A Q&A With The Founders Of MyTransHealth

One of our continued missions here at Femsplain is highlighting some of the amazing “do-ers” on our radar. This month, we chatted with the amazing people behind the soon-to-launch platform, MyTransHealth, “the first free location-based platform that connects transgender people with local doctors who understand them.” Much like many peer-review database or social sites, MyTransHealth will allow community members to rate and review providers based on their own personal experience. As part of its mission, the team behind the new project promises to give access to quality healthcare for trans people seeking medical care.

With MyTransHealth having had its pre-launch this month to an outpour of positive response, we chatted with two of the four-team co-founders, Kade Clark and Robyn Kanner. The pair, along with with Annika Backstrom and Amelia Gapin, are helping bring MyTransHealth to anyone in the community who needs it.

There’s been a lot of coverage regarding trans people in the media lately. Tell us about MyTransHealth and your mission.

Robyn: MyTransHealth is about connecting the trans community to doctors. We want to eliminate the discrimination and miscommunication that trans people face. As we build the platform, we’ll be talking to certain doctors to make sure they’re offering support. A search result based on location will pop up based on your needs so that before you walk into the room, they’ll already know your needs and condition. If you walk into a doctor’s office and you have issues, they’ll ask medically relevant questions.

Kade: We added providers into the database in sub-groups to groups that we were seeing needs for in the community. So whether it’s mental or general health, language barriers, or crisis, you don’t need to spend so much time explaining your conditions. We both came from personal experiences of this happening to us during our transitions. That’s when we realized this isn’t just an individual story — it’s everyone we talk to. Everyone has a similar story, so the need is broad.

Tells us a little bit about how you’ve built the platform.

Robyn: Everyone has one experience that’s really crappy. During our research, we asked 10 trans people to give us their stories on the spot, and they all had specific memories. Right now, we’re in the middle of design. Our plan is to launch a few videos to outline the problems, sharing personal stories, and in a few weeks we’ll be launching a Kickstarter to help us do some ground work. We’ll be launching in NYC and Miami by Fall 2015. They’re really interesting areas that need help because so many trans people live in them.

Kade: We’re using these two hubs and using our community connections to help us create a great product across the board. Identity is such a personal experience for people, so the point is to make it welcoming for everyone.

Speaking of inclusivity, how do you bringing it all together on this much-needed platform?

Robyn: One of the most important things we wanna do with the site is be inclusive. We need to help people find health care, but we also need to consider things like citizenship status and insurance. Additionally, we’re considering accessibility. We’re trying to find helpful resources for people without access to health care. We’re even talking to practitioners who will help provide support individually.

Kade: There are so many great existing resources already, but people can’t access them for certain reasons. So we’re here to do the legwork to help them find the access, and we also wanna work with those providers to make it more seamless.

Given all the obstacles trans people face while trying to fulfill needs as simple as basic healthcare, can you explain the importance of the community aspect of MyTransHealth?

Robyn: MyTransHealth is designed and developed for trans people by trans people, who have experienced things related to what the site is trying to do. The platform will be community oriented, and there will be a reviews-and-ratings system for the members to be able to see and decide what options are right for them.

Kade: We want to give the community the empowerment to talk about their experiences. This is our way to give them a platform to do it on.

For more info on the upcoming site, visit MyTransHealth.com.