“The heart of healthcare is about service…service to people. As a leader, my priority is to make everyone, especially our patients, feel welcomed, cared for and embraced,” said Tom Ozburn, CEO of TriStar Southern Hills. Last October, he joined 17 other hospital administrators for Nashville’s first-ever Workforce Diversity Seminar and bus tour.
TriStar Southern Hills serves a diverse community where 23 percent of the population is Latino, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. As a community-based hospital, we must recognize, understand and appreciate the diversity of our community and make efforts to mirror our population. The daylong diversity event equipped us with the skills to strengthen our cultural awareness, cultivate an inclusive workplace and, for us, ultimately provide a positive patient experience.
“I was proud to be among more than 100 community and business leaders that feel the same way we do and are generating positive change, not only in their businesses, but in their communities, as well,” said Ozburn.
At HCA, it’s what we call culturally competent care – a patient centered approach that focuses on treating people with kindness and compassion, dignity and respect – the foundation of HCA values.
Our community is at the heart of everything we do at TriStar Southern Hills. We have a strong partnership with the Tennessee Latin American Chamber of Commerce and teamed with now Neighborhood Health in 2009 to form the Wallace Road Clinic on our campus. The bilingual emergency room sign also was constructed to create a welcoming health care environment for our community.
In 2016, we plan to follow up the Nashville bus tour with a half-day diversity training for all managers on our campus and hope to expand the training to all of our employees in the near future