LGBTQ+ elders are often overlooked and isolated. There are some organizations that support this population in Arizona, but now there's an effort to create a statewide coalition.
Megan McCoy is an assistant professor of social work at Northern Arizona University. McCoy is at her laptop, launching a Zoom meeting.
"All right, everybody, I think we're going to get started. Can everybody online hear me okay? Welcome, everybody, to our November Azalea meeting.
Researchers, advocates, allies and providers, are meeting in person at the Beatitudes Campus in Phoenix, and virtually. McCoy says the group is the first collaboration of its kind in Arizona.
"Tina Alonzo from the Beatitudes Campus and I decided to sort of create this group so that we could learn from others in the state who share an interest in LGBTQ2S+ aging equity in later life and wanted to bring folks together to learn from one another."
They’ll also work on issues like education and access to care, whether it's at a medical facility, at home or a place like Beatitudes, where Alonzo is the Director of Education and Research.
"Really, at the end of the day, it's not much that would allow many older adults who are members of the LGBTQ2S+ community to feel welcome."
Things like placing signage the welcomes LGBTQ2S adults to a senior living community or providing staff education on how to care for LGBTQ elders.
"So, research suggests that many LGBTQ2S+ older adults are concerned about having to go back in the closet to access care in later life across a variety of different types of services whether we're talking about long-term care, community-based aging services, and so it's really important to make sure that those systems are inclusive," explains McCoy.
But connecting the dots takes time. Azalea just launched their website and is working on a statewide resource list.
