Children’s Minnesota was awarded a $75,000 grant from UCare, a Twin Cities-based health plan, to support health equity programs designed to advance intercultural awareness among employees and further cultivate community relationships.
“We are extremely grateful for the generous grant from UCare to bolster our efforts to provide equitable care to our patients and families,” said Marc Gorelick, MD, president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota. “The programs supported by the UCare grant will help us better understand social determinants of health and address the disparities that impact communities we serve.”
Because of this grant, Children’s Minnesota can pursue two major initiatives in 2020:
- An intercultural competency assessment to equip Children’s Minnesota employees with the skills needed to provide inclusive and equitable patient care to serve families’ unique needs and reduce health disparities.
- Dialogue sessions with diverse businesses and organizations within communities that reflect the diversity of Children’s Minnesota patients and families. This will help improve the economic vitality of those communities and build stronger community partnerships.
“We are proud to support Children’s Minnesota efforts to ensure that every child has an equitable health journey,” said Ghita Worcester, senior vice president of public affairs and chief marketing officer at UCare. “We know that educational programs and innovative partnerships across communities are key to eliminating health inequities.”
The grant-funded initiatives complement existing efforts being led by Children’s Minnesota’s Health Equity Council, an internal group of leaders and staff dedicated to eliminating health disparities and addressing systemic inequities that will lead to better outcomes and experiences for underserved, unserved and inappropriately served cultural and ethnic communities.
