Diversity & Inclusion

Ensuring that you are treated with dignity - regardless of your culture, language, age, religion, or race - is a top priority of Frederick Health. That is why we provide patient care in a diverse, inclusive, and respectful healthcare environment. As the diversity of our Frederick community continues to grow, the expectations and experiences of healthcare consumers and team members are increasingly influenced by those changing dynamics. Providing safe, high-quality, patient-family centered care requires culturally appropriate care sensitive to the needs of the individual.

The Director of Cultural Awareness and Inclusion and the Diversity Advisory Council works to advise leadership on diversity, inclusion, and cultural competence strategies to align with, and contribute to, achieving the organization's mission to positively impact the well-being of every individual in our community.Those tactics have produced a number of positive steps.

• New employees receive annual cultural competence and diversity training starting at orientation, including detailed training on the provision of language access services such as American Sign Language Interpreters and Foreign Language Interpreters.
  
• The Standards of Behavior, called R.E.S.P.E.C.T , incorporates a diverse lens and hold every team member accountable for creating a welcoming, inclusive, and respectful environment.
  
• Leadership programs incorporate critical thinking skills and practical application of unbiased decision making, managing difference, and leveraging diverse talents and skills.
  
• Workshops for team members include Cultural Competence, Unconscious Bias, Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts, Gateway Conversations and Cultural and Religious Influences in Death and Dying.
  
• Assistance in meeting federal, regulatory, and compliance standards that call for non-discrimination and equal access without regard to the person’s race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, alienage, language, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, familial status, disability, or other protected characteristic under the law.
  
• Frederick Health partners with outside organizations for the purpose of understanding more about different communities and their perceptions of healthcare service, including
  • AARCH (the African American Resource and Cultural History Society)
  • AACF (Asian American Center of Frederick)
  • Centro Hispano de Frederick
  • Delta Sigma Theta Sorority/Divine 9
  • Faith Striders
  • R.S.V.P. (Retired Seniors and Volunteers Programs)
  • Dozens of faith based and community organizations in Frederick.
  • Frederick Center
  • Hearing Loss Association of America
  • Black Mamas Building Bridges
  • Spanish Speaking Community of Frederick County
  • Dozens of faith based and community organizations in Frederick.
  • Collaborative partnerships that take the health system’s resources into the community (see Bridges Lay Health Educator Program and the Community Benefits program) to raise health literacy and improve access to care.

For more information, please contact Janet J. Harding, Director, Cultural Awareness & Inclusion at 240-566-3465 or jharding@frederick.health.

Frederick Health is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We are proud to employ and partner with highly skilled and talented people who reflect the growing diversity in and around Frederick County. For more information about employment opportunities, please go to our careers page.