Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2020, we launched a telehealth program in a matter of weeks when the state shut down in March due to COVID-19. This was an entirely new way for Family Tree to provide care, and from April to December, we held 1,563 telehealth visits. Our telehealth program made it possible to reduce the number of people in the clinic at any given time. Because of this and other COVID-19 protocols, we kept our staff and patients safe and prevented any COVID-19 cases in the clinic. Furthermore, we anticipate that telehealth will greatly increase our ability to serve LGBTQ people throughout the state and the Upper Midwest long into the future. Our staff adapted to working from home, and found creative, innovative ways to deliver programming safely -- including healthy relationship classes and puberty classes delivered virtually and in-person to over 5,100 youth and parents and a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health to identify and address unique health needs within the LGBTQ community during the pandemic. Our Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing program reached over 500 people in 2020 with education and advocacy services. Overall, our staff and our communities responded to the challenges of 2020 with courage, compassion, and innovation.
Current Goals
Our goals for FY 2021 are to: provide sexual health medical services through 6,500 telehealth and in-person patient visits, reaching 3,000 unduplicated patients; enhance patient access to long acting reversible contraception (LARC) methods, and provide LARCs to 300 patients; assist 600 individuals with access to, and enrollment in, health coverage via Minnesota’s health insurance exchange; enroll 500 individuals in the Minnesota Family Planning Program; provide minor illness care to 1,000 patients; provide compassionate and high-quality medical care with integrity, such that at least 90% of patients will report a high level of satisfaction with our services;
respond to over 3,000 calls, text exchanges, and web chats on the MN Family Planning + STD Hotline; serve a client base that is at least 50% LGBTQ-identified, and at least 45% people of color as demonstrated by collection of data on sexual orientation, gender identity and racial and ethnic demographics; cultivate clinical services and environments that better meet the need for culturally competent sexual and reproductive health care for the LGBTQ community in the Twin Cities area; deliver a leading Hormone Care Program for gender affirmation utilizing informed consent, and serve 800 transgender patients for hormone care and sexual health care services; provide 850 educational presentations to 16,000 individuals through the community health education program, reaching at least 7,000 youth of color; and provide 1,300 Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing individuals with access to sexual health education and resources they would not otherwise be able to obtain.
Community or Constituency Served
We provide sexual healthcare and education to communities most impacted by health inequities, including LGBTQ individuals, people of color and indigenous people, immigrants and refugees, people with low-income, the uninsured and underinsured, people who are incarcerated, youth and young adults, and Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing individuals.
Geographic Area Served
Family Tree primarily serves communities in the seven-county metro, though we have patients and clients that come from the seven-state Upper Midwest region and Canada.