Henry Ford Health System has acknowledged Pride month and took it to social media to share its open support for the LGBTQ community. All across the Detroit Metropolitan area, Pride flags stand tall at five of its hospitals and three administrative offices.
"Our nation is facing truly unprecedented and historic times, making diversity, equity and inclusion more important now than ever before," said Wright Lassiter III, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System.
This is the second year Henry Ford celebrated Pride month. The initiative was led by the company's Pride employee resource group, whose members work to provide LGBTQ patients equitable health care. The Pride ERG also has the duty of recruiting and retaining LGBTQ team members throughout the staff.
"Celebrating our differences with observances like these and learning to understand one another is what truly unites us, as we continue to focus on providing equitable care and reducing disparities within the communities that we serve," Lassiter said.
The six-hospital system makes sure that at the core of its work, its staff is committed to values of compassion, innovation, respect and results. In its goal to practice inclusion and equality for all patients, representatives said that it only feels right for the Pride flag to stand tall outside the facilities.
Henry Ford has recognized the importance of celebrating Pride month each June as a way to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in June of 1969, which largely sparked the modern fight for LGBTQ equality. The company plans on planting a Pride flag in front of its facilities every June onward as a tribute to those who fought at Stonewall and to honor the contributions by the LGBTQ community to society today.
"We are committed to providing safe, equitable health care for all and supporting the LGBTQ community. Honoring diversity is one of the key principles at the very core of our organization, not just through our policies and procedures, but through our actions every day," said Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., senior vice president of Community Health & Equity and chief wellness and diversity officer for Henry Ford Health System.
