WSU health justice conference bridges communities toward healthcare equity
News Story by Lucille Stutesman | FāVS News
Healthcare leaders and community advocates gathered virtually this week to tackle health inequities in Eastern Washington during Washington State University’s sixth annual Health Justice and Belonging Conference.
The Empire Health Foundation, Eastern Washington’s largest private foundation, outlined its strategy to address healthcare access gaps across the region’s diverse communities. Foundation President Zeke Smith emphasized the interconnection between geography, landscape and public health outcomes.
“It’s about recognizing the importance of equitable access. It’s about relationships between the geography, the landscape, the water, the land around us and the people that are here,” Smith said.
The two-day virtual conference, hosted by WSU’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, brought together healthcare providers, educators, students and community members under the theme “The Path Forward.”
Notable speakers included Vanessa Waldref, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, and Angela Jones from the Gates Foundation, alongside College of Medicine faculty members.
Brayden Dini, Health Sciences Pathway program assistant at the WSU College of Medicine, emphasized the conference’s role in fostering collaboration.
“This conference bridges people, communities and the healthcare industry,” Dini said. “It’s a place where diverse members of the community, not just students, clinicians and educators, can collaborate and discuss community-informed practices, health justice and belonging.”
Smith discussed how building equitable communities requires broad engagement.
“We are going to need them to love us too if we’re going to build the kind of vibrant and healthy communities that we want,” he said, while acknowledging that not all stakeholders share the same vision for community health.
David Garcia, associate dean for community, health equity, and belonging at the WSU College of Medicine, outlined specific goals for attendees.
“Our goal is for participants to leave with additional resources, relationships and data to navigate systems and inform collective action,” he told WSU Insider.
Healthcare inequities in tribal communities emerged as a central focus, with Waldref addressing justice disparities and University of Washington Professor Edmundo Aguilar discussing challenges to tribal sovereignty.
“It’s been important for us as we’ve tried to shape a different set of relationships with our communities and really center them, that we don’t just act because we think we know what the right action is, but rather that first we listen, and that we listen deeply to what our communities are telling us,” Aguilar said.
