Imagining a Future Without Health Disparity: Local health professional panel engaged in heart and mind

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Presented by:

Local healthcare professionals seek to illuminate the historical pattern of injustice in medical and public health practices that have contributed to sustained discrimination and inequitable health outcomes among people of color. Lack of access to adequate socioeconomic resources and health care are two primary drivers of inequitable health outcomes. Healthcare professionals are united in addressing and breaking down systemic barriers and improving health outcomes for all in our communities. We are called to enter into this work with a great deal of cultural humility. Our panel will include some sharing about our individual histories and where we hope to progress together by building a path to the other side of the mountaintop. In Dr. King’s 1963 address, he states, “the Almighty said to me, ‘Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in”? Building this path involves relationship with our communities and most importantly, listening.

Dr. King outlined six steps of nonviolent social change that we hope to engage through this presentation but also in our work moving forward:
1. Information gathering- which we hope to do through our small breakout groups.
2. Education- informing others of organizational steps forward even addressing areas in which there are gaps.
3. Personal commitment- eliminating personal motives and pushing forth a commitment built as a partnership between our communities and our organization.
4. Discussion/negotiation- listing out injustices in healthcare and revealing a plan for addressing and resolving these injustices.
5. Direct action- a commitment to stepping into “creative tension” when faced with opposition to engage those to work with us as we work towards resolving injustices.
6. Reconciliation- with each act of reconciliation, whether that’s with one another, policy changes, investigation of injustices, that we take steps in which we become closer to the ‘Beloved Community’.

The presentation will include a panel of healthcare professionals, many of whom are persons of color and passionate about achieving health justice for all. Panel members will share their personal perspectives on health inequity and how we would together to a different future. The panel will be followed by facilitated breakout group dialogues with various members of the panel. This will be an opportunity for local healthcare professionals to hear directly from community members about the health inequities facing our community and how we can respond together.

Keila Torres, JD, DrNP

Keila Torres, JD, DrNP joined PeaceHealth in 2019 to provide nursing leadership for the Childbirth Center, Float RNs, and the Behavioral Health Unit, among other units. She got her start in nursing on the “other coast“ in New York City where she completed her nursing degree at Columbia University. Adding to her early nursing education, Keila pursued her doctoral degree at Drexel University School of Nursing in Philadelphia, PA, where her dissertation topic was “Perinatal Nurse Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding and Association with Inpatient Exclusive Breastfeeding Rate.” She additionally holds a Juris Doctor from Fordham School of Law and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Puerto Rico.  She is fluent in Spanish, loves to travel, cook and is extremely passionate about health inequities and patient advocacy.

Jack Estrada, MSML, R.T.(R) (CT) has been in leadership positions at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center since 2001, when he started as a CT/MRI supervisor. He was steadily promoted, becoming a manager of diagnostic imaging that same year, then adding respiratory therapy; safety, security & communications; environmental services; and food & nutrition to his leadership portfolio. Of note, he has led two of these areas (diagnostic imaging and environmental services) at PeaceHealth Peace Island since the facility opened in the fall of 2005.

Gurpreet Dhillon, MBA has served in a variety of leadership roles with PeaceHealth since 2000. In 2019, he was recognized with the Whatcom’s Young Professional of the Year Award. Gurpreet also serves on the board of the Whatcom Council of Aging.

Audience: Community, Educators, Human Rights / Social Justice Professionals