To our residency applicants,
As each of you approaches graduation from medical school, you will soon add the title of physician to the way you identify yourself. This title sets you apart as someone who has put in the many years of work and study to prepare yourself to care for others, but it also binds you to the people you serve. We realize that the physicians we recruit are not defined just by their success in medical school, but by many other characteristics that make them who they are as individuals.
The mission of our Organizational Equity team, on behalf of the entire institution, is to continually promote diversity, inclusiveness and equity within our practices in order to optimize the care of our patients. We believe that having an inclusive physician workforce not only strengthens all of the members of our healthcare team, but also better enables us to care for those in our community. To this end, we are committed to recruiting, retaining and promoting physicians from a variety of racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, age and physical ability groups. We also recognize and value the many life experiences and views that people develop based on where they grew up, their language, religion, military service, work history, socioeconomic status, family structure, and other factors.
Our health system serves upstate South Carolina, including Greenville County which is the most populous county in the state. Greenville County has an ethnic distribution of 68.7% white, 18.1% black, 8.95% Hispanic, 2.21% Asian and 1.6% reporting 2 or more ethnic backgrounds. More than 11% speak a language other than English. As the largest Medicare and Medicaid provider in the area, we also care for many of the approximately 14% of our population that live below the poverty line. We provide comprehensive services to meet the particular needs of our entire population.
As a healthcare organization, we are working to meet the challenge of caring for our community at all levels. We maintain that active recruitment of a talented and diverse workforce, in addition to intentional efforts to eliminate disparities are essential components of our initiative to achieve equitable healthcare for our patients. We are dedicated to educating our healthcare team members about diversity and inclusiveness, and to celebrating both our uniqueness and our common goals.
Our health system has taken several steps to enhance this initiative. Our Organizational Equity team identifies and addresses goals at a system-wide level. Additionally, the Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion within the Graduate Medical Education Council focuses specifically on issues related to our resident physicians. Residents from various specialties are actively engaged on this subcommittee. Voluntary groups such as the African American Network, the Veterans Association, the Young Professionals group, the Levi S. Kirkland Sr. MD Society, and Women in Medicine and Science also contribute to our mission. Moreover, resident physicians who train at our institution have the opportunity to partner with members of the LGBT Patient Care Collaborative, for which our organization has gained national recognition because of its practices of equity and inclusion of LGBT patients, visitors and employees.
Ultimately, our goal is to provide the highest quality care for all of our patients. This goal will be achieved not only by recognizing and valuing the diverse backgrounds and experiences that affect how our patients and their families approach healthcare, but also by educating and expanding our own workforce to meet these needs. We expect all of our healthcare members to uphold this same respect for, and tolerance of each other and those under our care. As you consider your path to residency, please feel free to contact us at graduatemedicaleducation@prismahealth.org if you have any questions related to our mission or goals. We will connect you with residents in our training programs that would be happy to discuss their experience here.
Each of our incoming residents adds a unique perspective to our vibrant culture. We look forward to the possibility of sharing this journey with you.
Sincerely,
The Organizational Equity Team