Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Department of Family Medicine

Charter Statement

Our Department of Family and Community Medicine is founded on the principle of caring for the whole person. Through this practice, we learn how socioeconomic factors and social support affect the health of our patients. We embrace diversity and honor the richness and beauty it brings to our world, community, department, and practice. We recognize that diversity is essential to healthy communities, healthy families, and to the equitable health of each and every person. We seek equity and inclusion as we teach, treat, care, learn, and collaborate. We denounce and actively oppose racism and hate. Members of our department unite to create an environment in which:

  1. Learners feel included and supported
  2. Patients feel heard and respected
  3. Faculty feel empowered and connected
  4. Staff feel united and invested

Diversity in Action Heading link

This Charter Statement reflects our attitudes and beliefs; however, words alone are not enough. To fully live and model this Core Value, our words come to life through our actions and behaviors. When we embrace and live anti-racism, as outlined in our Charter Statement above, we:

  • Mandate unconscious bias training for faculty, staff, and residents involved in personnel recruitment
  • Generate an annual DEI progress report to show accountability to those who are historically underrepresented
  • Review current overall department and specific department components’ bylaws, policies, procedures, guidelines, and curriculums to ensure that they are free of bias, language that is unbalanced, or not a fair representation
  • Commit to having a diverse faculty and cadre of residents representative of the patient population we serve
  • Engage with the diverse Peoria community and beyond to bolster voices that otherwise may not be heard
  • Share, empathize with, and learn from each other’s experiences
  • Teach our learners how to create and implement inclusive/anti-racist policies in their future places of employment

In fostering an environment that is inclusive, we are empowered to actively oppose racism and hate. We actively oppose racism, when we:

  • Acknowledge race as a social construct that impacts health outcomes
  • Become aware of and reflect on our own biases, opinions, and beliefs that uphold racism
  • Engage in implicit bias and bystander intervention training and consistently utilize those skills.
  • Educate ourselves about the historical context in which racist structures were built and their impact today
  • Review, address, and learn from occurrences of racism and bias in the workplace
  • Promote and maintain a safe learning environment through respect and constructive feedback
  • Promote and maintain a safe environment free from discrimination, prejudice, and assumptions
  • Make department members aware of local and/or national acts of racism and hate, and provide forums for discussion/problem-solving
  • Become advocates for our community in addressing institutional racism by Involving ourselves in community action groups/initiatives and city government task forces aimed at dismantling racist systems and structures
  • Teach our learners how to create and implement inclusive/anti-racist policies in their future places of employment

Anti-Racism Explained Heading link

Racism is a social determinant of health that is detrimental to our community, patients, faculty, staff, and learners.

Racism is a root cause of multiple inequities and the establishment of deeply grounded, unfair systems that perpetuate inequities.

Acknowledging this is the bedrock for systemic and structural change toward equity. Anti-racism occurs when we recognize and acknowledge racism for what it is through self-awareness, self-reflection, and our actions.

This, in turn, leads to actionable steps to dismantle racist systems and structures and progress towards equity.

Anti-racism encompasses an equality in which all that the privileged ask for and are granted translate and are afforded to the disadvantaged as well.

ALL people have the right to live and work in their environments in a way where their differences are respected.

As a department that champions teaching, training and supporting future physicians, we oppose racism in medical education when we:

  • Commit to having a diverse faculty and cadre of residents representative of the patient population we serve
  • Educate ourselves about the historical context in which racist structures were built and their impact today, including ongoing awareness of local and/or national acts of racism and hate, and provide forums for discussion/problem-solving
  • Review, address, and learn from occurrences of racism and bias in the workplace through a safe learning environment with respect and constructive feedback
  • Mandate unconscious bias training, implicit bias training, and bystander intervention training for faculty, staff, and residents and consistently utilize those skills
  • Generate an annual DEI progress report to show accountability to those who are historically underrepresented
  • Review current overall department and specific department components’ bylaws, policies, procedures, guidelines, and curriculums to ensure that they are free of bias, language that is unbalanced, or not of fair representation
  • Teach our learners how to create and implement inclusive and anti-racist policies in their future places of employment

As providers of healthcare and promoters of health and healing, we actively oppose racism in patient care when we:

  • Acknowledge race as a social construct that impacts health outcomes along with other social determinants of health
  • Promote and maintain a safe environment free from discrimination, prejudice, and assumptions
  • Identify and challenge harmful medical practices that are based on antiquated and racist research
  • Treat the whole patient

As providers of healthcare and promoters of health and healing, we actively oppose racism in our community when we:

  • Become aware of and reflect on our own biases, opinions, and beliefs that uphold racism
  • Become advocates for our community in addressing institutional racism by involving ourselves in community action groups, initiatives, and city government task forces aimed at dismantling racist systems and structures
  • Engage with the diverse Peoria community and beyond to bolster voices that otherwise may not be heard
  • Share, empathize with, and learn from each other’s experiences

Our Efforts Are a Work-in-Progress Heading link

While the statements and actions here attempt to capture our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, we know that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion require us to be continually mindful and to evolve. We understand that we have not mastered it and that our approach is not perfect. We acknowledge that our work to optimize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within our department and community is never complete. That’s why we welcome a diverse group of voices to provide feedback, help us identify our DEI/anti-racism blind spots and to let us know how we’re doing. Let us know by emailing us at kwynnmd@uic.edu.