A year ago this week a small number of Minneapolis residents witnessed the death of George Floyd. Within days, the world knew what had happened and responded. There were mass protests in cities
across the country and the world.
It was a time to reflect as companies across the country looked internally at their own practices and culture. Many started programs focused on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI). Those with programs already in place revisited and strengthened them. At Boston Children’s Hospital where I am currently serving as interim CIO, they reaffirmed their commitment. This past week, Dr. Kevin Churchwell, President and CEO, sent a note to all staff outlining some of the work that has been done in the past year in support of their six core EDI commitments with the subject: “One Year after George Floyd’s death, our work continues…..”
The core commitments are:
Goal 1: We will be truly inclusive.
Goal 2: Our team will be as diverse as the patients and families we care for.
Goal 3: We will eliminate racism from our processes, practices, and guidelines.
Goal 4: We will continue to educate ourselves to be an inclusive working environment.
Goal 5: We will work to eliminate health disparities in our community and across the nation.
Goal 6: We will develop and use metrics to continually improve our performance in equity, diversity, and inclusivity.
As Dr. Churchwell said in his message, “George Floyd’s name became a rallying cry for millions and yet another compelling reason to discuss tensions around racism and social injustice. One man’s life became a symbol of so many lives lost needlessly. Disparities and inequities long considered to be “part of the system” became impossible to ignore. Here at Boston Children’s, we took a hard look at ourselves, and we realized that we need to be part of the solution to these important issues.”
Many of you or your CIO may be members of CHIME. In 2020, I joined the CHIME Diversity and Inclusion Committee which was established in early 2019. The committee is led by Cletis Earle, SVP and CIO at Penn State Health. The work of the committee ties directly back to many of CHIME’s strategic goals, including advancing the HIT leadership profession through education programs, and focusing on development of next generation leaders, with an emphasis on diversity. The D&I Committee has continued to grow and develop, holding in-person and virtual programs around diversity, equity and inclusion at events including CHIME’s Spring and Fall Forums, bringing in nationally recognized speakers, and holding roundtable conversations. By engaging CHIME members in these programs and activities, the committee works to create, elevate, and amplify important conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion, within member organizations and in the healthcare IT industry as a whole.
At the upcoming CHIME Summer Forum June 16-17, the D&I Committee is hosting two programs: “The BIG Journey: Bold Inclusion for Greatness” on 6/16 from 1pm-1:30pm ET and “The BIG Journey Continued: Join us in Conversation” from 3pm-3:30pm ET. Dr. Andrea Hendricks, Senior Executive Director & Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Cerner Corporation, will share lessons from her book, “The BIG Journey: Bold Inclusion for Greatness”. Today we are now more blended, multicultural, and multiethnic as individuals, as communities, and as a global society than ever before. “BIG” highlights the power of diversity and inclusion essential for the future of sustainability of every organization and encourages organizations to build capacity around six diversity and inclusion engagement efforts. Dr. Hendricks will dive into the concepts of “Intersectionality, Interactions, and Inclusion” three of the six diversity and inclusion engagement efforts suggested in her book and share tools and best practices.
CHIME has launched its second Diversity, Equity and Inclusion survey, for both CHIME Members and CHIME Foundation firm members. A follow-up to their initial 2019 survey, this allows CHIME to capture where member organizations stand in terms of their efforts/programs/work. Gathering this data will allow the committee to view trends and guide our future actions, and assess progress towards strengthening Diversity, Equity and Inclusion across the healthcare IT industry. We’re looking for responses from as many voices as possible, across the breadth of CHIME. The survey is anonymous and should take 3-5 minutes to complete. If you are a CHIME or CHIME Foundation member, you can take the survey here.
This work is all our work. Each of us are on our own journey. We are learning together. And together we can and must create a more just world.
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