Advocate Health staff stage protest, allege disparities and discrimination in response to Gaza crises (2024)

An Advocate Health lab employee bought a sweater that says “Palestine” in December.

They wore it to work on days when they “struggled more than usual,” the employee, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, told the Sun-Times. Their parents live in the West Bank. The employee spent part of their childhood there, and often nervously checks their phone for updates.

In March, their boss asked them to stop wearing the sweater, saying it upset someone. The request was a shock, given the worker had already worn it a “handful” of times.

“Palestine is not seen as a country, we’re not seen as a people … we’re seen as a political talking point,” they said. “It just adds another mental stress because you can’t be yourself here.”

They aren’t the only healthcare worker at Advocate Health to express concerns about their treatment in the wake of the Isreal-Hamas war, said Yasser Said, an internal medicine doctor at Advocate hospitals. He and colleagues Thaer Ahmad and Tammy Abughnaim represent a group of hundreds of workers at Advocate Health calling out what they describe as a “double standard” in its response to humanitarian crises in Gaza compared to other crises.

About 90 people, including many Advocate employees still wearing scrubs and badges, staged a silent demonstration in front of Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn Friday. Some wore keffiyahs and waved signs bearing the names of healthcare workers killed in Gaza.

Advocate Health, which operates 11 hospitals and more than 250 care facilities in Illinois, serves the largest population of Palestinians in the United States. Said said helping with the humanitarian crises in Gaza is an important part of providing the “culturally competent” care Advocate prides itself on. Instead, the group says the health system’s response has sent a message that the Palestinian community isn’t welcome.

“People no longer feel they belong at Advocate,” Said said. “We love Advocate. ... We want it to be what we thought it was with Black Lives Matter and Ukraine.”

‘Double standard’

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Time

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Within days of Russia invading Ukraine, Advocate Health called for peace, began donating “critically needed items” and partnered with local health systems to “ship additional supplies,” according to a March 2022 internal newsletter article written by Advocate’s president and CEO Jim Skogsbergh. (A spokesperson for Advocate told the Sun-Times it hadn’t provided monetary or in-kind aid for Ukraine.)

“Which is appropriate, that’s how it should be,” Said said of the group’s response to Ukraine and other global crises. But the political frame around the conflict in Gaza has made the health workers feel like there was a “very big double standard.”

“People are legitimately afraid to talk about the issue because they don’t know how,” Said said. “Any support of Palestinian lives is framed as antisemitism. For a health system, they feel like they have a lot to lose to even bring it up. … There just isn’t enough courage.”

After months of meetings, emails and pleas, Said said Advocate had only made “tepid efforts at placating” those bringing forward their concerns, noting that it only took place after “massive pressure.”

An October statement signed by Said and 40 resident physicians asking for a response to the crises there went unaddressed, he said. So did a petition he started in December calling on Advocate to make a public statement with community input and provide at least in-kind donations of expiring medical supplies. The petition garnered nearly 3,000 signatures, a third of which were Advocate affiliates.

Nurses who tried to make informal donations to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund in lieu of holiday gifts to other staff members were told by HR they weren’t allowed to, Said said. Emails reviewed by the Sun-Times show HR expressing concern about the healthcare group being tied to the donations. Once Said objected, they were told donations were allowed, but that the company couldn’t protect them if “any teammates raise concerns.”

Speakers at Christ Medical Center still emit prayers for Ukraine on some mornings, Said said. None have been made for Gaza. Vigils were difficult to hold for months amid fears of retaliation. It took until April 29 to hold one that was organized and well received by the community.

Ahmad, who has been outspoken about the conditions in Gaza, said he was advised by Advocate’s public affairs not to mention his ties to Advocate while speaking about what he saw.

Provided

In a statement to the Sun-Times, Advocate Health said it had hosted vigils for the Israel-Hamas war, shared resources about safe work spaces and was planning an event about world crises.

“We stand with our patients, teammates and communities who are impacted by the war in Gaza and Israel,” the statement said. “Part of the culture that we will continue to foster is one in which all of our teammates feel safe, affirmed, respected and heard.”

In a May 9 statement, the health group’s chief DEI officer Cristy Garcia-Thomas said she mourned the tens of thousands who had died in the conflict, “beginning with the Israelis who were attacked, killed and kidnapped.”

“As caregivers and healers at Advocate Health, the impact of this violence undoubtedly weighs on us differently than if we worked outside the healthcare field, as we see children and families starving and medical infrastructure decimated with tragic implications,” she wrote. “This conflict not only affects Israelis and Palestinians, but all of us.”

The May 9 statement included a link, among others, to the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.

‘This system knows how to do the right thing’

Advocate’s most recent statements were what led to Friday’s protest, Said said. The group had asked the health group to treat Gaza like “any other issue.” Instead, he said, the statement presented the situation in a historical vacuum and diminished the suffering of Arabs and Muslims in the past up to the present.

“That statement catalyzed so much frustration in the community,” Said said. “We’ve spent so much time on this and provided so much guidance. ... It’s a very corporate, kind of ‘All Lives Matter’ approach to things.”

Jordan Murphi and Tony Guerrero, two patient access representatives at Advocate who walked by the protest Friday, said they were unaware of the protesters demands, but glad to see a peaceful protest.

“I definitely want to take the time to learn because it’s affecting so many people in our community,” Murphi said.

Abughnaim, an emergency room physician at Trinity Hospital, said Advocate’s response is part of a broader pattern in American medicine. The American Medical Association has seen protests from its members, including Abughnaim, over the same “double standard.”

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

The AMA would not comment about Advocate Health protest.

Abughnaim said medical organizations could inspire change by speaking up because governments look to them for guidance. “We could have had some big impacts if American medical systems raised the alarm,” she said. “We really missed the boat on that, and it has compromised our ability to deliver aid effectively.”

The war’s toll is personal for her. After returning from a two-week trip to Gaza in March, she soon found out one of the nurses she had worked with at al-Aqsa Hospital had been killed in an Israeli strike.

“This system knows how to do the right thing and refuses to do it,” Abughnaim said. “Never in my worst nightmares could I have imagined a world that would enable this... That’s why it’s hard to reconcile with people being completely unbothered.”