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Business Wire - November 24, 2008
--$1 Million Awarded Statewide Underscores Long-Term Commitment To Community Partnerships
PASADENA, Calif.--Kaiser Permanente announced today that 38 nonprofit organizations from Kern to San Diego will receive grants totaling more than $300,000 to help fund a wide range of services for people with HIV and AIDS, including youth education, prevention, screening and treatment programs, as well as housing assistance and food pantries. By year's end, Kaiser Permanente's community benefit HIV/AIDS grant program will have exceeded $1 million in funding to 63 California agencies. Kaiser Permanente's grant program to HIV-focused organizations began in 1989 and now totals more than $5 million. Kaiser Permanente's research into HIV and AIDS began in 1987.
"We provide quality care to 6,000 HIV-positive patients and collaborate with other organizations in services for non-members who are at risk of, or have acquired, the disease. The latter is where our education and community service grants play an important role," said William J. Towner, MD, the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator and Medical Director of Kaiser Permanente Southern California's HIV/AIDS Research Trials (H.A.R.T) Program.
In 2007-2008, over 220 HIV infected patients throughout the region were enrolled in clinical trials to receive investigational new drugs through the Kaiser Permanente Southern California HIV/AIDS Research Trials Program. With access to new and life saving drugs, many patients have had the opportunity to regain control of their HIV disease and improve their health and quality of life.
Unique public health programs also demonstrate Kaiser Permanente's commitment to prevention education. For over twenty years, the award-winning Educational Theatre Programs has educated more than 1.6 million high school students in Southern California about the risks of STDs and HIV. Its newest play, What Goes Around, will perform on World AIDS Day, December 1st with their partner, the Long Beach AIDS Foundation at the Museum of Latin American Arts (MOLAA). This program is offered as a free community benefit from Kaiser Permanente's Educational Theatre Programs.
"As a pioneer in the area of education, research and treatment for patients living with HIV, Kaiser Permanente continues to support programs within its medical centers and throughout the community that provide hope, comfort and vision for a brighter, and healthier, future," said Towner.
The 2008 grant recipients were selected by a committee of physicians, nurses, health educators, and Kaiser Permanente staff members at each medical center who work with HIV and AIDS patients from the communities they themselves serve. Many agencies were chosen because they provide services that are not covered by insurance benefits or not available through state, county and federal agencies.
In Los Angeles, the following agencies will be receiving grants: AIDS Service Center; Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team; Covenant House California; HIV & AIDS Legal Service Alliance; LA Mission Community Clinic; and Project Angel Food. In Baldwin Park, grants will be going to AltaMed; Asian Youth Center; and East Valley Community Health Center. Bellflower's Medical Center grants will go to JWCH Institute; and Whittier Rio Hondo AIDS Project, while in South Bay, Joint Efforts, and South Bay Family Healthcare Center will be receiving Kaiser Permanente grants.
In the San Fernando Valley, Panorama City's grants are going to Bienestar Human Services; El Proyecto del Barrio; and Project New Hope. Northeast Valley Health Corporation will receive a grant from Woodland Hills Medical Center.
Other Southern California organizations receiving funding in 2008 include:
The AIDS Quilt will be hung at the Kaiser Permanente corporate headquarters (393 East Walnut Street, Pasadena, CA 91188) from November 24 to December 1, with leadership distributing ribbons to employees.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation's leading integrated health plans. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with Southern California headquarters in Pasadena, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 3.3 million members in Southern California. Today it encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region includes more than 55,800 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 6,400 physicians representing all specialties. More information about Kaiser Permanente can be found at www.kaiserpermanente.org.
Contacts for World AIDS Day Interviews:
For more information about the grants, or to interview representatives from Kaiser Permanente, please contact Socorro Serrano, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Media Representative at 626-405-3004.
Contacts
Kaiser Permanente
Southern California Region News Bureau
Socorro Serrano, 626-405-3004
081124
BW081151
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