LANSING — Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) issued the following statement today regarding Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s directive to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to begin developing rules to require health professionals to undertake implicit biastraining prior to licensure:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to bear the extreme inequities present in our health care system, not just in Michigan, but across our entire country. We’ve seen how Black Michiganders – who represent 14% of the state population – account for 40% of the confirmed deaths from COVID-19. These numbers are shocking, but the affect implicit bias has had on the health outcomes of Black, Brown and other minority populations is all too real and certainly deeply felt by those afflicted.
“Gov. Whitmer’s actions today are a step toward ensuring ALL Michiganders are treated with dignity. Our health care professionals spend their careers dedicated to saving lives – and for that, we are always grateful. It is a welcome concept that they also be equipped with the resources necessary to act from a place of respect, without bias, to ensure these disproportionate deaths and illnesses have less and less a chance of reoccurring.”
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