Care in Madison County

Madison County LGBTQIA+ Network provides resources and support for rural queers in CNY.

As someone who has lived in small towns for most of my adult life, I love the work of Cris, Kaya, and others to connect more LGBTQ+ folk with each other and with necessary resources.

They made a pride map of LGBTQ+ owned or allied businesses in Madison Co., including Jae Massage Therapy!

Because queer folks are everywhere!

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Rural healthcare is a complex set of challenges

We are luckier in CNY (decently close to cities like Syracuse, Rochester, and Albany) than in extremely rural places that require many hours of driving to access medical care, especially any specialized care.

Add on top of the challenges of rural healthcare the challenge of finding LGBTQ+ affirming medical providers. On top of the stresses of whatever is causing one to seek out medical care, LGBTQ+ people potentially have to face additional stresses of interacting with the potential biases and lack of LGBTQ+-informed care of medical professionals.

We are fortunate that both Oneonta and Syracuse have clinics focused on providing care for the LGBTQ+ community! Check out their resources, as well as Madison County LGBTQ+ Network, for more information.

Image from the study “Broken down by bias: Healthcare biases experienced by BIPOC and LGBTQ+ patients” illustrating key themes from the participants.

I believe in finding ways to support each others’ well-being as a rural community, especially as a rural LGBTQ+ community.

And I believe that affirming, safe bodywork can be a part of our care network.