Diversity and Inclusion Blogs

April is National Minority Health Month. With COVID-19 having a disproportionate impact in communities of color, emphasis on improving access to vaccines as they become more widely available and eliminating health care inequities is critical.

AHA launches the first in a new series of toolkits designed to help hospitals and health systems make progress in advancing their health equity agenda.

For March 2021, some communities are launching the Transgender Month of Action for Healthcare Equality. The month, specifically focused on the health care needs of transgender and gender non-conforming people, aims to address barriers and areas for growth and highlight victories.

Nearly 55 years ago, during the 1966 Medical Committee of Human Rights Convention, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Although there has been incremental progress toward achieving a more just health care system, Dr. King’s words still ring true today.

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Since it became a federal holiday in 1983, MLK Day has become widely celebrated as a day of public service for individuals, communities and organizations.

In this conversation, Elisa Arespacochaga, Interim Executive Lead, Institute for Diversity & Health Equity and Vice President, AHA Physician Alliance, talks with Andrea Custis, President and CE

In this conversation, Darren Henson, Director of Operations with the AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, speaks with Laura Vail, Director, Health Equity at Cone Health and Dr. Alvin Powell, Chief Health Equity Officer at Cone Health.

A list of podcasts from the AHA on health equity, diversity, and inclusions.

The fifth in the series featured Dr. Estes talking with Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, Senior Vice President of Community Health & Equity and Chief Wellness & Diversity Officer at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and Michigan's First Surgeon General about health equity.

In this Advancing Health podcast about Cone Health and how it has pioneered educational sessions for its physicians about social and racial influences in health care, Darren Henson, Director of Operations with the AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity, speaks with three members of Cone Health’s leadership team: Laura Vail, Director of Health Equity, Dr. Alvin Powell, Chief Health Equity Officer and Paul Jeffrey, President of Cone Health’s Wesley Long Hospital. Cone Health, winner of the AHA’s 2020 Equity of Care Award, has been recognized for its innovative process and creative steps that hospitals and health systems can incorporate to achieve similar success in advancing health equity.