In Our Communities

What is a healthy community? We at Kaiser Permanente believe that it’s more than the absence of illness. It’s an environment that supports the physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being of those who live, work, and play there. It’s a safe route for kids to walk or bicycle to school, a neighborhood grocery store stocked with fresh produce, parks and playgrounds that welcome families, and workplaces that promote wellness and physical activity.

As a health care provider, we at Kaiser Permanente understand the importance of clinical prevention efforts. We also understand the challenges our patients and their families face when they leave the exam room. We have long supported a comprehensive approach that includes evidence-based clinical prevention strategies, as well as efforts to create the conditions outside our doctors’ offices that make it easier for patients to eat better and increase their physical activity.

Healthy environments
Healthy people
Educational Theatre Program
Research
Our partners

Healthy environments

We take a prevention-driven approach to health, supporting policies and environmental changes that promote healthy eating and active living (often referred to as HEAL) in neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. Our work also addresses community economic development, environmental sustainability, and neighborhood safety — key factors in promoting healthy communities. We work with community-based organizations and residents to translate their vision for healthy communities into visible, concrete changes — and ultimately healthier neighborhoods.

Healthy people

All of our efforts in support of care for vulnerable populations ultimately aspire to achieve health care equity and the elimination of health disparities within our increasingly diverse communities. In the United States today, the health of racial and ethnic minorities, poor people, and other disadvantaged groups is worse than the health of the overall population. We believe ending these disparities is one of the most important issues we face as a nation.

Educational Theatre Program

The Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre Program has entertained and inspired more than 15 million people since 1986. Through music, comedy, and drama, our live theatre programs are offered to schools and communities free of charge in each of Kaiser Permanente’s eight regions.

No other organization serves more children through educational theatre, and nationally Kaiser Permanente employs the largest ensemble of actors. Our ethnically diverse group of professional actors also serve as skilled workshop facilitators, health educators and role models to the people they meet every day.

Research

More than 2,000 studies involving Kaiser Permanente clinicians and researchers are in progress today at our research sites nationwide. Our eight research sites comprise one of the largest nonacademic research programs in the United States.

Many of those ongoing studies, and hundreds of past studies, involve obesity and obesity prevention. Below are headlines and links to some of the most recent studies.

Pregnancy

Childhood obesity

Obesity studies

Our national partners

Obesity is a complex problem requiring complex solutions. No single sector will be able to reverse this epidemic alone. At Kaiser Permanente, we are proud to partner with organizations committed to finding and promoting solutions that work.

Get Inspired

Kaiser Permanente Community Health Initiatives

With Photovoice, Kaiser Permanente puts cameras into the hands of community residents so they can document the barriers to healthy eating and active living in their own communities. By creating a visual record of the environmental conditions in their neighborhoods, residents identify opportunities for community change, help set priorities, and act as advocates for change with city officials, policy makers, and legislators. View the video>>

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