Inside hospitals across America, color codes designate specific types of emergencies.
Code blue indicates a cardiac or respiratory arrest. Code red specifies smoke or fire. Code pink means an infant needs emergency intervention. Code black typically indicates that there is a bomb threat to the facility. A “code purple” indicates a staff member feels unsafe. Most emergency codes convey objective information, while the code purple is subjective and summons both security personnel and a mental health professional to the bedside.
Between 2008 and 2011, according to an internal report from the Center for Diversity and Health Equity at Seattle Children’s Hospital, “code purple” was called on Black patients far more often than white ones. Immediate action was recommended at that time. Unfortunately, according to a Seattle Times analysis of data since 2014 on the frequency of security calls from the hospital’s inpatient and observation units, nothing has changed. Seattle
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Episode Description
Clinicians and parents are increasingly recognizing the inequities in ADHD care for Black and Latinx children. Children of color inadequately treated for ADHD face serious consequences at school and experience long-term negative impacts on health and well-being. Expert Dr. Tumaini Coker will address these diagnostic and treatment disparities, the negative impact of these inequities, and how the medical community can adapt Parent Behavioral Training programs to help meet the needs of these families and achieve equity in ADHD care.
Seattle Children s Hospital is shown on Thursday, November 14, 2019, in Seattle. Credit: KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
Eric Holder leading inquiry into systemic racism at Seattle Childrenâs Apr 07, 2021
A committee reviewing issues of systemic racism at Seattle Childrenâs Hospital is asking current and former employees, as well as families with relevant information, to come forward. They say the identities of participants will be confidential.
The committee has tapped Eric Holder, former attorney general under President Obama, and his law firm Covington & Burling to lead the review.
The inquiry is the outgrowth of the resignation of Dr. Ben Danielson, a prominent Black pediatrician and administrator, from Seattle Childrenâs last November. His departure caused shockwaves and prompted letters, petitions and protests targeting one of the region s most prestigious healthcare institutions.
What Dr. Ben Danielson’s resignation meant to Seattle
The revered doctor’s exit has caused an uproar from the Black community and a reckoning for Seattle Children’s Hospital.
by
Dr. Ben Danielson stands for a portrait last June. (Dorothy Edwards/Crosscut)
Even before I learned the details of why he was leaving, I knew that it was a big deal for Dr. Ben Danielson to step down as medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic. I had written about the clinic before, and it was clear to me that Danielson’s presence in Seattle was larger than that of a typical medical practitioner. He was an unequivocal advocate for communities of color, a rare Black doctor in a leadership position and a caring provider.