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PREVIOUSLY

• Advocates Urge Open Door to Reinstate Youth Gender-Affirming Care After Health Center Cuts Key Treatment

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After Open Door Community Health Centers stopped offering some treatments for transgender youth this summer, a new trans clinic is preparing to open in Eureka.

Chrysalis Care, formed in response to the decision, aims to start offering gender-affirming care including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, preventive care and behavioral health referrals in November.

“Our hope is to start with two clinics per month, which would be able to see about up to 20 patients a month if needed,” said Dr. Malia Honda, clinical director of Chrysalis Care and an associate medical officer at Open Door.

“We certainly have enough provider staffing and commitment to expand if we need to,” she said in an interview with the Outpost.

In July, Open Door stopped accepting new patients under the age of 19 for gender-affirming medications like hormone treatments. This followed pressure from the Trump Administration to end the practice nationwide.

Open Door cited risk to federal funding it relies on to operate, if it continued to offer the treatments.

In response to the decision to cut care, Honda said medical providers, advocates, patients and their families have been meeting to form a clinic to offer in-person care to youth.

The clinic is all-ages, but the initial plan is to serve youth affected by the cut.

“I believe deeply in the importance of healthcare for all, and that there really is no way to separate the need for life-saving care for patients, regardless of their gender identity. As these federal pressures have made it challenging for us to continue to provide fully comprehensive care at Open Door, it felt important to come up with a community solution,” said Honda.

This donation-based clinic won’t have to comply with federal grant restrictions. The group received $25,000 from Open Door, a sum that will help fund clinic staff and providers for about a year. Queer Humboldt also donated to the effort.

Chrysalis Care is fundraising for additional expenses like overhead, offsetting costs for patients, malpractice insurance and making the clinic feel welcoming. The GoFundMe has a goal of $25,000 and has raised roughly $4,000 as of publication time.

The clinic aims to later apply for state funding, expected to become available in the spring. Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $26 million earlier this year to help gender-affirming care clinics stay open as federal funding is cut off.

The state of California recently moved to cover Medi-Cal costs for these treatments, as a federal rule was set to go into effect to no longer cover payments for gender-affirming care for people under 19.

Roughly 20 people are volunteering for the clinic, including three nurses and five providers.

While those 19 and under in Humboldt County can get remote gender-affirming care, people in the Chrysalis Care Workgroup found it important to have an in-person option.

The group hopes to continue offering the treatments at the clinic regardless of what happens in the future, so “there’s always two or more ways for patients to get care,” said Honda.

She said it’s also important for providers to retain the knowledge base of working with trans youth, for when Open Door can bring back the treatments.

Parental consent and behavioral health assessments are required for all patients under 18 to start hormone therapy or puberty blockers, Honda said, which is a standard requirement in the U.S.

She said the providers have many years of experience and follow “well-researched, peer-reviewed, evidence-based guidelines in their approach to care,” in an email.

The namesake of the clinic comes from the hard shell a caterpillar creates to protect itself during metamorphosis into a butterfly.

“We felt like it was a nice metaphor for what we’re trying to create, which is a protective space for our gender diverse youth to be their authentic selves, and be in a judgment-free space while they are on their health journey,” said Honda.

The group has secured clinic space in Eureka. The hope is to offer first and third Saturday clinics starting in November, if all goes according to plan.

Email chrysaliscare707@gmail.com for more information about the clinic.

“I think it’s persecutory. I think they’re finding people that they could target,” said Aisha Candrian Morton, Queer Humboldt’s clinical director and psychotherapist, when asked about federal efforts to cut gender-affirming healthcare.

She said that trans people the advocacy organization works with are very concerned that federal limitations will expand to adults.