The declaration, published by the national Healthcare Anchor Network, follows a similar public statement in June by Chicago-area health care organizations.
DOWNERS GROVE, IL AND MILWAUKEE, WI – Advocate Aurora Health is proud to publicly reiterate our commitment to dismantling structural racism and reversing its negative effects on the health and wellbeing of our communities.
As a member of the Healthcare Anchor Network, a national collaboration of leading health care systems, we join 38 other health institutions across 45 states and Washington, D.C. in formally recognizing racism as a public health crisis. This reflects a national amplification of a similar statement and call to action that we issued in June alongside three dozen of our Chicago-area health system peers.
In doing so, we acknowledge the unconscionable toll racism has exacted on communities of color, from increased joblessness and higher rates of preventable disease to lower life expectancy, and we commit to taking specific actions to ameliorate this injustice.
We will continue to:
- Hire and develop clinicians and team members who reflect and effectively treat the unique needs of each population we serve
- Hire people of color and other diverse backgrounds for leadership positions
- Lower turnover rates for people of color
- Increase investment in local certified minority- and women-owned businesses
- Combat health disparities in the communities we serve
“As the largest health care provider in Illinois and Wisconsin, we must do better,” said Cristy Garcia-Thomas, Advocate Aurora Health’s chief external affairs officer. “By relying on our core values of excellence, compassion, and respect, we pledge to build more just and inclusive communities in which everyone has the opportunity to live well.”
Read the complete Healthcare Anchor Network statement below.
As members and leaders of many healthcare organizations across the nation addressing the disproportionate Black and Brown mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic, we say without hesitation that Black Lives Matter.
The deaths of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor — and too many others — are unjust and unconscionable.
We must double down on our efforts. Systemic racism poses a real threat to the health of our patients, families, and communities. We stand with all of those who have raised their voices to capture the attention of people across the nation with a clear call for action.
The health systems we represent are deeply woven into the fabric of the communities we serve, live, and work in, and we stand united as frontline organizations against racism, injustice, and inaction.
Systemic racism results in generational trauma and poverty, while also unquestionably causing higher rates of illness and death in Black and Indigenous communities and communities of color. Health systems across the nation work to provide high-quality, compassionate care in the face of health disparities and poor outcomes resulting from social and economic inequities.
These social determinants of health include poverty, inadequate housing, underperforming schools, police brutality, mass incarceration, food deserts, joblessness, poor access to healthcare, and violence. All of these factors contribute to health inequities in our communities. And they serve as a recipe for pain, suffering, premature mortality — and civil unrest.
In our communities, there is also resilience, innovation, a tradition of faith, and a spirit of unity that manages to thrive even under the weight of this systemic burden. Imagine the potential for our communities with dramatically improved social and economic conditions and health outcomes.
It’s time to fully realize this potential. It’s time for action. We will work more intentionally with community-based partners in building and sustaining the sweeping change that is needed to ensure health equity across the country, and particularly in our most under-resourced communities.
As healthcare organizations, we are committed to being part of the solution, both within our organizations and in partnership with local community groups. We are focused on improving access to care and eliminating systemic racism, which contributes to poor health outcomes.
We have come together as health systems from all across the country as part of the Healthcare Anchor Network, a health system-led collaboration working to improve community health and well-being by leveraging all our assets, including hiring, purchasing, and investment for equitable, local economic impact. Here are some of the steps we are or will be taking to help overcome the healthcare disparities in the communities we serve:
- COVID-19: We are providing testing and direct care while also partnering with city and county health officials to provide educational programs, services, and personal protective equipment to under-resourced communities
- Inclusive, Local Hiring: We are implementing inclusive, local hiring and workforce development programs to remove barriers and build community hiring pipelines for people of color to find careers in healthcare
- Inclusive, Local Procurement: We are directing spending to diverse and locally owned vendors and building the capacity of local minority-owned businesses to meet supply chain needs
- Place-based Investment: We are leveraging investment assets to address the racial, economic, and environmental resource disparities that create poor health outcomes
- Tracking Progress: We are measuring key processes and outcomes related to inclusive, local hiring, procurement, and place-based investment initiatives with a racial equity lens
- Listening: We are actively engaging and listening to our patients and colleagues of color, modifying our behavior where needed, and learning from their experiences
Our society only truly thrives when everyone has an opportunity to succeed and live a healthy life. We are committed to moving forward together. By harnessing the collective strengths of our organizations, we will help serve our communities as agents of change.
The healthcare systems that have signed onto this statement are: Advocate Aurora Health, Alameda Health System, AMITA Health, Baystate Health, BJC HealthCare, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and many more.
This statement was intentionally modeled on the June 19, 2020 statement signed by 30+ Chicago area health institutions and adapted to a national context.
About Advocate Aurora Safe Care Promise
Health and safety is our highest priority. The Advocate Aurora Safe Care Promise provides additional measures to protect patients and our team members. These include:
- Masking — Ensuring anyone who enters our locations is wearing a mask
- Screening — Temperature checks and symptom/exposure screening
- Social distancing — Rearranging waiting areas and staggering appointment times to create safe spaces
- Virtual check-in — Facilitating low-contact arrivals
- Enhanced Cleaning — Adding additional cleaning precautions and handwashing/sanitizer stations
About Advocate Aurora Health
Advocate Aurora Health is one of the 10 largest not-for-profit, integrated health systems in the United States. Serving nearly 3 million patients annually in Illinois and Wisconsin, the system includes over 500 sites of care, 75,000 employees, and 67 hospitals. A national leader in clinical innovation and value-based care, Advocate Aurora contributed $2.1 billion in charitable care and services in 2018. We help people live well.