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Diversity at Saint Elizabeth
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Lincoln ranks among the Top 15 sites for refugee relocation in the United States!
The US Office of Refugee
Resettlement has designated Lincoln as a preferred community for newly-arrived refugees. In addition to refugees Lincoln is also home to existing ethnic minority populations. This means Lincoln is rich in cultural and ethnic diversity!
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At Saint Elizabeth we choose to embrace diversity in numerous ways. The following are addressed below.
What Languages
Interpreters
Blue phones
Our Policy
Diversity Council
Diversity Ambassadors
Sudanese healthcare differences– learning first-hand
Russian Cake-an ethnic thank-you
Festive treat---Latvian Kringle—recipe included!
Below are the languages for which interpreters were most used at Saint Elizabeth-in rank of frequency during the past year:
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Major languages:
• Spanish • Arabic • Vietnamese
• Russian • Sign Language • Kurdish • Nuer (Sudan) • Bosnian |
Also:
Chinese
French
Farsi
Urdu (Pakistan and others) |
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Interpreters
WHY: At Saint Elizabeth we recognize that language is critical for patients to understand
their caregivers! From understanding what is medically wrong with them, to their
treatments and medications, to how to continue care after leaving our medical
center.
Our Limited English Proficiency (LEP) patients and families have a right to receive the most accurate medical and other information related to their care; to have opportunities to ask questions and address concerns; as well as to be provided the opportunity for informed participation in decisions regarding their healthcare.
WHAT: We provide in-person professional medically-trained interpreters for our patients and their families from our first contact with them until the patient leaves our medical center. There is no charge to the patient. For languages and dialects for which interpreters are rare in Lincoln, we are working hard to identify community resources---or use a special blue phone we have available to all care areas and other appropriate locations inside Saint Elizabeth.
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In emergency and urgent situations, Saint Elizabeth has 60 blue-colored, dual-hand
set telephones from Cyracom, called ClearLink phones. The phones are located in
key areas throughout the medical center. |
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• The dual handsets allow the patient and caregiver to simultaneously hear interpreted
information, questions & answers, etc.
• There’s a “speaker phone” option so families or additional clinical people
can also hear.
• The phones allow one-button connection to an excellent language interpretation
service with ~500 languages and various dialects available.
• These phones are NOT designed to replace in-person professional interpreters but can be used to fill in gaps when time is an issue or only short bits of information need to be exchanged.
the color white is associated with death?
Hospitals should paint their walls!
Saint Elizabeth believes it is in keeping with our mission to provide services in a manner that is respectful to each person; we recognize that every person has the right to communicate in their language of choice.
Diversity Council
Our Diversity Council serves as an advisory council, reporting to the Executive Council at Saint Elizabeth. Our diversity team hopes to create a work atmosphere at Saint Elizabeth where associates deliver care in a culturally-competent manner; learn to value the strengths inherent in a diverse work force; and where patients are treated in a manner respectful of their racial and ethnic background. With this in mind, we have formulated the following goals:
GOALS:
1. To promote education aimed at fostering an enlightened workforce in regards to cultural
diversity issues.
2. To develop a healthy respect and appreciation for the cultural differences that exist in our
workforce and our patient community.
3. To become the employer of choice for racial and ethnic minorities.
4. To become the health system of choice for racial and ethnic minorities seeking care.
5. To promote policies that are culturally sensitive.
Our Diversity Council is a wonderful mixture of individuals who work in various positions within the medical center as well as a number of members from the community. If you wish to ask questions about our council, please contact Kevin Flores at 402.219.7386 or kflores@stez.org
Diversity Ambassadors
Saint Elizabeth has a large group of Diversity Ambassadors---representing the
numerous departments within our medical center and some clinics (part of The Physician
network.) Their primary goal is to help us all better understand and appreciate
the diverse cultures we serve among patients, visitors, and associates at Saint
Elizabeth.
These ambassadors are provided with quarterly training sessions and monthly materials
so they can share with their co-workers .The materials vary from fun and conversation-stimulating
quick quizzes to a monthly calendar of holidays and recognitions among various
cultures of the world.
Cultural competency—the ability to understand a global view of
different cultures and adapt our practices to ensure their effectiveness
in delivering healthcare and working alongside each other.
Sudanese healthcare – Cultural learning
• First-hand learning
• General info on Sudanese Culture
• Khamisa’s Story---one refugee family’s tale
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In a display of thanks from another corner of our diverse employee numbers, our
HR Team was surprised with a freshly baked and decorated Russian cake and incredible
melt-in-your-mouth chocolates from Russia!
A number of Saint Elizabeth associates who hail from Russia brought the sweet treats to the HR team to say thank you for helping and supporting them during their employment here. |
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