Page 10 - Mecklenburg_Medicine_May-2019

At the Hospitals
n Novant Health Presbyterian Medical
Center Welcomes New President and
Chief Operating Officer
Novant Health is pleased to welcome Saad
Ehtisham as the new president and chief
operating officer of Novant
Health Presbyterian Medical
Center. Ehtisham comes to
Novant Health from Florida,
where he was the senior vice
president and system chief
Saad Ehtisham operating officer of three
Central Florida Health hospitals.
Ehtisham has more than 25 years of
experience in the healthcare industry. He
earned his bachelor’s degree in biology
from Baylor University and began his
career as a lab tech. He went on to earn
his bachelor of science degree in nursing
from Texas Woman’s University and served
in various nursing roles for three years,
including as a charge nurse, float pool
nurse and administrative supervisor. He
then pursued master’s degrees in healthcare
administration and business administration
from Texas Woman’s University, launching
his career in healthcare administration.
n Novant Health Launches Cultural
Ambassadors Program
As the United States becomes more
diverse, health systems are seeking new ways
to connect with and meet the needs of their
patients. Like other health systems in North
Carolina, Novant Health is experiencing
an exponential increase in the number of
medical interpretation encounters — from
87,000 encounters in 2015 to 157,000
encounters in 2018.
Supported by a three-year, $195,000 grant
from the Duke Endowment, the Novant
Health Cultural Ambassadors program seeks
to incorporate cultural ambassadors into the
care team to ensure care is individualized
and understood by patients whose primary
language is not English. The program
represents a major transformation in how
Novant Health is delivering interpreter
services to Spanish-speaking patients.
10 | May 2019 • Mecklenburg Medicine
“The most important thing is to establish
an authentic connection with the patient,”
says Pedro Mendez, director of language
and cultural services at Novant Health.
“Novant Health is focused on bridging the
culture gap to ensure patients are informed
about their health, regardless of which
language they speak.”
Cultural ambassadors are licensed
national medical interpreters who are
trained in cultural competence to act as
navigators and advocates for patients,
ensuring their healthcare needs are met.
Cultural ambassadors also help enhance the
healthcare team’s understanding of patient
needs, including social determinants of
health, and link patients with community
organizations that can address those needs.
Program leaders will collaborate
with Novant Health community benefit
department leaders and community
healthcare workers to leverage partnerships
with other organizations that provide services,
such as food, housing and transportation
for referrals, as well as work with Novant
Health’s diversity and inclusion team.
n Q&A with Tanya S. Blackmon
Tanya S. Blackmon is the executive vice
president and chief diversity and inclusion
officer for Novant Health. In her role, she
is responsible for embedding diversity and
inclusion across the Novant Health system.
What is Novant Health doing to incorporate diversity and strategy, and it is transforming how our
inclusion into its mission, vision and values?
Novant Health serves
communities that are
richly diverse across many
dimensions. With this in mind,
we study consumer survey data
to ensure we’re meeting the
TanyaS.Blackmon diverse needs of our patients
and addressing any disparities. For example,
we are harnessing the power of technology
to provide on-demand language translation
in all our facilities. Through our extensive
chaplaincy program and partnerships
with faith leaders in our communities, we
strive to meet the spiritual and emotional
needs of patients of a wide range of faith
traditions. We also foster relationships
with businesses and vendors through our
supplier diversity program, which helps us
establish partnerships with women, racial
and ethnic minorities, veterans, persons
with disabilities and more. We’re proud to
say that, since establishing our program in
2006, we have partnered with more than
400 diverse suppliers, representing a $500
million investment.
What are some other ways Novant Health celebrates
diversity and supports inclusion?
Recently, Novant Health created a
visually compelling traveling exhibit to
share stories that highlight team members’
diverse experiences, backgrounds and
beliefs. Through photos, stories, videos and
interactive features, the exhibit shares the
many dimensions of diversity represented
within Novant Health and speaks to
inclusion as team members. Some of the
stories we have featured include a CNA
who received support from her managers
after coming out as a transgender woman,
a team member who teaches sign language
to his peers and an interpreter who helped
a patient’s family members from Colombia
get an emergency visa to visit their loved
one in hospice.
Another aspect of embedding diversity and
inclusion throughout Novant Health is through
leadership development and accountability
metrics. Through the office of diversity and
inclusion, a team provides consulting support
and expertise across the footprint in all areas
to embed diversity and inclusion.
This work is about a culture change
organization lives and supports diversity
and inclusion in the workplace. From patient
satisfaction to team member engagement
to supplier diversity to health equity,
Novant Health’s patients, communities
and workforce will benefit the most and
represents a culture shift for Novant Health.
n Novant Health Go-Health Urgent Care
Opens in Matthews
The Matthews urgent care center is at
9600 E. Independence Blvd., suite B. The
center is open seven days a week, 8 a.m.-
8 p.m., Monday-Friday, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
on Saturdays and Sundays. Novant Health
Go-Health Urgent Care plans to continue to
open a number of new and renovated centers
in the greater Charlotte area over the next
12-18 months, with continued expansion
into 2020 and beyond.