Kaiser Permanente supports community health with a $1 million investment to San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s Transform Mental and Behavioral Health Fund. Pictured, left to right, Janet Liang, Kaiser Permanente Northern California regional president; TPMG Associate Executive Director Sameer Awsare, MD, FACP, and Regional Director Yener Balan, MD, DFAPA; former U.S. Congressman and mental health advocate Patrick J. Kennedy; and Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson.
In alignment with its overarching Community Health approach, Kaiser Permanente is making a strategic $1 million investment to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Foundation’s Transform Mental and Behavioral Health Fund.
The fund was announced on Feb. 13 at Pier 48 in San Francisco. The donation supports the expansion of the Social Medicine program within the hospital’s Emergency Department and ultimately its expansion into the Emergency Psychiatric Department.
Social Medicine consists of a multidisciplinary team of social workers, pharmacists, nurses, physicians, mental health specialists, and other city agencies to address patients’ unique needs to create life-changing outcomes.
“San Francisco General is an important safety net for our communities,” said Janet A. Liang, Kaiser Permanente Northern California regional president. “We are excited to collaborate with them on expanding access.”
Kaiser Permanente is committed to improving the health of its communities by ensuring health access, improving community conditions for health and equity, and advancing the future of community health through innovation. The organization also shares its financial resources, research, nurses and physicians, and clinical practices and knowledge through a variety of grant-making and investment efforts.
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center is a community hospital and Level 1 trauma center. It’s also the largest psychiatric acute and rehabilitation hospital in San Francisco. It treats 1 in 8 San Franciscans annually, or more than 100,000 people per year.
Mental illnesses are common in the United States. Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
