Kaiser Permanente Awards $1 Million HEAL Zone Grant to the City of Ontario

ONTARIO, CA. March 29, 2016 – Kaiser Permanente today announced plans to expand and strengthen their existing HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living) interventions to promote healthier communities and healthier people in Ontario. The City of Ontario will receive a $1,000,000 HEAL Zone grant.

The grant is part of a larger Kaiser Permanente HEAL Zone investment to promote healthy communities across Southern California, in collaboration with community partners. This grant renewal marks the second phase of the HEAL Zone initiative. The initial phase was also funded with a $1 million grant from Kaiser Permanente in 2012.

“Improving the health of the communities we serve has always been a central part of Kaiser Permanente’s mission,” said Greg Christian, Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Kaiser Permanente San Bernardino County Area. “We are pleased to invest these significant resources to help increase access to healthy food and physical activities for families in Ontario.”

HEAL Zones are designed to help make healthy choices accessible to more people in underserved communities — and in turn to prevent diseases such as diabetes and hypertension that often result from obesity. For more than four years, HEAL Zone sites in Southern California have implemented community-based strategies in neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces to improve healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices.

“We are excited to have our Ontario HEAL Zone grant renewed for another three years,” said Ontario Mayor Paul Leon. “This sustained, targeted investment by Kaiser Permanente is having impressive, positive health outcomes for our HEAL Zone residents. With this funding we will continue to make environmental changes in the HEAL Zone that help make the healthy choice the easy choice for everyone.”

The vision of the HEAL Zones is that at the end of the three-year initiative, communities will be measurably transformed so that opportunities for engaging in healthy behaviors – walking and biking on safe routes, buying affordable fresh fruits and vegetables close to home, exercising in parks and participating in active after-school programs — are part of daily life.

“Obesity is one of the most pressing health concerns in our community today,” said Dr. Timothy Jenkins, Area Medical Director & Chief of Staff, Kaiser Permanente San Bernardino County Area. “As we address obesity – especially childhood obesity – it’s imperative to make changes at the local level, where people live, work and play. That’s why it’s important that we all work together to make it easier to eat healthy and stay physically active in Ontario.”

To learn more about Kaiser Permanente’s HEAL Zones and HEAL Zone Initiative, visit http://healzones.org/ and http://community.kp.org/be-informed/program/heal-zones.

About Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 4.2 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information follow us on twitter; @KPSCALNews or go to: www.kp.org/share.

Kaiser Permanente’s San Bernardino County Service Area has provided comprehensive, affordable health care to the Inland Empire for more than 70 years and serves more than 525,000 members. The San Bernardino County Service Area includes the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in Fontana and Ontario, and medical offices in Fontana, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Colton, Claremont, Montclair, Chino, San Bernardino, Victorville, Redlands, and Upland.

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