Archives for June 2020

By Nicole Willis, North Sound ACH Chief Operations Officer

UPDATED 6/15: This post was written before Rashard Brooks was murdered by Atlanta Police on Friday, 6/12.

North Sound ACH is committed to being an action-oriented anti-racist organization. As we mourn the murder of George Floyd, our team is experiencing emotions ranging from anger to anguish. Our CEO Liz was the first person who told me about Mr. Floyd’s death. Expecting to see her smiling face on our daily Zoom check-in, I saw an expression of deep heartache. She apologized, “I’m sorry, I am a bit off. I think I just watched a black man die and all I could do was scream.” I can’t recall what we discussed the remainder of the meeting, but I do remember we sat virtually with each other while we processed yet another Black American killed by police brutality and racial injustice.

In the days that followed, we learned George Floyd was diagnosed with COVID-19 weeks before his murder. After surviving a disease which attacks the respiratory system, a disease that is decimating communities of color, what a tragedy that his life ended at the hands of law enforcement.  Some of his last words on May 25 were “I can’t breathe”.

Some have declared racism to be a public health crisis and as we watch the global anti-racism response, some declare that racism is a pandemic. It is not lost on me that the racism and COVID pandemics are intertwined in the most destructive and unjust ways. This is especially true for people of color that have been working the frontlines in healthcare, and the frontline workers who are enabling the economy to open back up again. We’ve read stories of Susie Chin Lee, Regina Lim Låee, Willa Lee, Guadalupe Olivera, Cora Howard, James Simpson and many more who worked in non-hospital settings, many aware of their exposure, yet committed to their livelihood and paid the ultimate price.

How can we use our privilege to respond to the current situation through our organizations? We first must take a hard and honest look at ourselves and our work, and ask:

• Are we part of a health system where institutional racism and individual discrimination exist?
• Are we using and publishing data that has and continues to marginalized people of color, indigenous people and LGBTQ+ people?
• Are we bearing witness to inequalities and injustice in COVID-19 response, reopening and recovery?

Direct action

North Sound ACH will begin in the next week:

1. Fund and advocate for equitable personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution for at-risk workers.
   • Inquire and ensure adequate PPE is available for all in congregate living and work settings, specifically farmworkers, assisted living facilities, homeless shelters, food processing centers, fisheries, childcare centers, food banks and community outreach workers.
   • Assess financial impact of required COVID testing among underinsured and uninsured workers.
     
2. Assess how Care Act funding decisions are being made and how funds are being equitably distributed.
   
3. Launch the Data Community for Change initiative.
   • This initiative will recruit novice to expert data minds throughout the North Sound region and beyond, to collaborate and learn how to analyze data for equity, improve race/ethnicity data collection, forecast COVID-19 impact on social determinants of health, and other ways to use data for change.

We are grateful to those who have already reached out to us to ask, “What can we do? What should we say?” We will continue to stay on this equity and justice journey with you, where we can listen and learn from one other.

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

Olympic Community of Health Stands in Solidarity

By Celeste Schoenthaler, Executive Director

We are grateful for other ACHs in the state also sharing statements. The following was sent to Olympic Community of Health’s mailing list on June 2.

As an organization, as a team, as human beings, we are deeply saddened and disturbed by the tragic death of George Floyd. Olympic Community of Health stands in solidarity with the Black community and all People of Color. There is pain, anger, and suffering within our home here in the Olympic region. We recognize that this outpour of frustration and grief is a response to the presence of oppression, violence, and racism that has existed in our nation and communities for centuries.

Olympic Community of Health aims to “tackle health issues that no single sector or Tribe can tackle alone”, which includes tackling systemic racism and discrimination. As a region, we are a part of a bigger community; We are impacted by our neighbors in Seattle and Minneapolis. The injustices that we see happening in our world are issues that can only be addressed if we learn from one another and come together in support of those who have had their voices silenced.

Olympic Community of Health is committed to learning from the many incredible communities in the Olympic region, learning about the presence of power, privilege, and oppression, while collaboratively working towards a future that supports the health and wellbeing of ALL communities. We encourage you to lean into any discomfort you many feel, have tough conversations, ask your neighbors, friends, and family how you can support them, and reach out if you need support.

More than three years ago the North Sound ACH team and Board made a commitment to embed equity into the work of our organization and with our partners across the region. We embarked on a Tribal and Equity Learning journey together and have been honored to learn from local, regional and national experts who have enlightened and inspired us to the work ahead. 

Over the past two months the fractured health system has been exposed, and the impact of generations of structural racism are being discussed broadly, but for the most part without any tangible expectations being proposed. We know what the problems are but we are stymied about where to begin to address them. Then we have powerful and traumatic events being shown on every screen. There are too many times that America has been shown that the lives of African Americans are worth less than those of white Americans. We see it, we protest, and then we tamp down the anger. Any therapist would tell you that you cannot tamp down anger and injustice forever without it erupting at some point in time. 

I was raised to turn the other cheek; to be polite and understanding to those who would demean me; to always strive to be a better person; to be the example of how things could be better over time. Within my own mixed-race family there are divergent opinions about what is happening across America and how to address these injustices.  The strategies that arise are different for me as an individual with black heritage than they are for me as CEO of a nonprofit, but in the end it comes down to leadership. And the North Sound ACH cannot be silent about social injustice; not if we want to take our journey and make sustainable and lasting change. Not if we want to create a community where all feel a sense of belonging. 

We continue to turn to the Othering and Belonging Institute for thought leadership and especially want to point you to a blog post by their Associate Director Denise Herd. We can listen to john a. powell in a podcast where he speaks in response to George Floyd’s murder. And if you need a more mainstream voice, Trevor Noah recorded his thoughts on racism, George Floyd and COVID here. For many of you, these will be hard to hear. For me and other people of color, this is our legacy in the United States. 

For North Sound, it is time to take action. We will be making changes to 2021 contracts, adding expectations that our partners add efforts to address racism. Together we are a powerful group of leaders across the North Sound region. Imagine if what happened in Minneapolis had happened in Bellingham or Everett. How would you and your organization respond? Do you feel like you have the tools to address that question? Do protests against social injustice have to be met with force? Are there other ways that those in power can respond to anger, fear, and demands for change? How do we test and develop those ‘civic muscles’? 

Across the state counties are implementing COVID recovery plans. Imagine if the governor added an expectation that each county had to develop an actionable plan to denounce hate and address viral racism. Could advancing equity and wellbeing become an integral part of recovery expectations? If not now, I can’t imagine when it could happen.

I live in a lovely neighborhood, and no longer feel safe walking my dogs at night without my white partner. I fear for my adult sons, who work, exercise, and live in predominantly white communities. That everyday fear, anxiety, and heightened awareness takes a toll on me and others who have learned ‘it’s just part of life”. You can’t tell me that I’m lucky to be here and not there, because what happened in Minneapolis could happen in any one of our communities. It probably does happen. The question for us is what can we do to prevent it, to make investments where needed to prepare ourselves, and to have an agreed upon strategy of how we will respond when it happens. 

North Sound ACH cannot be silent. A man’s life was taken while we collectively watched. The people recording did not intervene, although their videos have catalyzed a response around the world. They felt powerless, but we are not without power to make a change. The question is whether you are willing to stand together to make change here.