Hennepin County commissioner calls on hospital system to fire employee over two incidents showing 'deeply rooted' racism

A Hennepin Healthcare board member called on the hospital system to fire three employees, including a doctor and deputy chief of EMS, and demote supervisors over two incidents she says reflect a "deeply rooted" culture of systemic racism inside the hospital system.

Hennepin County Commissioner Irene Fernando called it "appalling" that hospital leadership failed to act for two weeks after a community member sent them images of employees dressed in blackface makeup, according to a statement published Wednesday evening. Fernando said the Hennepin Healthcare board has approved millions of dollars for community outreach since she joined in 2020. After the murder of George Floyd, the board declared racism a public health crisis, and issued a directive for the hospital system to address health inequities.

"The incidents that have been reported recently, in combination with slow action from management, represent a harmful pattern that damages community trust," said Fernando. "These incidents are not isolated — they each fit into a long series of racist incidents and practices by Hennepin Healthcare employees and leadership. It is clear that racism is deeply rooted within the organization and must be addressed directly through systemic changes in both the policy and leadership of Hennepin Healthcare."

In an interview Thursday, Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis said leadership took "strong action" against employees in response to the photos, but she would not specify the action, citing personnel data policies and a grievance process.

DeCubellis, committing to making substantive culture changes, agreed with Fernando's critiques that hospital leaders waited too long to respond to the photos.

"I think it's fair," she said. "What we have learned is we have to move faster."

"We wish there was a playbook," DeCubellis said later.

Fernando's statement came in response to two recent Star Tribune reports. On Wednesday, a story detailed how internal turmoil within the hospital system was exacerbated by recently surfaced photos of employees wearing dark brown makeup. One includes two white paramedics, including EMS Deputy Chief Amber Brown, dressed as the 1960s vocal group the Supremes. Another shows two people dressed as R&B duo Milli Vanilli, in similar makeup wearing dreadlock-style wigs.

DeCubellis said she believes the photos were about 10 years old, but said the timing did not matter.

"There's no time limit on racism," said Nneka Sederstrom, chief equity officer for Hennepin Healthcare.

A member of the public sent Facebook screenshots of the images to Hennepin Healthcare leadership on Feb. 15, which showed another EMS Deputy Chief, Mike LeVake, "liking" one of the photos. The pictures have since circulated among hospital employees. Last weekend, a group of doctors issued a letter to leadership declaring "racist caricatures should not be tolerated by our institution."

"Regardless of when the photos were taken, the conduct of these employees is abhorrent," said Fernando. "Dressing in blackface and treating race, ethnicity or culture as a costume is degrading, extremely racist and cannot be tolerated. The employees in the photos should be fired, and supervisors who were aware of this misconduct should be disciplined and removed from leadership positions."

Last month, the Star Tribune reported on a doctor for Hennepin Healthcare who appeared in a training video for Minneapolis police. The video, obtained by the Star Tribune through a public records request, shows Dr. Paul Nystrom teaching officers how to respond to a severe form of agitation called "excited delirium" — despite Mayor Jacob Frey publicly announcing the city had stopped training on this controversial theory in 2021, after the American Medical Association rejected the diagnosis.

"This is unacceptable and a direct violation of an organizational directive," said Fernando. "The doctor who conducted this training should be fired for his actions, and supervisors who were aware of his misconduct should be disciplined and removed from leadership positions."

Located on the east side of downtown, Hennepin Healthcare and its flagship hospital, HCMC, serves some of the most diverse and vulnerable patients in Minnesota. In 2018, 34% of patients were Black, 19% were Hispanic/Latino and 38% were white, according to the hospital's Community Health Needs Assessment 2020-2022 study.

DeCubellis said the hospital system is filled with employees who carry out their duties with "compassion."

"I just don't want us to lose sight of [the fact that] the people who work here are amazing," she said.

'Path of change'

However, DeCubellis acknowledged, "there is absolutely racism in our walls."

She agreed with hospital employees quoted by the Star Tribune who said Black workers are treated more harshly than white ones when accused of misconduct. "I would say they're right," she said. "And that's the journey we're on."

"That's also the evidence of the old world order," added Sederstrom. "And now we're trying to build the new world order."

Hennepin hired Sederstrom a year ago to help close the gap on racial disparities in health care. Sederstrom described the process of implementing change as "building the landing gear as you're trying to land the plane."

She said they are planning to roll out new training that includes the "Journey Into Health Equity Compass" program, an experimental learning initiative which encourages employees to examine their lives outside of work, and to consider the lived experiences of others. The program includes learning materials like books, movies and podcasts and culminates in a capstone project.

"To me it is a work of art in how health equity ought to be done," Sederstrom said.

Hospital executives began the program in mid-February and it will be rolled out to senior leadership at the end of this month. They have also established collectives, or groups for marginalized employees and leaders to gather, said Sederstrom.

In the community, the hospital held a summit in December that exposed young Black men to careers in medicine. A similar summit for young Black women and other marginalized groups will follow, and the hospital will offer 20 paid internships for Black male teens this summer.

Rachel Hardeman, director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity at the University of Minnesota, was disappointed to see more examples of institutionalized racism at the city's safety-net hospital that cares for people of color and immigrant communities.

"To suggest that this incident does not impact patient care, or the broader mission of Hennepin Healthcare, is completely naïve and actually incredibly harmful," Hardeman said.

While it can be easy to characterize the incidents as involving bad actors who made a singular choice, it is important to consider what this means for the hospital system and other institutions that have not truly faced their history of racism, she said.

Hardeman, who is Black, had been a patient of Hennepin Healthcare in the past, but decided to no longer be a patient there because of the way that she was treated.

"As someone with knowledge and resources, if I was treated that way, I can't imagine how folks with less privilege than me have felt and that breaks my heart. No one should feel like that," Hardeman said.

Going forward, she hopes that the hospital gives resources to and uplifts people like Sederstrom. Repairing relationships and not only relying on anti-racism training will also be key for an organization that is also an economic driver in the community that employs people from communities of color, she said.

"I think that a truth and reconciliation process that is open and authentic and honest, and probably facilitated by someone externally could go a long way towards starting down that path of change," Hardeman said.