Expanding the Call for Change: Taking #BuffaloStrong National

As someone who leads a company headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, I can occasionally get stuck in my own bubble. I have my favorite restaurants, my church, places my family likes to go on the weekend, and so on. And, a week ago Saturday, we were doing just that: living our lives.

But Floyd Lee Locums isn’t just a Charleston company or a South Carolina company even—it’s a national business with a workforce across this country. For some of my employees waking up last Sunday morning in Buffalo, New York, there was intense anguish, sadness, and grief at what occurred the day before.

On Saturday May 14th, another community-based shooting occurred at a supermarket in Buffalo. While investigation is still underway, it appears that the bloodshed was a product of racism, with some very difficult and disturbing details about the shooter’s intentions and access to deadly guns and equipment.

My heart aches for my colleagues, my country, and all those in Buffalo in the midst of unbearable pain.?

Some of the calls and conversations I’ve had the past week with team members in the area continue to rattle me. Even from afar, I can tell many of my employees are wondering what they can do to help and support both their colleagues in the area and the Buffalo community at large.?

My answers to them at this point are messy at best. They’re imperfect. And they’re reactionary. In so many ways, I’m advising them to be #BuffaloStrong even if they have no link to that region at all. I wish it weren’t true, but the discussions and guidance I’m giving is so similar to the 2020 George Floyd murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This moment has me reflecting on that horrendous time in our national memory. But it also brings up what was bore out of that tragedy: a commitment to change.

From there, Floyd Lee Locums began a DEI Council. We now have more readily available diversity training opportunities for team members—and regular skills trainings on how sustainable DEI can enliven our company culture and local communities. I’m trying to find commitments we can make today based on the greatest challenges in front of us.

For Floyd Lee Locums, that has manifested in two real ways:

1.?????The immediate problem: The shuttered supermarket where the shooting occurred has created a food desert for many people in the surrounding community.?FeedMoreWNY—where our very own Lauren Weatherbee and Laeni Mazurkiewicz volunteer—is helping to fill that gap. If you’re able, I encourage you to donate.

2.?????The work yet to do: As a country, we all need to do work on tackling racism in action-oriented ways. Our company’s DEI Council encourages everyone to watch this?Ted Talk from Janet Stovall?on “How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace.” Spoiler: The advice is for more than just workplaces!

The path to healing is long—and our journey is only just starting. If you want to learn how you can be #BuffaloStrong no matter where you are, see?other ways you can help here. God bless you and your loved ones.

Natasha Lee - Chief Executive Officer of Floyd Lee Locums