From the Desk

of the Executive Director

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Diversity Summit – To Reach All People

On May 9 & 10, about 90 ready and willing folks from four states gathered in Orlando for the FHPC Access Initiative Diversity Summit, to learn more about how to fully serve diverse populations. The summit demonstrated how making an investment in understanding our diversity translates into greater access to hospice care in Florida’s communities, and how building culturally driven competencies can improve hospice care for all people.

Through a series of interactive presentations and panel sessions, participants had an opportunity to explore the connection between diversity and access, through the understanding of how diversity impacts and influences hospice care. This was a very personal undertaking, with everyone in the room having opportunities (and a participatory obligation at times) to share feelings, perspectives, and reactions. We examined the unrecognized and unintentional personal and organizational views that may create barriers to access to hospice care. Participants generously shared current approaches and best practices in use by hospice programs that may be applicable or transferable to other communities. In the end, we generated an “in an ideal world” plan that will be the subject of future discussions.

On numerous occasions, I found myself saying, “Is that how a person from that culture would hear that bit of information? Wow!” It was followed by “the rest of the story” where we learned some of the history and background about why certain people or cultures may view or hear things in a way other than intended. It was very eye-opening, and one of those exercises that I walked away from realizing the sheer magnitude of what I don’t know. It was humbling in a very positive way.

The facilitators of the Diversity Summit were Bryant Rollins and Shirley Stetson from the Mountaintop Institute and Dr. Carlos Gomez, Capital Hospice, Washington D.C. If you get the opportunity to participate in a future Diversity Summit, jump on it – because it was professionally and personally enriching, and will serve your organization well. Florida is such a diverse place – and growing more-so each day, that only good can come from expanding our understanding of the cultures that surround us in this melting pot we call home.

FHPC’s New Office

Thank the good Lord, FHPC is fully moved into our new offices here in Tallahassee! We now have the space we need to meet the needs of our members and the public that we serve, and we’re right down the street from the Capitol. The new space is lovely and professional, and once the signage is up -- will expose our name and website address to over 65,000 cars a day. Next time you get to Tallahassee, please come visit us. We’re located on the second floor of the Farmers and Merchants Bank (FMB), at 2000 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 200. The Apalachee Parkway has been branded “Eat Street” because of all of the restaurants, so give us a little advanced notice and we can go break bread together, too.