February is Black History Month, and in honor of the occasion, LMH Health is focusing on health equity and acknowledging its role as a health care provider in reducing racial disparities and fighting bias.

What is health equity?

Health equity has been an important consideration for LMH Health since its inception more than 100 years ago. LMH Health is a nonprofit community hospital that provides more than $25 million in charitable care each year, and investments in this area are meant to ensure that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health, including discrimination, implicit bias and a lack of access to resources such as quality education and housing.

Health disparities are a nationwide issue, and Douglas County is no exception.

The Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health 2018 Health Equity Report showed that in Douglas County, racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately affected by the social determinants of health, such as lower access to resources like safe housing, food, job opportunities and health care. Residents with low incomes are also affected.

“Providing equality means providing an equal opportunity for everyone,” said Erica Hill, LMH Health’s director for health equity, inclusion and diversity. “Though we strive for equality and understand its importance, equity fills the gaps that equality might not. For example, if you give two people a book but one cannot read, you provided them with equal resources but one cannot gain the knowledge the other can. Similarly, when it comes to health care, it is important as an organization that we do our part to ensure (health equity) to our patients and community every day.”

Race and ethnicity are central to health, as diseases can affect individuals differently. For example, Black women are nearly twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer and are much more likely than white women to die from breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. And while people of all ages, genders, races and ethnicities are affected by cardiovascular disease, certain groups — including Black Americans and older individuals — are at higher risk than others.

Health equity at LMH

Hill’s role as health equity, inclusion and diversity director was created as part of LMH Health’s commitment to better serve all populations in the community, and she will be working on building programs to help bridge the health equity gap.

That work involves more than just Hill herself, though. Hill leads a team that focuses on those issues, the Health Equity Advancement Team, and she said collaboration with community partners would also be a big part of LMH’s equity efforts.

“We continue intentionally collaborating with our LMH Health colleagues and community partners to ensure everyone in our community has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible,” Hill said. “We want everyone to feel a sense of belonging when they come to LMH Health.”

One part of the hospital’s work is educating people about equity issues. Over the past two years, LMH Health has hosted several workshops on implicit bias — unintentional, unconscious stereotypes or automatic assessments that we make about people whose backgrounds differ from our own. These workshops focus on the ramifications for the community when doctors, educators and other professionals show implicit bias.

The LMH Health Foundation is also helping the hospital bridge the health equity gap. In 2020, the foundation created a new health equity advancement fund, which supports various health equity initiatives at the hospital. To contribute to this fund, please visit lmh.org/donate.

“Working for the LMH Health Foundation, I see firsthand how philanthropy has an impact on health outcomes,” Hill said. “We have donors that are willing to bridge the gap and create an opportunity for others to be healthy.”

One way the foundation contributes to health equity is by helping people afford screenings and other medical expenses. Through its fundraising efforts, the LMH Health Foundation offers certificates to cover the costs of mammograms, breast biopsies and prostate screenings. Those who are interested in this program can call LMH Health’s patient accounts staff at 785-505-5775.

Hill also highlighted the Help and Healing Fund, another program that provides financial help to patients who can’t afford some of their medical expenses.

LMH Health President and CEO Russ Johnson believes this work is integral to the hospital’s role as a partner in lifelong health.

“Eighty percent of health is determined by social factors — where you live, how much money you make,” Johnson said. “The single best predictor of life expectancy is zip code, and in Lawrence, adjacent zip codes have an eight-year discrepancy in life expectancy. As the largest safety net organization in our community, LMH Health must extend its work into more areas that can affect the health of our patients.”

— Jessica Brewer is the social media and digital communications specialist at LMH Health, which is a major sponsor of the Lawrence Journal-World’s health section.