The Future of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Embattled Environments: The Challenge to Educators and Providers Serving a Growingly More Diverse Geriatric Population and How to Overcome that Challenge

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is the organizational approach to ensure fair treatment and welcomed participation of all groups. We can trace the roots of DEI back to the 1906’s civil rights movement and the African American struggle. As the movement evolved, it encompassed other groups vulnerable to discrimination. These groups include people of different ages, races, religions, ethnicities, different physical abilities, neurodiversity, socioeconomic means, genders, and sexual orientations.

DEI is an important aspect of our healthcare institutions in the way of recruitment, admission, hiring, promotions, and practices. DEI is now under fire in several states. This has implications for the quality of training, effectiveness, and delivery of healthcare to all diverse populations. Our geriatric populations have grown more diverse by way of an aging immigrant population entering the healthcare system, as well as our own native-born needing more access to healthcare as they've aged. With these populations in mind, the need to continue creating and nurturing a diverse provider culture that is attuned to the complex needs of this growingly more diverse aging population is imperative.

At the time of this writing, there have been 30 bills that seek to eliminate DEI from public institutions. Texas has passed Senate Bill 17 which bans diversity programs in public universities. The state of Florida teetered on effectively banning AP Psychology courses as part of the governor's “Stop W.O.K.E Act.” This is an effort to stop teachings about sexual and gender identity topics. Florida has also been in the news for school history curriculum proposals that would teach how some blacks benefitted from slavery. Just as states are eliminating once-protected aspects of reproductive rights and generating talk of reproductive bans on a Federal level, DEI is following this course. This country may methodically eliminate DEI at its peril. We must examine the effects this might have on our academic and clinical practices and our endeavor to deliver thoughtful inclusive health care to our aging population.