Eradicating Racism in Healthcare - Richelle Webb Dixon
The COO of Froedtert hospital, Richelle Webb Dixon and her team are committed to equalizing the healthcare environment. They recognize their obligation to take action to eliminate racism and prejudice for their patients and their employees. She detailed some of the practices they are enforcing to obtain their goal of creating an equal environment in healthcare.
“Froedtert health has a mission to eradicate racism in healthcare. For our employees of color, it is taking the time to have those crucial conversations. We give people the opportunity to have an outlet. These conversations are difficult so we have given our mangers guidelines to assist them in having these important conversations.
“We come to work as our full selves. So if I am African American and I am dealing with the stress of civil unrest, that does not stop when I come into work. So we think of how we can help people be the best that the can be.
“We are taking serious measures to ensure that we address this from a consumer and an employee perspective.
“We need to create those safe spaces. It is very serious and on everyone’s radar.
“Froedtert health made a pledge around improving diversity in our organization, there are two great examples, the president of the hospital and I, the COO, are both African American.
“I am not here because of my ethnicity, but because I can do the job. I just also happen to be African American. This is so important because you want to open the door for potential employees based on a great skill set, but also ensure there is a diverse candidate pool. You do not make a real difference unless you have different perspectives at the table.
“We are committed to making sure we are intentional about diversity on all levels, and that we are open and honest with whomever comes through our doors.
“But, we also recognize that these actions are not enough, so how do we have these community conversations and simply sit and listen? We must listen to what our communities are saying and then go into real action to make a real difference in the communities we serve.”
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