The Equality Clinic of Augusta partnered with MCG Pride to host the first Health and Resource Fair on Friday evening at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta.
The Equality Clinic started in 2013 as a volunteer group of doctors, pharmacists, psychiatrists, med students and other health care professionals to provide care for uninsured or low-income members of the LGBTQ+ community in the CSRA. This can include basic primary care services, HIV testing, free lab work and resources for mental health and gender-affirming care.
“We have kind of a laundry list, just because we serve a pretty broad population, all around Georgia,” said head coordinator Emily Jones. “We have patients who are driving multiple hours to get here.”
The inaugural fair is a revamp of a similar event hosted by the AU College of Nursing in 2019, in which medical students and undergraduates coordinated a community event with local pride organizations. The Lambda Alliance, the Moore Clinic, Project Impact and Augusta Pride are among the fair’s sponsors.
“MCG Pride and the Equality Clinic partnered up and we’ve been planning this with all of our lovely helpers for the past two months,” said coordinator Lindsey Grater. “We’ve had a lot of different sponsors this week, and we’ve had one event each day of the week, centered around raising awareness for LGBTQ+ health.”
Booths at the event offered a wide variety of resources for testing and screening; the Dental College of Georgia offered oral health packets; even AU Health Center’s Tobacco Cessation Program was present to offer information.
“We see evidence to support the LGBTQ community has disparities as it relates to cancer and as it relates to substance abuse, like alcohol and tobacco use,” said April Parham, tobacco treatment specialist and educator with the Georgia Cancer Center. “That’s one of the reasons why we thought this was a great cause to get behind and to offer our support to those that were ready to take the journey.”
The clinic launched the health fair to culminate National LGBTQ+ Health Awareness Week, March 20 – 25; and as an initiative of Come Out for Health, an new organization of MCG students formed to continue the mission of raising health awareness for sexual minorities.
“We’re going to be passing this on as a legacy for, primarily, the medical students to coordinate through MCG Pride and the Equality Clinic, which is really exciting,” said Grater. “I think the reason why it was discontinued in 2019 was there wasn’t someone to keep it up consistently. So I think by passing on to the students will be able to maintain their legacy as well.”
For more information about the Equality Clinic, visit https://www.equalityclinicaugusta.com/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
