The protests that broke out across the country in 2020 following police killings of Black people caused many organizations to look internally at potential biases within their own systems, including UMass Memorial Health.
At the end of March, UMass Memorial released its first health equity report which detailed what its staff has been doing since 2020 to look at racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion within its organization and the communities it serves.
That included listening sessions where all interested caregivers could discuss the issues openly and honestly.
“The sessions were a great exchange of ideas, questions, thoughts, suggestions,” President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said, “Quite frankly, we uncovered some harsh realities that prove there is more work to do to make UMass Memorial a more inclusive workplace for our caregivers and a place for patients to receive more equitable treatment and care.”
Some of the lessons Dickson said he took away from the sessions are “that unconscious bias exists and can only be overcome with conscious action” and “we must take an equity pause before making a decision to think about its potential impact on ALL community members.”
The stories employees shared about facing discrimination were “hard to hear,” Dickson said.
“I wish I could say that we were perfect as an organization and that no caregiver at any time will experience bias or discrimination based on the color of their skin, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” Dickson said, “We just aren’t there yet — I’m not sure any organization is — but that means we must get better and having these open conversations have been the right way to start our improvement journey together.”
Actions UMass Memorial highlighted in the report included creating the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, hiring Dr. Brian Gibbs as the first chief diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging officer, and medical department chairs each appointing a diversity and equity specialist.
The report then goes on to detail how UMass Memorial has addressed health inequities, specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic highlighted existing inequities in health care. Data in Worcester showed that the Latino community accounted for 37% of positive COVID-19 tests while only representing 25% of the population and African Americans accounted for nearly 25% of the city’s COVID-19 cases while only representing 14% of the population.
To address the discrepancy UMass Memorial joined with the city of Worcester to establish the COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
The task force’s work revealed that safety information and resources were not reaching enough of Worcester’s residents, according to the report. In response, Our Fit Hit the Street program was launched which established neighborhood-based pop-up sites which provided health information in multiple languages and masks.
UMass Memorial also established the Mobile Vaccine Equity Enhancement Program, which held more than 100 separate vaccination events in 2021, according to the report.
The report also addressed UMass Memorial’s efforts to close the racial gap in the number of well-child visits.
From October 2019 to October 2020, only 58% of Black patients and 64% of Latino patients had their annual well-child visit, compared to 72% of white patients, according to the report.
With the use of proactive scheduling and outreach, as of September 2021 pediatrics 72% of Black patients and 74% of Latino patients attended their well-child visits, the report said.
The report ended with the goal “as a health care community to remove the causes of the inequities, but in the meantime, we must recognize their ongoing impact and mitigate the effects.”
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