Many of you know that I have a 7-year-old daughter. She just started the second grade. Having a child this age means I spend a great deal of time baking cookies, going to dance practices and watching Disney movies. One of our favorite Disney productions is “Princess and The Frog,” the 2009 animation about New Orleans native Tiana and her dreams of owning a restaurant.
There is so much to enjoy about “Princess and The Frog” beyond the actual story. One of those things is Disney’s ability to capture elements of the African-American culture and the culture that exists within the city of New Orleans. To appreciate the cultural elements of the movie is to appreciate the movie itself.
I instantly thought about “Princess and the Frog” when we, at The Heath Plan, began to prepare for the launch of a new state-mandated Cultural Competency course. I began to think about the culture of our organization and I realized something. One of the reasons I enjoy working at The Health Plan is because our employee population, provider network and member base is extremely diverse. But most importantly, there is an urgency to understand our diversity and discover how we can leverage it to improve our business.
This new course – mandatory for all Health Plan employees – is a series of training modules covering 15 national cultural competency standards. It is available now through September 30 on HealthStream. The arrival of the course and an overall focus on culture and communication will be celebrated during The Health Plan’s Cultural Competency Week Monday, August 24, through Friday, August 28. A variety of virtual activities will also take place to highlight the importance of the effort.
I am thrilled to see this happening. In my opinion, there is no higher compliment than to acknowledge and seek to appreciate the differences between each other. This acknowledgment and appreciation improves communication, relationships and an ability to meet each other’s needs. This is essentially the definition of cultural competence.
Watch Connect over the next few weeks for stories that dive deeper into the national standards and provide details on how we are striving to uphold them in our daily work.