Healthy Environments

At Kaiser Permanente, we believe in “Total Health,” which holds that people need quality medical care and much more to be healthy. For their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, people need healthy environments wherever they live, work, play, or relax: in schools, playgrounds, offices and factories, neighborhoods, parks, urban streets and rural byways.

“Total Health” is the guiding philosophy behind our Healthy Eating, Active Living Community Health Initiatives and our related Environmental Stewardship program, which work together to promote healthy people through healthy communities.

In 2010, our prevention-driven CHI programs in more than 40 cities and neighborhoods throughout our service areas invested more than $20 million to address the multiple downstream contributors to the obesity epidemic and its many related health consequences. We also made great progress in implementing programs to combat climate change; reduce or eliminate the routine use of toxic materials and chemicals in our facilities; sharply limit waste; and change food production and transport practices that undermine individual and community health.