Employees working for a West
Texas
healthcare system
were required to take an
implicit bias training
that said asking someone if they spoke English amounted to a microaggression.
According to documents obtained by the medical watchdog group Do No Harm and shared with the Washington Examiner, Covenant Medical Center in Texas required its employees to complete an implicit bias training that contained a list of microaggressions worthy of an apology, including asking if someone spoke English and asking to speak to a manager.
SIX TEXAS MEDICAL SCHOOLS HIT WITH LAWSUIT FOR ANTI-WHITE AND ANTI-ASIAN ADMISSIONS
The slides include detailed instructions on “owning our behavior” through a six-step apology process that one should follow after committing a microaggression. The first steps listed are acknowledging a harm was committed and offering to “repair the issue.” To complete the apology, one must “repent for the problem” and “request forgiveness.”
Covenant Medical Center is part of the West Coast-based Providence Health and Services system, which includes hospitals in Alaska, California, Montana, Washington, and Oregon.
Providence maintains a diversity website that says “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is a “central goal” of the hospital system’s workplace culture.
“We know diversity is central to building an equitable and inclusive workplace — and that our caregivers and teams should reflect the diverse communities they serve,” the website says. “We’re building new processes and policies to drive change.”
The healthcare system says it prioritizes diversity in hiring and promotion decisions and has a “zero-tolerance” policy for “behavior that perpetuates bias or stereotypes.” The system also says it is committed to “health equity” and acknowledges “long-standing inequities have led to health disparities.”
“Our goal is to recruit, develop, and promote diverse talent across all levels and departments,” the healthcare organization says. “We prioritize diversity in race, culture, gender identity or expression and sexual orientation, background, experience, talent, and thought.”
“As a faith-based not-for-profit health system, Covenant Health respects the dignity of all people. Covenant Health is dedicated to a Christian mission of healing by caring for the whole person — body, mind and spirit — and by working with others to improve health and quality of life in our communities,” a spokesperson told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Our implicit bias training is intended to foster a culture in which every patient and employee is treated with compassion and respect, regardless of their age, religion, ethnicity, gender, or any other individual characteristic. Covenant Health follows all local, state and federal employment policies and is an equal opportunity employer.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Do No Harm Program Manager Laura Morgan said the documents from Covenant Medical Center “provide yet another example of just how embedded radical and divisive ideology has become in America’s healthcare system.”
Morgan added: “Covenant and other integrated health systems need to do away with dubious, agenda-driven ideology and return to providing employees with the best training in patient care.”
