Kaiser Permanente Recognized by the American Heart Association for Workplace Wellness Keeping Employees Healthy

San Rafael Medical Center Engages Physicians and Staff to Live Healthy During American Hearth Month

Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest integrated health system, today announced it has received the 2016 silver level recognition in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) inaugural Workplace Health Achievement Index, a science-based and evidence-informed measurement that assesses and recognizes workplace health programs. Initiated by the AHA’s CEO Roundtable, the index provides employers with best practices to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of workplace health programs.

"At Kaiser Permanente our employees are key to the quality care and service we provide our members," said Pat Kendall, Medical Group Administrator, Kaiser Permanente San Rafael. "The American Heart Association recognition for workplace wellness is another example of that quality and care which is so much a part of our mission to the communities we serve."

As we observe American Heart Month in February, Kaiser Permanente’s robust efforts to improve heart health, lower hypertension, and improve cardiovascular fitness for its more than 220,000 employees and physicians are particularly relevant. Highlights of these efforts include:

• More than 58,000 Kaiser Permanente employees have participated in the AHA’s annual Heart Walks since 2006, raising $4.3 million at 42 walk locations around the U.S.
• The creation in 2015 of Go KP, the online workforce wellness program for all Kaiser Permanente employees that provides tips and tools, motivation, and social features to help employees get fit and stay healthy.
• Pre-recorded webinars on topics like “Weight Loss for Busy People,” “Trendy Foods, Trendy Diets” and “Whole Food Plant-Based Eating.”
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San Rafael Medical Center strives for a culture of health by providing lunchtime programs such as "Stretch and Tone", "No Sweat Stretch," mindfulness meditation, cooking demonstrations and programs on gratitude. The personal best training program provides an opportunity for staff and their families to train together for 12 weeks for the Kaiser Permanente 5K or 1/2 Marathon walk or run. San Rafael employees and physicians are making a difference, one pound at a time though the "Go KP Pound for Pound Challenge." For each pound an employee loses KP will donate a pound of fresh produce to the national food bank.

The AHA’s Workplace Health Achievement Index scores and recognizes companies based both on the structure of the workplace health program and employees’ heart health based on the AHA’s seven behaviors and metrics for ideal heart health (smoking, body mass index, physical activity, diet, total cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose). People who achieve ideal cardiovascular health by age 50 have significantly lower lifetime risk of heart disease and stroke, and live, on average, approximately 10 years longer than people with two or more risk factors.

For more information about improving heart health, find Kaiser Permanente resources online.