SAMGI Statement – June 19, 2020
I have on more than one occasion started to draft a message to our group acknowledging that what happened to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many other black Americans is utterly intolerable in a civil society, and confirming that Surgical Affiliates supports and stands with the black community.
As a company committed to providing care to vulnerable patient populations – regardless of race or ethnicity – I believe it is important to vocally state our position and publicly affirm our intentions. So let me state the following without equivocation:
We stand for social equality and basic civil and human rights for all people but at this pivotal moment, reaffirm our commitment in support of those disproportionately persecuted simply due to the color of their skin.
Our group holds this truth as self-evident, and no type of racism will be tolerated here. We are committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity, and we are specifically committed to ensuring our workforce remains diverse and sensitive to discrimination faced by our patients as well as our own employees.
Injury does not discriminate.
And as the leading American Surgicalist Group…neither do we.
We reaffirm our commitment to delivering compassionate and expert care to any patient regardless of race. And we reaffirm our commitment to a workforce that is similarly diverse. We support and endorse the ongoing effort to eliminate systemic racism and fully endorse social equality and tolerance for all.
Lynette A. Scherer, MD, FACS
Chief Executive Officer
