Our Work To Do

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on the afternoon of Thursday, August 27, 2020:

Hello everyone,

As we look around and continue to see so much repeated and sustained pain and injustice, I would like to share some brief thoughts.

First of all, thank you to the Diversity and Inclusion Team for their continued work, as recently as this morning, meeting to ensure our CLAS Standards are real and actionable; keeping our attention laser-focused on what we can do to build a more just and equitable future; and encouraging us all to double down our efforts to reduce disparities, build a better tomorrow, and confront racism head-on.

A Black colleague not at Wheeler shared something that I have heard before but found impactful in light of the news. He wrote, “We are sick and tired of being sick and tired.” As a white woman, I cannot come close to understanding this tiredness (carried across generations for hundreds of years) firsthand, but I would say to all of my white colleagues...listen. Contemplate your role in this. Act.

We will not be numb to the brutality we witness, nor the lost lives.

We will continue to say their names: Jacob Blake, Anthony Huber, Joseph Rosenbaum, Gaige Grosskreutz.

We will continue our fight.

Stay safe, stay healthy. Reach out if you need help.

Sabrina

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on Wednesday, August 19, as part of a larger update:

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

• Welcome Monique Daley, Diversity Officer. We are pleased to announce Monique Daley will join Wheeler on September 8th as our new Diversity Officer. Ms. Daley brings extensive experience, most recently serving as Program Coordinator for Trinity College’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. More information on her role and responsibilities will be shared shortly. Our selection committee was so impressed with Monique, and I know you will be also.
• Book Club. Be sure to check out our Diversity & Inclusion Book Club on Yammer! Thirty of your colleagues and friends have now joined the group, and we will start with our first book soon.

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on Friday, July 31, as part of a larger update:

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Second round of interviews for the Diversity Officer position are taking place this morning, and I’m hopeful we can announce a decision in the next few weeks. I would like to thank the individuals who have been part of the interviewing process for this vital role; we are better for their thoughtfulness and passion.

As I mentioned when I first announced in June that we would create this position, our existing leaders should not sit back and feel that the work of making a better, more equitable, and more just future at Wheeler is somehow being handled by a diversity officer.

It is ultimately on us individually, and I’m particularly speaking to my fellow white colleagues here, to start the change internally. Part of that—and only part—is through education in how to be a true ally to our colleagues and patients of color.

As an offshoot of the Diversity & Inclusion Team, we are forming a virtual book club on timely, topical books on racial equity and anti-racism. It is open to all staff, and I too will be participating. The group leading this book club has decided that Yammer offers a useful, social format for discussion, and they have created a group in Yammer dedicated to the club. They also expect some Teams sessions in the future as well for live, meaningful interaction and are working to establish clear, inviting, inclusive ground rules for the discussions.

The group will launch in August. I hope you will consider joining it when it is finalized and ready to begin these insightful and powerful conversations.

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on Friday, July 17, as part of a larger update:

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

• Diversity Officer. Our first-round interviews with applicants for the Diversity Officer position are completed, and we are very excited to have three strong candidates moving forward to the second round of interviews, which are scheduled for the week of July 27th.
• Local D&I Teams. We have two, and hopefully soon three, Diversity and Inclusion local teams that are starting to meet, which is wonderful. We are continuing to recruit for our other sites, and, again, all are welcome to participate. I look forward to hearing their perspectives and ideas, and dialoging with you all as we move forward, together.

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on Friday, July 2, as part of a larger update:

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.
You may have noticed the position of Diversity Officer listed on our career opportunities page. We are actively interviewing several excellent candidates and we expect this position to be filled soon. Internally, the Diversity and Inclusion Team continues to meet and make recommendations, and we’ve had wonderful response to the request for members of our local subcommittees I mentioned on June 18. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who participated in our first online staff diversity forum on Juneteenth. I found it meaningful, insightful, and uncomfortable to hear in spots as the President and CEO. That uncomfortableness is necessary and leads to progress. Keep talking, and I will keep listening and taking action.

Juneteenth, 2020

Wheeler held its first all-staff forum on racial injustice on Microsoft Teams.

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on the afternoon of Friday, June 6, 2020, as a follow-up to an earlier note sent on Monday, June 1:

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to write as a follow-up to my note on Monday.

I heard directly or indirectly from several dozen of our team in response. I found it very interesting that each note took one of three different themes.

The first category was the most heartening. “We’re way ahead of you,” basically, and staff outlined concrete ways their departments and their supervisory meetings were already addressing and discussing how Wheeler could provide care that was more equitable, accessible, and culturally appropriate, as well as how their small parts of Wheeler were examining equity, justice, and diversity within, on their own. I’m happiest when people are way ahead of me.

The second group was basically, “We want to take action, but what can we do?” It’s a good question, and I’m going to outline some of that below.

The third group shared thoughts along the lines of, “Can we get more specifics?” Yes, you can.

This morning, Wheeler’s Diversity and Inclusion Team met. I’ve charged them to help guide me in directions that we need to take, and, just as important, how I can educate myself. Our colleagues of color owe the rest of us no explanation of the history or realities of racism, nor should we put the burden on anyone else to educate ourselves. This is an individual, organizational, community, national, and international issue, and it starts with a mirror.

There were basic trends discussed in today’s meeting. [NOTE: portions of these are condensed for external publication and shared in more detail internally]

1. A more visible and transparent Diversity and Inclusion Team, which is made up of staff from all levels of Wheeler, from front-line providers to chief-level employees. I welcome anyone interested to join and, as you might imagine from what I said, I want an active and engaged group. We should do a better job of making its work more visible and transparent.
   
   Along those lines, the team felt that the national CLAS (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care) standards that they implemented across Wheeler need to be substantial and actionable. You can learn more about CLAS at: https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/
2. We need to talk and listen. The second theme was the need for communication between all of us. To that end, we will be establishing channels of communication that go right to the top for hearing issues, and just as important, hearing ideas. We are also exploring the idea of a series of Town Hall events on Microsoft Teams in the coming weeks. I am also considering how to best send more frequent updates on our work in this area.
3. Self-care. This is trauma. I’ve heard several stories of colleagues and friends who cannot watch the news, or check their social media feed. The team discussed ways of providing and encouraging healing and self-care.
4. Leadership. The team suggested, and I agree, that we need a visible and empowered function to guide, encourage, and support our work in this area. It is always on us individually, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need help. To that end, I am adding a diversity officer function to Wheeler’s leadership team, and this new individual will report directly to me.
   
   Our existing leaders should not sit back and feel this is being handled by a diversity officer. I have strongly encouraged each of my executive and senior management team to attend one of several professional development events coming up in the next few weeks. I am attending one next Thursday called “Don’t Talk, Do. Creating a Racially Equitable Future as Inclusive Leaders.”

It was a productive meeting, and I thank the members of the team for their work. These are the first, but not the only and not the last, steps. I welcome your feedback.

Stay healthy. Stay well. Stay safe. Stay committed.

I hear you.

Sabrina

Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA
President/Chief Executive Officer

SUBJECT: This Is Our Fight, Too

The following note was sent to Wheeler's team of 1,000 staff on the afternoon of Monday, June 1, 2020:

Good Afternoon,

I wanted to reach out with some thoughts following this weekend.

As I’m sure we all were, I was saddened, angered, and disheartened by the horror, brutality, and lost lives. I would not say I was surprised, however, nor would I describe it as “senseless,” as I often heard. In many ways, it made nothing but sense.

We have such a long, institutional history of physical and economic violence, disparities and injustice to overcome in our nation. No one who has spent even a small amount of critical thought on the issues could be surprised that there are righteous calls for justice. I reflected quite a bit on what I could do as a leader, as a citizen, as a parent.

• We know, undeniably, that racism, on a systemic and individual basis, is a social determinant of health.
• We know, undeniably, that populations of color suffer disproportionately from COVID-19.
• We know, undeniably, that medically underserved and disenfranchised communities experience shorter lives, more chronic health conditions, and worse health outcomes.
• We know, undeniably, that there are horrific inequalities in nearly every element of our society, from education to community justice to violence to transportation to…literally any other issue you can think of. Certainly every issue Wheeler deals with daily.
• We know, undeniably, many of us come from positions of cultural or individual privilege, which so many of our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and patients do not.

The fight for justice you saw this weekend is our fight here at Wheeler, too, in many specific ways:

• We must recommit ourselves to ensuring health care, education, justice, and safety is equitable and within available to all.
• We must recommit ourselves to an unflinching examination of our own beliefs, biases, and action or inaction.
• We must recommit ourselves to a better tomorrow for ALL people. Over the weekend, I saw a piece on Facebook by Black Lives Matter. To paraphrase, it called on us all to recognize how racial inequality exists in our individual and collective lives; listen to and respect the many, rich voices of our community; educate ourselves about the history and current reality of racism; broaden our experiences; and…

Take action. In our work, I hope you will always be proactive in taking action in ways that make everyone we serve…every community, every family, every individual…better.

And do take care of yourself. We are all dealing with this in our own ways. If you need someone to talk to, our Employee Assistance Program, a confidential counseling service, is available to you at no cost. You can call the Wheeler EAP any time at 800.275.3327 or www.wheelerclinic.org/eap

We have tremendous challenges ahead of us, individually, as an organization, and as a nation. We all work at a place like Wheeler to take them on. Please join me in solidarity with the voices we heard this weekend, and if we’ve been listening, we’ve heard for centuries in America. It is long past time for change, and let it start with each of us.

Sabrina

Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA
President/Chief Executive Officer