On Friday 5th November, the Mayor of Watford attended an Equality and Diversity Summit in the town.
Co-ordinator for the Hertfordshire LINk, Monika Brzozowska-Neroth reports that aimed at promoting equality and diversity in Hertfordshire, the event raised awareness of the challenges some individuals face on a daily basis.
Amir Kabel (Equality and Diversity Manager) organised the summit in Partnership with Hertfordshire LINk, Hertfordshire Hearing Advisory Service and NHS Hertfordshire. Amir succinctly defined Equality and Diversity as ‘treating people differently in order to treat them the same’.
Two of the speakers were Henry Goldberg, Chair of Hertfordshire LINk and the Mayor of Watford. Mr Goldberg gave an overview of Hertfordshire LINks role, being “An independent statutory watchdog for Health and Social Care in Hertfordshire…engaging with the NHS and Social Services to improve services…We support equality of care for all patients, seeing cultural diversity as very important…and focus on equality of care for the vulnerable including those with dementia, sensory, physical, mental and learning disabilities.” Other speakers gave moving accounts of personal experiences.
Hertfordshire may not initially appear to be culturally diverse; however there are pockets of multi-cultural and diverse communities and the Mayor appeared proud that Watford is one of them.
In reflection, the workshops were a practical way of raising awareness of this inequality within the community, enabling attendees to leave with a better understanding of how to be more sensitive to individuals needs.
The Hertfordshire LINk, supported by Shaw Trust, was particularly pleased to be part of this event to raise awareness about diversity and the importance of ensuring equality in the provision of health and social care services.