Brian talks to Dr Zane Faulkner at the Cincinnati VA

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Fifty five kr C the talk station. Hey, forty year fifty five KRCD
Talk Station, A very happy Mondayto you. Always enjoy helping out veterans,
veterans causes, lots and lots andlots of veterans and the listening audience,
veterans, families, and I alwayslike to salute those who well sign
on the bottom line, not knowingwhat lies ahead of them, unlike any
other job in the world. Alwaysenjoy talking to the VA. Normally Todd

(00:22):
Sledge from the CINCINNIVA gives us updates, but today we have doctor Zane Faulkner
from the CINCINNIVA. He is astaff psychologist and coordinator house patient as well
as the LGBTQ plus Veteran Care Coordinator. Welcome to the program, doctor Faulkner.
It's a pleasure having you on todaydiscussing VA Pride programs. Yes,

(00:43):
thank you so much. I'm veryhappy to be here this morning and to
have the opportunity to talk about thegreat things that the Cincinnati VIA is doing
for Pride months and just to reallymake sure that all of our veterans who
walk through our doors who have served, that they have a place here.
And I don't like to talk aboutwhat we're doing all right now, Is

(01:04):
there a perception out there in theworld that they don't have a place?
I mean, my perception of themilitary is always, you know, at
least a traditional perception. You goto the military, you sign up,
you're part of a unit, acohesive unit where everyone's looking out for each
other, learn how to kill peopleand break things, defend America's interest both
home and abroad, period and ofstory, I see a problem with breaking

(01:26):
people down into these very specific groups, and I view it as sort of
an undermining of the unanimity of notjust America generally. We all are divided
beneath this flag that we should allbe joining together beneath, and rather than
that, focusing on our individual eitherthe color of our skin or our sexual
beliefs, and none of that,as far as I'm concerned, should even
matter. Can you kill people andbreak things and get along with who you're

(01:49):
fighting with, right, And Iabsolutely agree that is the way that it
should be, for sure, Butwe know historically that has not been the
case. You know, since WorldWar Two, we've had an estimated one
hundred thousand veterans kicked out of themilitary, and during Don't Ask a hotel
that went from nineteen ninety four totwenty eleven, we know that we had

(02:13):
at least thirteen thousand folks kicked outa military and many of our veterans,
despite this never being a VIA policy, really see the va as an extension
of their military service. And soI worked with folks every day who have
been afraid to come to the VAFfor fear of you know, an a

(02:35):
tune, for fear of being harassed, and so they have sometimes delayed hair
any care at all because of theirpast experience with the military. And so
I do think, you know,a lot of our veterans actually, like
to your point, see it thatway, like, Hey, this is

(02:57):
my buddy who I fought with.You know that those things don't matter.
We know that, you know,the majority of veterans don't have a problem
with transgender folks or they folks servingin the military. But that has not
in most folks case and the caseof many folks who I work with and
talk to and get connected to servicewell, and I'm glad to hear that

(03:21):
people have moved on. I'd liketo think that they moved on. Can
you pick up a gun and shootat someone. Are you willing to do
that? I do not care whatyour sexual preference is, nor do I
think that has a profound impact onthe cost of medical care that you get
at the VA on the American taxpayer. But what bothers most of my listeners
and me, and I said thisahead of time when I was talking to
Todd Sledge, it's the tea part. I am sorry. I am a

(03:45):
purist when it comes to reality Xand Y chromosome double X that determines your
sex. You can believe and Iunderstand that some people believe they want to
be or are a gender that they'renot chromosomally or biologically, and they can
carry that belief system. But Idon't believe that it is helping anyone to
pay for like gender surgery. Andthere's been so many studies in Europe is

(04:08):
moving away from that because of theproblems and the reality is associated with you
know, you know, cutting themoff or sewing them on as the case.
Maybe if I may be so blunt, but I don't think it personally
from a scientific research standpoint, helpsAnd it is very, very costly to
the American taxpaper to go down this, this, this, this, this
road. What is your take inresponse to that position, which I know

(04:30):
you've heard, doctor, sure,I have, Yes, I have heard
that. And as it stands rightnow, the actually does not pay for
gender confirmation surgeries. And that issomething that I know is being talked about
right now. Is that something thatis going to happen or not. What

(04:51):
we do know is that you know, uh, transgender and not identifying with
your sex assign at birth goes wayback, like you know, to ancient
times. I mean, we havewe have examples of you know, Native
Americans to spirits, So this isthis is not something new, I think.
For the VA, the biggest thingis that, you know, we

(05:14):
have one hundred and thirty four thousandtransgender veterans, and we know that some
research says that those veterans are upto twenty times more likely to attempt suicide,
to have suicidal aviation, all ofthose things. So we really want
to make sure that we are makingsure that they have a place here at

(05:36):
the VA, that we are respectingtheir identity because they showed up to serve.
They're also two to three times morelikely to sign up to serve in
the VA, and so to yourpoints like I don't care. If you
are willing to stand up, holda gun, put yourself out there,
then I think we deserve to giveyou affirming healthcare. And so while the

(05:57):
VA does not do gender Comfort Nationsurgeries or pay for those surgeries, we
do offer services to help folks affirmtheir identity. So we have those transgender
support group, we have you know, policies and make sure that we are
using the pronouns that focus because thatis a healthcare choice. Because we know
that just having one context where folkshave their identity affirmed can decrease significantly their

(06:26):
chances of suicide. And so thatis why it's important. The other thing
is that our transgender the transgender flagwas created by a Navy veteran, you
know, as well as the LGBTflag was created by an Army veteran.
So these are things that are superimportant. I think here the bea regardless
of kind of our stances. Weknow that we have one hundred and thirty
four thousand transgender veterans and that wehave to make sure they know that they

(06:50):
have a place here because we're losingpeople. People are dying. Well,
let's plus when we'll bring back thedoctor. Almost out of time in this
We're already out of time in thesegments plause it's eight forty seven to fifty
five cares that you talk station.Let me put in a good word for
Peter shbrierck co on fifty five Kthe talk station. Hey fifty one if
you five KRC the talk station.Brian Thomas talking with the EVA since avas
doctor Zain Faulkner VA Pride programs andengaging in a bit of a discussion about

(07:15):
the need for this and moving overback again. You mentioned the suicide rate
among the transgender community within the UnitedStates military. The United States military collectively
already has a much higher suicide ratethan the general population. But I saw
this UCLA Williams Institute School of Lawstudy pointing out that eighty one percent of
transgender adults in the United States generallyhave thought about suicide, forty two percent

(07:36):
of transgender adults have attempted it,fifty six have engaged in non suicidal self
injury. They talk about the higherincidents of drinking and drug use among that
community. That sounds like it's screamingfor mental health services, you know,
like DSM five diagnosis the nat psychologicaltherapy or psychiatric help. Does the VA
offer that or is that going tobe viewed as a form of harassments saying

(08:00):
well, we're not going to enableyou rather than try to help you understand
where you're coming from. We're goingto accept it, agree with it,
and what not address it. What'sthe take on that, doctor, Yeah,
So we do offer service that mentalhealth services for all of our veterans,
and that includes our transgender veterans,and we have a transgender support group

(08:22):
and within that group we talk about, you know, social factors that have
increased those things that you're talking aboutin terms of suicide rate, trauma,
anxiety, depression. And I thinkthe key thing to take away from this
is that the distress does not comefrom our veterans gender identity, but because
of the sciet of societal treatment ofthose folks. And so really they come

(08:46):
into the yes, Well I saidno, I mean, isn't it because
they're stuck in a gender that ina body that doesn't conform to their state
of mind? That alone would bethe big problem, I would think,
Right, I'm talking about yes,and I'm just I'm talking about folks who
have who have already kind of acceptedthat this discrepancy is something that they have

(09:07):
experienced, and then they've already takensteps to accept that in a line with
their identity. So most of thedistress that we are seeing at the the
Air at the Cincinnati Via at leastare folks who have dealt with decietal backlash
around this, and so we arethere to help folks navigate relationships, particularly

(09:28):
you know, folks, family relationships, folks relationships with their friends coming out
process, Folks who have been sittingand dealing with this for years, and
many folks have talked about actually joiningthe military as a way to try to
escape this, because the messaging thatthey've got around society is saying that there's
something wrong with this, if there'ssomething wrong with them for thinking this,

(09:52):
And so a lot of our servicestry to help folks deal with socidal backlash
they've had, deal with the underlyingreasons for why they are drinking. And
so it's we have services across theboard, and absolutely we do have therapy
services for our transgender folks as wellas well as all for other veterans.

(10:16):
Doctor Falton, I'd be remiss ifI didn't mention also that I learned that
it is post Traumatic Stress Awareness Monthas well, and the VA is an
excellent place to get specialized treatment becauseof the familiarity you have with veterans and
veterans specific issues and post traumatic stressis a prevalent problem among American veterans.
Correct, absolutely, it is,absolutely is. So we do have gold

(10:39):
standard treatments that come out of theCincinnati VA for trauma and that includes all
of our veterans. So it's calledour Trauma Recovery Center over and for Thomas,
and a lot of research comes outof the Cincinnati VA. Specifically,
we have doctor kh Harde who doesa lot of great research for our veterans

(11:00):
who have experienced trauma. And alot of folks often delayed getting trauma treatment,
sometimes because of stigma, sometimes becauseof thinking, you know that I
should just be able to deal withthis, thinking that you know, I
should have been able to get overthis by now. And so we have
we do see a lot of folksthat have delayed treatment. I see folks

(11:20):
on my own practice at the VAwho has sat with trauma sometimes for thirty
plus years and sometimes even like beenin therapy with me for a year and
then they're like telling me, oh, by the way, there's this thing
that we have not talked about,and we want to be there as you
noted, to offer those services forfolks. We are definitely a top facility

(11:46):
for PCFB and the research that comesout of our facility is some of the
gold standards research treatments that go out. Doctor Zane Faulkner from the since ADVA,
appreciate you joining the produ we talkabout this sometimes controversial issue. I
get where you're coming from. Ialso get where a lot of my listeners
are coming from on it. Themore we talk about it, the greater
the understanding, and that I thinkis the ultimate point. Doctor Faulkner,

(12:07):
It's been good talking with you.Have a wonderful day, and keep up
the great work of the VA.I love my American veterans and you want
to take great care of them.Absolutely we do too, and I appreciate
the time to talk with you.Appreciate that much. A fifty six fifty
five Kirsty Talk Station speaking of talkingKen Blackwell on banning foreign contribution for ballot
issues in Ohio. That's the new