CHEST’s Pledge for Equity
June 2, 2020
We, as the American College of Chest Physicians
® (CHEST), a diverse membership of clinicians, cannot help but experience a wide range of emotions as we are confronted by current events and the damage systemic racism and inequity have wreaked on our society. Our profession emphasizes the value of every breath, and having even one breath needlessly taken away is too much.
Caring for the vulnerable and being their advocate is the core of CHEST’s mission and the passion of our hearts. Knowing that racism, bigotry, and discrimination have driven and fallaciously justified actions that diminish or cut short any human life should be an anathema to who we are as clinicians and our oath as healers. For this reason, we feel it is important to reassert our commitment to inclusion and the need to end inequities in health care.
We celebrate the diversity of our members and of the patients we treat. In our caring for others, we must do more than strive to be free of racism, bigotry, and discrimination. We must acknowledge that social injustice has a physical, emotional, and psychological impact on our patients’ health. We must continue to educate ourselves on the effects racism and socioeconomic disparity have on our patients of color. We must understand and overcome our own implicit biases if we are to build bonds of trust. And we must be a voice for change.
As we go forward, CHEST will continue to emphasize our commitment to the health and well-being of underrepresented groups. We know that COVID-19 has a disproportionate impact on communities of color. As we see groups gathering and protesting for human justice, we know that wearing a mask or safe distancing may not be top-of-mind. We must prepare ourselves to provide necessary care should it be required.
CHEST is actively working to close the health-care gaps that have become clear as some communities experience a rise in COVID-19 cases through our Clinician Matching Network. This is one way we can address the disparity in health-care together.
Be assured, CHEST and its members pledge to fight for every human breath and be a voice for eliminating health-care disparity in all its forms.
Be safe as you care for one another,
The CHEST Board of Regents