COMMITMENT TO RACIAL EQUITY
Michaela Lindahl & Associates opposes all forms of racism, overt and covert, in policing and condemns all forms of racially-motivated violence.
Systemic, structural, institutional and interpersonal racism is a public health issue as it continues today in healthcare, education, employment, wealth, housing, transportation, incarceration, urban planning, and climate action. Racism within our political, economic, social and ecological decisions has health and equity impacts and must be addressed.
Michaela Lindahl & Associates will actively work to dismantle racist and discriminatory policies and practices across health care in all its forms.
Michaela Lindahl & Associates was founded with racial equity in healthcare as a core value. For months, we’ve watched as the tragedy of COVID-19 has disproportionately hurt communities of color, in number of cases, deaths and in economic hardship. Data, slow to be available, shows us that across the country black and brown communities bear the burden of 3 times more deaths due to COVID-19 than that of whites, and in some areas up to seven times than that of whites. What was apparent to some of us before, is glaring to many now. Race is not a risk factor in healthcare, but racism is. This has now exploded on the national stage with recent incidents of police brutality and racists acts around the country.
As a white woman, as much as I can try to understand what others are feeling, I know that I cannot truly appreciate what people of color experience on a daily basis. I have tried to take the time to reflect, learn, and when needed apologize. With that, I know that I cannot stay silent as another black man dies at the hands of the police. It is with acknowledgment that it is well beyond just the local police, but structural racism designed to criminalize black and brown bodies and populations with purposeful intent to create a discriminatory system.
I know that it is not enough to condemn overt actions of a white supremacist system, and it is necessary to take action and create change that is needed in the system. In addition to my own personal work to create change, Michaela Lindahl & Associates commits to working through a racial equity lens in all engagements, and will work with you to engage equity in our work.
As a nurse and healthcare leader, I know that healthcare is overwhelmed with the disproportionate care of black and brown communities due to the pandemic of COVID-19. But healthcare has been overwhelmed for years with the disproportionate care of these same communities due to systematic racism. Societal racism perpetuated by healthcare continues to harm our communities we promised to serve. It has been built systematically into the fabric of our world, so we must commit to unraveling and reweaving a new fabric in which every human life is given equal value. It is time for healthcare to right the wrongs of an unjust and harmful system, and create equity in care delivery. Let's be courageous together.