Achieving Health Equity – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement and Agreement.

(DOVER, DE – June 22, 2021) The Delaware Healthcare Association (DHA) today released Achieving Health Equity – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement and Agreement. This statement was developed by DHA’s hospital members and approved by the Association’s Board of Directors, made up of the chief executives of Delaware’s acute care and pediatric hospitals.

“Everyone, without exclusion, has a right to be treated with respect and dignity when accessing health care, and to expect the same high quality treatment standards and care applied rigorously and without exception,” said Delaware Healthcare Association President & CEO Wayne Smith. “Our statement reflects the primacy our association and Delaware’s hospitals and health systems place on ensuring health equity, ensuring care in a culturally sensitive manner, and ensuring our members live these ideals every day,” he concluded.

Delaware Healthcare Association

Achieving Health Equity

Adopted by Board of Directors June 22, 2021

1.  DHA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement

The Delaware Health Association will support its members by prioritizing individual dignity and strive to promote a culture of diversity, inclusivity, and equity in a supportive patient care, learning, research, and work environment.

Our members commit to creating a community that recognizes and embraces diverse backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. Discrimination will neither be tolerated nor condoned.

Our members commit to ensuring the delivery of health care in a manner that respects diversity and inclusivity with the full intent of ensuring an optimal patient and employee experience and achieving better health outcomes for all.

Our members commit to ensuring serving with compassion in every interaction, every decision, and in every opportunity. As we seek to understand others, we improve the quality of our internal and external relationships and in doing so, we build bridges of understanding as building blocks in building a healthier organization and community.

Our members:

• Commit to treating everyone in a dignified and respectful manner regardless of age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression.

• Develop and implement ongoing education and training programs

• Continue to implement strategy, development, action planning and

  execution on initiatives that our foundational to our health system

• Conduct self-assessments to determine any gaps in our policies, procedures,

  practices and services.

  Diversity, equity, inclusion, and culturally competent medical care will be the defining characteristics of members of our association.

II.  Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement of Accountability Agreed to by Members

Our members agree that each will:

• Ensure that equity and inclusion are embedded in organizational values; operationalize these values through policy and practice; apply a racial equity lens in evaluating performance.
• Provide diversity, equity, inclusion and implicit / unconscious bias training for all staff, volunteers, and physicians in order to provide care in a culturally sensitive manner.
• Hire and promote leaders of diverse backgrounds and increase diversity in governance. Identify and remove systemic barriers to advancement.
• Collaborate with educational institutions to grow the number of health care professionals of diverse backgrounds.
• Re-examine institutional policies with an equity lens and make any policy changes that promote equity and opportunity.
• Advocate for increased funding for social needs, social services and programs that promote social justice.
• Build trust and partner with community through meetings and events that encourage communication and improving relationships.