North Bay Business Journal- October 23, 2017

In 2008, Kaiser Permanente La Clinica/Latino Module was formed in Santa Rosa. Kaiser Permanente was already serving a large Latino population scattered throughout the medical center. After input from community members and the Latino Chamber of Commerce, KP Santa Rosa consolidated services in a bilingual, culturally competent clinic that serves the needs of much of the Latino membership.

That attention to the needs of the Latino community has also spawned the Latino Patient Advisory Council.

In fact, Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa formed its first patient advisory council in 2005 and has expanded to a total of eight separate councils at the medical center. By meeting regularly, the council can address issues and suggest ideas for how to make the care experience even better for Kaiser Permanente members and patients.

As example, in the Northwest, work by the patient advisory council created a video in which Latino patients talk directly to KP care teams about their culture, providing insights into how to build trust and develop good provider-patient relationships.

Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center consists of a 173-bed hospital and four medical office buildings. A new three-story medical office building in Southwest Santa Rosa is currently under construction and scheduled to open in April. As the largest healthcare provider in Sonoma County, we provide care to over 166,000 members.

The health care system provides care to about 4.1 million patients in Northern California, part of the nation’s largest not-for-profit organization.

This article originally appeared in the North Bay Business Journal