Pride Alliance Spills the Tea

I have been honored to help advanced spaces for my community and other marginalized communities here at Kaiser Permanente. What I will miss is the community that we have built together. There is now a legacy that will continue and I am honored to have been a part of that. Now I am moving forward in my career and cannot be more proud of the work I have been a part of. I get to take my learnings and apply them to the aging community which is a community that has put so much aside so that people like me could live our lives fully and authentically. I am honored to be moving into my new role and am excited to advance equity, inclusion and diversity for all as I take on this role.

We talk about LGBTQ+ but a lot of times the lesbian community gets left out of the conversation Lesbian-identified folks are often disregarded and overlooked in the healthcare system. This, among other factors, has contributed to the disparities they continue to face. There is a huge gap in research addressing the concerns and needs of lesbians. This lack of research and attention has made it extremely difficult to understand the health needs of these subgroups of sexual minority individuals. Lesbians of color face even greater challenges because of intersecting nature of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Despite lesbians of color experiencing more stigma and discrimination, their concerns and needs are rarely understood or addressed. In order to ensure equitable care for all, there is an urgent need to address the health disparities faced by lesbian-identified individuals. Healthcare providers play a pivotal role in addressing the health disparities experienced by lesbians and therefore, concerted efforts must be made to address these disparities to improve access to and utilization of care. This can be done by educating healthcare providers about lesbian health and promoting policies to make sure they provide effective care that is ethical on all levels. Additionally, there is a need for intervention-focused research exclusively targeting lesbian-identified folks. We need to promote awareness of cultural humility and integrating it into the medical student curriculum. This would help foster sensitive approaches in treating patients. Some of these additional practices may include:  - Informing direct quality clinical care and patient education, - Informing a better understanding of public health implications, - Combatting and ending perceived or demonstrated bigotry/ religious bias towards lesbian-identified patients, and - Promoting best practices in healthcare toward efficiency and effectiveness that differ in need, nature, and scope. The views expressed in this podcast are solely that of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast's employer, community, or other associated parties.

Over a decade of research has talked about the range of “minority stress” that LGBTQ+ people experience—from being called names or feeling like you don’t fit in to being kicked out of your home or being fired from a job. This type of stress is incremental and insidious, adding up over time. When unchecked, minority stress can lead to hiding who you are and anticipating that others will hurt or judge you in some way. Even worse, you can internalize experiences of LGBTQ+ discrimination and anti-LGBTQ+ social messages, tricking you into believing that you are less worthy or valuable than straight and cisgender people. Resilience helps you cope through stressful times, which is why resilience is so important. When you challenge internalized negative messages about being LGBTQ, embrace who you are, and remove obstacles from your life, your resilience multiplies and can help you live a more fulfilling and meaningful life. Listen in as we talk about the importance of resilience and how we use self-care to manage our resilience during today's ever changing and highly stressful environment filled with an unclear future for the LGBTQ+ community in the United States. The views expressed in this podcast are solely that of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast's employer, community, or other associated parties.

Listen as I spill the tea with Michelle Linares, and Marcos Siqueiros, MD. We speak on the 30+ history of our business resource groups at Kaiser Permanente and how our journey has just begun. Learn about the many great accomplishments and how we are advancing our focus on intersectionality and breaking down silos.  Join us next week for LGBTQ+ Health Week (March 20th - 24th 12:30p-1:30p PST) 20th - Lesbian and WSW Health with Dr. Slovis 21st - Introduction to Gender - Affirming Care with Dr. Siquieros 22nd - Multi-generational panel on Self-care, Self-love, and Self-compassion 23rd - Opportunities and Strategies to Optimize PrEP Uptake in Key Communities 24th - Identity & Pronouns with Trinity The views expressed in this podcast are solely that of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast's employer, community, or other associated parties.

Why Allyship is Important DiversityInc shares: Allies are important for several reasons. One crucial component involves recognizing their own privilege and using it to influence inclusion and call out or challenge behavior perpetuating bias and systematic oppression based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and ability. In majority-white societies, effective allyship is paramount in overturning systems of oppression and helping people understand and accept that inequities persist on a systemic level. An ally feels a sense of responsibility to use their knowledge, skills and position of privilege to drive tangible change. In the grand scheme of things, the work of an ally is often just a drop in the bucket, but with enough allies working intentionally in partnership with activists and marginalized communities, sufficient and collective momentum can stimulate the change that these communities seek. The views expressed in this podcast are solely that of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast's employer, community, or other associated parties.

The Elevate Frontline Leadership Program is a 7-month enterprise-wide leadership development program for all high-performing frontline leaders with aspirations and potential for expanded leadership and impact at KP. The goal of Elevate is to develop empowered high-potential leaders with the skills, awareness, and empathy needed to meet the rapidly changing demands and demographics of our communities and workforce. The views expressed in this podcast are solely that of the guests and hosts and do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcast's employer, community, or other associated parties.