Notes from the Field – 7 Questions with Vivian Anugwom, Director of Health Equity at Allina

“Notes from the Field” is a special newsroom feature, highlighting industry professionals working to transform healthcare. In this edition, we spoke withVivian Anugwom, Director of Health Equity at Allina Health.

Q: Tell us about your role as the Director of Health Equity at Allina Health?
我最近从健康权益经理变成了阿利纳健康的健康权益主管，它是人口健康领导团队的一部分。我认为，这种协调本身就表明了目前开展卫生公平工作的重要性。当我们继续沿着这条通往价值的道路前进时，我们需要确保为我们的患者提供高价值、高质量的护理，并在我们的护理提供机制中纳入企业级的股权。我正在与其他团队和合作伙伴一道，帮助制定必要的战略和基础设施，以确保我们不仅发现差距，而且有效地解决它们。一个很好的例子是与Health Catalyst的合作，我们共同创建了一个仪表板，它世界杯葡萄牙vs加纳即时走地将帮助我们监控我们确定的差异，以及在这些关键领域的改进进展。我们在多个团队之间分享了经验教训，帮助我们了解情况，以确保我们在数据和分析中整合公平视角，例如在COVID-19疫苗分发中。

Q:What is one thing you’ve learned over the past year?
我已经意识到专注于进步而不是完美的重要性——在我生活的各个方面。一旦你找到了你所热爱的事情或者你正在为之努力的目标，重要的是不要只关注最终的结果，而要关注不断向前的运动，甚至是路上的任何颠簸。这才是你真正可以学习和成长的地方。

Q:Have you found your pandemic silver lining?
令人悲伤的是，这一流行病有助于揭示长期以来存在的差距。它强调了一个事实，我们没有自然的机制来支持某些社区。它还向我们展示了如何快速响应、创新和一路上学习。就我个人而言，在家工作的转变迫使我安排我的每一天，让我可以完全参与到我生活的各个方面。

Q:Who is your mentor – and why?
I’ve had a few mentors throughout my career and they’ve all supported my growth and evolution as a leader. There have been a number of people that were the right person to mentor me at the right time, whether it was supporting me in going to back to school or helping me understand what it means to be a leader in healthcare. Because health equity is such a new field, there aren’t a lot of best practices, but I’m still learning what skills and knowledge gaps there are in helping to advance the field.

Q:What inspired you to pursue a career in health equity?
I would actually say I pursued a career in healthcare because I wanted to help people. I’ve had a number of different roles in the field and couldn’t ignore the opportunities to address glaring inequities. I’ve always found a way to incorporate health equity into the work I was doing. Right now I have health equity in my job title, but I think health equity is a part of everyone’s job, or it should be. I am a healthcare leader–I just happen to be the health equity leader right now.

Q:What is the biggest opportunity to improve healthcare?
The biggest opportunity in healthcare is to create environments that are responsive to the unique needs of our patients and communities. We need to meet people where they are and then be agile enough to respond in a respectful manner. I think that would solve a lot of the current issues.

Q:What is the greatest challenge facing healthcare?
在许多方面，大流行使我们能够加快大流行前的战略。我认为最大的挑战将是保持我们快速解决问题和创新的能力，同时从几年的压力中恢复过来。