Mission Statement
The mission of the Kaiser Permanente Global Health Program is to facilitate participation in Global Health experiences in underserved populations around the world for the staff physicians and residents of Kaiser Permanente.
Program Objectives
- Build relationships with existing international health care programs, medical facilities, and medical schools that enhance the mission of Kaiser Permanente’s Global Health Program and needs of its Global Health partners.
- Develop and maintain clinical volunteer opportunities for the clinical staff of Kaiser Permanente
- Develop and maintain clinical rotations of quality graduate medical education to the residents of Kaiser Permanente and its academic affiliates.
Overview
The Kaiser Permanente Global Health program provides TPMG physicians, KP residents and other health care providers an opportunity to serve above and beyond their professional roles within Kaiser Permanente by contributing to the health of those living in low-resource communities. Our partnerships with nonprofit global health organizations help physicians make critical connections between global social and healthcare issues and their local communities, including the health effects of poverty, migration, climate change, emerging infectious disease, and access to healthcare. These experiences add depth and breadth to the clinical capacity of our physicians, and in the process improve the care they provide to our local and global communities.
Residents who participate in global health rotations share their experience on the Global Health blog. Subscribe to the blog to receive updates.
Program Affiliations
Da Nang General and Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital
Da Nang, Vietnam
We are pleased to announce our affiliation with both Da Nang General, a state hospital that delivers the largest portion of care to the indigent, and Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Hospital. These two clinical sites offer fairly sophisticated and diverse medical care with very limited resources to underserved and poor populations. As a tertiary referral center, Da Nang General offers a wide spectrum of subspecialty care to a large catchment area (approximate population of 4 million). Da Nang Orthopedic and Rehabilitation Center is a private facility which receives state funding and provides indigent as well as fee for service care.
Because of the sophistication and broad spectrum of existing health care services, this is a unique opportunity for high skilled and sub-specialty trained physicians to practice their sub-specialty skills in a low resourced and underserved communities.
Matibabu
Ugenya, Kenya
Founded in 2004 by Kaiser Permanente oncologist Gail Wagner, MD, and colleagues, The Tiba Foundation partners with The Matibabu Foundation to provide medical care, training, and equipment to residents of Ugenya, Kenya, an extremely poor and disadvantaged area near Lake Victoria. Matibabu is the Swahili word for “treatment.” Matibabu provides primary care services, pediatrics, women’s health, tropical medicine, and HIV/AIDS care to thousands of rural Kenyans.
University Teaching Hospital
Lusaka, Zambia
The University Teaching Hospital (UTH) is an academic medical center/university hospital that is supported by the government of Zambia via the Ministry of Health. It has become the final destination of the unsolved problems of the country’s population. The hospital provides a full range of primary, secondary, and tertiary medical services on an inpatient and outpatient basis.
Residents will rotate along with Zambian residents in clinical rotations and experience the first-hand challenge of providing medical education in a resource-poor country. The high volume of sub-specialty pediatric programs, such as the HIV Center of Excellence and the Severe Malnourished Children Ward, provide a unique learning opportunity.
Bay Area Surgical Mission
Camarines Norte, Philippines
For more than 10 years, Bay Area Surgical Mission (BASM) has provided free medical care to those with little or no access to healthcare in Camarines Norte, a remote province of the Philippines. The local economies are poor and social services are limited to non-existent. Many children and adults suffer with disease and disability that would be considered correctable by Western standards.
Faces of Tomorrow
Multiple Locations
Faces of Tomorrow’s (FOT) mission is to provide medical and surgical services to children with facial deformities around the world. They are culturally responsive and compassionate to the patients, their families, and the communities in which the mission serves.
Hospital de la Familia
Nuevo Progresso, Guatemala
The Hospital de la Familia (HDLF) Hospital in Nuevo Progresso, Guatemala offers year around medical care to the indigenous poor of the area. The hospital treats about 8,000 patients per year in the outpatient clinics. The local doctors have been trained to pre-screen and triage patients for the teams of American surgeons that come to the hospital on an average of 5 times per year for stays of 1.5 – 2 weeks. We see a high incidence of under-treated chronic conditions due to the lack of access of health care in the area.
ENLACE
Taulabé, Honduras
ENLACE Honduras foundation is a non-profit medical relief organization, founded by Javier F. Sevilla-Mártir, MD, which supports primary care clinical services for the rural population of Taulabé, Honduras. It is located in the central Comayagua region, a two-hour drive from the capital of Tegucigalpa.
The clinic serves 60,000 people from 58 communities within a 5-mile radius of the clinic. In addition to primary care services with an adult and pediatric focus, part-time services are provided once a week by a dentist, psychologist, and gynecologist. The facility is a newly-completed two-story building that includes 4 examination rooms, a pharmacy, and potential space for a birthing center and operating room. There is the potential for a small lab and equipment for plain radiographs. Plans are underway to establish an operating room and to employ a local anesthetist. Current volunteer clinical opportunities exist primarily for Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, and Obstetrics-Gynecology with potential future opportunities for general surgeons.
There are accommodations for up to 32 visitors on the second floor, including a full-service kitchen with on-site cooks. Interpreters are necessary if a visiting health professional is not already fluent in Spanish. Interpreters may be hired to assist with patient care. Additionally, the rotation would include 1-2 hours of language training each afternoon.
Note: ENLACE charges for rotations may exceed Global Health Program funding limits. Any costs in excess of funding limits are carried by the resident or volunteer staff physician.
Cacha Medical Spanish Institute
Riobamba, Ecuador
Cacha Medical Spanish Institute (Cachamsi), founded in 2004, is a clinical volunteer and intensive medical Spanish program located in Riobamba, Ecuador. Riobamba is a city of >150K people located at 9035 ft elevation in the Andes about 3 hours drive from Quito, Ecuador. Clinical programs for Cachamsi serve the city of Riobamba and surrounding rural communities.
Clinical experiences can be tailored to the interest and experience level of the participants, including pre-medical students, medical students, residents or practicing clinicians. The program can accommodate primary care specialties, as well as most sub-specialists. Clinical time is scheduled in the mornings at any of the various clinics throughout the area, or at one of the affiliated hospitals.
Medical Spanish language classes are scheduled for 2.5 hours in the afternoons, Monday-Thursday. Students are placed into one of three Spanish proficiency levels based on a pre-test. Cachamsi has developed a specific teaching methodology which is highly effective and utilizes video pre- and post-course as a teaching tool and for student feedback.
Tibetan Delek Hospital
Dharamsala, India
The Tibetan Delek Hospital is a Tibetan hospital founded in 1971, serving Tibetan residents, the local Indian community in the foothills of the Himalayas, as well as tourists from around the world. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, is the hospital’s patron. The 45-bed charitable hospital provides general medical care that includes specialized services for TB, the single most serious infectious disease that threatens the Tibetan population and new arrivals from Tibet. In collaboration with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Delek Hospital has recently launched an initiative to eradicate TB from the community.
Delek also has strong maternal and child health care programs, a service sorely lacking in the area. User fees are kept exceptionally low so that the poor can afford treatment in this hospital.
Additionally, Delek Hospital maintains a strong partnership with the Tibetan Medicine school, Men-Tsee Khang, which is located next door to the hospital. This brings forth cross referrals and interdisciplinary case discussions.
See more detailed program information here.
Please contact Jim Duffy, MD at james.d.duffy@kp.org or (510) 752-7807 if you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities.