As an ACHE core value, diversity and inclusion is integral to the organization’s mission and daily work in creating a more diverse and inclusive healthcare leadership. Chapters are demonstrating their commitment through numerous programs and initiatives.
The Regents-at-Large who represent Districts 1–5 annually recognize a chapter from their region that actively demonstrates a commitment to and successful implementation of significant diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the chapter, community and healthcare management field.
ACHE Chair Delvecchio S. Finley, FACHE, presented the 2023 Regent-at-Large Award for Chapter Accomplishments in Diversity to the five chapters during the Chapter Leaders Conference in September. He also thanked all of ACHE’s 76 chapters for their work fostering engagement in diversity and inclusion. The following chapters received the award.
CT Association of Healthcare Executives
CT Association of Healthcare Executives is a steadfast leader in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and its Diversity Committee, formed in 2018, regularly reviews and audits data to ensure the chapter offers a welcoming and comforting environment for all. A recent internal survey helped the chapter gain an understanding of the current climate of its DEIB efforts and allowed for leaders to make informed and intentional decisions to further drive the chapter’s mission and vision
Recent initiatives that warrant the award include creating a diversity statement that all board members follow, offering education each year surrounding the topic of DEIB, publishing diversity-focused articles in the chapter’s newsletter, ensuring chapter membership is diverse and fostering closer partnerships with partner organizations.
The chapter also encourages the use of pronouns in membership email signatures, and it recently purchased pronoun buttons that were used at a social event. The committee also has made intentional efforts to be inclusive of age, education, socioeconomic status, disability and more. When possible, the chapter ensures all in-person events are accessible to persons with disabilities.
In addition to these accomplishments, CTAHE mentored and identified two new co-chairs of the Diversity Committee, one of whom has a certification in diversity. Together they have made strategic changes to have a diversity representative on every committee, and they are working with the treasurer to develop a diversity sponsorship program to award one member with the opportunity to attend all chapter-hosted events for free. This effort is expected to help further engage diverse members who may not already receive funding for professional development.
ACHE of Georgia
ACHE of Georgia is firmly committed to driving diversity and inclusion within all aspects of healthcare through empowering, educating and engaging Georgia healthcare executives.
The chapter partners with the Georgia Chapter of the National Association of Health Services Executives to create an innovative approach for embedding DEI in the chapter. Since the beginning of the partnership in 2021, an ACHE of Georgia member holds a permanent position as vice president of the Georgia NAHSE chapter board. This partnership ensures coordination of DEI efforts and demonstrates a commitment beyond joint programs or conversation.
Some of ACHE of Georgia’s other efforts include publishing a 2022 resource calendar of diversity and inclusion; publishing Black History Month posts on the chapter’s website; holding webinars on racial diversity, diversity in veterans healthcare and health disparities in the state; helping establish a Georgia National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives chapter; and developing a Diversity Assessment Tool Survey.
Additional events and activities include a virtual focus group centered on diverse members, a webinar on health equity in Georgia and a networking event at NAHSE’s national conference in Atlanta that took place in October.
Indiana Healthcare Executives Network
The Indiana Healthcare Executives Network started its journey to enhance DEI awareness and actions in 2019. As the industry normalized under pandemic conditions, the chapter resurrected its efforts by consulting with ACHE on structure, alignment with activities and goals, and the chapter’s demographic data to identify meaningful opportunities.
Recommendations were submitted to the board to modify its bylaws with a commitment to DEI and revalidate its diversity statement.
As a result, DEI became a standalone committee rather than a sub-group of the Nominations Committee. In 2022, the committee supported and identified panelists for implicit bias programming. The program was well attended, with about 40 participants representing multiple sectors including health systems, education and state government, and the airport authority.
In 2023, the network’s DEI efforts gained significant momentum with a number of accomplishments:
- The creation of a podcast focused on DEI.
- The publication of a DEI calendar recognizing key DEI areas each month and promoting awareness via social media.
- Financial support and facilitation with the National Association of Latino Healthcare Executives to back its inaugural launch in Indiana.
- Launching an “allyship” agreement for DEI affinity partners to collaborate on resources, programs and efforts related to DEI (three agreements were completed).
- Deploying the first DEI survey to chapter members to identify opportunities to support programming, awareness and collaboration efforts.
ACHE of North Texas
ACHE of North Texas has worked diligently to ensure it upholds the DEI initiatives of ACHE. The DEI Committee has collaborated with other committees to ensure its membership mix is well represented. The focus has been concentrated on expanding efforts to ensure all people and diversity groups are recognized and included in the chapter’s processes. Some of the initiatives the DEI Committee spearheaded include:
- Acknowledging and celebrating diversity-centric holidays. This recognizes diverse groups by celebrating diversity-aimed months of recognition and holidays.
- Celebrating our stories by conducting spotlight stories of diversity from the membership.
- Instituting the Asian Healthcare Leaders Community of North Texas. The goal is to ensure Asian American healthcare leaders are well represented and collaborative within the healthcare community. This translates into better representation and greater voice on healthcare-related matters for Asian American patients.
- Launching the LGBTQ Healthcare Leaders Community. Focused on those interested in promoting the acknowledgement, discussion of and commitment to successfully resolving issues of the LGBTQ healthcare executives’ community, the forum offers an opportunity for leaders to support one another while bringing awareness to these issues. This committee is integral to ongoing promotion of awareness, support, recognition and respect for LGBTQ+ healthcare leaders.
- Holding multiple networking/learning events focused on DEI initiatives. The DEI Committee hosts a plethora of events throughout the year to ensure DEI issues are openly discussed and addressed. The committee also partners with organizations that focus on DEI initiatives for healthcare executives throughout Texas and surrounding states. The DEI Committee for ACHE of North Texas has hosted such events to promote inclusion throughout the year, and these are well attended by numerous organizations.
Arizona Healthcare Executives
Over the past three years, Arizona Healthcare Executives has made great advances in pursuit of DEI with advocacy and encouraging diversity in its leadership and board. This has made a positive impact on the diversity of its committee members and the offerings to its membership. The chapter also hosted a virtual education session titled “Embracing A Dialogue about Gender Identity and Intersectionality” and a virtual session titled “Equity of Care: A Quality and Safety Imperative and a New National Patient Safety Goal,” which received overwhelming positive feedback. And the chapter held a breakfast event titled “Women Leaders and Gender Parity in Healthcare Leadership.”
The chapter’s DEI Committee completed numerous initiatives over the past year, including authoring “DEI Initiative: An Essential Business,” a diversity, equity and inclusion primer (with definitions and examples) that appeared in the chapter newsletter. The committee also submitted to ACHE a proposal for a new education template, “Women Leaders and Gender Parity in Healthcare Leadership,” which ACHE accepted for other chapters to use.
The chapter’s program development committee is intentional in recruiting diverse panelists and locations for chapter educational offerings. For example, in February 2023, the committee partnered with NAHSE’s Arizona chapter to sponsor a workshop and panel event, “Leadership Super Power: Civility & Respect in Healthcare.” The event drew the chapter’s highest registration and attendance in many years, with a diverse audience engaged in respectful, meaningful dialogue. With the addition of a new chair of the Community Outreach Committee, the chapter has added several community events that serve the diverse population of the state, such as food banks and community gardens.
To find your chapter, search the chapter directory. To discuss your ideas for chapters, contact Stacey A. Kidd, CAE, director, Chapter Relations, Department of Executive Engagement, at (312) 424-9323 or skidd@ache.org.