Press Releases: Southern California
May 7, 2010
Kaiser Permanente Southern California Delivers 100% Support for “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” Initiative
PASADENA, Calif. — Kaiser Permanente Southern California was honored by the World Health Organization this week for having achieved 100 percent registration in the international “SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands” initiative that aims to reduce the spread of life-threatening infections by improving hand hygiene among health care workers. All Kaiser Permanente Southern California facilities, which serve a total of 3.3 million members from Kern to San Diego counties, pledged their continuing support to these vital patient safety measures.
“Kaiser Permanente is committed to protecting the health of our patients, workforce, and communities, and this includes protecting them against infectious diseases,” said Jeffrey A. Weisz, MD, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, whose physicians serve all Kaiser Permanente Southern California members. “We adopted the 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene in 2006 and continue to work each day to reduce hospital acquired infections. The activities this week are a global call to action and another reminder of how important hand hygiene is for our patients and medical staff."
“Kaiser Permanente Southern California has taken this message into the hearts of our staff and the hallways of our hospitals because hand washing is fundamental to providing excellent medical care,” said Benjamin K. Chu, MD, MPH, MACP, president, Southern California region, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. Kaiser Permanente Southern California health care facilities include 13 hospitals and 189 medical offices.
In the international webinar originating in Geneva, with events in Santa Barbara and New York, Didier Pittet, MD, co-author of the current guidelines on hand hygiene for the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, commended Kaiser Permanente Southern California for having fully implemented the hand hygiene campaign. “I am convinced that Kaiser Permanente Southern California can serve as an example for other states and organizations working to improve community health and patient safety,” said Dr. Pittet. The “5 Moments for Hand Hygiene” approach continues to be adopted by Kaiser Permanente throughout the United States.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 3.3 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.
