(Renton, WA, March 19, 2021) – With one of the most diverse service areas in Washington state, here at Valley we live and work among members of many different races, ethnicities, genders and socioeconomic situations. We all share the roads, grocery stores and schools, and all receive care in the same community clinics and hospitals. During the past year we have felt the great disparity between groups who have experienced barriers in access to care due to systemic problems such as discrimination, prejudice and fear. It is our calling as caregivers and our mission at Valley to care for our community like family.
The recent tragedy in Atlanta underscores the importance of ensuring our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities know we support them. During the pandemic, violence against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans has risen due to fear and misinformation surrounding COVID-19, both nationally and right here in our own community. Check in with your neighbors, your friends, and your coworkers in the AAPI community. While as individuals, and even as an organization, we cannot singlehandedly solve these systemic global issues, what we can do is be here to support each other and our patients. Here are some things you can do to stand up for the equitable treatment, inclusion, and wellbeing of others:
- Throughout your day, identify discrimination that you witness or experience and write down ways you might be able to interrupt the behavior in the future to prevent harm from occurring to others.
- Consider starting a conversation within your network of friends or family about issues you have encountered, and see what tips your circle of peers might have for interrupting discrimination.
- Check-in with a coworker or friend to ask if they have seen discrimination they might want talk about, and let your coworkers, friends and family know that you are available to discuss equity issues.
- Brainstorm ways you can get involved in equity work in your community, by volunteering or joining community conversations.