Providence, one of the largest hospital systems in the U.S., is prioritizing investing in its caregivers as much as its patients.
In response to social justice protests at the time, Providence in 2020 committed to investing $50 million over a five-year period as part of an effort to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, as well as reduce healthcare disparities in the community.
Chief Executive of the South Division Laureen Driscoll called it a “twofold” investment.
“The reason it’s twofold is because we recognize that our caregivers are also a part of our community,” Driscoll told the Business Journal. “There’s a close collaboration between both of those efforts.”
Providence’s $50 million investment has supported the creation of several DEI initiatives and caregiver resource groups.
For these efforts, Providence was included in the Business Journal’s second Embracing Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Special Report.
Chief Diversity Officer
Providence appointed Mike Moreland as interim chief diversity officer in spring.
Moreland oversees all diversity work and initiatives for Providence’s Orange County/
High Desert service areas, including St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo and St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.
Altogether, Providence employs 8,400 workers and generated $2.5 billion in revenue for 2023 across the three hospitals.
One of these initiatives is implicit bias training for core leadership at Providence. Training is ongoing and about 85% of leadership has participated so far, according to Driscoll.
“We wanted to learn what our own personal biases are and how they can lead to stereotypes or, potentially, discrimination,” Driscoll said.
There will be another educational workshop in August that focuses on inclusive hiring and how to increase the diversity of candidates.
For staff, Providence has created support groups for employees who come from similar backgrounds such as people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community and working mothers. Mentorship programs to help create more opportunities for advancement are also under development.
Quarterly employee experience surveys will include new methodology to measure the impact of Providence’s DEI work.
“As we’re seeing a lot of companies in the country move away from these efforts, we’re actually doubling down,” Driscoll said.
Employee Projects
Part of the $50 million also goes toward supporting employee-led projects.
Providence supported a podcast created and hosted by physicians that talks about health disparities and high mortality rates, particularly within the Black community.
“If they come up with an initiative they want to promote, there’s dollars that we can give to support these efforts,” Driscoll said.
Health equity is a large concern of Providence, which recently partnered with Anaheim-based Mexican grocery chain Northgate González Markets on a clinic that aims to reduce diabetes, high blood pressure and other prevalent health issues disproportionately affecting the Latinx community.
The clinic provides healthy food that’s accessible to the community at reasonable prices, Driscoll said.
She believes the initiative will benefit not only the community but also caregivers in the area.
In the past, Providence and Northgate have partnered on blood pressure and glucose screenings, as well as colon cancer screenings held at the market.
