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Improving health equity at hospitals and in the communities they serve is not a new topic of discussion. However, in recent years, organizations have increased their focus on this topic. That includes Minneapolis-based Hennepin Healthcare’s Compass Program, where employees explore and reflect on racial inequities in healthcare.
“I’m really excited about this new sense of urgency around addressing inequities and the work that is starting to come out to help move the needle forward,” including the Compass Program, said Nneka Sederstrom, PhD, chief health equity officer of Hennepin.
“The environment to me is hopeful, and we’re doing our part to try and make inroads and answer some of the age-old questions that people have had such as, ‘How do we move forward in medicine? How do we address racism in medicine and the way it plays out? How do we improve outcomes for populations that have been underrepresented?’ And I think that we’re in the beginnings of some really exciting times.”
Through the yearlong Compass Program, employees are able to reflect, learn and connect with their peers, focusing on racial inequities in healthcare.
Dr. Sederstrom said 138 senior leaders at Hennepin completed their program in March, which included 44 hours of immersive intensive anti-racism training. And in January, the health system rolled the requirement out to all other employees. Hennepin has committed to having all 7,000 employees trained by 2025.
The new cohort of more than 1,700 people who started in January is required to complete 36 hours of immersive intensive anti-racism training.
“It is an immense undertaking,” Dr. Sederstrom said. “But, the one thing that I love the most about this program is it wasn’t long into it where everyone really understood the ‘why.’
“And I think that’s part of the problem with doing the health equity work. We try to do programming. We try to get an initiative started, and we have all these great understandings of data, and we want to impact the data. But we haven’t taken a second to truly explain the ‘why’ in a manner that gets everyone’s buy-in. And that’s what we’re trying to do at Hennepin is make sure we’re all starting off with the same baseline, with the same language and the same understanding of the history of racism and medicine.”
As part of the Compass Program, employees examine this history in America from the viewpoint of Black Americans, Latino/Hispanic Americans, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
“We look at all four of those populations in an intensive way to truly understand how their generations have been treated and addressed in laws and systems that were built. And it’s the ‘why,'” Dr. Sederstrom said.
The program also provides diversity, equity and inclusion executive coaches to work with leaders to identify their customized annual DEI goals.
Dr. Sederstrom said that since rolling out the program, she’s seen a visual shift of leadership.
She explained: “It always felt a little bit like it was a nice to occur, and it felt a little bit like it was a pat on the back that we’re doing something and we can say to the media and other places, ‘Hey, we have an initiative to address Black maternal health’ or ‘We have an initiative to address American Indian outcomes.’ But it felt very one and done and like a checkbox. What we wanted to do is make it part of the fabric of our institution. It’s the baseline of the culture of our institution that we understand why this is important.”
Part of the reason for the shift was conversations that took place in the beginning of the program, according to Dr. Sederstrom.
“Our executive leadership team sat down together, had the tough conversation about how uncomfortable this is for our white leaders,” she said. “And the leaders of color around the table were able to look at them and say, ‘We know that. We’ve got you.’ And they trusted that. So they were able to step into the discomfort in a way that many people aren’t willing to do.”
Dr. Sederstrom recommended that other health systems looking to improve health equity have leaders of color in that same room as their white counterparts to connect with each other.
“It wasn’t an easy lift to get our executives or my white colleagues to agree to this 44-hour training,” she said. “It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it was the most meaningful because when they finally said ‘yes’ and started this journey, the movement that has been able to be made for our community, for our patients and our team members has been astronomical.
“And that’s the only way we’re going to get to success. Trust the process of being vulnerable and open, and it’s OK to be scared. But be visible and transparent with and authentic with your fear, because we all understand.”
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