FEATURE
Caring for LGBTQ+ Nonprofit 26Health Offers Services for Physical and Mental Well-Being BY TERRY GODBEY
Photography by Julie Fletcher
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en years ago, Dr. David Baker-Hargrove, a practicing psychologist in Orlando, was struggling to help low-income patients afford their treatment. He also noticed that although Central Florida had a sizeable population of LGBTQ+ residents, it lacked a public-access health center geared toward their needs. The doctor told his husband, Robert Baker-Hargrove, that something needed to be done. “I said, ‘We need something like that here. I want us to build a clinic and run it together.’” The pair filed the paperwork as co-CEOs and co-founders in 2011 and opened the doors to their downtown Orlando clinic, then called Two Spirit Health Services, in 2015. Three years later, Robert left his 24-year career performing and producing entertainment at Walt Disney World to serve as the clinic’s chief operating officer. Dr. David serves as its president. In 2019, the nonprofit clinic, which offers comprehensive physical and emotional care to the LGBTQ+ population and its allies regardless of their ability to pay, changed its name to 26Health, a reference to the letters in the alphabet. “We have become much more broad in
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our scope and who we serve,” Dr. David said. “Whatever letter of the alphabet you identify by, it matters to us. We encapsulate LGBTQ+, so 26Health is the perfect name for us, into the future as far as we can see.” During its six years of operation, 26Health has grown to 50 employees including a physician, two nurse practitioners and five behavioral health providers. The clinic has an on-site pharmacy with a discount drug program and a lab that offers a quick turnaround. “We use a test-to-treat model,” Robert said. “If a patient reacts to a lab test, we get them seen by a provider and get a prescription filled within an hour.” Robert, who has an MBA, has focused on how the clinic’s operations can best fit with patients’ lives. 26Health is open Monday through Friday with some early morning hours and plenty of parking. It is considering opening on Saturdays and also offers time-saving telehealth services. The clinic provides fully licensed adoption services and has a Beautiful You Spa, which grew out of providing services for transgender patients. These cashbased services help underwrite the costs
“WHATEVER LETTER OF THE ALPHABET YOU IDENTIFY BY, IT MATTERS TO US. WE ENCAPSULATE LGBTQ+, SO 26HEALTH IS THE PERFECT NAME FOR US, INTO THE FUTURE AS FAR AS WE CAN SEE.” — DR. DAVID BAKER-HARGROVE
of uninsured patients. “When people use our spa services or adoption services, they’re also supporting the community by helping to provide health care for others,” Robert said. “We are the only fully licensed adoption service in the state of Florida that is attached to a medical clinic, and we’re also the only adoption service in the state that is operated by and for LGBTQ+ families,” Dr. David said. All 26Health employees receive full benefits including medical, dental,
