An anticipated discussion of diversity issues at the School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Hospital took a surprising turn at a town hall meeting on April 3. Instead of focusing on internal concerns of faculty and students, the nearly 90-minute conversation centered on the school and hospital’s relationships with New Haven communities of color. The result was a frank discussion of how the hospital and Yale interact with New Haven’s African-American and Hispanic communities as well as a call for greater engagement with the city.
“I’m the mother of two young children, particularly a young African-American male, concerned about having him have a seat at the table, and having more people of color and diversity at the table because this community is bigger than Yale,” said Denise Rock, who lives in the suburbs but called New Haven “my city.”
City residents not affiliated with the medical school or the hospital, who made up about a third of the audience of about 40 people at the Cohen Auditorium at the Child Study Center, also spoke of the need for both institutions to encourage young African-Americans and Hispanics to pursue medical careers, hire more minorities, and make themselves more open to people of color.
The town hall’s speakers, Darin Latimore, M.D., the medical school’s first deputy dean for diversity, and Lisette Martinez, the hospital’s first diversity officer, embraced the spotlight on community relations. The number of non-Yale attendees “speaks volumes” about the importance of the issue, Latimore said. He and Martinez encouraged community members to keep the dialogue going.
“Darin and I came to make things happen,” Martinez said. “We just need you all to help us, to let us know what it is you want it to look like, and we can create that.”
“We already are dedicated to making change,” Latimore added. “Do we know exactly what change needs to be made? Not exactly. Please, please, continue the dialogue.”
The event was sponsored by the U. S. Health Justice Collaborative, a coalition of students in the health professions who are interested in the intersection of health care and social justice. The collaborative’s leaders are Robert Rock, a medical student, and Kayla Ringelheim, who is pursuing dual degrees in public health and management. They said later that they had encouraged community members to come and called for greater engagement by both institutions.
“I came to Yale very interested in health justice from a student perspective,” Rock said. “I’m interested in learning what we can do tonight to help students become the health care leaders that cities like New Haven deserve.”
The hiring of Latimore last year and his arrival on campus in January marked a new level of commitment to diversity and inclusion at the medical school. Latimore and Martinez, who has been in her job for about nine months, began the town hall by emphasizing their strong commitment to change. In addition to increasing minority staff at the medical school and the hospital, both spoke of plans for training to break down stereotypes and unconscious biases. Sub-rosa attitudes about race and ethnicity can lead healthcare professionals to unintentionally treat patients of color in less than respectful ways, they said. “Every single one of us has biases,” Martinez said. “We can’t get rid of them, but we can manage them. Learning to manage our biases will help us build stronger relationships with all people.”
Howard Boyd, a resident of the city’s heavily minority Hill neighborhood, testified to the need for such a program, telling Latimore and Martinez that many people of color feel intimidated by their institutions. Even the prospect of something as simple as a checkup at the hospital can leave them deeply uncomfortable, he said. “That’s why I’m here to find out what the changes are, and can we help the community be more engaged,” Boyd said.
Other community members called on the hospital and medical school to get more involved with local schools and students of color to encourage them to pursue careers in medicine.
Latimore agreed, saying his ambition goes far beyond the occasional seminar or school visit. Intervening as early as possible to teach children of color that they too can become doctors and nurses is vital, he said. Research shows that children begin to establish racial stereotypes as early as 18 months, Latimore said. That means engagement must be sustained and systemic, he said.
Every single one of us has biases. We can’t get rid of them, but we can manage them. Learning to manage our biases will help us build stronger relationships with all people.
Lisette Martinez, chief diversity officer at Yale New Haven Hospital
“One touch is probably not going to change the trajectory of a child,” he said. “I’m thinking we need to pick a school, a community, and have multiple touches where we really become role models.”
Another area of focus for both Martinez and Latimore was disparities in illnesses. Such diseases as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity are concentrated in lower income populations. Martinez and Latimore said they want to focus on why those disparities occur and what can be done to address them. “To me, health is about way more than health care,” Latimore said. “Health care is about the social determinants of health.”
Diversity, Latimore said, is the easiest goal to accomplish because it’s a simple matter of numbers. More challenging, he said, are the larger goals of equity and inclusion, melding the diverse parts of society together, while retaining their differences and uniqueness.
“My real vision is inclusion,” he said. “It’s as much about really building a community, about building a community of diversity, as in bringing diversity.”