We stand for broccoli. For Pilates. And dental floss. We believe in the treadmill and its siblings StairMaster, and elliptical. In SPF 30 we trust. We stand for seat belts and stopping HIV. And we believe fruit makes a wonderful dessert. We have faith in optimism. In laughter as medicine as well as penicillin. And we are morally opposed to laziness. We believe in physical therapy, psychotherapy, even music therapy. All hail cold turkey, the gum, and the patch. We’re anti-addiction. Pro-antioxidant. And have never met a vegetable we didn’t like. We believe there is art to medicine as well as science. And we believe health isn’t an industry, it’s a cause. We are Kaiser Permanente and we stand for health. May you live long and thrive.
For over fifty years, preventive care has been the centre of what Kaiser Permanente is. When someone, who isn’t a member, thinks of us, they may consider us to be just another health plan or just another hospital or just another group practice. But, in truth, we are a lot more than that. We believe that sharing knowledge on living healthier is a fundamental part of why we’re here. And we always have. There’s a lot of economic sense in doing that… But that’s not the point. We’re not here to profit (since we’re not for profit). We’re here to provide affordable healthcare to as many people as possible. That’s caring for you when you’re healthy or otherwise. And I think that’s what makes us different.
So that’s my interpretation of our credo. And while that’s been our focus for fifty years, most people outside of Kaiser Permanente may not have realised what we’re about. Last summer, during the Olympics, we first began using the word Thrive. In a little under a year, for the first time, folks who may never have had any direct interaction with Kaiser Permanente understand, a lot better, who we are and what we do.
It makes a world of difference when you’re pushing forward with a cause and people know why you’re doing it. Our cause is helping people live healthier lives. May you live long and thrive.
on Oct 25th, 2005 at 21:43
I noticed your blog had something to do with Pilates. We’ve been thinking about adding a Pilates program to our Karate School as an alternative aerobic activity. I really enjoyed the info on your site.
on Jan 3rd, 2006 at 19:42
Great blog I hope we can work to build a better health care system as we are in a major crisis and health insurance is a major aspect to many.
on Nov 20th, 2007 at 07:59
[...] campaign in 2004, it set out to redefine the way people thought about the organization. I wrote, back in 2005: “It makes a world of difference when you’re pushing forward with a cause and people know [...]