In the Community

February 22, 2007

Kaiser Permanente Mobilizes to Help Rebuild Gulf Coast

Thirty KP volunteers lend a hand in the region this week

Following the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005, Kaiser Permanente pledged $3 million to help rebuild the region's decimated public health infrastructure. Now, Kaiser Permanente has teamed up with the National Hands On Network and their local affiliates to lead a week-long service project in the Gulf region.

On January 28th, 30 KP employees and physicians set out to help in the continuing efforts to recover from the large-scale natural disaster inflicted on residents of the Gulf Coast.  The response to KP's call for volunteers was overwhelming – more than 250 employees applied to volunteer from across the organization nationwide. Three physicians and five nurses are among the volunteers.

Housing and other infrastructure support in the Gulf Coast region is still badly needed, and Kaiser Permanente has committed to provide significant volunteer support to the long-term recovery phase, focused on the rebuilding work that will be required for years to come. 

The KP volunteers traveled to New Orleans on Sunday January 28th. Volunteers are working at various recovery projects including, but not limited to home rehabilitation, community resource restoration, and environmental restoration, in Biloxi, Mississippi, and in New Orleans, January 29th-February 3rd.  A lottery system was employed to select the 30 volunteers and 3 alternates from the large pool of applicants. Volunteers are working in teams of 8-10, on concurrent projects.

The experience is sure to be an emotional one for all involved. Volunteers will get to meet some of the homeowners, who are living in FEMA trailers at the sites of their uninhabitable homes.

Volunteers are using their accrued paid time off in order to participate. All transportation to and from the project sites, housing, and meals is covered by KP and the Hands On Network, and Hands On Bay Area, based in San Francisco, is providing project planning, technical, logistical, communications, and administrative on-site support for the project.  Hands On Gulf Coast in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Hands On New Orleans are the local Hands On Network affiliates that are staffing, organizing, and supervising the project. 

Accommodations
In Biloxi, volunteers will be housed by Hands On Gulf Coast, in their Volunteer Action Conference Center, on the grounds of the Beauvoir United Methodist Church, in either loft sleeping spaces or community space on the first floor. Similar accommodations will be provided in New Orleans in the Hands On New Orleans Volunteer Center.

Hands On is providing all meals during the project week.  Hands On provides the food; volunteers cook it, and each night there is an opportunity for volunteers to sign up to prepare meals.  Volunteers will also be treated to Southern hospitality on two evenings at local restaurants in Biloxi and New Orleans.

About Hands On Network
The Hands On Network comprises 62 nonprofit organizations around the world that inspire volunteers, create leaders, and change lives and communities through effective volunteer action. Hands On Network's ongoing efforts in the Gulf region have been bolstered by a unique partnership with The Home Depot and other members of the Corporate Service Council, of which Kaiser Permanente is a member. The Corporate Service Council is an alliance of Fortune 500 companies and civic organizations committed to changing the face of corporate volunteerism throughout North America. For more information about Hands On Gulf Coast, go to their web site at http://www.handsongulfcoast.org.  For more information on the national Hands On Network, go to www.handsonnetwork.org.