The Planned Parenthood clinic in Lakeland will soon offer services for transgendered patients going through the transition process. Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida will begin providing the services Saturday at its 11 health centers, the nonprofit announced Monday.

LAKELAND — The Planned Parenthood clinic in Lakeland will soon offer services for transgendered patients going through the transition process.

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida will begin providing the services Saturday at its 11 health centers, the nonprofit announced Monday.

“I think this is a group of patients that have been neglected and underserved, so Planned Parenthood wants to try to provide care for all people,” said Dr. Bob Slackman, who will oversee the services. “These patients are sort of where gays and lesbians were 20 or 30 years ago. I think that’s why it’s important for Planned Parenthood to offer this. These people have really been marginalized by society and even by health-care providers.”

The treatment mainly involves giving infusions of hormones to patients transitioning between genders, Slackman said. Those changing from female to male receive doses of testosterone.

Patients transitioning from male to female are given doses of estrogen and also a medicine that blocks the effects of the testosterone their bodies produce, Slackman said.

The hormones can be given through injections, pellets placed under the skin or topical creams.

Slackman, a reproductive endocrinologist, said he treated patients undergoing transitions for about three years in Virginia before moving to Florida and joining the Planned Parenthood staff this year. Slackman said he recently conducted training in hormone therapy with nurses and nurse practitioners at the 11 clinics.

“It’s a matter of prescribing the correct hormone at the correct dose and being able to follow the patient to make sure we’re giving the proper amount but not enough to cause problems,” Slackman said.

Planned Parenthood’s announcement drew praise from Kerri McCoy, president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) of Polk County.

“I think it’s an awesome thing,” said McCoy, the mother of a gay man. “Most people that I know that are transitioning are having to travel, so this is going to make it very easy for people here in our county to do this. It’s more convenient and less time consuming, and I think it really shows some progressiveness in our area, which is amazing to me.”

Spokeswoman Anna V. Eskamani said Planned Parenthood will provide referrals for mental health support and give transgender patients a guide supplied by Equality Florida, an organization that advocates for gay and lesbian rights.

Slackman said transgender patients require one to two years of hormone therapy before undergoing sexual reassignment surgery. Based on his experience in Virginia, though, he said, only a small minority of patients ever have the surgery.

“The problem I had, at least in Virginia, is even if the insurance companies don’t pay for the hormones, it’s a matter of few hundred dollars a year,” Slackman said. “Surgery is tens of thousands of dollars. ... The other thing is a lot of patients don’t want to do the surgery. A lot of people feel fulfilled just being on hormones without doing the surgery.”

Most patients remain on hormone treatment for the remainder of their lives, whether or not they have surgery, Slackman said. The Planned Parenthood clinics will not perform sexual reassignment surgeries.

The Lakeland clinic is at 2250 E. Edgewood Drive.

Slackman said transgender people often have difficulties finding doctors in private practice willing to treat them.

“My experience when I was in Virginia is these patients tended to be ostracized quite often by family and friends, by job and employers and even by physicians,” he said. “I had a number of patients who told me not only did their doctor refuse to give them hormones but the doctor would say, ‘I don’t want you in my practice even for a sprained ankle or a sore throat.’ ”

McCoy said she knows transgendered people in Polk County who are now traveling to Tampa or Orlando for treatment.

“This is really amazing to have it here in our backyard,” McCoy said. “I think if they get the word out, they will see probably more people than they think coming through their doors. I know being president of PFLAG, we are seeing more and more transgender people coming out here in Polk County.”

Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida cited figures from the Kaiser Family Foundation showing transgender people often face barriers when seeking health care. A national survey found 28 percent were subjected to harassment in medical settings and 19 percent were refused medical care, according to a Planned Parenthood news release.

The regional Planned Parenthood organization handles more than 40,000 patient visits each year, Eskamani said.

— Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. He blogs about tourism at http://tourism.blogs.theledger.com. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.