Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council of Edward-Elmhurst Health: We are DRIVEN to create a culture in which all races, ethnicities, religions, sexual-orientations, physical abilities, and socio-economic backgrounds can meet, share, learn, and flourish in an accepting environment. By creating platforms and opportunities that allow us to come together, we can begin to know and understand each other. And through better understanding, we can effectively meet the needs of our diverse patients and deliver on our mission.

This fall, Kristin Henry graduated from Lewis University in Romeoville. While a student there, she was required to take a culture and diversity course.

“I thought I didn’t need this because I have always been accepting of people from different backgrounds,” says Henry, a talent acquisition specialist with Edward-Elmhurst Health. “I've never been racist. I've always supported the Black Lives Matter movement. But I was absolutely wrong. Everyone needs to take a course like this.”

In the class, Professor Anthony Alexander prompted discussion about current events — and there were plenty to discuss in 2020. White privilege, police brutality, being colorblind, the Black Lives Matter movement and more.

Henry grew up in a small, rural, white community in downstate Illinois.

“I knew that racism existed, but white privilege was a big eye opener that I didn’t see. I didn’t realize how much privilege I had until I moved to the Naperville area,” she says. “I went to an all-white school. I wasn’t exposed to different races. When I took this course and moved up here, I was surrounded and embraced by many different races and cultures.”

Alexander had a similar experience growing up, only he was raised in an all-Black community on Chicago’s south side.

“I didn’t know what a white person looked like for a long time. I would see them on TV, but not as a classmate,” Alexander says. “So, for me, racism is very recent. It’s something I’ve seen in the professional world. People treating me different because of how I talk or how I look.”

Everyone has an internal bias, Alexander says. Realizing this helps you understand how you see things.

“My own bias forced me to look at the course material and be more inclusive of different viewpoints,” Alexander says. “Now I challenge students to go deeper into the material. What’s the problem with Black Lives Matter? What are the good things about Black Lives Matter? I always try to bracket what I believe, then look into something a little deeper.”

Alexander, a supervisor in public safety at Edward-Elmhurst Health, says he uses this insight on the job. Trying to understand where someone is coming from, how their background and experiences may shape their behavior, improves his interactions.

The class at Lewis wasn’t the last time Henry talked with Alexander. Five months later, while assisting with screening public safety candidates for Edward-Elmhurst Health, she recognized his name on the list.

She stopped in the health system’s public safety department to find him and was told he wouldn’t be in until 7 a.m.

“I got there at 6:30 a.m., waiting to talk to Anthony,” Henry says. “I had a 40-minute conversation with him. He’s so easy to talk to and he’s just a wonderful human being.”

Alexander says he gets a variety of feedback on his Lewis course, from eye-opening experiences like Henry’s to anger and hostility.

“Society has always taught me, we’re going to remind you of who you are,” Alexander says. “Black people are used to hearing these challenges to their identity — if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t Black. People of color have to watch what we say. We have to use a proper tongue. I grew up in this professional field with people saying, ‘You don’t talk Black.’ That was something that would hurt my feelings years ago.”

Alexander uses his experiences and observations to help his class delve deeper into diversity and culture. And his class and his insights made a big impression on Henry.

“I learned so much from his class and what diversity means to me,” Henry says. “I’m grateful that I took this class and that Edward-Elmhurst Health has good people like him, teaching students every semester what diversity truly means.”