Peninsula and South Bay
2021 Community Health Snapshot
Serving communities around our Redwood City, Santa Clara, and San Jose medical facilities, including Santa Cruz County.
Coming
together
to improve
community
health
In 2021, Kaiser Permanente continued to respond urgently to the staggering health and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on the communities we serve.
Together with our partners, we addressed the most critical health needs in our community: COVID-19 prevention and vaccination; food, housing, and economic security; and mental health and wellness. We prioritized support of low-income communities and communities of color, who continue to bear an unequal burden from the pandemic.
Protecting hard-hit communities
COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in 2021, but some communities hard hit by the pandemic faced barriers to getting vaccinated. Kaiser Permanente collaborated with public health departments, community health centers, and other trusted community and faith partners to address vaccine concerns and make it easy for people to get vaccinated.
Kaiser Permanente funding helped community partners to do vaccine outreach and education in communities with low vaccination rates and to vaccinate thousands of people at convenient pop-up vaccine clinics. Our support included grants to School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County, Asian Americans for Community Involvement, Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, Redwood City Together, Coastside Hope on the San Mateo County coast, and United Way of Santa Cruz.
Providing critical support for social health needs
Good health requires more than high-quality medical care. Social health factors such as having enough healthy food and a safe place to live are also essential. As the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, Kaiser Permanente is intensifying efforts to meet the critical social health needs of our community.
We supported Second Harvest Silicon Valley’s distribution of free, nutritious food to low-income students and their families in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. We also provided funding to The Health Trust’s Meals on Wheels program to deliver nutritious, hot meals to homebound, older adults in Santa Clara County. In Santa Cruz County, we provided a $500,000 grant to Housing Matters that will help fund construction of 120 studio apartments for chronically homeless individuals.
Improving access to mental health care
Against the backdrop of a national shortage of mental health care professionals, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health needs in the community. In response, Kaiser Permanente is using its resources, reach, and partnerships to improve access to community mental health services and expand the mental health workforce pipeline.
Our funding included a grant to Adolescent Counseling Services to provide screenings, therapy, and other support to more than 4,600 youth in San Mateo County, including LGBTQ youth. Our funding also supported Encompass Community Services’ capital campaign to expand its Watsonville treatment center, enabling it to provide residential and outpatient substance use disorder and mental health treatment to an additional 1,300 community members annually.
By the Numbers
$120M
2021 Peninsula
and South Bay
Total Community
Investment
9K
People received
Medical Financial Assistance
$92M
Subsidized health
care and coverage
25K
Youth and adults reached
through Educational Theatre
$6M
In grants, donations
and direct support
360
Medical residents trained
in our Graduate Medical
Education programs
Community health priorities
As part of our commitment to improve health and health equity in our community, every 3 years we conduct a rigorous and collaborative community health needs assessment. For 2021, Kaiser Permanente identified the following significant health priorities in our Peninsula and South Bay communities.
Access to
Care and Coverage
High quality, culturally, and linguistically appropriate health services in coordinated delivery systems.
Healthy Eating
Active Living
Opportunities to eat better and move more as part of daily life in order to prevent and reduce the impact of chronic conditions.
Housing and
Homelessness
All community members have access to quality, affordable, and stable housing.
Mental Health
and Wellness
Social and emotional health and well-being and access to high-quality behavioral health care services when needed.
