Operational Excellence

October 1, 2009

Kaiser Permanente's Award-Winning Domestic Violence Prevention Program Highlighted in Podcast

October is National Domestic Violence Prevention Month. To help bring attention to this, the clinical leader of Kaiser Permanente's award-winning domestic violence prevention program discussed the issue in a News Center podcast.

Brigid McCaw, MD, and Kaiser Permanente will be honored Oct. 10 by the Family Violence Prevention Fund at the National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence. Dr. McCaw developed and implemented the Family Violence Prevention Program in Kaiser Permanente's operations in Northern California; numerous Kaiser Permanente facilities nationwide have since adopted this comprehensive model for identifying and addressing intimate partner violence.

In the podcast, Dr. McCaw talks about health care's critical role in domestic violence prevention, the importance of helping teens and young adults recognize and avoid abusive relationships and situations, and other key aspects of the issue. More than 1.5 million Americans will be victims of domestic violence this year. A high percentage of those incidents will only be discovered when the victims seek treatment in hospital emergency departments.

Listen to Dr. McCaw's podcast here. You also can download the podcast through the News Center’s iTunes channel, or through Feedburner.

View the Kaiser Permanente Family Violence Prevention Program’s Web site for more information about the organization’s efforts to prevent domestic violence.

For more about Domestic Violence Awareness Month, see this Web site. The toll-free number for the National Domestic Violence Hotline is: 800-799-7233.