Mission Health is serious about its diversity and inclusion efforts.
Located in Western North Carolina amid the Blue Ridge Mountains, Mission Health includes four member hospitals serving18 counties with a catchment area of over 840,000 persons. Mission Health is serious about its diversity and inclusion efforts; Asheville benefits from a vibrant and caring health care community. There are facilities to practice most any specialty and you can work 'when and where' you want to. Simply put: we are proud to serve a diverse population with unique needs.
The Mission Diversity Committee has expanded its efforts in identifying disparities in their patient population -- educating staff and clinicians on communicating with this increasingly diverse population. We have broadened our community relations and health outreach programs. The Committee is composed of physicians, nurses, allied health staff and executive leadership and is dedicated to eliminating health care disparities -- members have been charged with building and evaluating a disparities dashboard; this dashboard measures outcomes, stratified race, ethnicity and gender in order to identify any inequities in care. We have focused on a disease management program with this data to remedy any inconsistencies.
Lourdes Lorenz RN, Director of Integrative Health at Mission, reflected on why she works at Mission Health: "The main reason I was drawn to work here was the Diversity Committee and the excellent patient care delivery by nurses, physicians and allied health professionals." Ms. Lorenz is an active member of the Diversity Committee, bringing her expertise in cultural competence training and community engagement to the table.
One of the overarching concepts at Mission is excellent communication with patients and families. Every employee is supplied with the tools to work with patients and their loved ones -- in times that are trying; working on good outcomes and open communication. This includes culturally-sensitive communication, especially concerning decision-making around the growing variety of health care choices.
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