About
A History of Total Health is our invitation to you to join us in a discussion of today’s health care topics as we draw links to relevant events in Kaiser Permanente’s history.
The blog takes its name from founding physician Sidney R. Garfield’s last research project –Total Health, which sought to understand and treat the body, mind, and spirit of our members.
Throughout his career, Garfield (1906-1984) wanted to build a system of care that focused on keeping people healthy in addition to caring for them when they get sick. His ideas resonated with industrialist Henry J. Kaiser (1882-1967) who was “greatly restless and restlessly great” for a new health care system. Together they founded Kaiser Permanente for the employees of Kaiser Industries in 1942, and opened the health plan to the public in July of 1945.
Tom Debley is founding director of the Heritage Resources Department at Kaiser Permanente, which maintains the institution’s historical archive and knowledge of other archives and holdings that contain important Kaiser Permanente historical records. It oversees institutional use of history and shares research material with academic research scholars in the field of history of medicine. He is author of The Story of Dr. Sidney R. Garfield: The Visionary Who Turned Sick Care into Health Care (The Permanente Press, 2009) and multiple articles on Kaiser Permanente history.
Ginny McPartland, communications specialist with the Heritage Resources Department, is a former journalist who joined Kaiser Permanente in 2000. Ginny’s special interests relate to World War II and its effect on 21st Century society.
Bryan Culp, communications manager with the Heritage Resources Department, conducts research on topics in Kaiser Permanente history and builds the organization’s historical collections. He is the author of “SCPMG’s Heritage in Academic Medicine,” SCPMG 50th Annual Pediatric Symposium (2008), and with Morris F. Collen, MD, and Tom Debley, “Rosie the Riveter’s Wartime Medical Records” Permanente Journal (vol. 12, no. 3, Summer 2008).
