AGS Launches New Initiative Addressing the Intersection of Structural Racism and Ageism in Health Care
New York (Nov. 2, 2020)—The American Geriatrics Society (AGS) today publicly announced its plan for how it will begin to address the intersection of structural racism and ageism, after issuing a position statement on discrimination this summer.
“Since we issued that statement, AGS leaders have spent the intervening time thinking about what that commitment means for a Society that is focused on addressing another big ism – ageism – in health care. We’ve also been in learning mode, working to understand our own implicit bias and gathering ideas for achieving lasting and meaningful change,” said AGS CEO Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA.
The AGS has committed to three actions steps to address racism in health care, given its impact on older adults, their families, and their communities: (1) affirming the Society’s commitment to creating a future where health care is free of discrimination and other forms of bias; (2) ensuring its educational programs and products address the diversity of older adults; and (3) setting an aspirational goal of guaranteeing that all original research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) and presented at the AGS Annual Scientific Meeting will take full account of ethnicity, gender, disability, age, and sexual orientation in design, undertaking, and reporting by 2031.