Project Themes and Interviews—Year 3: Diversity and Culturally Competent Care

In the 1940s, Kaiser hospitals refused to segregate patients on the basis of race. They were often the only hospitals in the local community where black physicians could practice. KP members from the beginnings of the organization have represented a wide range of the populations in the communities KP has served. Its workforce has long been equally diverse. Over the years, the commitment to equality made when KP started developed into a concern to deliver “culturally competent care.” At the same time, the understanding of diversity has expanded from opposition to racial discrimination to engaging and taking full benefit from the full range of human difference comprised by but not limited to culture, religion, gender, sexual preference, physical and mental abilities, or age.