Welcome Chris Perdue!

To all of our wonderful patients- happy holidays!

As many of you know by now, we have a fabulous new nurse practitioner, James “Chris” Perdue (he/him). Chris joins us with many years of experience in the ER. His clinical acumen is top notch and is only rivaled by his sense of humor and ability to make you feel at ease within minutes.

Chris started with us in October for 1 day a week and will be increasing to full time after the new year. As such, many of you have been moved to his schedule and I wanted to personally alert you to that and explain why.

First and foremost, there are several administrative projects I need to tackle in order to ensure that as we grow larger to serve more of our community, our focus remains squarely on being the best LGBTQ+ clinic in Portland.

Second, I have finally completed my postgraduate psychiatry studies at Johns Hopkins and have begun the formal role out of our mental health services.

And third, some of the insurance companies have insisted that there be a division of mental health and physical health within the care team- meaning per those contracts, I have to focus on mental health and Chris will focus on physical health. While I had hoped to organically start the transition by discussing this with each of you in person, the insurance requirements have forced us to make some changes immediately. These same insurance companies have been slow to add Chris as a designated primary care provider so you MAY get a bill stating he is out of network. Please ignore this and know that we are working on that behind the scenes and will adjust your copays as necessary. As always, please reach out to us if you have questions or concerns. I know response times have been a little slower lately, but that is one of the things I’ll be working on in the coming weeks as we get more staff trained. I am grateful to every one of you for trusting me with your care and I'm excited about what we plan to offer in 2026. Stay tuned as we will be communicating some exciting additions soon.

My wish for you all this holiday season: Stay Queer AF and continue to find JOY in your authenticity.

Chuck