Dupage Policy Journal

Advocate Health, headquartered in Downers Grove, Ill., is promoting a variety of surgical and non-surgical measures as part of the company’s “Gender Affirming Program,” according to a review of Illinois hospital group services by DuPage Policy Journal.

“Pediatric care experts work with patients and families to identify goals, provide education and resources and create a specific plan of care,” says the hospital’s website. “Services range from simple observation and guidance to puberty suppression and therapy for children of all ages.”

“Our clinicians help you start, manage and monitor gender-affirming hormones, based on your goals,” says the website. “Our highly skilled family medicine, internal medicine, pediatric and endocrinology physicians are ready to help you achieve your goals.”

Advocate is owner of Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, in addition to nine other hospitals and 400 non-hospital locations in the Chicago area. 

The organization's “about us” page says Advocate is “a faith-based nonprofit health system” and has a “holistic philosophy rooted in our fundamental understanding of human beings as created in God's image.”

The hospital’s “gender-affirming program” webpage lists 38 different “LGBTQ+ health providers” that provide these measures.

“Our primary care physicians support transgender and nonbinary individuals from childhood through adulthood,” the website says. “In most cases, our physicians can manage hormonal therapy as well as other primary care needs.”

There has been rapid growth in diagnoses of "gender dysphoria" in recent years, with a Reuters analysis of Medicaid findings that 42,000 children and teens in the U.S. received a diagnosis in 2021 – nearly triple the amount from 2017. 

"Overall, the analysis found that at least 121,882 children ages 6 to 17 were diagnosed with gender dysphoria from 2017 through 2021," Reuters said.

A 2016 review in the Journal of Adolescent Health called children with gender dysphoria "singularly vulnerable" due to high rates of depression, self-harm and even suicide. 

The American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" says children are not fully capable of understanding what it means to be a man or a woman, adding that most questioning their biological sex eventually come to accept it and stop "identifying" as the opposite one.

Advocate Health is “the fifth-largest nonprofit integrated health system in the U.S.,” according to the hospital website.

The non-profit organization was formed when Advocate Aurora Health merged with Atrium Health in 2022.

The company has two CEOs. Eugene A. Woods, one of the CEOs, was previously president and CEO of Atrium Health. The other CEO, Jim Skogsbergh, previously worked as president and CEO at Advocate Aurora Health.

Allison Wyler has worked as president of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital since May 2021. She previously worked as vice president of operations, ancillary and support services, Chicagoland PSA, for Advocate Aurora Health, according to her LinkedIn profile.