JUSTICE, EQUITY, DIVERSITY, & INCLUSION
Serving a Diverse Community
Our emergency department community prides ourselves on serving the diverse population of Hennepin County. Over 70% of the patients we serve identify as belonging to underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, with 40% of our patients identifying as Black, 25% as Latine, and 6% as American Indian. Over 20% of our patients prefer to communicate in a language other than English and 1/3 of our patients are experiencing housing instability. Our multidisciplinary team of providers, nurses, social workers, interpreters, and clinical coordinators work in tandem to care for our patients and support them in all aspects of their lives and our mission is to create a workforce to reflect this population we serve.
The JEDI Collaborative
The purpose of the HCMC Emergency Medicine JEDI Collaborative is to intentionally promote a culture that embodies and values justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the Hennepin County Medical Center Emergency Department. We plan to achieve this through intentional education, advocacy, outreach, and recruitment.
To achieve this mission, we are actively working to identify and recruit residents who will contribute to the diversity of our EM community and to provide equitable support for the residents we recruit. We provide education for staff on diversity, equity, and inclusion with a focus on diverse voices and perspectives. We engage in outreach activities with multicultural communities. We pursue this work with a goal of promoting the richness of human differences and fostering an environment of acceptance and inclusiveness.
EXTERNSHIP IN COMMUNITY HEALTH OUTCOMES (ECHO)
Externship in Community Health Outcomes (ECHO)
In addition to our medical student rotations, we offer five externship positions with scholarship funding for students interested in completing a visiting rotation in HCMC’s Emergency Department. Emergency Medicine serves a broad patient population, and we seek to support a future workforce that reflects the community’s needs. We recognize that each student brings unique experiences, perspectives, and strengths that enhance patient care and the learning environment.
The ECHO scholarship provides $2,000 in funding to assist with expenses such as airfare and housing during the rotation. This opportunity is open to all 4th-year medical students who are committed to a career in Emergency Medicine and are eager to contribute to our clinical and academic community.
Externs will complete the same clinical and didactic training as our standard visiting students while also engaging in community health experiences. Each extern will be paired with a dedicated faculty and resident mentor for guidance and professional development throughout the rotation.
Applications for the 2025 ECHO scholarship are open through the Clinician Nexus site. Deadline to apply is April 1, 2025.
For any rotation-related questions, please email Taresa.Sawh@hcmed.org. If you have any general questions regarding Diversity at Hennepin EM, please email hennepin.em.diversity@gmail.com.
JEDI Members In the News
- Our chair, Dr. Wyatt, (one of the first tribal enrolled people to lead an academic emergency department in the U.S) states that more diverse staff and public health approach helps patients: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/08/03/hennepin-healthcares-new-emergency-chair-talks-diverse-staff
- Our chair, Dr. Wyatt, featured in The Circle News: https://thecirclenews.org/cover-story/dr-wyatt-heads-em-for-hennepin-healthcare/
- Talent Garden – Hennepin Healthcare’s program that aims to nurture young health care providers of color: https://sahanjournal.com/health/hennepin-healthcare-talent-garden-internships/
- Resident and JEDI committee co-chair Dr. Morgan Lockhart highlighted in the Indigenous match: https://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlopez-carmen/2023/03/19/a-match-made-indigenous-celebrating-10-incoming-native-resident-physicians/
- Article on our Black Youth with Stethoscope Summit: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/02/18/to-address-health-disparities-hennepin-healthcare-turns-to-local-youth
- Video highlighting our American Indian Youth with Stethoscopes Summit: https://youtu.be/z4DjbC9QI4U
- Our faculty, Dr. Andrea Dreyfuss, cofounded the nonprofit Ondas de Latinoamerica; it has the mission of training the leader of POCUS in Latin America in safety net hospitals. Our residents have opportunities to go to different sites in Latin America on elective: www.ondasdelatinoamerica.org
- Members of our prehospital care describe their innovative program of prehospital suboxone: https://www.fox9.com/news/hennepin-ems-to-carry-suboxone-for-treating-opioid-withdrawal-on-ambulances
- Former resident Dr. Hamdi Sheikh Said is the Community Service Director for Somali American Medical Association (SAMA) https://www.samadocs.org/hamdi-sheikh-said
- Our Hennepin lifer Dr. Aaron Robinson gets a distinguished award: https://www.uwosh.edu/today/124557/uw-oshkosh-biology-alumnus-robinson-will-receive-2024-distinguished-alumni-award/
- An interview with Dr. Haylee Veazey, ED faculty member and the direction of the Adult Gender and Sexual Health clinic at HCMC: https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll97:170
- Interview in Spanish with our very own Dr. Andrea Dreyfuss about her work in Latin America: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqqY-QQn_B4&t=85s
- Dr. Andrea Dreyfuss shares her immigration story and why she chose a career in safety net hospitals, given she was featured in the book “Immigrant are us” by Mark Tuschman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laVKvjdji1Q
Resources in Our ED
To learn more about resources available to patients in our Emergency Department, please see the following links.
