The Culture Corner is a chance for us to focus on and highlight a specific piece of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work. It is a monthly publication from the DEI Department to facilitate difficult conversations surrounding racism, bias and discrimination with your teams.
“Race is a culturally structured systematic definition of a way of
looking at, perceiving and interpreting reality.”
– Professor Audrey Smedley
A Message to Managers
This Culture Corner newsletter is meant to be shared with your team members as the basis for a group discussion and feedback session. For suggestions on how to faciltate your meeting, please contact DEI manager Briandi Little at BDLittle@KaleidaHealth.org or 716-859-2826.
Thank You
How Race Affects Your Health
In April 2020, when The Buffalo News took a comprehensive look at county mortality data, it turned out that 30 percent of those who died from COVID-19 in Erie County were Black, even though Blacks account for only 14 percent of the county's population.
In an interview with The Buffalo News, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said, "We’ve done a better job by working with many partners, including hospitals, nursing homes – but also with our friends in the African-American Health Disparities Task Force – to get resources into the city, to identify cases early so that individuals get the services they need, and they don’t wait until it’s too late."
Even though interventions were made locally to change the trend of COVID-19 deaths in Erie County, there are still systemic problems that need to be addressed to create equity in how health care is delivered. Now we are facing an issue of COVID vaccine equity and large racial disparities in who has received the vaccine.
Within many of our nation’s healthcare institutions, medical racism against Black, Indigenous and other People of Color is systemic and widespread. Racism manifests itself in countless ways (i.e., higher black infant and mother mortality rates, beliefs that Blacks experience less pain, racial bias introduced in medical school training), and makes equitable access to health care more difficult.
Healthcare costs also make up a significant portion of a household’s annual budget, placing additional stress on families that may or may not have insurance and access to quality care. The 2018 ALICE Report indicates that ALICE and poverty-level families are more likely to become ill because their basic needs for health insurance coverage and regular, quality preventative care are not being met. As you engage with one or more of today’s Activities, ponder one or more strategies you or your organization might consider to prevent health inequity in WNY.
WEEK 2: Read “Implicit Bias and Racial Disparities in Health Care.” (5 minutes)
WEEK 3: Watch “How Racism Makes Us Sick.” (17 minutes)
WEEK 4: Check out this Fact Sheet from the American Psychological Association exploring the compounding impact of socioeconomic status and race on health.
Questions for discussion:
How can we support training around issues of racism and anti-racism in organizations, agencies and institutions of all levels?
- Higher education levels and higher socioeconomic status in people of color does not affect maternal health outcomes. Why?
If you are in need of additional support for Culture Corner, please contact the DEI Department by using the DEI Request Form.
Additional Resources