The following note went out to all Advantia employees.
Good Morning,
We wanted to communicate to all of Advantia’s employees about our company’s values and how we are working to use them as a guide as we address systemic racism and inequality.
The recent atrocious acts of brutal racism against black men and women in our country have woken up many more people in our society to the reality that while all men and women are created equal, we are not all treated equally and our ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness is impeded by systematic issues which we must address.
As protests continue over the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many more, we want to state with clarity that there is no place for hate or racism in our company or country and that black lives matter. Systemic racism is an unfortunate reality that impacts many from the day they are born, including their experience at school, with law enforcement, and as we know too well, in healthcare.
One of our strongest beliefs is in equality of opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, or frankly anything that may be seen as a difference between human beings. This idea of equality of opportunity doesn’t and won’t happen without equality of education, equality of health, equality of access. It hasn’t happened and the movement to rectify the circumstances that unfairly hold back and disadvantage so many in our society are not changing fast enough. Advantia’s mission states that we will transform care for ALL women. The ALL wasn’t a mistake. We put it there on purpose to make sure that the idea of access and unbiased treatment to create health equity was right there as a central part of our mission. It’s one way we are trying to make a difference.
The leadership team at Advantia also recognizes that you, our team members, are members not only of our Advantia team, but also members of the very neighborhoods, towns, and cities we work every day to support; we want you to know we support you too.
But stating our mission is not enough, nor is making it clear through our statements that we do not tolerate racism and will work to create equity. We must take action, and we are doing so and would like your involvement.
Actions we are taking immediately include:
- Repurposing team meetings (with Practice Managers, headquarters, and others) as an open forum for learning from one other, sharing experiences, and planning for action and progress.
- Establishing a Diversity & Inclusion working group across Advantia to ensure we’re an industry leader inside and outside our offices. We believe having a dedicated group, empowered by the leadership team and board, to take action on D&I initiatives both today and long-term is important. This group will include Advantia employees from the headquarters team and our practices. If you would like to be involved, please let us know.
- Our headquarters team has come up with several ideas that we’ll finalize over the next week that align with three core topics: inclusivity, empathy, and health equity. We have explored ideas from offering Pacify more broadly to under-served communities to having children’s books (or ebooks given COVID) in our waiting rooms that support diverse authors, perspectives, and conversations about race.
We invite you to discuss other actions you would like us to take with your Physician Managers, your Practice Managers, Advantia leadership, Operations Leaders, and HR. Many voices will result in stronger outcomes. We know we do not have all the good ideas. Together we will turn these crises into a better tomorrow for the women we serve and for the next generation we bring into the world.
With empathy,
Sean, Lisa, Nathan, Farinaz, Ben, and Kathy