Black Lives Matter: A message from CEO Rosemarie Day
It has been a heartbreaking time. I am grieving the loss of so many Black Americans, the violence we are witnessing, and the racism we continue to suffer from. The killing of George Floyd has laid bare a deep and terrible wound that many would prefer not to see. And yet, we cannot ignore it.
As a healthcare professional and a white person who has tried to be an ally for Blacks for decades, it is my responsibility to make all of this more visible. I am committed to doing this on a personal level and as CEO of Day Health Strategies.
I see some hopeful signs. The killing of George Floyd has galvanized millions of people of all races to rise up in peaceful protest, even in the time of a pandemic. We need to extend these protests into sustained action. And we must persist. Here is what I am committed to doing as CEO:
We will sharpen Day Health Strategies’ data focus to identify racial disparities, with a focus on healthcare access and outcomes.
We will be more intentional about using our firm’s platform to inform our audience of racial disparities. For example, we will bring more focus to racial disparities in healthcare in our podcast, Unlocking Accountable Care. Here is an example of a recent episode that discusses race as a social determinant of health. We will also promote resources that help to address the root causes of racism. To that end, I’d like to share with you this recent article published by Boston.com with actionable items to support racial justice, locally and nationally. It includes a robust list of recommended readings, donation suggestions, and an Anti-Racist Allyship Starter Pack.
Day Health Strategies will continue to be a learning organization, and we will put more emphasis on being anti-racist. As a company, we will self-educate, listen, and adjust our practices accordingly. We must find more ways to be allies. We will encourage our clients to do the same.
We will continue our commitment to increase access to healthcare with the goal of achieving universal healthcare coverage. I wrote Marching Toward Coverage: How Women Can Lead the Fight for Universal Healthcare (Beacon Press, 2020) to inform and inspire readers to step up their individual activism and to take collective action. Our firm is committed to enabling the recommended actions from the book, including addressing racial disparities and other social determinants of health.
I am personally committed as CEO to review our hiring practices. While recognizing that we are small in size, I will ensure that we broaden our recruitment channels for future job openings as well as make myself available for informational interviews and internship pathways to further my commitment to increasing diversity. I will also look for opportunities to be a sponsor, not just a mentor.
To uphold these commitments, I will continue to write, reflect, and work with my team to share resources to gain deeper understanding and self-educate. To that end, you can find some more of my personal thoughts on my author blog here.
Finally, I will ensure that Day Health Strategies honors these commitments in a deep and sustained way. I believe that together we must meet this moment, and work collaboratively to move through it and beyond it. We can turn the pain of this moment into something better and make our society more whole and more just. We must make a sustained commitment to do this. As one person told me last week, “Justice is as vital to public health as the air we breathe.”
Respectfully, imperfectly, and with humility,
Rosemarie
Thank you BlackLivesMatter for the photo resource. Please check out their website and show your support for the movement: https://blacklivesmatter.com/social-media-graphics/