Sue Schade, interim CIO of Cleveland-based University Hospitals, made a plea for unity and peace in a recent post on her blog. Ms. Schade, who currently is a leader and founding advisor at Next Wave Health Advisors in Cleveland and formerly was CIO of Ann Arbor-based University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, remarked upon recent events, including the Orlando shooting, and her family history in a piece about coming together.
Ms. Schade is expecting her fourth grandchild next week, she wrote, and she used the premise of future generations to reflect on her past. She shared how her maternal grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Slovenia in the early 1900s, and how several of her mother's cousins were executed in their village in Slovenia in 1942.
"If your family immigrated from Europe, you too may have a horrific story. If your family immigrated from another part of the world, there maybe equally horrific stories or worse," she wrote.
"This week we are grieving for the families and victims in Orlando," Ms. Schade continued. "We are standing with the LGBT community and with our Muslim neighbors and colleagues. We must stop the hate and the violence. That is not who we hope to be."
This violence, Ms. Schade wrote, is not what healthcare professionals stand for, nor is it something Americans should stand for.
"This violence and hate is not who we intend to be as Americans," Ms. Schade wrote. "For my entire professional career, I have worked in healthcare; we take care of people and we save lives. That is who we are — a welcoming and caring people."
Click here to read her full post.
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