NAACP Dane County Branch Calls on UW Health to Honor Juneteenth Holiday to Help Address Wisconsin's Alarming Healthcare Disparities

NAACP leaders say establishing Juneteenth as a holiday this June 19 is urgently needed to ensure a diverse and inclusive workforce that can deliver equitable, quality care

MADISON, Wis., June 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leaders of the NAACP Dane County Branch are calling on UW Health, the largest healthcare provider in the region, to honor the Juneteenth holiday in order to help address alarming healthcare disparities in Wisconsin. NAACP leaders say that establishing Juneteenth as a holiday this June 19 is urgently needed to ensure a diverse and inclusive workforce that can deliver equitable, quality care. In just one shocking example of disparities, Wisconsin has the worst Black infant mortality rate in the entire nation, with 13 Black babies dying for every 1,000 born – three times higher than the rate for white babies. The state's deeply troubling Black maternal mortality rates, and many other health disparities, also rank among the country's worst.

"Healthcare disparities are an urgent crisis that must be met head on by our medical institutions," said Greg Jones, President, and Bill Franks, Chair of the Labor and Industry Committee, of the NAACP Dane County Branch in a joint statement. "It is an urgent moral imperative for healthcare providers to greatly increase diversity, equity and inclusion in order to create more just workplaces and ensure equitable care. The UW Health Board and administration need to live up to their professed values by establishing Juneteenth as a paid holiday this year."

Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, commemorates the day when some of the last enslaved people in America were emancipated on June 19, 1865. NAACP leaders say that recognition of this holiday by UW Health would be a major symbolic and practical step to send a powerful message that they are determined to create a respectful and welcoming environment for all. Studies have pointed to the critical importance of developing a diverse healthcare workforce that reflects the patient population and can deliver culturally competent care to help reduce disparities.

According to a report in the Wisconsin Medical Journal, the state performed worse than the national average on 22 out of 27 measures of healthcare disparities for Black and Latino populations. The report rightly asserts that "poorer health outcomes for people of color are the result of historical trauma and racism at the individual, institutional, and structural levels" and "It is critical to improve access to…culturally responsive healthcare."

Another report in the Journal of the National Medical Association echoes these findings and emphatically declares that it is vital "to have a healthcare workforce which represents the tapestry of our communities as it relates to race/ethnicity…to render the best possible care to our diverse patient populations."

For several years now, UW Health has publicly stated that they share this mission and are committed to making progress on diversifying their workforce. The system has declared they have a vision of being "an authentic leader in DEI," to "enhance recruitment, retention, and professional development opportunities" for employees of color and actively dismantle "racism in ourselves, in our system and in our community."¹

UW Health's efforts have been in part a response to their ongoing problems with disproportionately high turnover of staff of color and complaints from their own patients. One internal UW Health document quotes a patient comment that pleads, "Please hire more Black staff. It's important to me to have people who understand my experiences and can provide care with those experiences in mind."² Frontline registered nurses at UW Health, through their union, have also urged the health system's management to establish Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

The system has made some productive efforts, such as establishing a DEI program, but still faces steep challenges and has much work to do. According to UW Health's own statistics as of September 2022, only a little over 8% of management staff and 15% of non-management staff are people of color, even though Dane County's population is 22% people of color.³

UW Health has abundant resources to increase investment in creating a more diverse and inclusive workforce. The corporation has made over $646 million in excess revenue in the past three years and reports having $1 billion cash on hand.⁴

Despite UW Health's avowed intentions to be a leader on these critical issues, they are in fact lagging far behind the local community, the healthcare industry and the rest of the nation. After a years-long effort by advocates and the Congressional Black Caucus, President Biden signed bipartisan legislation designating Juneteenth as a federal holiday two years ago, and at least 24 states have followed suit. Dozens of local governments have also passed Juneteenth as a paid holiday for municipal employees, including Dane County and the City of Madison. While UW Health drags its feet, more than 25 different hospitals across the country have led the way in the industry by establishing Juneteenth as a holiday, including in unexpected places such as Alabama, Texas and Kentucky.

The mission of the NAACP Dane County Branch is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
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¹ DEI Program Strategic Plan Update, UW Health, Dec. 2022
² Anti-Racism/DEI Update, UW Health, June 2021
³ DEI Program Strategic Plan Update, UW Health, Dec. 2022
⁴ UWHCA audited financial statements, 2020-22.

Contact: Greg Jones, President of NAACP Dane County Branch, 608-335-2001, [email protected]

SOURCE NAACP Dane County