"Orlando Health – the parent company to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital and the Winnie and Arnold Palmer health complexes, among others – has come under fire in recent months for not keeping up with times, or other local employers, by tiptoeing through the dicey terrain of diversity training. According to Alan Bounville, a “former Orlando Health team member and donor in good standing with the organization,” as the area’s fifth largest employer, Orlando Health should step up to the level of Disney and Universal in incorporating multicultural training into their employment rubric.
Following failed attempts to convince the corporate suits otherwise, Bounville has launched a petition campaign to pressure Orlando Health into being more PC. According to his e-mails, the organization currently ignores ethnicity training, forbids employees from forming discussion groups on diversity,does not protect gender identity for employees or patients, lacks domestic partner benefits, and, while it does boast a nondiscrimination policy for staff, it lacks the same in its patients’ bill of rights. Bounville’s quest has drawn endorsements from Equality Florida, OneOrlando.org and the Metropolitan Business Association; as of last week, the petition had garnered more than 100 signatures (although some on Bounville’s e-mail list are threatening legal action if they aren’t removed, something Bounville wouldlove). And nothing is happening.
On to Plan B, then. Bounville and company are threatening to crash a Sept. 26 block party celebrating the 20th anniversary of Arnold Palmer Medical Center and the 11th annual “Miracle Mile” runs preceding the party with picket signs, petitions and promotions.
The folks at Orlando Health have until Sept. 19 to come up with a “viable” plan and present it to both Bounville and the public. Then, and only then, will they be able to avoid the rhetorical posterboard and public humiliation that will make them feel less than human. Like their employees."
No comments:
Post a Comment