St. Louis Children’s Hospital recently conducted community outreach sessions about health needs of area children and how to address those needs. Over a year ago during previous unrelated listening sessions, hospital’s community and faith advisory board members were hearing stories about what has happened to black people and health care in St. Louis.
“Some of our leaders … were unaware of some of the atrocities and things that have happened to the black community,” Kel Ward, manager of community relations at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, said. “Once different advisory board members started talking –
everybody started sharing stories about their grandmother, their granddaddy – and they started sharing stories about BJC, when it was [separate hospitals] Jewish… and it was Barnes, and how black people were treated.”
Advisory board members encouraged hospital leadership to reach out to the community. Hospital leadership wanted to find out more, and hear it firsthand.
Following a community forum two weeks earlier, a listening session took place Nov. 10 at Gore Educational Center in Jennings School District. Educators, hospital administrators, community leadership and family members attended it.
“Tonight is where we get feedback on how to move forward,” Ward said.
District residents were able to share from the perspective of those with students in the district as well as those without, Superintendent Art McCoy said, and it was good for awareness.
“People didn’t know how Children’s Hospital cares about the community – and they didn’t know the degree of specialization was available. The empathy they show and the research is very in-depth,” McCoy said. “Overall, residents feel like their voices were heard and they made good contacts and connections.”
The second listening session was held after church on Sunday, Nov. 13 at Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community) in St. Louis, hosted by Rev. Starsky Wilson and moderated by Amy Hunter. Rev. Wilson told The American he was pleased that congregants had a chance to talk about their experiences in the health care system, including barriers that come from behaviors and institutional challenges that create barriers, including a workforce that is not reflective of the community and inequities in treatment in emergency rooms.
“Two of my congregants both have young adult children – one is African American and the other is white. One got ‘hotlined’ and the other got support services.” The two women were sitting at the same table, Wilson said, adding it was helpful and powerful for executive leadership to hear these things directly.
“It was powerful to hear executive leadership apologize for these historic inequities and to commit to further listening and strategizing to the community responding to community concerns in hiring and in health care practice.”
A third listening session was held on Nov. 20 at St. John AME Church on Kingshighway, hosted by Senior Pastor Lee Clayton Goodman, Esq. and moderated by Rebeccah Bennett.
