LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — The chief executive officer of a Lancaster County retirement community issued an apology Wednesday after posters that some found to be racially and culturally insensitive were seen hanging in parts of the community's healthcare operation.
The posters were promoting a "Wacky/Crazy Hair Theme" Day for July 23, according to social media posts on the matter. Some of the images on the poster "depicted images that reflected racial and cultural insensitivity," according to John G. Swanson, CEO of Willow Valley Communities, who wrote a letter of apology issued to all community team members.
"To say that I'm appalled is an understatement," Swanson wrote. "At the same time, I am disappointed that we find ourselves falling short in this way, given recent events that have been painful for so many in our country."
Swanson said that while the poster carried the Willow Valley Communities logo, it was not sanctioned by the organization or its leadership team.
It was, he said, "designed by an individual team member who clearly lacked appropriate knowledge about the racial insensitivity of the material shown."
The team member was immediately terminated and the posters were taken down and destroyed, Swanson said in his letter.
"The offending depictions are counter to all that Willow Valley Communities stands for and are wholly inconsistent with our values," Swanson wrote. "Willow Valley Communities has a zero-tolerance policy for racism or cultural insensitivity."
Swanson said he will direct all Willow Valley Communities employees to undergo a "new, comprehensive, and customized equality and inclusion training program" and will order the organization to re-evaluate the way that the organization creates, reviews, and approves all content "to prevent this from ever happening again."
