Seattle Children?s?i? HOSPITAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION June 18, 2018 Honorable Debora Juarez Seattle City Council - District 5 P08 34025 Seattle, WA 98124-4025 Dear Councilmemberluarez, Thank you for inviting Seattle Children?s to participate in your Health Care Provider survey regarding RCW 49.60 Washington State Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) and Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) 14.06. Seattle Children?s remains committed to creating an inclusive work environment. We have provided Transgender Employee Support to at least five employees in the past few years and have in place the following resources: 0 Gender Transition Guide for employees and managers includes information about rights, support provided, transition planning, environment and communication 0 Converted single-stall restrooms to gender?neutral, adding gender?inclusive signage to other restrooms throughout care sites 0 Worked with Regence to clarify employee medical plan language regarding support for gender reassignment surgery reversal when medically necessary 0 Employee Assistance Program and confidential access to Human Resources staff 0 Voluntary participation in QPOD Inclusion Network employee affinity group) 0 Policies: Equal Employment Opportunity, Safe Work Environment, Unlawful Harassment In addition to supporting transgender employees, Seattle Children?s is dedicated to providing a welcoming, affirming environment for transgender patients and family members. The Seattle Children?s non-discrimination policy is as follows: Seattle Children?s complies with applicable federal and other civil rights laws and does not discriminate, exclude people or treat them differently based on race, color, religion (creed), sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin (ancestry), age, disability, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state or local law. Financial assistance for medically necessary services is based on family income and hospital resources and is provided to children under age 21 whose primary residence is in Washington, Alaska, Montana or Idaho. in the past two years, we have made significant updates and improvements to our electronic record systems and staff trainings to best prepare our Seattle Children?s employees to respectfully care for transgender patients. Since 2016, we have improved the electronic health record (EHR) system to make preferred names and pronouns more visible for providers and administrators alike. Recent updates to the EHR made preferred names accessible in additional places, like patient ID bands, and pronouns will be made visible in the medical record banner later in 2018. In addition to the electronic system 4800 Sand Point Way NE TEL 206-987-5269 PO Box 5371 Seattle, WA 98145-5005 HODQ- Care. Cure." mvweeattlechildrensorg updates, an online training module for Children?s staff and clinicians was created and launched in 2017. With leadership from our Center for Diversity and Health Equity and Workforce Diversity and Inclusion teams, we continue to work on systems improvements and staff training. in order to provide high-quality clinical care that addresses the specific needs of transgender and gender diverse youth, the Seattle Children?s Gender Clinic opened in October of 2016. Based in our Division of Adoiescent Medicine, the Seattie Children?s Gender Clinic provides care navigation, puberty suppression, cross?sex hormone therapy, menstrual suppression, as well as referrals for mental heaith support and surgeries for patients 21 and younger. The clinic currently serves over 400 patients from the greater Seattle area and has been contacted by over 1,000 families since its inception. Patients and families can self-refer to the Gender Clinic, or can be referred to us by a primary care or other specialty provider. We are partnering with the Seattle Children?s and Behavioral Medicine Department to provide readiness assessments for our Gender Clinic patients as well as to create a Guidance of Care document for the care of transgender youth throughout our organization. We also partner with mental health providers in the community for some of our patients? readiness assessments and ongoing mental health therapy, though there is unfortunately a dearth of mental health providers in the community who feel comfortable seeing these patients. In general, medical specialists that we refer our patients to have been very supportive of using the correct pronouns and names. We also work closely with Gender Diversity and the Ingersoll Gender Center, which are community organizations that support transgender and gender non-conforming communities in Seattle. The Gender Clinic has a Community Advisory Board that meets quarterly and is made up of a diverse group of patients, parents, and community mental health and medical providers. Together with our Advisory Board and our research colleagues, our clinic team is always working to improve our patient and family experience and align our standards of care with professional and community standards. We have been awarded Leader status by the Human Rights Campaign Healthcare Equality index for five years in a row. Our participation in this survey process affords us an opportunity to stay abreast of best practices and continue to improve our care for the community. As was stated previously, Seattle Children?s remains committed to creating an inciusive and affirming environment for all patients, and staff. Thank you for your advocacy and commitment to accessible healthcare for patient populations. We invite you to visit to Seattie Chiidren?s in the near future! Sincerely, Myra Gregorian Davrd inwards- Breland, MD, MPH Senior Vice President and Chief People Medical Director, Seattle Children 5 Gender Clinic Officer, Seattle Children?s Associate Professor of Pediatrics Clinical Director Adolescent Medicine, Seattie Children?s Cc: Suzanne Petersen Tanneberg, Vice President, External Affairs Guest Services Edna Shim, Director, Regionai Government Affairs Community Relations