How do we sustain equity work over the long term?

Organizations are considering how they can sustain equity work over the long term.

I’m excited about today’s episode because it’s the 7th Anniversary of Health Communication Partners. And I get to talk to you about a trend I’ve seen and been a part of with organizations pursuing equity and health equity goals. I wonder if you’ve seen it too. It’s around concerns about this being sustainable. As in, How do we keep this going? How do we make it last?

Hi, everybody. I’m Dr. Anne Marie Liebel, and this is 10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication, recently ranked number 20 in the top 100 podcasts and the social sciences by Goodpods.

So, yeah! It’s been seven years for Health Communication Partners, my Woman-Owned Small Business. It’s been a huge pleasure and a privilege after a 20 plus year career in academia and education to start my own business and help you reach your goals. What we’re doing together is unique. It’s not a typical approach or what you’re typically going to hear. So thank you for trusting me and HCP.

Thank you too to my awesome clients. Maybe you’ve taken my courses or we’ve partnered on consulting or research services, sometimes all three. So thank you for letting me work alongside you and get to know you, get to know your work.

And thanks for listening to the show. You know, you’re going to hear things that you won’t hear other places. That’s why you’re here. It’s not the same as what you’ll typically get.

And I love to hear from you. If you’ve never been in touch, now’s the time. It’s our anniversary. Let me know you’re here. Find me on linked or go to h -cpartners .com or if you get my newsletter, hit reply, comes right to me. Hearing from you and your stories is a big part of my work. It’s part of what helps this all stay grounded in the realities of day -to -day work.

So let me hear about what you’re doing. And speaking of what you’re doing. I want you to think about the equity work you’re in the middle of now.

Take a moment and consider this: How would you like things to look in five years? What would you want to see happening or maybe not happening? While you’re thinking on that, I’ll go back in time a little. Over the past few years, I’ve podcasted about trends that I’ve seen in equity work from my vantage point as a consultant who works with organizations who are doing equity -oriented work or are pursuing goals and including equity concerns in them.

And the years since 2020 have been unique and incredibly busy on the equity front. I remember in 2020 being on a Zoom call with Dr. Camara Jones. Dr. Camara Jones is a family physician and longtime leader in equity in health care and public health. And in this call, Dr. Jones was addressing the explosion of interest in issues of equity and health equity, which had just started to happen, largely in response to the pandemic and the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. And she put it like this, Some of you are a little late to the party, but welcome.

And I loved that metaphor and it stayed with me. So no matter how long you’ve been at the party, inequalities and their root causes have become almost common knowledge. One of my clients said health equity became “buzzy.” All of you, I’m sure, can speak to the why and the who and the what of inequalities and their root causes and what you have been doing to address them. Many organizations get that equity is not a short -term project, not something you fix and are done with, but is embedded in how you do business as usual.

Organizations have elements in place, and there are t