Hospital, Community Leaders Join Forces to Advance LGBTQ Health

Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center has formed a Community Advisory Council, comprised of key internal and external leaders and stakeholders focused on the advancement of LGBTQ and health care equality.

“Illinois Masonic Medical Center has a long history of providing and advocating for better, safer and more accessible health care for LGBTQ patients,” says Nikolaos Dallas, MD, a surgical oncologist at Illinois Masonic. “There is still a lot of work to be done, which is why it is so important institutional and community leaders continue working together toward this shared goal.”

The formation of the LGBTQ Community Advisory Council is a continuation of Illinois Masonic’s ongoing efforts to close health care disparities often found in LGBTQ communities by providing clinically advanced health and support services.

These initiatives include gender-affirming procedures, clinics for anal neoplasia and infectious diseases, a LGBTQ cancer support group and much more. Illinois Masonic is also home to a team of physicians prepared to deliver friendly and affirming care outside of subspecialties specific to this patient population.

With the goal of further improving the quality of LGBTQ patient experiences, Illinois Masonic has convened community leaders to help bring added insight and expertise. Those leaders include Stacey Bashara, partner at Trilogy Interactive; Josie Lynne Paul, director of the Trans Life Center at Chicago House and Social Services; and Patrick Ennis, a family medicine physician with Cook County Health and Hospitals System. The council will meet twice a year and will be led by Oscar Zambrano, co-chair of diversity and inclusion and LGBTQ ombudsman at Illinois Masonic.

“This community advisory council is essential to our ability to provide LGBTQ-affirming health services,” says Zambrano. “We cannot deliver the best possible care to LGBTQ patients without knowing and addressing the unique factors that impact their patient experience. The leaders who are part of this community advisory council is our bridge in that knowledge gap. Together, I believe we can even further enhance our LGBTQ health and support services.”

Illinois Masonic is recognized as a “Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the country’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. The hospital has held this distinction every year since the inception of this recognition in 2011.

To learn more about Illinois Masonic’s LGBTQ health care services, click here.

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About Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is a 397-bed non-profit teaching hospital located in the Lake View neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. The medical center has a Level I Trauma Center and a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the highest designations awarded by the state of Illinois, and offers comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care, including cardiovascular, oncology, digestive health and neurosciences services. A recipient of numerous awards for quality and clinical excellence, Advocate Illinois Masonic has achieved Magnet designation for excellence in nursing services from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The medical center has also been named a Leader in LGBT Healthcare Equality by the Human Rights Campaign's Healthcare Equality Index. Advocate Illinois Masonic is part of Advocate Health Care, the largest fully integrated health system in Illinois. For more information, visit www.advocatehealth.com/masonic.