As both a major employer and health care provider in the region, Barnes-Jewish Hospital has a leadership role to play in advancing diversity and cultural competence in the St. Louis community. Hospital leadership is taking a huge step in that direction with the development of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.

A gift of $1.56 million from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation will fund the development of the center, where several programs will be coordinated including:

• Broad-reaching diversity initiatives for Barnes-Jewish Hospital employees

• Refugee health and interpreter services

• Collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine and other local agencies to support research, reduction of health disparities, and education in cultural competence

• The Barnes-Jewish Hospital Residents and Fellows Diversity Initiative, aimed at increasing the hospital's ability to recruit and retain under-represented minority residents and fellows

• Diversity-related community relations

“We have the opportunity to ensure a more vibrant and effective workforce by virtue of its diversity," says Andy Ziskind, MD, Barnes-Jewish Hospital president. “We must also improve our cultural competence to provide care that is sensitive to each patient's unique social, cultural and linguistic needs.”

Meeting Patient Needs
An important aspect of the center will be refugee health and interpreter services, led by Barbara Bogomolov, RN. Bogomolov's staff already provides critical services to the culturally diverse patient population at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Last year the department's 28 interpreters participated in more than 30,000 interpreter-supported encounters in 57 languages to help patients throughout the medical center.

"This center is an exciting new focus for all of us who have worked in this field for years," says Bogomolov. "It will allow us to get in front of diversity and cultural competence issues, rather than just react to them."
Bogomolov recognizes there has been ongoing "good work done by so many at the hospital and the school." She is excited about the new center and the commitment from hospital leadership.

Creating A Diverse Workforce
Enhancing and retaining an already diverse workforce is another primary target for the center. Barnes-Jewish currently employs more than 9,000 people -approximately 22 percent of them are minorities and 82 percent are female.

Arnold Donald, president and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is a Barnes-Jewish Hospital board member and also chairs the board's ad hoc committee on diversity. “It is important, as an employer, to have a diverse group of people organized around a common objective,"” says Donald. “A diverse group will outperform in creating and developing solutions when compared to a homogeneous group every time.”

By maintaining a diverse workforce, hospital employees will benefit from a healthier, more engaging workplace with solid pathways for career advancement.

Empowering Minority Physicians
Another crucial area of focus for the center will be enhancing the recruitment and retention of under-represented minority residents and fellows. Taking an active role on behalf of Washington University School of Medicine is Will Ross, MD, associate dean for diversity.

Dr. Ross knows firsthand what the new center will mean to the hospital and its physicians. After attending medical school at Washington University, Dr. Ross completed his residency at Vanderbilt University, where he saw a greater commitment to diversity and cultural competence. “I loved Washington University and was glad to come back as a research fellow,” he says. “I wanted to make a commitment to changing this environment.”

Dr. Ross believes the new center and its focus are important because Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University
School of Medicine are both viewed as national leaders in health care, education and research. Dr. Ross and his colleagues are working to ensure the center's focus on recruiting and retaining under-represented minority residents and fellows through a mentoring program. “The number of minority residents, whether African-American, Latino, or others, is small, and those who are here have not felt a sense of camaraderie in the past,” he says. “We hope to create a critical mass of minority residents who feel empowered to network, don't feel isolated, and are likely to actively recruit others and encourage them to stay.”

African-American individuals currently make up two percent of the residents and fellows at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, while the city of St. Louis has an African-American population of just over 52 percent. With the support of the new center and the mentoring program, the hope is to enhance the diversity of physicians who join Washington University School of Medicine faculty or local private practices, thus improving physician diversity within the entire St. Louis health-care community.

New Center Leadership
Barnes-Jewish Hospital leadership recently named Brenda Battle director of the new Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.

Battle says she is encouraged that Barnes-Jewish Hospital, BJC HealthCare and the Washington University School of Medicine are making a commitment to diversity and cultural competence. “Developing this center is critical for St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. We must understand the community we serve and our workplace has to mirror our world,” says Battle. “Cities like St. Louis are changing and we must focus on the human side of this change if we are going to improve health-care outcomes of our patients.”

Battle joins Barnes-Jewish Hospital after serving as executive vice president, government and community affairs with Medical Transportation Management, Inc. In her role with MTM, she oversaw corporate sales and marketing, and was instrumental in shaping legislative and policy decisions that improved access to health care through transportation resources. She is a registered nurse, holds a master's degree in business and has more than 24 years of health-care related experience.

Since Dr. Ziskind's arrival as president one year ago, he has made it clear that Barnes-Jewish Hospital has a responsibility to the St. Louis community to be a leader of change in diversity and cultural competence. He knows that both Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine will be better because of this new effort. “We must be a positive agent of change and we can, in many ways create a community and environment at Barnes-Jewish that will serve as a model of diversity for the city and beyond.”

From the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation’s CORNERSTONES Magazine Summer 2006