As healers and caregivers we are committed to continue our work dismantling racism and discrimination wherever we find it and to foster and protect the dignity and worth of every human being.

Eliminating white supremacy is imperative to our charter of advancing healing of the whole person. To that end, we are calling for four things:

First, we call on elected officials and political parties to formally disavow white supremacists and nationalist groups. Their rhetoric contributes to racial battle fatigue and Continuous Traumatic Stress Disorder which affects the health and healing of the whole person. We encourage all persons to vote in all elections and be counted in the census.

Second, to combat the underlying disease of healthcare disparities in black and brown communities and create access to quality health care for the uninsured or underinsured, we call for the reinstatement of every provision of the Affordable Healthcare Act that has been repealed.

Third, we call for continuing education related to unconscious bias to support equal treatment of black and brown people who seek healthcare regardless of their ability to pay. There is continued work needed to ensure persons presenting with the same symptoms, receive equal treatment.

Finally, we call on every hospital to staff one community-based chaplain to serve in nearby underserved communities. These chaplains would facilitate relationship and community building through the provision of spiritual, emotional, physical and social support to families, business, corporations, schools and groups in those communities on behalf of and fully funded by the institution.

 

Until healthcare providers unite in our efforts and take direct responsibility in dismantling healthcare disparities and our own unconscious biases these injustices will never end.

We are not proposing that Bishop Anderson House can or will do all of the above, but in an ideal world we would be able to. We will walk you through our thinking on how we can tie some of this into existing Bishop Anderson House work.

Adapted unanimously by Board of Trustees

September 8, 2020