Clinical Excellence

July 6, 2011

Kaiser Permanente Launches ‘Care Stories’ Video Blog

Patients and health care professionals provide firsthand accounts of integrated care delivery

Kaiser Permanente has launched Care Stories, a collection of first-person video narratives from patients, physicians and staff, that demonstrate the importance of integrated health care and illustrate Kaiser Permanente’s dedication to treating patients’ total health.

Care Stories presents Kaiser Permanente members talking about their own care in their own words, unscripted and uncompensated. The blog also features some of Kaiser Permanente’s 181,000 physicians and employees doing what they do best — caring for our members and striving to do that better each day.

Care Stories showcases how Kaiser Permanente provides excellent care across specialties, facilities and providers, and leverages state-of-the-art technology to help patients become active partners in managing their health. To a parent, integrated care means emailing your child’s doctor and avoiding an office visit. To someone with a chronic condition, it means all your providers and experts are communicating as a team in real time. To a busy adult, it means picking up a prescription down the hall from your doctor’s office, or from your own mailbox, or accessing lab results online.

Some of the powerful stories on the new Care Stories site include:

• Brent and Stephanie Stuckert, who credit Kaiser Permanente with saving their daughter’s life before she was even born. After discovering the child had a potentially fatal heart condition in utero, their doctors took immediate action and performed a successful operation. The Stuckerts praise Kaiser Permanente’s online tools, which allow them to easily and quickly communicate with their pediatrician regarding their daughter’s continuing care.
       Visit the Stuckerts’ care story page >
  
  
• Ryan MacGregor was shocked and scared to learn that at age 22, he needed abdominal surgery. However, after meeting his surgeon for the first time, he felt more at ease. The open communication with his caregiver allowed them to connect on a more personal level. “My friends always say they are going to ‘the doctor,’” MacGregor says. “I always say, ‘I am going to my doctor.’ ”
       Visit MacGregor’s care story page >
  
  
• Christina Ahlstrand has been a Kaiser Permanente member her entire life and praises the superior care she receives, including the ability to regularly email her doctor. She says she is constantly surprised at the alternative methods of care her doctor recommends, such as a prescription for an eight-week meditation and yoga class to overcome challenges she was facing.
       Visit Ahlstrand’s care story page >

Sharing members’ stories and experiences illustrates the innovative, quality-driven and patient-centric care that Kaiser Permanente provides, and offers a glimpse at the future of health care. The website will be updated regularly with engaging content and can be accessed at kp.org/carestories.

If you would like to share your story, please visit our “Share Your Story” page. Journalists and bloggers seeking more information can contact Farra Levin at farra.r.levin@kp.org, or 510-267-7364.