Welcome to another Health Equity Highlights update! We are excited to share what we have been working on recently.

Dr. Nneka Sederstrom, our Chief Health Equity Officer, recently co-authored “Anti-Black Racism as a Chronic Condition.” The color of one's skin can and does negatively affect the quality of a person's diagnosis, care plan, and prognosis. Drs Sederstrom and Tamika Lasege propose several antiracist commitments physicians can make. Read it here.

Our Health Equity team was a co-developer and main presenter for the Northland Health Equity Summit in May with more than 100 participants from health care, public health, higher education, community-based organizations and the general public. The day included a keynote address from Bukata Hayes, Vice President of Racial and Health Equity Blue Cross Blue Shield MN. Breakout sessions helped us to discuss and learn about:

• The necessity of staying engaged with community and consistently listening to their needs.
• Leveraging community assets - knowledge, expertise, values, and resources - for recruitment and retention of a diverse healthcare workforce.
• Preparing learners at all stages of training in the healthcare professions to engage with and learn about diverse communities, in a relational and experiential manner.
• Creative and intentional programmatic efforts towards education and development of students from underrepresented groups in healthcare professions.

Black Women with Stethoscopes Youth Summits inspire youth and make us hopeful for the future of healthcare

More than 150 young women ages 12-18 years old recently spent a day on our campus to learn about healthcare careers during our Black Women with Stethoscopes Youth Summits in April and May. Youth learned that not only are these careers within reach, but that they can play a critical role in delivering culturally centered care and help decrease health disparities. Black Women with Stethoscopes is the second series of youth summits from our Talent Garden program, which connects youth of color to opportunities in medicine and healthcare. Read more. 

Thank you to the 15 staff volunteers, who contributed their time, energy, and talents to this event!

Health in the Park

On Saturday, May 7 the Brooklyn Park Clinic opened its doors to youth in the community for Health in the Park, an event to help middle and high school students learn about healthcare careers. Participants were able to experience:

• A tour of the pharmacy along with pharmacy-based demonstrations, games, and poison control information
• Behind-the-scenes look at pediatrics and nursing
• Physical therapy techniques in the clinic’s PT gym, including how to properly use a walker and cane
• Explore the inside of an ambulance with Hennepin EMS 

Participants shared their gratitude with clinic staff, saying this event sent a strong message that the Brooklyn Park Clinic truly cares about the youth in the community.

A new Essential

Our efforts to champion and advance diversity, equity and inclusion requires a cultural shift. Recently, Hennepin Healthcare introduced the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advocate Essential. Essentials are our organizational-wide behavioral expectations and can be seen from interviews with applicants, to performance reviews, to our employee recognition program.

The DEI Advocate Essential is all about “valuing individual differences, cultures, identities and traditions, actively including diverse individuals and perspectives, and treating people with respect and dignity.” We’re excited that this essential brings the value of DEI to the forefront and makes our commitments transparent to our 7,000 strong. 

Expanding access to culturally responsive care for Muslim patients

Creating equitable access to care means breaking down barriers and creating a welcoming environment for all who need care. “Culturally our community thinks that when a person goes to a mental hospital or is taking medication for mental illness, that they are done and there will be no recovery,” Spiritual Care Provider, Shukri Salah, says.

Shukri is part of an innovative new Hennepin Healthcare program that partners with a local nonprofit, Open Path Resources, to deepen the culturally responsive care we offer to Muslim psychiatric patients. Shukri and her fellow Spiritual Care Advisor, Imam Abdulrahman “Abuturab” Hashi, offer spiritual care to Muslim patients but their role goes far beyond that. They also spend time with Muslim inpatients in the psychiatric units, support staff as they form a care plan for patients, participate in the discharge process, and provide community-based support to discharged patients and their families. Read more.

Mobile clinic brings healthcare to patients’ doors – from a bigger, brighter van

The Hennepin Healthcare Pediatric Mobile Clinic is on the road again.  

“I knew we had to bring healthcare to the community and meet our patients where they are,” said Pediatrician Dawn Martin. “Our communities, who already experience barriers to healthcare, transportation, language, and childcare, were even more impacted by the pandemic.”

“The pandemic changed much of the way society functions,” says Sheyanga Beecher, APRN, CNP. “We learned that we could have nearly everything – groceries, over-the-counter medicines, even toilet paper delivered to our doorstep. So why not healthcare?”

The clinic did just that—bringing a mobile van right to families with a team of medical professionals inside. Through mobile runs, pop-up clinics, and outreach events, the team has done outreach to over 1,700 patients and served 800 patients since May 2020, administering over 3,500 flu vaccines and 2,000 other vaccines. Read more. 

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