Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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Everyone has a right to high-quality and safe healthcare as well as a work environment that offers a sense of belonging—regardless of their race, culture, beliefs, practices, social, economic, gender or physical status. Overlake Medical Center & Clinics truly believes in those words and holds diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as shared values in living our mission, Compassionate care for every life we touch. Looking forward, we work to continually improve our environment for all Overlake patients, family members and staff.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge our role in an industry that has led to health disparities among many populations and commit to changing ourselves and our behaviors for the future.

Vision

To be a national model for workplace inclusion, cultural competency and health equity by recognizing and reducing disparities that affect patients, marginalized workers, vendors, and community members through continual workforce education and other intentional interventions.

Our work includes developing a DEI strategic plan with the following goals.

Inclusion Culture and a Sense of Belonging

• Increase cultural humility and awareness through employee learning and other activities opening roads to compassion.
• Reduce biased behaviors through targeted anti-bias training and increased DEI oversight in decisions and policy making
• Increase collaboration across departments to elevate the overall sense of team and belonging.

Increasing Workforce Diversity and Managing Talent

• Assess and understand Overlake's current diversity makeup.
• Increase workforce diversity through new and non-traditional ways of recruiting, assessing and onboarding talent.
• Engage in meaningful educational efforts and developmental activities for diverse individuals who choose to work for Overlake.
• Establish relationships to develop & sustain talent pipelines from which to draw diverse talent.

Promoting Health Equity

Definition: To provide every patient with personalized care that best serves their individual needs to maintain and improve their overall quality of life.

Advancing Health Equity at Overlake: Use community and staff feedback, objective data, technology, and tools as well as patient-derived information to advance equitable care.

• Use all tools at our disposal to provide optimal care for every individual based on their unique needs.
• Investigate how social determinants of health impact every patient and provide resources to deliver equitable care.