Walgreens made a pledge to provide better care for its LGBTQ patients this week, launching a resource guide for its 70,000 health care professionals nationwide that "helps pharmacists better understand the needs of LGBTQ customers and patients."

The pharmacy chain, which is the second-largest in the U.S. with more than 8,100 locations in all 50 states, launched the helpful guide in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign.

Specifically, the guide "provides pharmacists and pharmacy staff with information on LGBTQ identities and terminology, as well as the health disparities and unique concerns of LGBTQ patients," the HRC wrote in a blog post announcing the partnership.

"[It] recommends steps that pharmacies can take in establishing LGBTQ-inclusive care, including staff training, inclusive restroom policies and community outreach. In addition, it provides pharmacy specific information on transition-related services for transgender people seeking hormone replacement therapy and on HIV prevention and care -- including the prescription medication PrEP, the daily pill regimen that can help people remain HIV-negative."

Tari Hanneman, Director of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Health Equality Project, noted that "LGBTQ people often experience barriers to care, and, for many, their most frequent interaction with a health care professional occurs right in their own neighborhood pharmacy."

"This guide will help ensure that they are treated with dignity, respected in their identities, and able to gain the necessary and inclusive health care we all need to live and thrive," she said.

Walgreens received a perfect score on the HRC's 2016 Corporate Equality index, and is the first major drugstore chain taking steps to become more LGBT-inclusive after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services implemented federal regulations that ban health care programs and companies from discriminating based on sex stereotyping and gender identity.

You can check out the new Walgreens' guide here.

h/t Gay Star News