Celebrating with Pride: Organization provides outreach at annual event in Ann Arbor

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Last Saturday, 16 volunteers representing Michigan Medicine came together to help celebrate Ann Arbor Pride. Michigan Medicine was a lead sponsor of the annual event — which is held in Kerrytown and allows thousands of residents from across the region to come together to honor the success and on-going struggles of the LGBTQ+ community and its allies.

As part of its sponsorship, Michigan Medicine staffed a booth with volunteers from the Office of Patient Experience (OPE), social work, the departments of internal medicine, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, plastic surgery, Comprehensive Gender Services and Human Resources.

Representatives from the U-M libraries and U-M Flint Student Affairs were also present.

Attendees who stopped by the booth received a wide range of information about services and resources at Michigan Medicine, including the HIV/AIDS program, Comprehensive Gender Services and volunteer opportunities with OPE.

“While most know we have room for improvement in the care we provide to LGBTQ+ people, members of the community stated that our presence and sponsorship of Ann Arbor Pride means a lot to them,” said Pedro Coracides, a senior project manager at OPE who coordinated Michigan Medicine’s efforts at the event. “This is a great first step to begin better engagement with the community.”

The sponsorship was part of a larger effort at Michigan Medicine to provide a better working and healing environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

In fact, the LGBTQ+ Resource Group on campus — which was formed recently by the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion — has stated that its goal is to improve “awareness, education and networking” for those in the LGBTQ+ community, all of which were enhanced this past weekend.

“I am so happy that Michigan Medicine was able to represent our programs and services to the community in a fun and productive way,” said Jerry Okler with Human Resources. “It feels really good to do it and it means we can potentially have a bigger impact on those we aim to serve.”

For a closer look at this past weekend’s Pride event, check out the photo gallery above!