SALT LAKE CITY After seeing a number of Black Americans killed in 2020 including George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, to name a few Utah doctors knew the country s treatment of people of color needed to change in many aspects, and especially in health care.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated and highlighted health disparities among minority populations with a disproportionate number of individuals in marginalized communities at a higher risk to become infected. We have seen that Utah is not exempt from experiencing inequities, as one can see with the striking disproportion of cases of COVID-19 in our communities of color, said Dr. Paloma Cariello, associate dean for health equity, diversity and inclusion in the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Utah health care leaders declare systemic racism a public health crisis
The Beehive State’s hospital systems announced a collaboration Tuesday to address health inequities, disparities exposed by COVID-19.
(Screenshot from Zoom) Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO and president of Intermountain Healthcare, speaks during a virtual news conference Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, with Utah s other health care leaders to declare systemic racism a public health crisis. | Updated: 1:32 a.m.
Systemic racism is a public health crisis, according to Utah’s health care leaders, and they say they are working together to eliminate disparities that patients face.
“If we had any doubt whatsoever about whether race affected the health of communities and individuals, the pandemic has absolutely clarified that,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, CEO and president of Intermountain Healthcare, in a virtual news conference Tuesday. He was joined by the heads of University of Utah Health, the Utah Hospital Association, Mo
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To fight systemic racism in health care, Utah’s largest hospital systems and the state hospital association say they will add more people of color to their staff and their boards, as well as expand implicit bias training for existing employees.
Leaders of Utah’s largest hospital systems released a joint statement Tuesday speaking out against systemic racism and vowing to do more to fight it.
Two things led Utah’s hospital systems to examine their role in systemic racism, according to Mikelle Moore, senior vice president of Intermountain Healthcare: The summer of Black Lives Matter protests and the unequal impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on people of color.
Utahns 75 and older will be first in line for COVID-19 vaccine in next phase of rollout
Employment in food services and other industries “no longer being considered” as a factor.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) I won t feel 100% safe until this all of this is over, said Riley Swain, 32, serving patrons at Harp and Hound, a pub in Ogden on Monday, but he said he s OK with letting those 75 and older get the coronavirus vaccine before he does. Gov. Gary Herbert s COVID-19 Unified Command on Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, adopted recommendations for Phase 2 of Utah s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, which includes removing food and restaurant workers from the list of people eligible to receive the vaccine early.
LEHI – The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continued to make its way through hospitals around the state Thursday, as the Moderna vaccine took another step toward approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Intermountain said more than 1,800 caregivers had received the vaccine at their hospitals from Ogden down to St. George, and other hospitals administered the vaccine to their workers for the first time. There s an electric feeling inside the hospitals right now, said Arlen Jarrett, regional chief medical officer for Steward Health Care. We are all anxious for this pandemic to pass on and, you know, for life to get back to normal. And I think with the vaccine this is for our best opportunity here.