is huge, actually, I think, for the support of our trans community.”
Hadaway-Mellis says that the expanded services are part of an effort to make trans students feel more included.
“They may feel that they have a community that has listened to them, that they are visible, and they are going to be taken care of," Hadaway-Mellis says.
