About Kaiser Permanente | Heritage

July 24, 2009

Kaiser Permanente Launches History Blog on World Wide Web

Kaiser Permanente’s historians have launched a blog on the World Wide Web that seeks to share examples of how the organization in its 70-year history has shaped — and continues to shape — health care in the United States.

The blog, “A History of Total Health,” can be found at: http://www.kaiserpermanentehistory.org.

The three primary authors of the blog, who together form Kaiser Permanente’s Heritage Resources department, are: Tom Debley, department director; Bryan Culp, manager; and Virginia McPartland, communications specialist. Debley is the co-author of the recent biography “The Story of Dr. Sidney R. Garfield: The Visionary Who Turned Sick Care into Health Care.” The book, which is about to go into a second printing, has been well received and has been added to the collections of scores of libraries and medical schools worldwide, including the Library of Congress.

“Kaiser Permanente, the eminent historian Kevin Starr once said, was ‘the great big social idea’ to come out of World War II,” Debley said. “We have a unique special place in American medical history and we look forward to sharing stories about it.”

The blog is the latest example of how Kaiser Permanente is engaging in conversations about health care in the United States and abroad. Other examples include its Facebook fan page, at www.facebook.com/kpthrive; its YouTube channel, at www.youtube.com/kaiserpermanenteorg, and its Twitter updates at http://twitter.com/kpnewscenter.