In July 2022, health professionals from across the U.S. gathered in Chicago for the annual Mayo Clinic RISE for Equity conference — an event that aims to advance equity, diversity and inclusion in health care. We caught up with some of the over 400 attendees to get a sense of why they came and what they were learning.
We asked: “Would you recommend RISE to others? Why or why not?”
The response was unanimous: Yes.
“I’ve already put the dates for 2023 on my calendar.” — Sherree Wilson, Ph.D.
“The answer’s yes and the reason why is because coming here, people are not afraid to talk about topics that make you uncomfortable.” — Alfredo Cerrato
“If I’m afforded the opportunity to come back, I will come back. We went to the role of video conferencing because of the pandemic, but you can really feel the warmth with somebody talking. And the other key to this is networking.” — Paul Lewis Sr.
“If we had the resources I would recommend RISE to every single employee within the institution.” — Vincent Anani
Why? Come to be lifted up and energized.
“Doing this work can be very challenging. But when you can come here and get energized, it gives you that little boost to top (you off), to let you know that even though it’s challenging, you can still do it.” — Quiana DeBrill
“Every single session I’ve sat in has been helpful. … And the atmosphere is just infectious. Everyone is positive; you can tell everyone cares. And so I just think people need to see this. Because in health care, you can sometimes get down and you can sometimes think, ‘Gosh, we’re never going to get to where we need to be.’ But coming here, you see actual progress and you see people trying, and I think that’s important.” — Shavogne Morgan, M.H.A.
Why? Come to learn.
“I would recommend it especially to health care workers and health care staff. … Cultural context and lived experiences on top of physical symptoms need to be considered for truly curing patients, and that is hard to come about if you don’t have a DEI perspective.” — Sumedha Penheiter, Ph.D.
“I recommend RISE to people because I think that the Mayo Clinic has a good way of sharing evidence-based models, programs and initiatives that can be replicated.” — Joel Jackson
Some attendees hoped to see even more people come in the following years.
“I would definitely recommend RISE. One of the things that I would like to see: more leadership coming here.” — Horacio San Roman, M.B.A., PMP
“We need to have people who are curious — who want to become allies — to be part of these conversations more; otherwise it’s like preaching to the choir.” — Sarah Dhanorker, M.S., M.H.A.
“I would recommend RISE to people who don’t want to come. … That’s sort of my dream for this conference: Instead (of it being) a place for all the DEI people to come and grow, also to be a place where leadership — who isn’t necessarily thinking about this — to interact with other people who are passionate and spread the passion in that way.” — Jennifer Koehler
“Every session, there’s a little bit for everybody, regardless of the level of comfort in the DEI space.” — Maria Baer
“If the needs of the patient come first, then this work is important for all of us.” — Shawn Dutchin, M.A.
Take their advice. Join us in August 2023 for the next RISE for Equity conference!
Read more about what the attendees had to say:
