The Women+ Who Have Shaped Chase Brexton

Chase Brexton Health Care's history is closely tied to the human rights movements of the 1960s and beyond.

From the women's rights movement to the Civil Rights movement to the gay and transgender rights movements, Chase Brexton's founding and growth is a story filled with the power of women+ of all backgrounds, sexes, races, ethnicities, orientations, and visions.

The following women+ represent just a sliver of the community of cisgender, transgender, and genderfluid women who have shaped Chase Brexton Health Care as we know it today.

Our history as a grassroots, volunteer-led organization and journey to the 450-plus staff-led organization we are today could not exist were it not for the women+ of our past, our present, and those, we hope, will continue forward with the vital mission of improving our communities for all.

1975

<b>Dr. Paulette Young</b>, an activist and lesbian, helped to form Baltimore Gay Alliance. After organizing the first Baltimore Pride, she'd become the first president of the newly founded Gay Community Center Baltimore (GCCB)*. In 1977, the Baltimore City Health Department and Paulette Young discussed writing a grant to help the GCCB open a venereal disease clinic. It was <b>Gail Vivino</b>, a lesbian activist, medical student, and vice president of the GCCB, who wrote the grant which won the GCCB $10,000 to open the Gay Health Clinic in 1978.

More about Paulette Young

1987

<b>Dr. Carla Alexander</b>, a primary care physician specializing in infectious disease treatment, began volunteering at Chase Brexton Clinic** in the 1980s, and, by 1987, became the Clinic's first medical director, leading a team of clinicians through the war of AIDS till 1997.

Read about Dr. Carla Alexander's time with Chase Brexton Health Care.

1990

<b>Lynda Dee</b>, <i>(front right in photo)</i> an activist and attorney who lost her husband and nearly all of her close friends to AIDS, founded AIDS Action Baltimore in the 1980s. In 1990, AIDS Action Baltimore would help to save Chase Brexton by providing a loan of $25 thousand to cover some expenses when Baltimore Health Department hadn't paid the first quarter grants of more than $80 thousand due to the Clinic. The grants were paid swiftly after the Clinic's then-director, <b>Elizabeth Keaton</b>, an Episcopalian Priest, lesbian, activist, and nurse, went to several local radio and TV stations and threatened a hunger strike until the Health Department paid.

Read the article here - page 7.

1992

The Clinic gained more tools to support HIV patients and build a whole-person approach to care by hiring its first registered dietitian, <b>Karen Bellesky</b>. For the next 23 years (our longest team member to date), Karen's incredible passion and commitment allowed her to give endlessly to Chase Brexton as a dietitian, a grant writer, massage therapist, and friend. Though she left in 2015, her contribution still shines brightly in our eyes (and we will forever, gratefully, hold on to the few pounds her amazing rum cakes added to our waists!).

Read Karen's story.

1995

<B>Maddy Feinberg</B> volunteers for a moment...which will turn into 14 years of service - as a pharmacist. In a small closet, the Clinic filled shelves with literal life-saving drugs that would help to end the monthly memorial services held when its many patients passed from AIDS-related illnesses. Later, she becomes the Clinics first pharmacy director, bringing to Chase Brexton not simply a pharmacy team, but the ability to safely, securely, and without judgement meet the complex pharmaceutical needs of its patients.

1999

<b>Dr. Karen Konkel</b>, <i>(left in photo with the fantastic Dr. Judy Davidoff)</i> a lesbian doctor of integrative medicine, became the Chief Medical Officer for Chase Brexton Health Services until 2008. During her tenure, Chase Brexton expanded women's health and transgender medical services, grew and expanded into three counties, became a Federally Qualified Health Center, and received Joint Commission accreditation in Ambulatory and Behavioral Health.

2009

<b>Debb Dunn</b>, a lesbian, trans activist, and physician assistant, joins Chase Brexton Health Care and, along with <b>Dr. Eva Hersh</b> - whose work on the Clinic's Joint Commission accreditation was pivotal and who was Chief Medical Officer from 2005 to 2012, expands transgender services building Chase Brexton's renowned care for trans and gender diverse patients.

Read more about Debb Dunn.

2013

Women's healthcare expands as Chase Brexton adds OB/GYN services. Services, in the beginning, were provided by traditional OB/GYN doctors and a team of midwives. But, as time moved forward, in keeping with the women's health movement and to the joy of our patients, midwives now serve as the primary OB/GYN providers.

Discover a new perspective on midwives.

2015

<b>Dr. Elyse Pine</b>, a renowned pediatric endocrinologist, comes to Chase Brexton Health Care and, along with Debb Dunn and psychologist <b>Dr. Harriet Wimms</b>, works to expand trans services to children and adolescents. Chase Brexton's nationally-recognized program Gender Journeys of Youth (Gender JOY) is established.

Learn about trans rights and care with Elyse Pine.