Doctor, Owner Of Missing Cats Called “Hero” to Trans Community

While many in Metro Detroit have closely followed the story of Will and Lauren Powers’ house fire and the reward the offered for their world-record holding cats in the aftermath, few realize that Will Powers, a doctor at Be Well Medical Center in Berkley, had previously made a career out of caring for transpeople in the community.

Powers was honored last year by Metro Times, whose recap of a detailed profile published by Pride Source started with a headline calling him “an inspiration,” and closed with a not-terribly-objective statement: “Basically, he's a hero.” Powers, one of the partners at Be Well, offers services on a sliding scale, and his practice also helps patients apply for Medicaid.

Powers has worked with trans people since residency, and told Pride Source that his patients have unique medical needs, but also utterly common ones. “People forget that trans people are people, and people get sick," Powers said. "Not every visit involves hormones. Trans people come in with sinus infections. They have high blood pressure. Trans women die of breast cancer because they take high levels of estrogen their whole lives and no one ever gives them a mammogram or a DEXA scan, a bone density test.”

In addition to Dr Powers, the practice also include Dr Paul Benson, who was an early advocate for HIV/AIDS patients, many of whom could not find any doctors willing to treat them at the start of the AIDS pandemic in the early 1980s. In 2012, Benson led a group of ten area HIV/AIDS advocates and medical professionals, and paid their way so they could attend the XIX World AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

While the cats remain missing, despite a $100 thousand reward for their recovery, and his with his home still a fire-ravaged ruin, Powers is on FMLA leave from his practice, but should resume seeing patients in early 2018, according to staff at Be Well.

Photo via Be Well Medical Center.