Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | October 12, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 15 Bids for Kids Bids for Kids Auction & Gala Auction & Gala When: NOVEMBER 5, 2020 at 6:00 PM Where: Online, Virtually Anywhere! Honoring Avidia Bank and Senator Jamie Eldridge 15TH ANNUAL Presented by The TJX Companies Inc. Tickets starting at just $25! Kindly purchase tickets at www.bgcmetrowest.org Support the 6,200 kids who are relying on us. This year, the need is clear: kids need a safe space to spend their time, recover from the trauma of COVID-19, and most importantly, just be a kid! Join us for this special virtual event filled with musical performances, Club Kids, and surprise raffles! For more information contact Laura May at 508.485.4912 E vents of 2020— including the COVID-19 pandem- ic and widespread demonstrations against sys- temic racism—have brought the inequities among Americans into sharp focus. COVID-19 is affecting some racial and ethnic minority groups at higher rates. This trend is due, in part, to a lack of health care access. It's clear that we need to do a better job of making health care services easily available for everyone. As a health care services organization, Fallon Health offers access to health care without discrimination. The diversity of our health plan members—and of our workforce—gives us many opportunities to learn from each other's traditions, communication styles, values and beliefs. Since 2017, our Council for Cultural Competence, made up of 24 employee volunteers, has been raising awareness of diversity and inclusion within Fallon. In addition to sponsoring events to showcase the many cultural backgrounds of our staff, this group offers educational and awareness opportunities for our workforce. Council members work to ensure that all Fallon employees feel comfortable contributing their ideas and confident that their voices will be welcomed and included. While we've made significant prog - ress, we strive to identify the underly- ing biases we all carry, consciously or unconsciously, and understand how they affect our interactions with oth- ers. The Council's efforts are helping us develop our ability to relate to one another—and to our members, who come from myriad backgrounds and have a broad spectrum of health care needs. We formed a Health Equity Workgroup this year to look at how we can reach more members of the communities we serve and help those who need greater access to care. This employee group is also suggesting ways to mit- igate the effects of health inequity, building on work Fallon has already begun. The organization is training employees to better serve multicultural popula- tions, hiring more people who speak the same languages as our members, and translating information into more languages. And there will be more to come. The Workgroup's Health Equity Program identifies actions with potential for positive impact. These range from demonstrating leadership commitment to reducing implicit bias within the organization to partnering with key stake- holders. The Workgroup will prioritize diversity and inclusion initiatives and incorporate them into the culture of the organization. This ongoing process is important and necessary. Communities of all kinds are better served when everyone is treated equally. We will continue to move forward together with better understanding of each other. Richard Burke is President and CEO of Fallon Health. Arpa Gonzalez is Fallon's Commercial Sales Operations Manager and a member of the organization's Council for Cultural Competence. FALLON HEALTH: Employees work together to make diversity and inclusion central to corporate culture "Communities of all kinds are better served when everyone is treated equally." – Richard Burke and Arpa Gonzalez Fallon Health W Richard Burke and Arpa Gonzalez D I V E R S I T Y & I N C L U S I O N F O C U S Special Sponsored Section

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