ChristianaCare Wins National Award for Excellence in Allyship Communications

For excellence in communications in diversity and inclusion, ChristianaCare has received a national Corporate Social Responsibility & Diversity Award from Ragan Communications.

ChristianaCare’s External Affairs and Inclusion & Diversity teams were recognized in the category of Allyship for exemplary partnership and advocacy.

“We have pulled together very purposefully with our partners across the health system to advance ChristianaCare’s commitment to equity, inclusion, fairness and justice for our workforce and everyone we serve, to promote a healthier community,” said Karen Browne, vice president for marketing and communications.

“To address health inequities we need to have a workforce that is engaged and a workforce that reflects the communities it serves. Through our communications, we strive to inspire our employees to serve together as allies in an inclusive and diverse workforce.”

In close partnership across teams and promotion through multi-media communications platforms, ChristianaCare:

• Successfully grew membership in 14 Employee Resource Groups by 45% to 1,065 employees in 2021.
• Hosted Inclusion & Diversity Fireside Chats for employees with such luminaries as soccer star and LGBTQ+ activist Abby Wambach; Hispanic actor Manny Montana; and Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride, the highest-ranking transgender elected official in U.S. history.
• Shone a brighter spotlight on cultural and religious observances during another pandemic year through a dynamic employee communications platform called CaregiverConnect.
• Introduced new PRIDE spirit items in our employee brand store and pins with preferred pronouns.
• Expanded multi-lingual, culturally competent health information, created with Health Equity & Cultural Competence, on our dual language website and social media, in videos and in collateral materials.
• Implemented health campaigns, such as #vaxfacts, to fight misinformation and encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

• Published features focused on diversity and inclusion on news.christianacare.org and social media including:
  • Forbes’ ranking of ChristianaCare as one of the best employers for Diversity in 2021.
  • Success stories about individual employees including promotions and programs, most recently our commitment to employing service members and veterans.
  • Events such as the 2021 Progress flag-raising during Pride Month.
  • Promoting our employees of diverse backgrounds as experts in the media (“Our Experts” profiles).

ChristianaCare is committed to equity, inclusion, fairness and justice. ChristianaCare’s Anti-Racism Commitment, established in 2020, and the CEO Action Pledge, which President and CEO Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH, signed in April 2021 to pledge inclusive behavior in everyday life at ChristianaCare.

“ChristianaCare’s value statement — ‘We serve together, guided by our values love and excellence’ — energizes us to bring our authentic selves to work so that we perform at our best,” said Pamela Ridgeway, MBA, MA, SPHR, chief diversity officer and vice president of Talent & Acquisition.

“As our authentic selves, we are the best health care professionals — clinicians, pharmacists, practice managers, appointment schedulers, dietitians and even communicators — we can be. What does that yield? Optimal health for our patients and our community.”