iAdvize Says What eCustomers Really Want for Xmas: Quick Service
iAdvize Research Reveals What UK eCustomers Really Want for Christmas; Customer Care Is Stuck In The Dark Ages — Out with the old; in with the new: Survey of consumers says 87% want live chat and 32% are fed up with slow responses provided by email.

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Racist online chat could result in charges for Benton Harbor 13-year-old
Charges are being sought against a Benton Harbor teenager because of a racist online chat he took part in. The Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office says seven students from Upton Middle School were involved in a private chat group on the smartphone app Kik.

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Here are the top 15 LGBTI moments that made you proud in 2015
This gay couple ordered from Memories Pizza … Love brings peace to the world,’ they said. 15. And finally, Ireland became the first country in the world to back same-sex marriage by public vote. While we may have seen recent losses in Slovenia losing …

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The US will finally let gay and bi men donate blood — but only if they stop having sex
After more than 30 years, the United States is finally relaxing its decades-long ban on blood donations from gay men. The ban dates back to 1983. Months after researchers discovered the existence of HIV, US health regulators decided that men who have sex …

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Ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men ease in the U.S.
While the one-year-ban has been criticized by activists it matches policies in other countries, including Australia, Japan and the U.K. Men who have sex with men must be celibate for five years before giving blood in Canada. Gay rights activists said the …

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FDA Makes It Official: Celibate Gay Men May Donate Blood

The lifetime ban on blood donation by any man who has ever had sex with another man will now be replaced with a one-year ban.

The post FDA Makes It Official: Celibate Gay Men May Donate Blood appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/12/21/3734327/fda-lifts-gay-blood-ban-1-year/

New Video Emphasizes Need for LGBT Cultural Competency Trainings for Healthcare Providers

This month, the National LGBT Cancer Network released a new LGBT training film, Vanessa Goes To The Doctor. The New York State Health Department funded Vanessa Goes To The Doctor, a scripted eight minute video about a transgender woman of color visiting a new primary care doctor.  The film imitates a 1950’s instructional videos, using contrasting LGBT-affirming and unwelcoming practices that allows healthcare providers to absorb important content in a funny and unthreatening and powerful style.

In just a few minutes, this film manages to convey several recommended best practices for how healthcare providers can create a more inclusive and welcoming environment, which is very important since many transgender people fear that they will not be welcomed in healthcare settings.  This fear causes many transgender people, like the character Vanessa, to delay or avoid healthcare.  Unfortunately, this fear is based on a very real history of discrimination.  Lambda Legal’s landmark study, When Healthcare Isn’t Caring, found that 70 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming survey respondents had experienced serious healthcare discrimination.

All of the best practices highlighted in Vanessa Goes to the Doctor are practices that HRC recommends and assesses in HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), which works with healthcare facilities from around the country to help them provide better and more equitable care to their LGBT patients.  

One best practice that is highly recommended for any healthcare provider is training in LGBT cultural competency and patient-centered care.  Vanessa Goes to the Doctor was developed by the National LGBT Cancer Network for use in their LGBT cultural competency trainings and is now available for public use.  HRC also offers free online training in LGBT patient centered care to the facilities that participate in the HEI. In 2015, HRC provided more than 30,000 hours of training and more than 28 percent of those hours were focused exclusively on meeting the unique needs and challenges transgender people face in accessing healthcare, demonstrating a strong interest by healthcare providers in meeting the needs of this population.  

Training opportunities like those provided through HRC’s HEI and efforts such as Vanessa Goes to the Doctor help make our healthcare system more inclusive and welcoming to transgender and gender non-conforming people — something that is badly needed.  

www.hrc.org/blog/new-video-emphasizes-need-for-lgbt-cultural-competency-trainings-for-health?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Spurs Nation live chat: Talking Spurs vs. Pacers with Jabari Young
The Spurs ride a five-game winning streak into the last game of their home stand Monday against the Indiana Pacers. Prior to the game, Spurs Nation insider Jabari Young will be answering all of your questions in our live chat. You can leave questions for …

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Berrien Co. teen could face charges over racist online chat
The Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office says charges are being sought against a 13-year-old for making racially charged comments during chat sessions with six other students from Upton Middle School. The prosecutor’s office says the students were in a …

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Ayushmann gears up for a happy romance
After foraying into film production with Navdeep Singh’s gritty slasher-thriller NH10, Anushka Sharma recently revealed in a video chat with Anupama Chopra that she is reuniting with Singh for another thriller that she may act in. She is also to embark on …

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