Our work

Community Health Initiatives

We are intensifying our pioneering work on community health initiatives – linking our unique, evidence-based medical expertise with community engagement and proven public health interventions to truly “move the needle” on community health outcomes. The focus of these initiatives is Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) and the myriad health issues that can be a byproduct of poor nutrition and inactivity.

Our Community Health Initiatives programs engage an exciting and effective model for improving the health of entire communities. We emphasize long-term partnerships with public health agencies and community organizations as well as definitions of health that reach beyond the traditional. They concentrate on a defined geographical area and focus on future environmental and social conditions that will have a long-term effect on a community’s health.

While Kaiser Permanente’s HEAL has many facets, examples of the multitude of discrete programs that support and sustain this important community health work include:

• Farmers’ Markets
• Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre Programs
• Grants that further community health partnerships
• TV Turnoff Campaign

You can go directly to our Community Health Initiatives Web pages and a wealth of related materials and information by clicking here.

Farmers’ Markets

The inability to access fresh produce is a barrier to healthy eating in many communities. Kaiser Permanente has launched a program to establish farmers’ markets and farm stands in its hospitals and medical office buildings throughout the nation. Developed in collaboration with local health departments and community-based organizations, the markets were created to improve access to fresh, local foods for members, employees, and communities, and to provide a venue for health education and social marketing.

Educational Theatre programs linked to HEAL

Kaiser Permanente aims the spotlight on healthy eating and active living for children through its signature Educational Theatre programs. “The Amazing Food Detective” has been developed as part of an educational package for elementary school children called “Play H.E.A.L.S.” or Healthy Eating, Active Living Scenarios. The program was developed in partnership with the California Nutrition Network specifically to target healthy eating and active living for elementary school children. The production includes a week-long series of workshops. Among our other Educational Theatre Programs, “Zip’s Great Day” and “Professor Bodywise” also educate school age children on a range of important health issues including diet and physical activity. Our theatre programs are developed in consultation with health experts, schools, communities, and public health organizations and provided at no cost to schools in Kaiser Permanente communities.

Grants that foster community health partnerships

Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) initiatives emphasizing environmental and policy change are in various stages of development in every Kaiser Permanente region, as are targeted HEAL grant programs to support community organizations promoting healthy eating and active living. Look for information on local grants in the Community Benefit in Our Regions section of the web site.

TV-Turnoff campaign

Kaiser Permanente’s national partnership with the TV-Turnoff Network raises awareness of the effects of excessive television viewing on health through an annual TV-Turnoff campaign. Most recently the campaign disseminated 50,000 TV-Turnoff posters, 2,000 Organizer’s Kits and more than 19,000 copies of a shorter online version, and shared tools to support clinicians, members, and communities to promote and adopt more active life styles. The effort included radio shows airing on more than 1,900 stations.