Our Commitment to Health Equity
Silver Cross Hospital’s mission to “improve the health of those we serve and advance wellness in the community” serves as the foundation of our efforts to promote health equity and reduce health disparities for the patients we are privileged to serve.
Health Equity Steering Committee
To further our work in promoting health equity and reducing health disparities, Silver Cross chartered a Health Equity Steering Committee in 2024. The goal of this steering committee is to provide strategic direction, coordination and oversight of health equity initiatives, and to ensure compliance with CMS, Joint Commission and Leapfrog requirements for addressing health disparities and social drivers of health. The committee developed the following health equity goals for 2024:
- Make care more accessible by ensuring that interpreter services are provided to those patients with an identified need for interpreter services.
- Ensure equitable care by promoting self-awareness of implicit biases against patients from racially and ethnically minoritized groups and stereotypes about the behavior or health of patients in these groups.
- Decrease the rate of severe maternal morbidity, pregnancy related mortality and pregnancy complications in the hospital setting by providing education for ED providers on high acuity recognition of sick post-partum patients and timely escalation of care to obstetrics.
- Decrease infant mortality by participating in the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative (ILPQC) on Equity and Safe Sleep for Infants (ESSI)
- Embed Equity into Safety Reporting by fostering a culture that empowers patients and staff to speak up for safety and fosters a psychologically safe work environment.
Through the execution of this Health Equity plan, Silver Cross Hospital continues to live its promise to treat all patients the way they should be treated while providing added benefit to the communities we serve.
