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A novel program that plans to transform health care for transgender Albertans aims to reduce wait times and improve access to medical treatments.

“Persons who suffer from gender dysphoria while waiting and frustrated … have really high rates of low mood, anxiety and even self-harm and suicide,” psychiatrist Dr. Michael Marshall said Tuesday.

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Marshall is one of five psychiatrists qualified to diagnose gender dysphoria in the province, but it takes up to six months for patients with referrals to see him at his Red Deer clinic.

He’s moving to Edmonton in February to establish the Gender Health Program at the University of Alberta Hospital — the first of its kind in the prairie provinces, he said.

Many health-care providers feel they don’t have enough experience or knowledge to treat transgender people, which can lead to disappointment and isolation, said Marni Panas, AHS senior adviser on diversity and inclusion.

“We go somewhere else until there’s no place left to go,” she said.

Seeking treatment is a life-saving trip, she said.

“Every transgender person is different in their journey to achieve their true, authentic self,” said Panas, 47. “It took me 42 years to find the words, to find the courage to say, ‘I am transgender.'”