Tag Archives: values

A step backwards

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“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her wellbeing and dignity. It’s a decision she must make for herself”. Ruth Bader Ginsburg

I was both angry and sad last Friday when the Supreme Court ruling was announced. There is no question that we are going backwards. My granddaughters will have less rights than me.

How did we get here? The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade should come as no surprise. I’m not just talking about the leaked opinion in May. I’m talking about the state level restrictions that have been enacted over the past decade leading to Friday’s ruling.

A piece in the New York Times on June 25, “How Did Roe Fall? Before a Decisive Ruling, a Powerful Red Wave”, by Kate Zernike laid it out clearly starting back with the 2010 elections. The fact that 1380 state level restrictions were enacted in the 50 years since Roe v Wade was decided and that 46% of them were since 2011 tells the story. It is a long article but worth reading.

Aside from understanding the recent history covered in this article, the takeaway is clear – your vote matters. It matters at every level from local elections to the national election for president. While more Americans voted in 2020 than in any other presidential election in 120 years, 80 million people didn’t vote. Local candidates and state legislators win elections oftentimes with only a small percentage of voters bothering to vote.

The health equity issues of this ruling are significant. The ruling puts the health and safety of women at risk with a disproportionate impact on women of color and the financially disadvantaged. Many leaders have recognized this in their statements of support for reproductive rights and the actions they are taking to provide services. Continue reading →

When is enough enough?

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We are all asking when is it enough? Parents of young children are struggling with how to talk to their children, how to keep them safe. The mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde are the latest horrific examples of gun violence and hate in this country.

I have been struggling to find the right words. There are none. Yes, thoughts and prayers for all the victims, their families, and communities are needed. May they find the strength to carry on in the very difficult days ahead. But what’s needed in this country is action and policy change, not just more thoughts and prayers.

I read two pieces that have helped me to express what I’m feeling.

Michael Dowling, President and CEO of Northwell Health, is a progressive voice amongst healthcare executives. He doesn’t shy away from taking a stand on difficult issues and very clearly names gun violence as a public health issue. Under his leadership, Northwell established The Gun Violence Prevention Learning Collaborative for Health Systems and Hospitals, a grassroots initiative that gives healthcare professionals the space to have open dialogue about the impact of gun violence, share best practices and collectively take action. This piece in Becker’s Hospital Review describes his call to action – “Michael Dowling: ‘Every single US hospital leader should be screaming about what an abomination this is’”.

Arika Lycan posted on LinkedIn a piece that frames not just the murder of innocent elementary school children but all the ways that our rights are under attack – “Who is going to do something about this?!” I am, You are, We are.” Arika is a consistent voice for social justice. I am grateful to be collaborating with them and the entire CHIME Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to continue to educate and raise awareness with our health IT colleagues.

We can’t let Buffalo and Uvalde move out of the news cycle and be forgotten. We need to speak up, show up, donate our time and money, and vote for candidates at all levels of government who support our values. The 2022 mid-term elections are consequential. Know what candidates stand for and vote your values. And consider volunteering some of your time to do phone / text banks for critical House and Senate races in other states.

I admit that I don’t have anything truly new to say today. I have written numerous posts after similar events rocked us to the core, and I have said it all before. So, I’m sharing my “Hate has no place” post again. If you don’t want to read it again or even for the first time – here’s my bottom-line message:

We must speak up for love and justice every chance we can. We must challenge those who hate and divide us as a people. And we must vote for the kind of leaders that we are willing to trust the future of our children and grandchildren to. Please join me.

Hate has no place (written August, 2019)

The most recent horrific mass shootings are not due to video games, the Internet, nor mental illness. There are more guns in the United States than people. Let that sink in.

Hate speech, racism, and white supremacy exist and are tolerated by some of our elected leaders who are supposed to keep us all safe. Let that sink in.

This is not who we want to be as a country. It is time for responsible, moral leaders to act. Continue reading →

#BreakTheBias

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That’s the theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022 celebrated today, March 8. It is one to remember not just today but every day. Two weeks ago, as Black History Month came to an end, I wrote a post titled “2022 of the 1950s?” about systemic racism. March is Women’s History Month and when I see the assault on women’s rights in many states, I could ask that same question again.

While women have made great progress since I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, coming of age during the women’s movement shaped me both personally and professionally. I remember when International Women’s Day was something most people knew nothing about. Now it is more prominently highlighted in the media. You may have seen some “strike the pose” posts on social media in recent days and wondered what that was about. But International Women’s Day is not just a celebration of women, it is a focus on the historical and current struggles of women for true equality and a call to all of us to forge a gender equal world.

Themes in recent years have been:

#ChooseToChallenge – reminding us that we are responsible for our own thoughts and actions and that we can all choose to call out gender bias and inequality.

#EachforEqual – emphasizing the need to bring together people of all gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, and country to embrace the values and actions needed to create a gender equal world.

What does this year’s theme #BreakTheBias focus on? From the IWD website:

“Imagine a gender equal world.

A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Together we can forge women’s equality.

Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.”

What can you do? Continue reading →

Ukraine, what can you do?

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Posting pictures of sunflowers and the colors of the Ukrainian flag are all signs of support. And yes, the free world and the autocrats need to see that support. But there is more you and I can do. Here are two resources to check out:

Call to Action: How the Health Community can Help Efforts in Ukraine is on March 3, 11AM ET sponsored by HLTH – you can register here. Description of the webinar:

As healthcare professionals, we can help via coordinated effort with Ukrainian Ministry of Health and state enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine. By now, Ukraine used all of its available medical supplies; deliveries to the country situated in the middle of Europe are severely disrupted.

We are hosting the webinar on Thursday, March 3rd during which our panelists will be able to provide clear instructions of what supplies are needed and how to ship them to Ukraine, as well as answer any of your questions. You will hear from:

Moderator:
– Anna Levchuk –  Member Of The Supervisory Board, Member Of The Supervisory Board,
State Enterprise Medical Procurement of Ukraine
Speakers:
– Arsen Zhumadilov – CEO of Medical Procurement of Ukraine
– Graham Stewart – Head of Supply Chain Delivery at Department of Health and Social Care, UK
– Kateryna Babkina – an award-winning Ukrainian poet and a refugee who drove from shelled Kyiv to Poland with one-year-old in tow

Please join the webinar to learn how you can help. Share this information with your colleagues in patient access, social responsibility, and sales departments.

From the Global Citizen, “22 Meaningful Ways You Can Help Ukraine” by Khanyi Mlaba and Tess Lowery on February 24th.

The article opens with this statement, “While many of us might feel helpless when confronted with geopolitical machinations of this scale, we’ve rounded up some ways you can help the people of Ukraine right now.” It includes ways to donate, take action, and stay informed.

Babies being born in subways that have become shelters. NICU babies being cared for in a hospital shelter. Innocent people including young children being killed and wounded. These are difficult images to watch. But it is happening. The strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people is inspiring. As global citizens, the fight for democracy and freedom is one we all must support.

 

2022 or the 1950s? 

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February started with news that was both disturbing and disappointing to see in 2022. But unfortunately, not a surprise considering the long history of racism and white supremacy in this country. News programs the first few days of Black History Month covered bomb threats at many HBCU campuses, the Florida Anti-Woke Act, book banning, a neo-Nazi group protesting in front of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and another police shooting of a young black man, Amir Locke, in Minneapolis.

It makes one wonder if this is 2022 or the 1950s. Are we moving forward or backward?

When I touch on political subjects in my blog posts, I try to weave a healthcare perspective into it. The best I can do given these discouraging news stories is to reinforce that it takes each one of us to make change and create the kind of world we want to live in, work in and raise our families in.

As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”. Yes, but only if we pull it towards justice. So, what can you or I do to pull it?

I applaud Boston Children’s Hospital where I served as interim CIO last year for requiring “Bystander to Upstander” training for all employees as part of the health system’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This program raised awareness of microaggressions in everyday life and provided simple tools for each of us to use to move from being a bystander when we see and hear something to being willing to call it out.

I applaud the CHIME Diversity and Inclusion committee which I am a member of for their continued work to raise awareness amongst CHIME and CHIME Foundation members and AEHIS, AEHIA and AEHIT members. The newest offering, “DEI Dialogues”, kicks off this Friday 2/25 from 12-1PM ET. DEI Dialogues will be a dynamic series of virtual conversations around identity, belonging, equity and inclusion with a different lens of focus each month. The focus of the first one is Black History Month. Cletis Earle, SVP and CIO at Penn State Health, and Dr. Andrea Hendricks, Senior Executive Director & Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Cerner, will moderate the discussion. For more information on CHIME Diversity and Inclusion and to register for the first DEI Dialogues, click here.

When it comes to understanding our own biases and working to end racism, we are each on our own journey of self-awareness and action. Together we can be the change and move forward not backward.

Resources and Related Posts:

Here’s the story behind Black History Month – and why it’s celebrated in February

How Sharing Our Stories Builds Inclusion

One year later – an increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion

At the intersection of racism and healthcare

Leadership revisited

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It’s a new year. Time to reflect and look ahead. Whether you are a leader or an aspiring leader, there is always room to develop your own leadership skills and find ways to help others develop. Over the years, I’ve often written on leadership. Here is a short list of posts worth revisiting:

10 Tips for next generation leaders

7 Ways to develop the next generation of leaders

Leading through a crisis

What we should expect of leaders

Inspiring and developing new leaders – learning from the best

Lead by example

Leader as conductor

Note – I am taking a short break from writing new posts in January. With all the blog posts I’ve written over the past 7 plus years, I’m using this break to share some of my “classics”. Thank you for being a subscriber – I hope you will encourage your colleagues to subscribe in the coming year.

Towards a more civil society

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Healthcare is a people business. I’ve worked with many hospital CEOs and executives in my career. Leaders lead in everything they say and do. Hospital CEOs lead their organization and are considered leaders in their community. Some are considered national leaders as well. Leaders are “always on”.

There may be little behind the scenes moments when you get a glimpse of their personality. But there are many more public moments when you see how they lead and inspire. And for some, there are those moments where they publicly weigh in on societal issues others want to ignore. I saw one of those examples last week.

Michael Dowling is President & CEO of Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in New York caring for over 2 million people annually. He is one of the most respected and influential healthcare leaders in our industry. He is not afraid to tell it like it is and take a public stand on issues such as gun violence and immigration. His recent article, “A Call for Civility and Decency”, published in Becker’s Hospital Review on December 30, 2021, is no exception. He describes how the “internet has become a toxic stew of political hostility”. He talks about how the discord is a challenge to our democracy and quotes Abraham Lincoln who said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

He outlines in detail his thoughts on basic steps we can all take to start the healing our country needs:

  • Respect others point of view
  • Choose your words carefully
  • Show empathy
  • Respect diversity
  • Be willing to compromise

In closing he says, “As we turn the calendar to 2022, let’s use it as an opportunity to tone down the rhetoric, reopen dialogue with each other and mend wounds caused by the worst pandemic of our lifetime and years of racial, ethnic and political divide that have worn away at the fabric of our society. It all starts with civility and decency. If we all embrace that behavior, we’ll enjoy a much happier new year.”

Last week I wrote about the importance of taking care of yourself during these challenging times paying attention to both your physical and mental health. This week as we begin a new year, let’s heed the advice of Michael Dowling and commit to work towards greater civility with one another.

With gratitude – family says it all

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I’m challenged to write something brand new on gratitude this Thanksgiving week even though this has been a far better year than 2020. At the same time, it has not been as positive and as “back to normal” as we had all hoped as COVID cases surged over the summer. So, I went back to my 2020 post to see how I had reflected on gratitude a year ago at a time when we weren’t gathering as families the same as we are now. I share it again here as some things haven’t changed.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our immediate family this past Sunday at our new house. My two daughters, their husbands, and four grandkids. One of my daughters has in-laws in Florida so she and her family will travel there for the holiday. We now live within half hour of our other daughter and her in-laws live near her. We will celebrate with all of them on Thanksgiving as we have done many years in the past.

While my husband is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister, if I suggest we say something before dinner at a special family gathering, he will often pass it over to me. This year it was simple. I asked everyone to hold hands (as the grandkids wondered what I was doing) and I commented on family being together again and that I was thankful for each and every one of them as I looked each one in the eye around the table. The adults know they are my “big rocks” as Stephen Covey would describe. And someday the grandkids will understand that as well.

Being together with family says it all. I am truly grateful that we didn’t lose anyone to COVID, that we are fully vaccinated and that we can all be together again.

May you share similar love and gratitude with those closest to you this Thanksgiving 2021. As my StarBridge Advisors colleague, David Muntz, likes to say – “let the season of gratitude begin”.

Related Posts:

Treasuring family after a long year

The year we meet again

Family first

 

Never too late to make time for a break

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Labor Day weekend is upon us. The last holiday weekend of the summer. A summer that we hoped would be more normal. One where we could enjoy vacation travel, visiting family again, and spending time with friends.

Was your summer what you expected? Did you get the break from work you needed? Did you get to see family?

Talking to my oldest daughter this morning, she described it as “the summer of yes”. She is a nurse practitioner and given what last summer was like with COVID-19, this year she was able to do short trips with her family and friends to Martha’s Vineyard, New Hampshire, and Maine.  My youngest daughter and her husband finally got to see his family in Florida taking a road trip there with their two kids.

For our first vacations since before the pandemic, my husband and I planned a long Memorial Day weekend in New York City and a 2-week vacation in California that was to include a several day visit to my Minnesota family who I hadn’t seen since October 2019. Neither trip went as expected for health reasons. Over Memorial Day weekend, we spent two of the four days in a New York City hospital after my husband had another serious medical incident. I could write Part 2 of my September post “When healthcare becomes personal” at some point – this one would be a focus on the lack of interoperability. I’m happy to say he is fine but there are still medical mysteries for us. Our California trip had to be scrapped due to my injury from a bad fall though we still visited family in Minnesota where I was able to rest and take it easy.

But I can’t complain. It is truly heartbreaking to see the current COVID-19 surge with exhausted frontline healthcare workers and so many preventable deaths of people who are unvaccinated. We all long for better times.

If you have not found time this summer to take a break, even a “staycation” if you’re concerned about safe travel, or quality time with family, I hope you can find time in the coming weeks. I have written in the past about the importance of finding time to reboot, putting family first, and prioritizing self-care. Now more than ever we all need it.

Related Posts:

Take time to reboot

Renewal, big rocks, and the elusive work life balance

The 6 Rs of summer

Yes, culture matters

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“I love this organization”. That is exactly what I said to my husband last Thursday after hearing several presentations in three different forums as part of the team at Boston Children’s Hospital. It started with the monthly Department Heads meeting that opens with a patient and family story and closes with an inspirational quote.

That meeting was followed by a lunchtime every other week series (dubbed Fireside Chat), open to all employees focusing on how we are supporting our patients and each other. Dick Argys, Chief Culture Officer and Chief Administrative Officer is the host. As part of our Juneteenth series of events, the topic was “The History of Juneteenth”. Our guest speaker, Theodore Landsmark, PhD, JD, Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University along with Peter Faiteau, Patient Services Administrator for Oncology/Hematology/HSCT, talked about the history and significance of Juneteenth.

The Juneteenth series was announced in an email from Dr. Kevin Churchwell, President and CEO to all employees last Monday – before it was declared a national holiday. He acknowledged that it was only the second year Boston Children’s was celebrating Juneteenth and closed his email with this: “Boston Children’s celebration about Juneteenth is all about learning from each other. And the more we learn about our history, the better equipped we are to build a brighter and more inclusive future for all”.

That was followed by an open forum for all employees, “Transforming Tomorrow: Investing in Children, Families, and Communities”. Dr. Churchwell and a panel of leaders described the new inpatient building opening in summer 2022 (far enough along for an inspiring video) and the new ambulatory centers being planned in nearby towns making care more accessible to families in the broader Boston area.

And earlier in the week we had all been invited by Dr. Churchwell to a virtual celebration to announce and congratulate the entire Boston Children’s team on being ranked the number one children’s hospital in the nation in the 2021-22 U.S. News & World Report “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings. Continue reading →