The 2023 Advocate Health FOR ALL Conference happened on Thursday, June 1 for teammates in the Southeast and Midwest. This year’s theme was Dare to Be: From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces. Replays of the keynote and breakout sessions are hyperlinked below:
Welcome & Morning Keynote
Opening remarks were given by Advocate Health leadership, including CEO Gene Woods. The morning keynote was given by Heather McGhee New York Times Bestselling Author, Advocate & Board Chair for the Color of Change.
Luncheon Keynote
The luncheon keynote was given by Tanya Selvaratnam. She is a writer, award-winning producer, artist and activist.
Diversity Awards & Afternoon Keynote
Each year two diversity awards are given during the conference. They are the Diversity Champion Award and the Excellence in Diversity Award. This year’s award presentation was followed by the closing keynote of the FOR ALL Conference which was given by Lizzie Velásquez. She is a global motivational speaker, YouTube personality, anti-bullying activist and author.
Breakout Sessions:
- Ain’t I Latina?: Unpacking & Documenting Afro-Latinx Identity in the Digital Space – Afro-Latino. Afro-Latina. Afro-Latinx/e. These terms, which describe a Black person of Latin American descent, have gained visibility over the last decade due to social media discourse and digital content. For Janel Martinez, author, journalist and founder of award-winning blog, Ain’t I Latina?, intersectional identity is a concept and reality she understood intimately at an early age, navigating race, ethnicity, nationality and gender as a Bronx-born, Black Indigenous woman of Central American descent. In this breakout session, she will discuss her own intersectional identity — how institutions (in this case, traditional media) have defined Black and Latinx as mutually exclusive, how the digital landscape has disrupted that, and the overall importance of cultural consciousness.
- DEI Leadership TBD – Do you find yourself learning while leading? And the answers are still being discovered... its TBD.. and its ok. Erickajoy Daniels, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer of the Midwest Region, led the conversation.
- Impactful Community Connections Best Practices – In this panel discussion you will hear from leaders across Advocate Health, sharing innovative and impactful community partnerships designed to meet the needs of diverse communities. One group cannot do everything but every group can do something so come prepared to hear innovative initiatives that possibly can be deployed in your space and areas of responsibility. Presenters include: Roy Hawkins, FACHE, Dr. Jackie Rouse and Magbis Love.
- Interfaith Engagement and Medicine: Navigating Religious Diversity in Health Settings – A growing body of research confirms the positive impact of engaging religious, spiritual, and philosophical beliefs of both care seekers and care givers in health settings. Not only do health outcomes improve, but efforts to foster inclusive, attractional workplace settings also benefit from thoughtful engagement of religious and spiritual identities. Yet too often, health setting staff lack the time, training, or confidence to interact fruitfully across worldview difference. This session explored the importance of interfaith engagement, provides basic terms and concepts for the practice and building basic capacity for navigating religious and spiritual diversity positively and proactively in health settings. Presenter: Suzanne Watts Henderson, MDiv, PhD.
- LGBT Primary Care & Gender Affirming Care for Children and Adolescents – The objectives of this session are as follows: terminology overview, review primary care for LGBTQ+ Youth, discuss a medical model of multidisciplinary care for gender-diverse youth, review current gender-affirming treatment options, discuss the impact of stigma, discrimination & healthcare inequities. Presenter: Dr. Shamieka Dixon.
- Neurodiversity: Unlocking Superpowers and Building Accessibility – Neurodiversity is a world of fascination, capable disability, and superpowers. In this session, we will unlock the mysteries, debunk the myths, overcome bias, and find out how to support and cultivate neurodiverse talent no matter your team role. We will cover: building inclusion, hiring, teaching, and allyship. Get ready to embrace neuro-inclusion! Presenter: Katherine McCord.
- Race Matters in Medical Research, Education, and Practice – In this presentation, we will discuss examples of race-based medicine and how the operationalization of race as a biological concept in healthcare confers harm through multiple avenues. I argue that our comprehension of what race is ties directly to our understanding of racial disparities, health equity, and the tools we must create solutions. Presenter: Dr. Jennifer Tsai.
- The Allyship Cycle: Empathy, Enthusiasm, Engagement, Exhaustion – Have you ever wondered if you are serving as a good ally? Is there a space you want to move into but are nervous about whether you would “do allyship right”? Have you been working hard as an ally but are feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the entrenched problems? This hour will be spent discussing the cycle of allyship: from an empathy felt for someone suffering from a systemic problem, to enthusiasm as you decide to step into the space ready to make some change, to engagement where you are entrenched in the challenges and focused on the work, to the inevitable exhaustion where you realize that, despite your best efforts, things don’t seem to be changing like they should (and how to get back to enthusiasm!). Presenter: Dr. Emily MacNeill.
- Wholly Shift: Completely Changing the Conversation on Bias and Privilege Using Brain Science — Every organization is becoming increasingly focused on the topic of “Diversity” and/or “Inclusion.” However, research indicates that most diversity training doesn’t work. In this session, we will learn to recognize and overcome the most common brain science hurdles to effective diversity and inclusion training so that you can make a more meaningful impact on your sphere of influence. Presenter: Eric M. Bailey.
- Workforce Diversity: A Critical Ingredient for Advancing Health Equity – Everyone deserves access to quality health care. The predicted physician shortages combined with persistent health and health care disparities places that at risk. COVID-19 underscored the need to develop a diverse and culturally responsive health professions workforce. Research shows that diversity of health professionals contributes to enhanced learning environments, improved health outcomes and patient adherence to care, and increase access to care for communities that are most underserved. This interactive presentation will provide an overview of recent research and data, and solutions to advance diversity in the health professions. Presenter: Dr. Norma Poll-Hunter.
Looking for more DE&I education? Visit Diversity, Equity & Inclusion on the Teammates Site.
