Announcements From The Office

• Sponsored the 113th NAACP National Convention hosted in Atlantic City in July. For two weeks AtlantiCare leaders, ERG members and staff were able volunteer and participate in the convention with elected officials, activists, organizers, faith leaders, and entertainers for workshops and discussions to promote solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing Black communities today.
• Hosted the 4th Brown Bag & Community Health Fair event via the LEGACY ERG at the Sandman Towers Housing Authority in Wildwood, NJ where we were able to provide blood pressure screenings, medicine reconciliation, cancer education and stroke education along with information on COVID vaccines.
• Celebrated PRIDE month with the raising of the PRIDE Flag, the distribution of PRIDE pins via rounding and a webinar entitled “Live, Learn and Celebrate” which featured some of our AtlantiCare staff and leaders.
• Participated in the “Atlantic County PRIDE in the Park” in Mays Landing where we were able to share our resources and community work with members of the Atlantic County LGBTQIA+ community

• Launched a strategy to strengthen our commitment to building a diverse workforce by working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the National Urban League of Philadelphia to build health career pipelines. More recently, we are working to establish an official partnership with the Cheyney University and their Health Sciences department to offer shadowing opportunities and entry level clinical career opportunities at AtlantiCare.

• Hosted a community health fair for the Asian communities of Atlantic City via the APEG ERG.

• Finally, Christian Ragland presented on the national stage of the American Hospital Association’s Accelerating Health Equity Conference on Inclusive Leadership.
• Selected 11 High School graduating seniors to receive a $1,000 ERG scholarship towards their degrees in healthcare field. The schools that these students are attending are University of Alabama, University of Pittsburgh, Penn State University, Rutgers University, Stockton University, Quinnipiac University, North Carolina Agriculture & Technology (HBCU) and Thomas Jefferson University.

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  • Launched a Paper Shredding Event for Earth Day with the EARTHS ERG and Atlantic County Utilities Authority.
  • Finally, Christian Ragland presented to the American Association of Blacks in Energy (South Jersey Chapter) on Inclusive Leadership in

Executed our Diverse Leadership Readiness Program (DLRP) pilot, with diverse leaders that are currently in our traditional leadership development program. The pilot is progressing as planned, and this cohort is very engaged as reported in our first check cycle. The program is a 12 month program, and should conclude by February of 2023. We are in the process of defining the measures of success.

Congratulations to our Chief DEI Officer and Vice President of Clinical Services Charisse Fizer, who was named among the Who’s Who in Health Care by South Jersey Biz magazine. AtlantiCare is grateful for her leadership and the impact she’s had on our team and community.

As part of our commitment to DEI and the communities we serve, we partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City. Among other activities, we facilitated town halls on Equity and the COVID-19 vaccine, held weekly healthcare career exploration classes, and in February and March 2021, hosted screenings of the documentary “Black Men in White Coats” followed by panel discussions.

We were proud to listen to and support our Chief DEI Officer and Vice President of Clinical Services Charisse Fizer, as a featured speaker in the Stockton University Women’s Leadership Council’s Women in Leadership: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Panel.

For the ninth year in a row, AtlantiCare earned the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) designation as a leader in LGBTQ Healthcare Equality in its Healthcare Equality Index. This index (HEI) is the national benchmarking tool that evaluates policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of LGBTQ patients, visitors and employees.

AtlantiCare’s Office of DEI and the LEGACY ERG hosted our first Brown Bag Initiative on October 27. At this event, community members brought in their medications and supplements to have them reviewed by a pharmacist, who ensured that there wasn’t any possibility for medication-related errors or side effects caused by taking multiple medications at once.

The Brown Bag Initiative focused on those with chronic conditions, who may have a variety of providers, be taking many different medications, or have more than one pharmacy filling their prescriptions.

On October 9th, 2021, Jenny Hernandez, Process Management Office Consultant and Co-chair of AtlantiCare Latinos Moving Forward (ALMA) was honored at the Nuestro Pueblo Awards. Held annually at Stockton University, this event is put on by the Hispanic Association of Atlantic County and Stockton Unidos.

In September 2021, we added our new EARTHS Employee Resource Group. At a time when sustainability is a major global initiative, AtlantiCare is committed to improving our community’s environmental well-being through education and an engaged workforce.

On June 17, 2021, the Atlantic County Women’s Hall of Fame inducted honorees from both 2020 and 2021. Our own Tracey Triniwell, Administrative Director of Women’s Health, was among those inducted for 2020 for her achievements and contributions.

On May 27, 2021, members of the DEI Council joined AtlantiCare President and CEO Lori Herndon, MBA, BSN, RN, as she signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge. This is a monumental validation of our mission to foster an inclusive, collaborative, and culturally sensitive work environment — and to enhance the care and services it provides to the community.

In January 2021, we officially added Inclusion to the key AtlantiCare values of Safety, Teamwork, Integrity, Respect and Service. To help better prioritize inclusion in all we do, we invested in inclusive leadership training for our 400-plus-employee AtlantiCare leadership team.

From February through May 2020, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) used grassroots outreach to assist thousands of at-risk community members in getting their COVID-19 vaccinations. Thanks to their efforts, over 3500 people were able to receive their vaccine.

 

 

For questions, please email diversity@atlanticare.org.