Creating Our Community: inclusion, equity and diversity event recap

Watch or re-watch the YouTube livestream

Did you have a chance to see Salem Health’s first-ever, organization-wide livestream event last Wednesday? All Salem Health employees, medical staff and volunteers were invited to hear Board of Trustees chair Katherine Keene present our long-term commitment statement to inclusion, equity and diversity. Read the whole statement here.

The event was the first of its kind, opening with diversity advisory council member Ray White’s moving recitation of the poem Hopi Elders’ Prophecy that calls on us to take action now. President and CEO Cheryl Nester-Wolfe explained our vision of the future that encompasses a thoughtful learning culture around inclusion, equity and diversity. Next, chief operating officer and chief inclusion, equity and diversity officer Bahaa Wanly called upon everyone in the organization to engage with this vision to make it a reality.

I was honored to tie the presentation back to the core of what we do: providing the best patient care. I shared the story of a patient who avoided a potentially life-changing negative health outcome because our sensitive and talented team of translators and providers were able to catch a language and cultural nuance that changed the patient’s plan of care.

If you missed this program, please watch the YouTube recording here, or click on the image below.

Thank you all for your support of this vision for our future. If you have any questions or feedback, please reach out directly to Bahaa at bahaa.wanly@salemhealth.org. We look forward to sharing more of the strategy and tactics for increased inclusion, equity and diversity in the future. Stay tuned!