In Brenda Battle’s last management role, Brenda Battle helped with transport of patients to needed medical services.
She will now help Barnes-Jewish Hospital with directions to company-wide diversity.
Battle has been named director of the hospital’s newly established Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.
Calling herself “passionate about the work this Center will focus on,” Battle said her work would be “critical for St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.”
“We must understand the community we serve and our workplace has to mirror our world,” she said.
Battle comes to Barnes-Jewish from Medical Transportation Management, Inc. (MTM) where she was executive vice president of government and community affairs.
While battle wants her workplace to mirror the world, it currently doesn’t mirror the population of St. Louis, according to Dr. Will Ross, Washington University School of Medicine associated dean for diversity.
At Barnes Jewish, two percent of the residents and fellows are African American while the city’s population is more than 52 percent black. Ross, who has represented Washington University in establishment of the new center, said he believes it and a new mentoring program will lead to more under-represented residents and fellows being recruited as faculty. The hope is they then will remain here to practice and improve diversity throughout the region’s health-care community.
“The numbers of minority residents whether African-American, Latinos or others is small and those who are here have not felt a sense of camaraderie in the past.
“We hope to create a critical mass of minority residents who feel empowered to network, won’t feel isolated and will be more likely to actively recruit others and encourage them to stay,” Ross said.
“The numbers of minority residents whether African-American, Latinos or others is small and those who are here have not felt a sense of camaraderie in the past.”
Arnold Donald, president and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and Barnes-Jewish board member, chaired the committee that developed the Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence.
“It is important as an employer to have a diverse group of people organized around a common objective,” Donald said.
“A diverse group will outperform in creating and developing solutions when compared to a homogeneous group every time. When diverse people come together, the result is better quality service.”
Funded with $1.56 million from the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation, the center will coordinate:
? Diversity initiatives for BJH employees.
? Interpreter services, led by Barbara Bogomolov, RN, which will be integrated with the Center.
? Collaboration with Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) and other local agencies to support research into and reduction of health disparities and support education in cultural competence.
? A program to recruit and retain under-represented minority medical residents and fellows to Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
? Diversity-related community relations to bring awareness to greater St. Louis.
“As both a major employer and health-care provider, we have the opportunity to have a more vibrant and effective workforce by virtue of its diversity,” Andy Ziskind, MD, president, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, said.
“Cultural competence is our ability to provide care to patients with diverse values and beliefs. To be culturally competent means we must provide care that is sensitive to each patient’s unique social, cultural and linguistic needs.”
