Edward-Elmhurst Health
Fostering Conversations on Diversity and Inclusion
“There is no place for racism in this world,” Edward-Elmhurst Health declared after the COVID-19 crisis and 2020 social justice protests highlighted long-standing racial inequity. And the health system, located in the west and southwest suburbs of Chicago, took it a step further: “There is no place for racism at Edward-Elmhurst Health.”
As part of Edward-Elmhurst Health’s efforts to address health disparities and promote diversity, leaders launched Voices of Diversity, an employee-driven blog. Staff and clinicians are encouraged to submit their stories and experiences in the hopes of creating a more accommodating, inclusive culture for all patients.
Through this platform, healthcare professionals are learning from each other. They’re speaking their truth, asking questions and acknowledging areas for improvement. Here are some powerful excerpts:
“There are many George Floyds in the world who are never shown to any of you,” says Daryl Wilson, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Edward Hospital. He compares inequality to a cancer that Americans have ignored for too long. “As healthcare providers, as intelligent people, we have to take care of this pathology. It is a disease.”
Mary Lou Mastro, the system’s president and CEO, shared a personal anecdote: “My daughters were raised in the same family, with the same parents, in the same neighborhood. But one daughter is white and one is black, and their lived experiences were profoundly different.” Mastro describes the stares, whispers and slurs her family has experienced. She hopes “we can all work harder to open our eyes and place ourselves in someone else’s shoes for just a moment.”
Erich Fautech, a clinical lab scientist at Edward Hospital, says his own multicultural family has given him an inside view of racism that many white people never experience. “People refuse to accept (racism) is a problem,” he writes. “I refuse to give up hope. I’ll shout it from the rooftops.”
More honest, thought-provoking stories on diversity and inclusion are available on the Voices of Diversity blog—which seeks to create a world that is smarter, stronger and kinder.