CORPORATE PROFILE
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Founded nearly 100 years ago, as a refuge for Jewish doctors facing discrimination, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has cultural diversity in its very foundations. Today, serving the increasingly diverse patient population in the Boston area is a business imperative.

	TOP: Bill Behrendt, Sr. VP of Human Resources; Pat Henderson, Outreach Coordinator for Pathology
	Beth Israel Deaconess employer profile

We spend a good deal of time on cultural competence and enhancing the diversity of our workforce because our patient population is very diverse," says Bill Behrendt, senior vice president of human resources Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "Our care givers have to be culturally aware to deal effectively with our increasingly diverse customers, our patients. In a real sense, we need to understand cultural difference to serve our patients more effectively."

With five adult academic medical centers, Boston is an extremely competitive health care market, which is currently in hiring mode. While everyone else is laying off, we're hiring," says Behrendt. "So it makes good recruiting sense to create and support an environment that is welcoming to a diverse employee base."

One way to do that is by sponsoring its most motivated employees to join The Partnership, a networking and professional development foundation in Boston designed to help minorities advance in their careers. Pat Henderson, Beth Israel Deaconess's outreach coordinator for pathology, has been at the hospital for five years, and one reason she stays committed to her job is the hospital's commitment to diversity. "They are going out of their way to make sure that everyone knows this is a good place to work, and a welcoming place for minorities," says Henderson. "The Partnership has made a big difference to me in planning my career, and my future in general. It opened my eyes to the real possibility of my moving further. I realize now I don't have to stop here."

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