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News release: Colorado - Denver/BoulderMarch 8, 2004 For more information, call: Kaiser Permanente grant helps train community health workers Denver, CO – Kaiser Permanente is pleased to be able to help Denver Health continue its work in training community individuals who engage in health outreach in their communities. Kaiser Permanente is giving the safety-net hospital $60,000 as part of a Steps Sustainment grant. Denver Health, along with 18 community partners, had applied for funding from the federal government's Steps to a Healthier U.S. initiative, but did not receive money. Kaiser Permanente saw the opportunity to create a new partnership with Denver Health and offered to give the grant in an effort to support the hospital's community outreach work. Denver Health plans to use the money to improve the skills of the community health workers. Currently Denver Health employs 18 community health advisors in different programs and neighborhoods throughout Denver. "This generous grant is funding a community health advisor for the Capitol Hill neighborhood as well as supporting a multi-agency educational outreach program, " said Liz Whitley, PhD, director of Denver Health's Community Voices Program. "We are so pleased to be able to address these important issues in the community and appreciate the opportunity to work in partnership with Kaiser Permanente on this project." Nationally, Kaiser Permanente has committed more than $500,000 in 2004 to provide Steps Sustainment grants in nine areas served by the nonprofit health care organization. The sustainment grants were created to support important community health partnerships that did not receive funding from the federal government's program. The community health programs support projects focusing on issues ranging from diabetes and obesity prevention to improving the skills of community health workers. Kaiser Permanente is a non-profit organization and the largest private health care provider in Colorado. It is rated among the top ten accredited health care organizations in the country for clinical quality by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Kaiser Permanente cares for more than 409,000 members in the Denver/Boulder and Colorado Springs areas. In the Denver/Boulder area, care is provided by a coordinated team of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, mental health counselors and physical therapists. In Colorado Springs, Kaiser Permanente cares for its members through an affiliated network of community-based physicians and other health care providers.
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