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Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: 21st Century Connections for 21st Century Success

By The SHSMD Team posted 12-15-2020 12:53 PM

  


Juana Spears Slade is the chief diversity officer and director of language services for AnMed Health, based in Anderson, South Carolina. In a recent podcast for SHSMD, she discussed how equity, diversity and inclusion are the cornerstone for AnMed’s strategy of ensuring every employee has an opportunity to succeed and contribute, every patient has a positive experience in every encounter, and health care begins long before and continues long after any patient’s actual visit.

Slade says that understanding patients is fundamental. “We've got to know who our patients are. We've got to know what their preferences are. We've got to know how they communicate. We need to know where they live. We also need to know not only where they have come from but, if it's been an inpatient interaction where we are discharging that patient, where they are going, if they have the resources and wherewithal to follow the discharge plan and then the care plans that we send home.” This requires suspending stereotypes of every kind, to address the needs of the whole person, whether patient or staff member.

Similarities and Interconnectedness

AnMed has been working on diversity and inclusion for almost twenty years. One of their influences is Dr. Roosevelt Thomas, who created a think tank in Atlanta called the American Institute for Managing Diversity, which focused on workplaces. His perspective was that “if we could suspend some of the stereotypical definitions around diversity and we could galvanize ourselves around a definition that everyone could identify with, it may move the mission of the business forward.” Thomas’ definition of diversity is “any collective mixture characterized by similarities and differences.” In a large system like AnMed, there is tremendous variety of departments, services, work units and staff. At the same time, each individual’s and team’s success depends on that of the others. “Our motto is ‘We're in this together’ and that's the truth. We are interconnected and interdependent on each other's success. Focus on those similarities rather than focusing solely on our differences,” Slade points out.

Differentiology

John A. Miller, the CEO of AnMed, coined the term “differentiology,” meaning “the science of different-ness.” Since then, it became part of AnMed’s standard vocabulary. Slade adds, “It's understanding and valuing and developing improvements around those things that make us different. So how can a different approach to an issue work? How can we make sure that all of those differences collectively come together to make our organization more efficient? So it's about respecting and embracing and taking advantage of and benefiting from our differences and similarities.”

Cultural Competence

Slade emphasizes, “Everybody in the organization is aware that we are coming together so that we can deliver services that will meet the cultural, social and linguistic needs of our patients.” Staff are constantly asking themselves questions about patients and their needs. “What are the things that we need to do at the front desk to make sure that we can address the needs of a walk-in patient who is deaf or hard of hearing? What do we need to do if we have an individual who ho comes from a culture that says, when you're sick, you go to the hospital versus when you're sick, you go to your private practitioner? How can we help to establish policies and procedures and systems that will allow us to engage and support all of our patients, no matter who they are?”

They also ask these types of questions about employment. “What do we need to do in our hiring processes to make sure that any individual who comes seeking employment at AnMed Health has a fair and just process of application and can be effectively considered for employment?”

She says, “We often think if we've got a policy that says this is what we do, then that means that we're checking the box on whatever that issue is. But cultural competence is more about the system, the application of those policies. What are the actual experiences when a patient who does not speak English comes to our organization? What's the actual experience of that patient, who's had a positive inpatient admission but is receiving discharge instructions? How are they going to be given those instructions? How will they receive those instructions? How can they participate in their care?”

Getting Started

AnMed has a long history in building diversity, equity and inclusion, but what should organizations that are just starting this journey do? Slade’s mantra is “Relationships drive results.” Starting today requires the same partnerships and relationships that it did 20 years ago. Those relationships help to make the work relevant for every function in every department. “Until diversity is part of all that we do or we won’t be successful in equity, diversity and inclusion. We won't be successful until everybody understands that there is a benefit.” One of Slade’s strongest allies at AnMed is the director of marketing services. They sit down at the beginning of the year to talk about their programs of work and plans and to ensure that the implications for diversity and inclusion are built into the marketing and communications plans.

Like many big concepts, the term “diversity” carries many meanings for different audiences and sometimes people associate negative connotations. Slade starts with commonalities rather than differences, including having a mission in common and the need to get care and communication right for patients, not just for their sake, but for the organization’s, so that everybody benefits from delivering better care.

More Resources from SHSMD

View the recorded webinar “Creating Communications and Engagement Guidelines for Transgender Care” to learn how to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for people who are transgender.

More for SHSMD Members and AHA Members

To discuss diversity, equity and inclusion with your health care strategy peers, check out MySHSMD’s discussion groups.

SHSMD members can see the slides from “Health Care Marketing to the New Americanos,” a SHSMD Connections 2018 session on how L.A. Care Health Plan successfully marketed to multicultural groups to capture significant commercial and Medi-Cal (Medicaid) market share.

AHA member organizations automatically receive membership in the Institute for Diversity and Health Equity.
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