Workforce Diversification
Diversifying our healthcare workforce is a proven strategy for addressing health disparities. To support this progression, health professions pathway programs should be prioritized for historically excluded communities within the health fields, such as Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander communities, as well as those marginalized by disability, language, class or place. Workers within healthcare institutions should also be provided professional advancement opportunities. These types of initiatives bolster employment, promote social mobility, and raise the economic floor in the region for those who most often face barriers in pursuing these fields.
Institutional Support for Historically Excluded Groups
Historically excluded students and faculty have consistently led the way in advancing equity at institutions that were not originally designed with them in mind. These individuals work tirelessly to make institutions more inclusive for patients, workers, and students, often without receiving adequate recognition or support in return. We believe it is crucial to acknowledge their contributions, compensate them fairly, and provide professional and financial resources, such as funding and affinity support networks, to ensure their work is sustainable.
Anti-Racist and Justice-Oriented Health Education
Anti-racism and health equity curricula should be mandatory and standard—they are crucial for preparing health workers as health justice advocates. Health equity principles and content should be included in educational competencies, assessment, disciplinary priorities, and institutional policies. Educational resources should be directed to preparing trainees to meet the needs of patient populations that are most structurally oppressed. Additionally, institutions must have mechanisms to ensure retention in training for those most disproportionately impacted by attrition within health fields.
Centering Community Power
Centering community power is fundamental to addressing the root causes of health disparities for the communities that healthcare institutions serve. Whether it be increased community oversight of institutional activities and resource allocation, representation in admissions and institutional boards, or maintaining access and funding for key safety net lifelines like FQHCs, empowering the community must be an explicit goal in our work. We must honor the agency of legacy residents who are not only those most impacted by gentrification and displacement, but are the foundation of the communities we serve.
Repairing Harm with Community Redress
Our health system historically has caused deep harm to many. Healthcare institutions ought to engage in processes that acknowledge and educate their own students and workers of historical harms, while addressing the needs of those harmed. These processes aim to repair exploitative relationships between institutions and the communities they serve, building a foundation of trust, reciprocity, and shared governance.
