Reflections on Leadership Recognition—
TCWF’s Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award
By David Littlefield, TCWF Communications Officer
Why Recognize Leadership in Diversifying California’s Health Care Workforce?
The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) first identified the issue of increasing diversity in the health professions as a funding priority in 2001, when it transitioned from a largely initiative-driven model of grantmaking to its current Responsive Grantmaking Program.
Typically with this program, TCWF awards funding in response to needs that applicants themselves identify. Requests by nonprofits to fund new programs are considered, but the emphasis is on grants for core operating support to help maintain existing services and strengthen organizational infrastructure.
 The Foundation’s Board of Directors approved a strategy for grantmaking to increase diversity in the health professions that addressed TCWF’s four grantmaking goals, including a leadership component to recognize and encourage leaders who are working to increase health and wellness within their communities. When they approved the grantmaking strategy, members of our Board recognized that one of the most effective means of reducing disparities in health outcomes among Californians would be the development of a health care workforce that more closely reflects the ethnic and cultural aspects of the state’s population.
A growing body of evidence indicates that a racially and ethnically diverse cadre of health professionals is beneficial on multiple levels. Providers of color increase access to care for underserved Californians because they tend to practice in minority and low-income communities more than their peers do. They are able to provide care that recognizes and accounts for the cultural beliefs and mores of their patients. They can contribute to the fields of health and medicine by ensuring that the priorities of underserved communities are considered by policymakers in decisions regarding research, funding and education. Finally, and of particular importance in terms of TCWF’s leadership recognition strategy, these professionals frequently serve as role models and mentors for underrepresented minority students who may not have access to other health professionals.
Despite the widespread focus upon health care reform in California, attention to the health care workforce is still lacking. Many remain unaware of current shortages statewide in nearly all the health professions, including the approximately 200 allied health occupations. More than 50 of California’s 58 counties include a certified Health Professional Shortage Area and many of these are within low-income communities. These shortages rapidly gain in importance as the state’s population continues to increase and grow older.
Honoree Profile:
Pilar De La Cruz-Reyes, R.N., M.S.N.
2003 champions award honoree
As a youngster, De La Cruz-Reyes labored in the fields alongside her father. She decided to become a nurse at age seven. Her career at Community Medical Center (CMC) in Fresno progressed from staff nurse to frontline manager of acute critical care to director of nursing services to become executive director of the Community University and Education Development Services. In 2003, she assumed the role of chief nurse executive at the Fresno Heart Hospital. She established the first Cultural Competency Task Force for CMC and developed the Nursing Paradigm Program in collaboration with Fresno City College, which provides training for hospital employees to enter the nursing program.
In the media kit materials developed to announce her award, De La Cruz-Reyes described the Community Jobs Institute, a program she developed in Fresno to train workers for careers in health care:
“I developed the Community Job Institute, which takes parents and gives them training in health care. I collaborated with the Department of Health Services, the Fresno Unified School District, and Fresno Adult School to set up a six-month training program for Hispanic and Hmong parents who lack skills and may or may not have jobs. In the six months, about half of the time is in classroom training, computer skills and interviewing skills; the other half of the time is spent actually serving as a volunteer in areas of hospital interest. At the end of six months, if the hospital has an opening, and the volunteer is interested in the position and has done a good job, we hire that person.”
De La Cruz-Reyes’ award received coverage in both general market and Latino publications in Fresno. A Fresno Bee article ran on page 1 of the business section. A feature in Vida En El Valle quoted her comments on receiving the champions award. “This is the peak of my career, besides being the first executive of Mexican origin within the organization [Fresno Community Medical Center].” |
“The California Wellness Foundation has an excellent reputation, thus any award from TCWF would be viewed in a positive light. The California Wellness Foundation raises the awareness of issues of importance to our communities…that it would recognize an individual is very validating for the work that person does.”
— Dr. Katherine Flores, ’04 champions award honoree
The annual presentation of TCWF’s Champions of Health Professions Diversity Award has become a key element of the Foundation’s grantmaking in this funding area. And the Foundation has developed a dedicated communications strategy to illuminate the issue and draw attention to its champions.
The champions award recognizes individuals who have, over the course of their careers, made significant strides toward diversifying California’s health care workforce. Three champions are selected each year through a confidential nomination and selection process(1). Each is presented with a $25,000 cash award, a TCWF leadership award medal and a certificate at a dinner held in conjunction with the Foundation’s annual conference for grantees and others in the state whose work focuses on increasing the health care workforce and its diversity.
Over the past five years, the award has recognized a variety of individuals – including former state employees, physicians, advocates, professors, college counselors and hospital nurses – who have dedicated their professional lives to helping students and changing systems to ensure that underrepresented minority candidates can succeed in the health professions. While some honorees have been well-known in their respective fields, others are unsung heroes – quietly continuing their work without recognition by anyone other than the students they help.
The award and the Foundation’s communications outreach honor their efforts and raise their profiles across the state. By elevating the profiles of these honorees, the Foundation also heightens awareness among policymakers, the news media, opinion leaders and other key audiences about the importance of increasing the health care workforce and its diversity as a strategy to improve the health of all Californians.
The centerpiece of the message is on the honorees, their work, and the health issue of the California health care workforce and its diversity. The Foundation and its spokespersons serve a supporting role in the outreach activities. An important aspect of all the published, Internet and video content produced for the champions award is the prominent placement of the TCWF leadership medallion(2), which has the effect of “branding” the award and its significance among California’s health professions leaders.
“The publicity effort was broad and comprehensive. The attachment of $25,000 allowed us to apply it to the spirit of the award. It’s not just nice words.”
– Sherry Hirota, ’05 champions award honoree
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