KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) announced on Friday, June 25th, that Bronson Healthcare is the winner of the 2021 MHA Advancing Safe Care Award.
The award honors healthcare teams within MHA-member hospitals that demonstrate a fierce commitment to providing care to different patient populations, show evidence of an improved safety culture, lead the charge for quality improvement, and demonstrate transparency in their efforts to improve healthcare.
The team at Bronson was honored for its focused efforts to create and support Bronson’s Community Partnered Vaccine Clinics and health equity initiatives.
The team worked to get people quickly and effectively vaccinated against COVID-19 and that social determinants of health were addressed during the vaccine distribution process.
Bronson’s stance on equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine was based on data showing people from racial and ethnic minority groups were disproportionately affected by the disease. To close the gap, the team developed mitigation strategies that included forming significant community partnerships to offer Community Partnered Vaccine Clinics enhancing the delivery of vaccines to underserved populations in Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
The outreach program also led to the development of the Bronson COVID-19 exploration dashboard and a data infrastructure to proactively monitor for gaps and address structural racism. Looking at data through a geographical lens continues to help Bronson support equitable care in its communities.
By focusing on people with disabilities and those of racial and ethnic minorities, Bronson created vaccine clinics that are accessible to those who are most vulnerable and helped proactively reduce COVID-19-associated stigma and implicit bias.
The Bronson team found that only 5% of those getting vaccinated were from minority populations when it was first released. The Community Partnered Vaccine Clinics led to 1,250 vaccine administrations over four clinic events, 50% of them to people in racial and ethnic minorities.
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