Kaiser Permanente is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Permanente is made up of three distinct but interdependent groups of entities: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. (KFHP) and its regional operating subsidiaries; Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; and the regional Permanente Medical Groups. As of 2023, Kaiser Permanente operates in eight states and the District of Columbia, and is the largest managed care organization in the United States.
Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting... with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).
Partners In Health (PIH) is an international nonprofit public health organization founded in 1987 by Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, Thomas J. White, Todd McCormack, and Jim Yong Kim.
Tenet Healthcare Corporation is a for-profit multinational healthcare services company based in Dallas, Texas, United States. Through its brands, subsidiaries, joint ventures, and partnerships, including United Surgical Partners International (USPI), the company operates 65 hospitals and over 450 healthcare facilities. Tenet also operates Conifer Health Solutions, which provides healthcare support services to health systems and other clients.
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center is a rehabilitation hospital located in Downey, California, United States. Its name in Spanish means "Friends' Ranch".
Kaiser Richmond Medical Center is a large Kaiser Permanente hospital in downtown Richmond, California which serves 77,000 members registered under its medical plans. It opened in 1995 replacing the historic 1942 Richmond Field Hospital that serviced Liberty shipyard workers and thus gave birth to the HMO. However it was deemed seismically unsafe and this new campus was built.
A nursing shortage occurs when the demand for nursing professionals, such as Registered Nurses (RNs), exceeds the supply locally—within a healthcare facility—nationally or globally. It can be measured, for instance, when the nurse-to-patient ratio, the nurse-to-population ratio, the number of job openings necessitates a higher number of nurses than currently available, or the current number of nurses is above a certain age where retirement becomes an option and plays a factor in staffing making the workforce in a higher need of nurses. The nursing shortage is global according to 2022 World Health Organization fact sheet.
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit healthcare organization. It operates more than 120 entities, including ten hospitals in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area of the United States. In 2011 it was ranked as the private sector employer with the largest number of local employees in the region.
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC), an affiliate of National Nurses United, is a labor union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States. Since 2018, CNA/NNOC has been led by Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN.
Torrance Memorial Medical Center is a private hospital located in Torrance, California. Torrance Memorial was the first hospital in the South Bay region and is currently one of the three burn centers in Los Angeles County.
Valley Presbyterian Hospital is a 350-bed hospital in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1958, architect William Pereira designed the original building. The facility specializes in maternal and child health, cardiac care, orthopedics, and critical care services. Valley Presbyterian Hospital is a STEMI Receiving Center for heart attack patients, equipped and staffed in the Cardiac Catheterization Unit to provide intervention within the critical 90 minutes following the onset of chest pain. The Women's and Children's Center features integrated medical specialty services and is accredited as a Baby Friendly Hospital. The Emergency Department is Approved for Pediatrics, one of the major EDAP hospitals in the San Fernando Valley, and the facility is certified as a Pediatric Medical Center for critically ill pediatric patients by Los Angeles County.
MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital is a hospital in Baltimore. It is located at the corner of Loch Raven Boulevard and East Belvedere Avenue.
Unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) are paraprofessionals who assist individuals with physical disabilities, mental impairments, and other health care needs with their activities of daily living (ADLs). UAPs also provide bedside care—including basic nursing procedures—all under the supervision of a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse or other health care professional. UAPs must demonstrate their ability and competence before gaining any expanded responsibilities in a clinical setting. While providing this care, UAPs offer compassion and patience and are part of the patient's healthcare support system. Communication between UAPs and registered nurses (RNs) is key as they are working together in their patients' best interests. The scope of care UAPs are responsible for is delegated by RNs or other clinical licensed professionals.
National Nurses United (NNU) is the largest organization of registered nurses in the United States. With more than 225,000 members, it is the farthest-reaching union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. Founded in 2009 through the merging of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, the United American Nurses, and the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the NNU focuses on amplifying the voice of direct care RNs and patients in national policy. The union's policy positions include the enactment of safe nurse-to-patient ratios, patient advocacy rights at the Executive and State level, and legislation for single-payer health care to secure "quality healthcare for all, as a human right." The organization's goal is to "organize all direct care RNs into a single organization capable of exercising influence over the healthcare industry, governments, and employers."
PIH Health Hospital – Downey is a non-profit community-based hospital located in Downey, California. The hospital operates a family medicine residency program for newly graduated osteopathic physicians (DO).
PIH Health Hospital - Whittier is a community hospital in Whittier, California. It has 548 licensed beds as of 2013. Founded in 1959 as Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, it has been managed by the nonprofit InterHealth Corporation since the mid-1980s. The organization changed its name to PIH Health in 2012. The PIH Health organization started as one hospital in Whittier but now operates three including PIH Health Hospital - Downey which was formerly known as Downey Regional Medical Center added in 2013 and PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital located in Downtown Los Angeles, added in 2019 making it the third hospital in the medical network. Between all locations PIH Health has 7,100 full-time employees, three hospitals totaling 1,130 licensed beds, and 26 outpatient clinics. The organization operates medical offices in primary care, specialist care and urgent care centers in the region that were formerly branded as Bright Medical and Pioneer Medical Group which was added in 2019 to expand the geographic footprint. PIH Health is the largest employer in Whittier, and one of the largest in that region of Los Angeles County.
Carondelet Health Network is a large Catholic health care provider based in Tucson, Arizona. It has five facilities: Carondelet St. Mary's Hospital, Carondelet St. Joseph's Hospital, Carondelet Neurological Institute, Carondelet Heart & Vascular Institute, and Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales, Arizona.
The Samaritan Health Services (SHS) is a non-profit, integrated delivery healthcare system consisting of five hospitals, over 110 physician clinics, and multiple health insurance plans in Oregon and is headquartered in Corvallis, Oregon. As of 2022 it is one of the top 10 largest non-profit employers in the State of Oregon with nearly 7,000 employees and volunteers. The Corvallis-based nonprofit was founded in 1997 when Mid-Valley Healthcare in Lebanon and Samaritan Inc. of Corvallis merged in an effort to more efficiently serve their communities. Over the years other organizations have joined Samaritan Health, such as FirstCare Health (Albany) in 1999, and the North Lincoln Health District (Lincoln City) in 2001 and Pacific Communities Health (Newport) in 2002. Samaritan Inc. began in 1948 when the Episcopal Church in Western Oregon, enabled the Corvallis General Hospital's reorganization as a not-for-profit facility.
Bonnie Castillo is the executive director of National Nurses United and of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. Castillo also held the positions of CNA/NNOC director of government relations and NNU director of health and safety. She has been with CNA/NNOC for almost two decades in a number of capacities, working her way up into the leadership of the organization from her early days as a registered nurse member who helped to unionize her facility, to staff and then lead organizer, to a director, and now to her current position as executive director. Castillo was named to the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world for the year 2020. In January 2021, Castillo was named to The Nation's annual honor roll, which recognizes progressive activists and leaders who helped keep hope alive and set the groundwork for transformational change in 2021.
There has been a nursing shortage in Canada for decades. This became more acute in the period between 1943 and 1952 as Canada's health services were expanding, and the number of hospital beds increased along with the number of hospitalizations. By the mid-1940s across Canada the shortage, estimated at 8,700, led to a re-organization and re-conceptualization of nursing in Canada, according to a 2020 journal article in BC Studies. The nature of nursing was changing with new and time-consuming responsibilities, such as the administration of penicillin. During that period, there was no unemployment for nurses, especially if they were willing to be mobile. However, working conditions for nurses were very poor, with low wages combined with long hours; nursing force retention was challenging. As well, since almost all nurses were women, they had responsibilities at home they had to manage. In response to the shortage of nurses, women who had trained as registered nurses (RNs) but had left the workforce when they married, were encouraged to return to work; volunteers were engaged; nursing courses were accelerated; and new categories of regulated nursing were added to registered nursing—"practical nurses" and "nursing assistants." At that time, a "utopia of nursing" referred to teams of nursing staff which included registered nurses and other regulated nursing and hospital worker support personnel. Some of these auxiliary positions were also open to First Nations women and other racialized groups.
