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Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

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A moral, cultural, and strategic imperative

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is about treating people with dignity and respect. It's about belonging. It's about stepping out of comfort zones, suspending judgments, and being curious. It's about actively listening to and including different perspectives. At Spectrum Health Lakeland, our mission is to improve health, inspire hope and save lives. To do this, our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion team focuses on five areas aimed at eliminating health disparities and better reflecting the communities we serve. 

Five areas of focus

As we work to achieve and sustain a diverse and inclusive culture that fosters respect among our team members, and improves the care and services provided to our patients, members and communities; we are focused on five areas that will help guide the work of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

five areas of focus

Cultural Competence: Deliver a variety of interventions aimed to remove systemic barriers that affect people’s behavior and the quality of health care provided. This includes interpersonal interactions among team members, providers, patients, and consumers. 

Equity of Care: Improve systemic collection of data for various dimensions of diversity and use of quality measures to develop targeted interventions that help eliminate health care disparities. 

Community Engagement: Increase and strengthen community partnerships that bring awareness and involvement in improving health outcomes and reducing health inequities within our community. 

Supplier Diversity: Improve the economic health of our community through inclusive sourcing that leads to cost savings, drives innovation, and benefits our local community. 

Workforce Diversity: Increase and sustain diversity (e.g. race and ethnicity) of our workforce at all levels to help improve access to health care for all communities.

diversity group

 

Pledge to Act 

We made a promise to improve health and health equity. To fulfill this promise, we must acknowledge that systemic and structural racism exists and that it harms the health and well-being of the communities we serve. We must acknowledge that achieving health equity means tackling racism, which requires remedies based on honest reflection, authentic collaboration and hard work. And, we must acknowledge that addressing racism compels us to think and act in ways that will stretch and challenge us.

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