Editors Note: After a four-year tenure as president of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Andy Ziskind, MD, became BJC Healthcare Senior Vice President in the summer of 2009. In his new role, Dr. Ziskind is leading and coordinating BJC's system-wide preparations for health care reform. The following interview represents Dr. Ziskind's views on the role and responsibility of Barnes-Jewish in our diverse community.

Andy Ziskind, MD, President of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and Dr, Donald Suggs, CEO of the St. Louis American, an African-American newspaper; first met in 2005, shortly after Dr. Ziskind moved to St. Louis. Both organizations have a deep commitment to address the area's social and economic challenges.

Like most large cities, St. Louis struggles with delivering care to the growing number of under- and uninsured patients. Health care disparities, which exist in urban and rural settings and are associated primarily with race, poverty and language barriers. As an academic medical center, Barnes-Jewish and Washington University School of Medicine are in a unique position to make a positive difference in improving health care for all.

Drs. Ziskind and Suggs recently sat down together to talk about the evolving role of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in addressing these problems, as well as their hope for the future of St. Louis.

DS: My experience with Barnes-Jewish Hospital began at Homer G. Phillips, when I came to this community as a young man from Indiana University's dental school. I was embraced by the physicians of Homer G. Phillips Hospital. I was on my way to the University of Pennsylvania or New York City, but I came here and saw all these black doctors in charge. I thought this was a great place. Despite many changes and challenges, I still think St. Louis is a great place. But we struggle on a variety of fronts when it comes to health disparities.

AZ: Homer G. Phillips Hospital played a major role in St. Louis health care. At Barnes-Jewish, the role of the Foundation isn't just supporting the mission of the hospital. It's also serving as a role model as a foundation and how foundations should be looking at community health.

DS: When we first met there were a lot of questions that eventually contributed to the creating of the Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.

AZ: I really saw the opportunity to advocate for changes beneficial to the region. We are a hospital in the city of St. Louis, so the scope of what we do is as varied as the communities in which we serve. Barnes-Jewish has a three- part mission to deliver patient care, educate the next generation of health care professionals and support research into prevention and cure of disease. My hope was to create a center that bridges gaps and opens doors for diverse groups. But I knew we could not carry out this mission alone. I remember your most potent advice was to seek collaboration.

DS: Partnerships can help enable change and provide some powerful indirect benefits. As a community-centric newspaper we obviously have an interest in efforts that encourage and sustain effective collaborations. I think the Foundation's investment facilitates more effective collaboration between community-based groups and this institution.

AZ: We are collaborating with many community-based organizations. I think about the powerful relationship we recently built with the Community Health In Partnership (CHIPS). Here is a free clinic focused on delivering basic health care to people with no other options. The Foundation recently provided a grant to CHIPS because we saw the crucial role they play in the underserved community. I admire the efforts of CHIPS and other community health center toward reducing health disparities.

DS: It does take forward-thinking leadership and some- body's personal initiative to raise the bar on what is considered acceptable. And it takes energy and specific models that will encourage young professionals to look at St. Louis as a community where they want to be.

I do meet young people here who bring not just their expertise in an important and demanding profession like medicine, but also a strong sense of social concern, social justice, if you will. They are interested in serving the community and are looking for an opportunity to address health disparities. There are huge social problems that impact public health and as politics continues to impact policy, we all need to learn how to do this better:

AZ: The Center gets at the heart and soul of what we do. We are privileged to be health care providers, which means we have a moral and ethical imperative to help create a better health care system that serves our community. We are in a leadership role as both a large employer and a large and comprehensive health care provider, so I think we have a vested interest in the economic health of this community. The educational and research nature of our mission can also impact a much broader geographic area.

DS: It is completely appropriate for an institution of this caliber to express the kind of social concern demonstrated by the Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence. You know, in the business community, the word diversity has almost become a business imperative. It seems to me that Barnes-Jewish Hospital, given their reputation in the national health care community and as the teaching hospital for Washington University School of Medicine, is a natural choice to set a leading example. Forward-thinking, quality leadership making informed choices. Obviously, you can tell I'm a great, great admirer of what is going on here.

AZ: Well, I hope it's just the start. I'm reminded of the story about the little boy walking on the beach with his grandfather; picking up starfish stranded by the tide and throwing them back. When his grandfather points out that there are so many stranded starfish that his efforts are futile, the little boy responds that it made a real difference to the ones he touched. I hope the Foundation will have opportunities to build on this and help more starfish!

DS: Oh, I'm sure we'll be continuing this conversation for a long time to come...

The Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation has provided $1.5 million, over three years, to fund the new Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.

The Center strives to significantly improve patient outcomes by providing services tailored to patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds, such as interpreter services in 57 languages. Another project, the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Residents and Fellows Diversity Initiative, works to recruit and retain physicians-in-training who are representative of our community's population.

From the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation’s CORNERSTONES Magazine Summer 2007