September 24, 2004

New poster helps address disparities

The MGH Committee on Racial and Ethnic Disparities - formerly known as the MGH Disparities Committee - soon will distribute its first poster and launch a new website to help educate the MGH community about disparities - or differences - in health care.

Created by the Disparities Education and Awareness Subcommittee, the poster features photos of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of the poster is to define what disparities are, to let the MGH community know that they do exist and that the hospital is committed to reducing and eliminating any inequalities.

The website, which can be found at www.mghdisparities.org, will highlight progress reports from monthly committee meetings, updates from the three subcommittees and resources for more information about efforts to reduce health care disparities.

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH, created the Committee on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in response to an invitation from Mayor Thomas Menino to all Boston hospitals to participate in a citywide effort to address the issues of racial inequality in the health care arena.