Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Our mission at Legacy Health and in our Graduate Medical Education programs is good health for our people, our patients, our community, and our world; that mission drives everything we do. We serve a diverse patient population from areas across the Pacific Northwest, and we are dedicated to reflecting that within our healthcare teams. Diversity is broadly defined including race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical abilities, socioeconomic status, religion, and other life experiences. We are committed to providing an environment that is welcoming and supportive of all trainees. In addition, as healthcare professionals, we know that health disparities and inequities disproportionately effect those from diverse backgrounds. We are devoted to improving care and reducing inequities in the communities we serve. We strive to recruit, educate, and retain a diverse physician workforce with the skills needed to care for all patient populations.
Some of our activities include:
- Lectures and Grand Rounds focused on DEI, advocacy, and health equity topics
- DEI workshops during orientation to discuss Legacy resources and policies, and to introduce education around microaggressions, trauma informed care, and health disparities
- Access to the twice monthly antiracist education and action newsletter "Lanes to Justice" which is curated by program faculty
- Yearly participation in Oregon ACP Advocacy Day
- Residents may join Legacy Employee Resource groups available across the system
- Partnership with MedStaircase to provide shadowing and mentorship opportunities for pre-med students that identify as underrepresented in medicine
- Interested residents have the opportunity to work directly with attendings whose practice include a focus in gender affirming care and HIV treatment to help prepare for future practice if desired. Learn more about Legacy’s Gender Care Services here
- Ongoing efforts and quality improvement projects in the resident clinics and inpatient setting to address health disparities. One of Legacy’s focuses is on food insecurity, and we have partnerships in the community to help provide fresh food markets & boxes as well as shelf stable food bags
- Resident & Faculty Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion workgroup specifically dedicated to helping create and address antiracist education and programs
- In recruitment, we are dedicated to prioritizing holistic review and implicit bias training for interviewers, as well as offering medical student scholarships for students who identify as underrepresented in medicine
Land Acknowledgement
We in Legacy Graduate Medical Education acknowledge that the Portland Metro area rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Mollala, and many other tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. We recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We also acknowledge the systemic policies of genocide and assimilation that still impact many Indigenous and Native families today. As guests on these lands, we respect the work of Indigenous leaders and families, and pledge to make ongoing efforts to recognize their knowledge, creativity, and resilience.
