Cultural Festival Enhances Care at Kaiser Permanente San Jose

The music was definitely Latin, and a large parking lot of Kaiser Permanente San Jose was filled with Aztec dancers in traditional dress, Hispanic food trucks and a giant white tent, marking a “Celebración de la Cultura” for the doctors, nurses, and staff of the medical center.
“More than 40-percent of this medical center’s members are Hispanic,” says Irene Chavez, the Senior Vice President and Area Manager of Kaiser Permanente San Jose. “So we wanted this special event to acquaint or re-acquaint our staff with aspects of Hispanic culture.”
The event was staged during the lunch hours, so there was no interruption of clinical care and many staffers were able to organize and participate in the hands-on programs and activities during the “Celebración.”
Indeed, more than a thousand employees tasted samples from five “Off the Grid” food trucks, all serving Hispanic delicacies from Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico. And with food in mind, one of the “hands-on” events under the big white tent was creating small dolls using corn husks, organized by staffers from Ob-Gyn at Kaiser Permanente San Jose.
“This is a way of showing the value and importance of corn in everyday life in the Hispanic culture,” says Mandy Li, Project Leader for Diversity at the Medical Center, and the overall organizer of the “Celebración.”
A group of staff members and nurses from Radiology had painted their faces in semi-fierce “Dia de los Muertos” designs, and oversaw a “lotería”, a popular Hispanic game, similar to bingo. Instead of numbers and letters, the “lotería” cards had food items and those who won the games were presented with a cutting board decorated for the event.
“We know that the Affordable Care Act will be bringing Kaiser Permanente San Jose members, and many might be Hispanic,” says Li, “so the “Celebración” is both for fun and learning.”
Since the “Celebración” was held close to the Mexican “Dia de los Muertos” holiday, a traditional altar was set up under the tent, encouraging staffers to leave a note or remembrance to ancestors long gone. The altar was decorated with orange paper marigolds, which are symbolic of the holiday in Mexico.
Groups that serve the Hispanic community, called Kaiser Permanente’s “community partners”, set up tables under the tent, bringing information from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, El Observador newspaper, Somos Mayfair, and the American Diabetes Association.
“We know that many members of the Hispanic Community suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure ” says Dr. Ruma Kumar, Hospitalist and Diversity Leader at Kaiser Permanente San Jose, “so to get the best health outcomes, we partner and integrate with community leaders to provide culturally appropriate care for our Latino members.”

Kaiser Permanente San Jose is already a leader in providing what’s called “care in your language” for Spanish-speaking members. The Medical Center has two clinics where the doctors, nurses, and staff are bilingual: Ob-Gyn and Pediatrics. Work is underway on a specialized Medicine Clinic for Spanish-speakers.
“Our goal is to ensure our Spanish-speaking Kaiser Permanente members have a completely seamless language experience in their health care, from the time they check in to the time they leave” says Dr. Andrea Rudominer, pediatrician and the medical center’s chief of diversity.
Dr. Rudominer posed for photos with the Aztec dancers, who were at the “Celebración” to showcase Pre-Hispanic culture. Their dance performance, of course, could have been contemporary symbol for the Kaiser Permanente San Jose “Celebración”: Exercise, and Thrive.