EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Equity and inclusion—these are the core principles on all our minds these days. Here at Health Professions Press, we stand in solidarity with the Black community, and we join in mourning the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin, and so many other Black Americans who have lost their lives senselessly and violently. The racism and brutality must end. At Health Professions Press, we are pledged to help bring change, and we are renewing our efforts to encourage movement toward a safer and healthier country for everyone.
For over 30 years, HPP’s mission has been about changing the culture of care. In the products we publish and the services we provide, we aim to promote compassionate and holistic care and to always preserve individual dignity—the very essence of person-centered care. We are committed to ensuring that all potentially vulnerable members within the aging services field are respected, valued, and treated with dignity. Our team works daily to ensure these principles are applied in everything we do and all those whose lives we touch. That includes affirming, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter.
NOT ENOUGH
Not enough about the world has changed. The long-held prejudices and racial beliefs of older generations are still expressed by some residents in nursing homes and long-term care communities across the nation. As Black Americans age and encounter the need for residential care or senior living, they should be able to feel safe and secure in their environment, and to have their life experiences and their cultures acknowledged, honored, and celebrated. As Black Americans and other people of color commit themselves to caring for the ill and the elderly, they themselves should be valued, respected, paid equitably, and encouraged to pursue opportunities to advance. HPP is proud to partner with authors, speakers, and thought leaders in the field to educate professionals working with older adults about ways of ensuring equality for all, in all aspects of life, every single day.
At Health Professions Press, we will do our part to change minds and attitudes, and fight for equality by welcoming and amplifying the voices of Black individuals and providing resources that educate professionals on how to create cultures of inclusivity and respect—care cultures that honor the Life Story of every person and embrace the uniqueness that each person brings to this world.
We say it again today and every day: Black Lives Matter. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin—they are not names, they are lives that mattered. We will not forget them, or the many others who have lost their lives and loved ones because of the inequalities that must be overcome.
We hope you will return to our site to use the resources whenever they can be helpful for you in your own search for equity. We will regularly refresh the postings to provide new sources of information and new insights. It will take all of us working together to bring about real change. We can dismantle racism, but only if we are truthful and humble and acknowledge the depth of change needed.
Melissa A. Behm, President
on behalf of everyone at Health Professions Press
Visit Black Lives Matter at blacklivesmatter.com
If you have a resource you would like added to this page, please email marketing@healthpropress.com.
Selected Resources on Equity and Inclusion
Danielle Brown
McKnight’s Long-Term Care News
December 10, 2020
Trauma and Triumph: My Father, His Dementia and Surviving Segregation
Cynthia R. Greenlee
The Guardian, June 25, 2020
“For my father, a whip-smart man perpetually ready with a joke and who seemed to fear nothing,
anti-Black racial violence surfaced in his delusions and anxieties.”
NCOA Statement: Inequities Make Aging Well Impossible
National Coalition on Aging
Jim Knickman, Interim President and CEO
June 18, 2020
“African American communities must have access to the full array of resources they need to
thrive—across their lifetimes. That is the only way to achieve our nation’s promise of equality for all.”
Eleanor Feldman Barbera, Ph.D., July 19, 2016
“In long-term care, we provide services to, and work with, individuals from backgrounds different than our own. Residents share rooms and break bread with types of people they may never have encountered more than superficially in their previous 80 years of life. Barriers recede when we come to know each other as people, yet it’s not always a smooth road.”
The Changing Demographics of Nursing Home Care: Greater Minority Access…Good News, Bad News
Center for Medicare Advocacy, August 18, 2011
“The good news in the new study is that members of racial minorities have better access to nursing home care, which in some cases is the only realistic long-term care option. The bad news is that disparities in access to non-institutional care may be a partial cause. The Affordable Care Act offers state Medicaid programs expanded options for providing non-institutional long-term care. As advocates work with their states to implement these provisions, all parties involved should be attentive to promoting equity in access to these alternatives to institutionalization.”
Tetyana P. Shippee, Ph.D., Weiwen Ng, M.S., and John R. Bowblis, Ph.D.
Innovation in Aging 2020;4(3): igaa014 (published online June 5, 2020).
“[T]here are racial/ethnic disparities in [quality of life (QOL)], and understanding these disparities is key to improving the care racial/ethnic minority residents receive in [nursing homes]. Though minority residents have lower QOL scores than white residents in low-minority facilities, minority residents generally have similar scores in low- and high-minority facilities. In contrast, white residents report lower QOL scores in high-minority facilities (vs low-minority), even when other factors are held constant.”
COVID-19 Pandemic: Exacerbating Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Long-Term Services and Supports
Tetyana P. Shippee , Ph.D., Odichinma Akosionu, M.P.H., Weiwen Ng , M.P.H., Mark Woodhouse, B.A., Yinfei Duan , M.S.N., Mai See Thao, Ph.D., and John R. Bowblis , Ph.D.
Journal of Aging & Social Policy 2020;32(4-5): 323-333 (published online May 31, 2020).
“The current pandemic has highlighted an ongoing, often hidden problem that without improved policies and actions today will continue into the future. Given the spotlight that the pandemic has placed on inequality in the long-term care system, now is the time for policymakers to share data and to learn about the sources of system-level issues that drive racial/ethnic segregation in [long-term services and supports (LTSS)] and gaps in quality for racial/ethnic minority LTSS users.”
Ruqaiijah Yearby, J.D., M.P.H.
Temple Law Review 2010;82(4):1177.
“Racial bias operates on three different levels in health care: structural, institutional, and interpersonal.”
Ruqaiijah Yearby, J.D., M.P.H.
Journal of Health Care Law & Policy 2010;13; Buffalo Legal Studies Research Paper No. 21.
“Because African Americans disproportionately reside in poor quality nursing homes and this disparity is projected to continue as the elderly population grows, there is great urgency in putting an end to racial inequities in the provision of quality nursing home care.”
African American Older Adults and Race-Related Stress: How Aging and Health-Care Providers Can Help
Frances Adomako, Ed.M., for the American Psychological Association Office on Aging
“Research indicates that African Americans—young and old—experience subtle and overt forms of racial discrimination. African American older adults, however, have also experienced cumulative race-related stressors that negatively impact their physical and mental health.”
Black Aging Matters: How to Better Address Racism-Related Stress in African American Older Adults (American Psychological Association video)
“While many black elders were champions for change during the Civil Rights Movement, today they remain impacted by a lingering inequality.”
Multicultural Aging Efforts at APA
Publications, webinars and activities related to the American Psychological Association’s multicultural aging efforts.
“Many assume that older adults are alike. However, as this age group includes five decades of individuals, the differences among older adults are great—actually greater than those seen in other age groups.”
NHPCO Seeks to Increase Access to Hospice and Palliative Care Services Within Diverse Communities
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
NHPCO Inclusion and Access Toolbox [for purchase]
“This toolbox is a collection of suggestions and successes based on the thoughts and experiences of hospice providers in many settings throughout the United States. A diverse range of populations reflecting many variables are highlighted.”