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CARE WE PROVIDE AT VA LONG BEACH HEALTH CARE Our LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator can answer your questions, advocate for your right to quality care, address complaints or concerns, and help

you get started with any of our services for LGBTQ+ Veterans. These include: *  Mental Health Services * LGBTQ+ Groups * Psychosocial Assessments and Letters of Support for Gender Affirming

Care * Hormone Therapy * Gender Affirming Prosthetics * Referrals to the Gender Affirming Program for Speech * Testing and Treatment for HIV and STI’s * PEP and PrEP Medications * Linkage to

LGBTQ+ Community Resources * Prevention, Screening, Wellness, and Testing Services POLICIES AND PRACTICES TO KNOW The LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator can help you initiate care or assist

you with navigating any of the following needs: VISITATION: A same-sex partner, family member, friend, or other individual can be present with the patient for emotional support during the

course of the patient's stay. DEFINITION OF FAMILY: "Family" may include individual(s) not legally related to the individual. Family members include spouses, domestic

partners, different-sex and same-sex significant others. ADVANCE DIRECTIVES: Veterans may designate any person as a decision-maker for care if they won't be able to make these decisions

themselves. This includes same-sex partners. Advance directive agents are chosen by the Veteran and do not need to be biologically related. DOCUMENTATION IN MEDICAL RECORDS: VA Long Beach 

maintains the confidentiality of information about sexual orientation, sexual behavior, and gender identity, just like any other private health information. CHANGING NAME OR SEX IN RECORDS: 

Your name in your medical record reflects your legal name. The sex in your medical record should reflect your self-identified gender. You have the right to request that your name and sex are

updated as appropriate. You also have the right to add a preferred name for VA employees to use, if you are pending a legal name change. There are established procedures for changing your

name, preferred name, and sex with the VA Privacy Officer.