“Everyone must put on their leadership hat. It doesn’t relate to title or overall responsibility —  it’s what you control and influence from where you stand,” said Ronald Copeland, MD, senior vice president and chief equity, inclusion and diversity officer, at the National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Virtual Conference Series in October.

The Labor Management Partnership is designed to foster leaders at every level, to encourage everyone to use their voice and add their ideas to solving the challenges at hand. As our nation and our organization seek new ways to advance equity and diversity — including equity in health care — doing the right thing has never been more important.

“Action matters more than passion, and impact matters more than intent,” Dr. Copeland said. “It’s great to say, ‘I want everybody to achieve equity and inclusion,’ but we have to do the actions that make that occur.”

See equity in action in this issue of Hank with inspiring actions taken by 4 unit-based teams from across the organization. Together, their commitment to achieving equitable outcomes in maternal-child health, and in treating diabetes and high blood pressure, is reshaping what culturally sensitive care looks like for thousands of our members and patients.

Take Action: Foster Workforce and Health Equity

Kaiser Permanente is committed to systemic change to achieve equity and inclusion for our frontline workers, managers, physicians, members and the communities we serve. Learn more about KP’s equity efforts:

• Belong@KP [KP intranet]. National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity is launching an enterprisewide program to foster inclusion and social justice in everything we do.
• Building Racial Equity Into the Drug Development System. Kaiser Permanente’s Institute for Health Policy is hosting a 2-part virtual forum examining racial equity in how drugs are developed.
• Annual National Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Conference [KP intranet]. View recorded sessions from the 43rd Annual NEID Conference.