In November 2016, I had the distinct (and long sought after) honor of meeting alumni of the Kaiser Foundation School of Nursing (KFSN).
Deana Medinas, Clair Lisker, Deloras Jones, and Phyllis Moroney are graduates of KFSN, which was open from 1947-1976, and graduated 1,065 health professionals.
Clair Lisker was a student of Dorothea Daniels, the first administrator of Permanente Foundation Hospital Los Angeles in 1953, and later the administrator of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. Phyllis Moroney was the first nurse practitioner in California. Deana Medinas became the medical group administrator for Kaiser Permanente Hayward.
They didn’t know as much about Kaiser Permanente when they chose KSFN. However, they did know the Kaiser Foundation School of Nursing was ranked the #1 nursing school in California. And then they practiced and later helped build Permanente Medicine.
After our visit, Deloras shared these beautiful Legacy of Kaiser Permanente Nursing video stories, which we knew should also have a home here at the Center for Total Health.
So, on the day that the Kaiser Permanente School of Medicine came to the Center for Total Health for a historic dialogue on medical student well-being and resilience, our “Leadership in Nursing” was installed and ready, thanks to the Center for Total Health team.
In the photograph above, you can see the piece being played for the first time to an audience of medical education leaders from across the United States. Marc Klau, MD, Vice Dean of Education and Clinical Integration, is next to the display. Also present are Patrick Courneya, MD, and Ed Ellison, MD.
Most all of us encounter nurses in our life’s journey. I can tell you that physicians like me are trained by nurses in my own journey. To know where you’re going, it’s important to know where you came from. And there, you usually find people who live in the future, too (these nurses were practicing the kind of medicine in the 50’s that we are trying to get to today!) just like the 54,000 nurses who care for, treat and heal 11.8 million members across the care settings and specialties of Kaiser Permanente.
