Equity of Care Webinar Series Part 1

The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, in collaboration with the American Hospital Association, featured two of this year’s Equity of Care honorees, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago (Rush) and Advocate Health Care, Downers Grove, Il in Part 1 of the Equity of Care Award Webinar Series. Both organizations have taken action to accelerate progress in #123forEquity pledge and will discuss their journey. Rush has made community health equity a strategic goal and has aligned business operations, population health efforts, diversity and inclusion and community engagement efforts to achieve equity. Rush has initiated an anchor mission initiative focused on hiring locally and creating career pathways, purchasing locally, impact investing locally and volunteering locally to create jobs and economic opportunities in the surrounding neighborhoods. Rush has pledged to increase diversity at the director level and above. Advocate Health Care started the REaL Data Collection campaign called “We ask because we care.” Advocate also implemented Project H.E.A.L.T.H. (Healing Effectively after Leaving the Hospital), a transitional care program with the goal to reduce avoidable readmissions for patients who have asthma, diabetes and sickle cell disease by identifying barriers to recovery for patients discharged to home. Advocate established the first center of its kind in the Midwest designed to serve the South Asian community through a unique combination of community outreach, culturally sensitive advanced clinical services and research.

Speakers: 

• Rev. Kathie Bender Schwich, Senior Vice President, Mission and Spiritual Care, Advocate Health Care
• Robyn Golden, Associate Vice President, Population Health and Aging, Rush University Medical Center
• Darlene Oliver Hightower, Associate Vice President, Community Engagement, Rush University Medical Center