Seattle Children's Health Equity and Anti-Racism Action Plan September Quarterly Progress Report

In September 2021, Seattle Children’s shared the Health Equity and Anti-Racism Action Plan (Action Plan) to transform the organization’s culture, take strong actions, and make changes that prioritize racial equity and eliminate known disparities. Today, Seattle Children’s is releasing the fourth quarterly report to provide an update on progress implementing that Action Plan. 

This quarter’s report shares our progress and acknowledges there is more work ahead. Seattle Children’s strives to have a workforce, leadership team and Hospital Board of Trustees that reflect the diverse patients and families it serves and has made notable advancement in increasing workforce diversity. One year ago, we set a goal in the Action Plan to reach 40% employee racial and ethnic diversity and are currently meeting that milestone. Further, Seattle Children’s Executive Leadership Team sustained 45.5% racial and ethnic diversity in 2022. While pleased with these achievements, we continue to focus on closing the gap for underrepresented communities, especially Latino/a/x identifying workforce members who continue to be underrepresented in our workforce and leadership teams compared to the patient population. We’re pleased to report that we have eliminated disparities in CLABSI for our Black/African American patients through rigorous audits and process improvements. These are just a few examples of the incredible work across the organization and they demonstrate how much we’ve grown and come together as a team.  

Increasing workforce diversity through hiring is encouraging and the organization must stay focused on creating and fostering an inclusive work environment and retaining talent. Employees – especially those who identify as racially and ethnically diverse – must feel heard, respected and that they belong. We have continued through EthicsPoint and other reporting systems to create an environment that empowers all people to use their voice and we must continue centering the voices and experiences of those who have historically been underrepresented to truly realize that vision and hold ourselves and each other accountable for creating a culture that standardizes transparency.  

We have also revised the anti-racism section of our website to track progress, highlight stories that demonstrate our ongoing commitment to anti-racism, and offer patients and families the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience at Seattle Children’s.