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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Kaiser Making $8 Billion Investment

Kaiser Permanente is moving forward with an aggressive expansion of its healthcare facilities, investing $8 billion dollars on construction projects in the next four years at a time when other hospitals have shut down due to the recession. Kaiser’s new medical offices in Mission Hills recently opened their doors for service and other projects slated for completion in 2009 include a replacement hospital in Downey as well as new medical office buildings in Orange County, Rancho Bernardo and Bakersfield. “This has been an exciting year this has been a year of great progress,” said Kaiser Permanente Southern California President Benjamin Chu, speaking at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Mission Hills facility June 12. Kaiser Permanente, Chu said, has been undergoing a busy phase of rebuilding facilities and moving forward with “a planned effort of putting more buildings out in the community.” “Even in good years we’ve seen hospitals close. If it’s tough in good times, imagine how tough it is in bad times. But despite the tough economy, Kaiser is investing in our communities,” said State Senator Alex Padilla at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was also attended by Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Padilla who lives in Pacoima, said the opening of the Mission Hills facility is especially good news as the State prepares to slash its healthcare budget. The Mission Hills medical offices include 24 primary care exam rooms, a pharmacy and laboratory, and on-site health education store and health education classes. The new medical offices are an example of Kaiser’s synergy with the community’s cultural and linguistic needs, Kaiser’s Southern California Executive Medical Director Jeffrey Weisz said. Most of the staff at the Mission Hills facility is bilingual in Spanish, and all signage in the Medical Offices is in both English and Spanish, reflecting the area’s demographics. About 80 percent of Kaiser’s members in the Mission Hills area are Hispanic. In the San Fernando Valley, Kaiser Permanente similarly reached out to a specific demographic in the past through its Glendale Medical Center, which mainly caters to the Armenian population. Kaiser Permanente serves approximately 400,000 Valley residents. “The Mission Hills Medical Offices reaffirms Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to making healthcare convenient and accessible,” said Dennis Benton, Executive Director for Kaiser Permanente’s Panorama City Medical Center Area, which provides health care services to residents of the East San Fernando Valley. “We are committed to not only taking care of patients who are sick, but keeping our members well.”

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