Kern Medical Receives Grant from Kaiser Permanente to Enhance Patient Mobility Program

Bakersfield, Calif. – Sept. 19, 2016 – Kern Medical today announced the receipt of a $578,000 grant from Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region’s Community Benefit Department to improve the mobility of hospitalized patients. Research has shown that patients who get out of bed and begin moving sooner, experience better health outcomes, may be discharged more quickly, and suffer fewer hospital acquired conditions such as falls, pressure ulcers and pneumonia.  Of course, safe patient movement is extremely important in reducing caregiver injuries as well.

The grant will benefit Kern Medical’s Up Sooner, Safer progressive mobility program. New mechanical lifting devices will be placed in each unit, ensuring patients are lifted, transferred or repositioned safely and with dignity. Recognizing that early patient mobility and safe handling requires changes in practice, Kern Medical is also partnering with Kaiser Permanente to provide staff education on the lift equipment and evidence-based mobility protocols.

“We are grateful for Kaiser Permanente’s partnership in our effort to drive safe patient handling and progressive mobility for patients,” said Erica Easton, Executive Director of the Kern Medical Foundation. “This generous contribution to Up Sooner, Safer allows us to add and update critical lifting devices, and helps train our staff appropriately and effectively on how to work with such tools.”

The Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region will present the Kern Medical Foundation with a check in support of patient mobility at the medical center’s Board of Governors meeting on September 21, 2016.

“We are committed to supporting organizations that share our passion for transforming care delivery,” said Kristin Weber, Senior Community Benefit Specialist at Kaiser Permanente, Kern County. “We are proud to make this investment in Up Sooner, Safer, knowing that it is a cohesive, comprehensive and interdisciplinary effort to improve patient care.”

A celebratory event will be held at Kern Medical on September 23, 2016 at 10 a.m. PT in room 1058. Media are invited to attend.

About Kern Medical
Kern Medical provides Kern County’s only trauma center and offers all members of the community access to basic and specialty care through a network of clinics and physicians.  It is the area’s only academic training hospital and is affiliated with the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.  In addition to its main campus, it operates outpatient clinics on Columbus Street, Truxtun Avenue, and Stockdale Highway for nearly 120,000 patients each year.

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: http://share.kp.org/scal.