A Year in Review: OHCA’s DEI Efforts
OHCA has prioritized advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in long term care as one of our primary organization goals, in addition to goals regarding advocating for members and funding for our sector at the capital, increasing the long term care workforce pool, reducing workforce challenges for members, and much more.
Over the past year, OHCA has taken steps to deepen our understanding of DEI to empower our provider members with tools and resources to be confident leaders in this space. After an internal assessment and collecting data from our members, we’ve successfully embedded DEI initiatives internally and externally through our education and communications.
To uphold our commitment to DEI, we are prioritizing the following goals:
- Engaging with long term care leaders, stakeholders, and decision-makers to ensure organizational readiness and a sector-wide commitment to DEI efforts
- Educating and implementing sustainable programs and trainings for long term care leaders and staff at all levels
- Empowering long term care providers with tools and resources to support their own internal DEI efforts
We shared some of our efforts in our publications including our Oregon Caregiver magazine. The theme of the 2022 Spring/Summer edition of The Oregon Caregiver focuses entirely on DEI initiatives. In the featured article, several leaders from Oregon long term care settings share how they’ve implemented DEI into their workspaces and infrastructures and offer insight into their processes. Other articles highlight key demographics in long term care and show the disparities in access and quality of health services; explore provider and consumer rights when it comes to discrimination and recruitment; offer ideas to bring more inclusivity into dining and activities in long term care settings; and profiles a lawmaker who is making strides in equity at the state level.
We also built out a dedicated a landing page on our website that focuses on OHCA’s efforts in the DEI space, upcoming DEI education, and valuable resources that range from hotlines to mental health, to data. We also regularly share DEI-focused information and celebrations on our social media pages, blogs, publications, and newsletters, along with statements of support for certain social movements.
We are excited that we were able to provide most of our 2022 DEI trainings and educational opportunities to our members free of charge through our partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS). Some of OHCA’s DEI education in 2022 included:
- 2022 Quality Summit
- February 8: Awareness, Education and Expectations: Operationalizing Belonging for Staff and Residents
- February 9: Decoding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI): What Does it All Mean?
- February 10: Becoming an Ally and Facilitating Courageous Conversations: How to Begin the DEI Journey
- 2022 Spring Expo Breakout Sessions
- Addressing Equity: Oregon LGBTQ+ Older Survey and Next Steps Together
- Using Relationship to Relieve Loneliness: How to Develop Older Adult Peer Supports in Your Community
- 2022 Annual Convention Breakout Sessions
- Why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Efforts Fail: How Leaders Can Leverage the Power of Emotional Intelligence to Create Winning Workplaces
- Culturally Competent Care: The Key to Enhancing Compliance, Satisfaction, and Morale
- Learning the Language: DEI and Dementia
- The Importance of Evolving Language and Acronyms for LGBT+ Community for Overcoming Oppression
- Intercultural Creativity: The Ace up Your Sleeve for the Future of Employee Engagement
- Allyship and Trust: Being an Ally Across Cultural Differences
Ongoing Work
In the spring of 2022, ODHS approved our grant proposal to provide funding for our DEI education and goals through June 2023. Our DEI efforts beyond this partnership will be ongoing. The grant will fund OHCA’s upcoming DEI professional development opportunities for long term care providers and partners to enable us to grow our offerings, offer certain education and activities free to providers to increase participation and reduce barriers to entry, and include high-quality speakers and presenters. Those events include:
- DEI Lunch and Learn Series
- December 1, 2022 – DEI Lunch and Learn: If Not Now, When? Prioritizing LGBTQ+ Older Adult Inclusion (recording)
- December 13, 2022: DEI Playbook: Learning the Language of Dementia and DEI (recording)
- January 25, 2023: DEI Playbook: Leveraging Emotional Intelligence to Create Winning Workplaces
- March 16, 2023: DEI Playbook: What Leaders Can do to Create Winning Workplaces!
- February 21-23: Quality Summit: Investing in the DEI Long Game with Immediate Actionable Changes
- September 19-20, 2023: DEI-Education at the 2023 OHCA Annual Convention
- Spring 2023: DEI Consultancy Project (More to come!)
- Summer 2023: DEI Leadership Intensive (More to come!)
DEI is a lifelong journey, and we’re eager to take substantive steps to create a more empathetic and inclusive sector for staff and residents.
Learn more about this work and view upcoming educational opportunities on our DEI website here.