Barbara Warren heads LGBT health division at Beth Israel

Barbara Warren, the director of LGBT health services for Beth Israel, is a humble woman who, according to Vice President for Public Affairs Jim Mandler, “has spent her entire career advocating for individuals in the LGBT community.”

Before arriving at Beth Israel 11 months ago, Warren spent ten years as a policy advocate, doing research and policy work. The position at Beth Israel was “an opportunity to actually implement this work in a real-world setting,” she explained. “That’s what’s gratifying.”

Since joining the hospital, she has overseen training in LGBT cultural competency to over a thousand employees. The hospital will also be piloting data collection for clinical management of gender identity this spring, under Warren’s supervision.

She noted in the past year there has also been increased community wellness programming.
Warren explained that the Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders group (SAGE) opened the first LGBT senior center in the world.

“We got a small grant from a donor to do a wellness series called ‘Ask the Docs’ at the SAGE senior center starting this winter,” Warren said. “We’re doing similar stuff with the LGBT center and Gay Men’s Health Crisis.”

Despite these successes, Warren’s time at Beth Israel has not been without its difficulties.
“It’s a huge challenge to take good intentions and policies and translate them into sustainable practice in an institution where over 8,000 employees across a variety of disciplines have a lot of other things they’re working on,” Warren said.

“There’s a lot of competing demands on time and interest,” she added.

One of the biggest challenges facing Warren is balancing the delicate art of meeting patient needs, while also protecting their safety and confidentiality.

She explained it’s a sensitive process, addressing these many factors. “It’s not just training,” she said. “It’s new systems, outreach in the community, grappling with issues in order to do quality assurance and document both emerging needs and best practices.”

These new systems include the implementation of electronic health records.

Warren explained that for health reasons it can be important to identify people who are lesbian, gay and transgender in these records, but there are confidentiality concerns, as it’s not simply “the same as saying your age or ethnicity.”

“We still don’t live in a world where people feel totally safe about being out and having their sexual orientation in an electronic health record,” Warren explained. “Even in a city like New York, where there’s equal protection under law.”

“I hear people say: ‘I don’t mind telling my provider, but if it’s on my electronic health record, what if I’m in the emergency room, unconscious, in Oklahoma, and it’s on my record that I’m a lesbian,’” Warren said. “That’s a challenge.”

Warren plans to continue addressing these issues as aggressively as possible, saying the challenges will not stop her or her colleagues.

“We’ll never have to worry again with this [electronic database] system about people being treated inappropriately in any setting … but there are related issues, particularly when you’re talking about sexual orientation.”

She continued: “There isn’t equal protection all the way across the board. Experience says it’s better to be out, [but] it’s still anxiety-provoking.”

“We’re still at the cutting edge in the real-world setting,” she added.

Nonetheless, Warren believes there’s broad support across the institution for improving services to LGBT patients.

“This institution is 100 percent behind working through the problems,” Warren said. “It’s really motivated by doing the right thing. A lot of people are motivated by getting patients, but [Beth Israel and its partners] are motivated by quality of care.”

While grappling with these tough issues on a regular basis, Warren even devotes some of her free time to providing medical care to others, including taking care of her elderly mother.

Photo Courtesy of Alissa Fleck

By Alissa Fleck

When the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) first discovered that developer Stephan Boivin intended to raze the 1824 federal style house formerly belonging to Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz, the group focused primarily on the house’s architectural merit. Boivin’s development group, Nordica, hoped to transform the house into apartments and retail space.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) responded to community advocates in favor of the building’s preservation by saying the house does not qualify as a landmark because it does not retain enough of its original material, though its general area in the neighborhood is still under consideration.

After this obstacle and further research, the GVSHP began to focus instead on the house’s rich history and ties to the LGBTQ community. As the group explained, the City has never before declared something a landmark based on the history of the gay and lesbian movement.

At a press conference outside the Spring Street house today, elected officials and community advocates came together to speak to this colorful history. Senator Tom Duane, the second openly gay member of the New York State legislature, appeared at the conference to make a statement, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn sent a letter in support.

Steve Ashkinazy, Stonewall Democratic Club executive committee member, said early leaders of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) formerly resided in the South Village home. The GAA group was the blueprint for the LGBT movement, he explained.

“Now they want to turn it into a mall,” said Ashkinazy. “The City says it does not retain enough of its original character…it’s clearly older than its surroundings. It’s visually and architecturally a standout with a story to tell.”

“The world has changed here and New York needs this landmark,” he added.

GVSHP Executive Director Andrew Berman said, of former residents with ties to the gay rights movement: “People who lived here touched others’ lives.”

He added, as an openly gay man who has worked under Senator Duane and is well-versed in the region and the struggles of civil rights groups, even “for [him], this house was a lesson.”

Laurence Frommer, a licensed NYC tour guide, said he, and others, have been reaching out to queer historians, hoping to bring the matter to national attention. While the midday turnout was a relatively small spattering, Frommer said he had been hoping for “a cast of thousands.”

“As somebody interested in chronicling and presenting LGBT history, this is important,” said Frommer. “It should be landmarked. There should be a plaque.”

“There’s so much in the City we don’t know about,” said Frommer. “How did it get lost?”

As for the civil rights angle, Frommer said he believes the City is trying presently to make up for a lack of African American historical representation, but they should be focusing on LGBTQ history also, and every other group as well. He said the City usually preserves landmarks based on architectural merit and less so cultural matters or history, but culture should be “considered a lot more.”

Marty Golden

UPDATE:

Is the event canceled? That’s what the Daily News’ Ken Lovett tweets.

And now it’s confirmed by the Daily Intel.

However, the “bum rush” event’s founder Jon Reznick says on Facebook that the anti-Golden event is still going forward.

ORIGINAL PIECE:

Following up on our article this morning about an event being held by State Sen. Marty Golden — during which young Brooklyn women seeking jobs will be taught the “feminine presence”  — a Facebook group has formedto “bum rush” the event.

So if the event at Bay Ridge Manor still goes off on July 24, it promises to be mighty interesting. Currently, the Facebook group has 21 members, and its creators are promising “Go Go Dancers, your Burlesque acts, your corsets, and of course, everything LGBTQ…”

From Facebook:

Senator Marty Golden, being stuck in the 1950s is offering protocol training for women in the workplace. Before we noticed, his website said this event would offer to teach how to “Sit, Stand and Walk Like a Model” and how to “Walk up and down a stair elegantly.”
Let’s show Marty what the feminine presence really is. Bring out your Go Go Dancers, your Burlesque acts, your corsets, and of course, everything LGBTQ, and bum rush this FREE event, hog his press, and

WE WILL TEACH SENATOR MARTY GOLDEN HOW TO WALK LIKE A MAN BY SUPPORTING FAIR PAY FOR WOMEN IN NEW YORK

Many of the people attending appear to be local Democrats who are supportive of Golden’s Senate opponent, Andrew Gounardes. His campaign already put out a statement blasting Golden earlier today.

To read more from City & State click here.