2017 DIVERSITY & INCLUSION ASSESSMENT REPORT

“2017 was a year of change. With change came an opportunity to find our voice at Mountain Park and to help our stakeholders find theirs. As such, this year’s assessment report theme is Finding Your Voice.” -Essen Otu, Senior Director Diversity & Community Affairs

Safe Space Dialogues

Our safe space dialogues included updates on important issues impacting our patients, staff, and surrounding clinic communities. Community partner organizations assisted in leading group discussions that provided staff an opportunity to share concerns impacting patient care, ask questions, and gain access to helpful community based resources.

A Year of Progress

A Voice for Equal Pay

The Equal Pay Act became law in 1963, however women continue to experience wage disparities nationally. Last year the Tempe City Council created an Equal Pay Initiative and Mountain Park was awarded one of the first Equal Pay for Equal Work Designations.
City of Tempe Equal Pay Awards

Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

Listening & Learning

One of our goals is to be a LGBT healthcare provider of choice. Last year we began collecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity data from our adult patients to meet their unique healthcare needs. “I think that the efforts to reach out to the LGBT communities you serve is a very important step in expanding the reach of your services.” -Anonymous Community Partner Survey Respondent

Giving a Voice to our Patients

“When an interpreter is helping me understand my doctor, I feel safe and comfortable. I know my interpreter will make sure the doctor knows everything.” -Filemon Escobedo, Baseline Clinic Patient

Mountain Park launches Medical Interpreting Training program

To continue providing the best quality care to patients with limited English proficiency, Mountain Park launched its first Medical Interpreting Training program last July. The 60-hour program helped bilingual employees improve their medical interpreting skills and eliminate communication barriers between patients and providers.

“My classmates and I feel honored to be part of this successful program. As a bilingual medical interpreter we are the bridge of communication between our patients, providers and staff.” -Lisbell Bourunda, Gateway Clinic

0
bilingual employees completed the Medical Interpreting Training program in 2017.
Over
0%
of our medical providers speak a second language.
0%
of our patients require language accommodation for their care.

Diversity Site Councils

Moving Culture. Building Community.

Diversity Site Councils continue to create a space for dialogue, education and impact. Last year our councils initiated the expansion of how “family” is defined in our bereavement policy and were the catalyst to re-evaluate and update our policy to be more inclusive of the broad spectrum of family.

partnering organizations were represented on Mountain Park’s Diversity Site Councils in 2017.

“This year’s theme was perfect! It fit in with so many topics/things going on in the workplace, personal life, and in our world. It was very empowering!” -Anonymous Summit Attendee

One Voice. One Community. Many Ambassadors.

Creating opportunities for deeper connection to the communities we serve is why our Community Ambassadors program was created. In 2017 we decided to begin focusing on moving from the transactional volunteer experiences to transformative volunteer experiences that have a deeper and lasting impact on our employees and our community. Eighty percent of non-clinical staff believe our Community Ambassadors program has led to a deeper understanding of the communities we serve.

Highlighting our Ambassadors

“Volunteering with the Community Ambassadors program brought me closer to my little family and made it a lot bigger and diverse as we got to meet and get really close to different people. This has also made a huge difference in my daughters’ lives. Volunteering has helped them gain confidence and they have fun doing it!” –Marivel Alvarez, Corporate Office
“As soon as I heard about the Ambassadors program I wanted to get involved. It’s been my favorite part about working at Mountain Park Health Center. I love participating in so many different groups and organizations all through the same program and really seeing the difference that my time makes.” –Sariah Flores, Maryvale Clinic
“What I like best about being a Community Ambassador is being able to help and give back to the community. My reward is putting smiles on families’ faces. It is the greatest feeling ever. As an ambassador, your beliefs and your actions show your ideas in the community.” –Laporsha Armstrong, Gateway Clinic

For the Culture

Patient Survey Responses

of our patients strongly agree or agree that our clinics are ready to serve the needs of individuals with disabilities.

“Keep serving and attending to the community in the way you have always done. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my point of view.” -Anonymous Patient Survey Respondent “Could improve the diversity of staff…” -Anonymous Patient Survey Respondent

of our patients feel comfortable talking to their healthcare provider (doctor, nurses, etc.) about how their cultural and religious beliefs may impact their health.

What We Heard

73% of our non-clinical staff speak two or more languages vs. 66% in 2015.
84% of providers in 2017 rated their understanding of social determinants of health “high” vs. 69% in 2016.
10% increase from 2015 to 2017 in non-clinical staff who feel very prepared to meet the needs of LGBT patients.
10% increase from 2015 to 2017 in excellent or good responses from community members when asked to rate Mountain Park’s ability to serve diverse and underserved segments of our community.

“I enjoy working for Mountain Park knowing I can be myself without feeling disrespected for being who I am.” -Anonymous Employee Respondent
“I have been thoroughly impressed with our employees’ activities and outings. I believe that this may be my first place of employment where everyone appears to be engaged and included…” -Anonymous Employee Respondent
“It is important to be inclusive of those with more conservative political and cultural views; it is another important perspective and without it, our country would be unbalanced.” -Anonymous Employee Respondent
“I think it’s important to think about how we can increase Latino representation throughout the Mountain Park system including the leadership team and board of directors.” -Anonymous Employee Respondent

Our Focus for 2018

Moving from Equality to Equity in our Communities

12.7 Times Higher The mortality rate for treatable illness in the first two weeks after release from correctional facilities (when compared to the same age, sex and race in the general population). Source: Washington State Department of Corrections Formerly incarcerated members of our community face unique health challenges and social determinants of health. We want to be a community health center that recognizes and welcomes them by working to decrease stigma, educating staff on their unique needs, and establishing partnerships that position Mountain Park as a resource to this segment of our community.

4.6% of Mountain Park patients identify as LGBT. In 2017 we embarked on a year-long journey of collecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity data from our adult patients. In 2018, we want to make sure we work toward utilizing this data to better understand and adapt care to our LGBT patients and continue to move in the direction of our goal of being an LGBT provider of choice.

80% of employees believe Mountain Park’s Community Ambassadors program (employee volunteer program) has led to a deeper understanding and connection to the communities we serve. Embedding ourselves in the communities we serve continues to be a priority. In 2018 we will work to find more transformative volunteer experiences for our employees. We hope to develop deeper connections with our communities by encouraging Mountain Park employees to serve on local boards and commissions.