Behind every diagnosis is a person with a story that informs their condition. Allowing your unique and complex history to unfold in a safe space is where true healing can begin.
Often, our patients’ histories that extend back generations impact their health outcomes due to inequities in health care that have permeated our social structures for a very long time. Our dedication to understanding and confronting these health inequities that disproportionately impact our communities is part of our Health Equity Promise.
We seek fair and just practices that advance equity in clinical access, outcomes, and experiences to empower all patients to achieve their highest health potential — in body, mind and spirit.
Read on to learn more about health equity, why it’s so important for all of us to be aware of it and how it impacts the whole health of individuals and communities. You can also learn how we’re continuously implementing ways to achieve health equity at AdventHealth.
What is Health Equity?
Health equity means everyone has the same opportunities to reach their highest health potential. Achieving health equity requires breaking barriers to health care historically experienced by marginalized groups due to determinants beyond their control, such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, disability status and other factors.
In other words, individual and collective health and health equity are determined by the environments in which people are born, grow, live, work, play and age, as well as biological factors. Unfortunately, discriminatory practices can be entrenched in institutional processes, leading to groups being under-represented in decision-making, or underserved.
Moving toward and maintaining health equity means making a conscious effort to identify and eliminate health inequities resulting from differences in health and overall living conditions experienced by our communities.
Why is Health Equity Important?
A commitment to health equity means we believe all people have the right to access quality health care so they can reach their optimal level of health, and that we act upon ways to make it possible. We all want to live a whole life, yet many individuals and groups haven’t had the same opportunities as others to make that a reality.
Marginalized groups tend to seek medical help less frequently and face barriers that make access to it more difficult. Socioeconomic factors, language barriers and unfair biases and stereotypes experienced by groups like Black and African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, women and many more make treatment harder to come by with less access, and sometimes less perceived access, to important health and educational resources. This can lead to poorer health outcomes when it comes to preventable disease, and the effects tend to extend to each new generation.
Watch this video to learn more from AdventHealth’s Chief Health Equity Officer, Dr. Alric Simmonds. He describes how the factors discussed above, such as one’s race, can greatly impact a person’s experience with health care and their health outcomes. He shares how providers must understand these impacts, provide support that meets the unique needs of each patient, and work to remove obstacles to receiving optimal health care.
All Are Welcome Here
“Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.” –Hebrews 13:2
At AdventHealth, we are committed to our value of inclusiveness and living out our service standards, which are:
- Keep Me Safe: We prioritize patient safety, including protecting patient confidentiality
- Love Me: We treat others with uncommon compassion, fairness and respect
- Make It Easy: We look for opportunities to assist others and collaborate to find solutions
- Own It: We are positive, aim to exceed expectations, and follow through on commitments
With our mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ as a solid foundation, we strive to create a safe and caring environment where all people are welcome to experience whole-person care and healing regardless of their race, national origin, gender, language, economic status, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and more.
We provide resources to support the unique needs of the diverse populations we serve including and not limited to:
- Behavioral health services to care for various psychiatric, emotional and mental health needs of patients
- Interpreters and language services in more than 150 languages and dialects
- Spiritual care services delivered from various faith backgrounds
We are on a continuous journey to learn and improve our efforts by actively listening to and engaging with our patients and communities. We are also developing personalized health care plans to address disparities among patient populations, including:
• Patients with lower socioeconomic status: One in five people in the U.S. live in families that are struggling to pay medical bills. We are reviewing opportunities to improve patient access and affordability through measures like formalized follow-up appointments in our outpatient clinics for the underinsured or patients who qualify for charity care
• Racially and ethnically diverse groups: AdventHealth creates and maintains community and faith-based partnerships to reach and build trust with our patients. This includes working with partners to host local vaccine and community health clinics, and sponsoring hiring initiatives that enable us to build a workforce that mirrors the diversity in the communities we serve
• LGBTQ+ patients: AdventHealth led a collaboration of U.S. Adventist health systems to develop guiding principles for establishing an equitable and inclusive health care environment for LGBTQ+ patients and their caregivers
• Underserved rural communities: To provide rural residents with better access to health care services such as intensive care, labor and delivery, psychiatric care, and cardiac care services, our top-ranked rural hospitals partner with the community to take team members into local homes, congregations and businesses to address individual and collective needs
Achieving Optimal Health Starts Here
Our commitment to building trusting relationships between patients and providers for life starts with primary care and extends outwardly. Starting with your primary care doctor as your main point of contact and partner in whole health is your first step toward reaching your highest health potential.
Learn More about how we can help you on your path toward a lifetime of wellness. You deserve to feel whole.
