Live Well and Thrive

Welcome to Live Well & Thrive, a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I'm your host Carrie Owen Plietz. Today I have a very special guest joining me, Dr. Maria Ansari. In addition to being my physician partner for Kaiser Permanente Northern California region, Maria also serves as the CEO and executive director of The Permanente Medical Group and president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group and is also the Co-CEO of The Permanente Federation.

Welcome to “Live Well and Thrive,” a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication, and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I’m your host Carrie Owen Plietz. Today we’re going to wrestle with a difficult topic – wildfire and disaster preparedness. Wildfires have touched us all, including today’s guests in both personal and professional ways. We are in a new reality where wildfires will occur with increasing severity and frequency. How can we be proactive to make sure our families and communities are prepared so that we can care for others? This is a learning curve we are all on together and today’s guests will help illuminate this question with their deep experience. I’m delighted to have Dr. Mary Meyer, ED physician at Walnut Creek who also earned an MPH later in her career. Mary has a wealth of experience, has worked internationally and is currently bridging her work in the emerging department with her public health background to help KP better prepare our employees and facilities. We are also joined by Shakiara Kitchen, Regional Practice Specialist in Emergency Management, at KP. Shakiara works to ensure our operations and clinical needs are met simultaneously in any eventuality. As always, I invite you to share what’s on your mind, ask a question or suggest a topic or guest. Send it to LiveWell&Thrive@kp.org. And whether you’re listening on your commute or during a down moment, keep those comments coming. Additional Resources:American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Checklist:https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/atg/Chapters/Division_1_-_Media/Denver/Denver_-_PDFs/EmergencyPreparednessChecklist.pdfNixle Alert System: https://www.nixle.com/ Community Emergency Response Team (CERT):https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/individuals-communities/preparedness-activities-webinars/community-emergency-response-teamEmergency Education, Exercises, Drills, and Training (kp.org):https://kplearn.kp.org/Saba/Web_spf/NA5P2PRD001/app/me/learningeventdetail/cours000000000087635;spf-url=common%2Fledetail%2Fcours000000000087635

Welcome to Live Well & Thrive a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I'm your host Carrie Owen Plietz. Today, we're here to talk about travel. Research shows we sometimes enjoy the lead up to a trip more than we actually enjoy the trip itself. The same is true about memories of a trip, hope for the future is essential to our well being. At the same time, the US Travel Association reports we collectively leave 768 million vacation days, days unused each year. This is a huge missed opportunity for new experiences and important time spent with loved ones. Today we're going to explore how travel, special occasions and new experiences are encoded differently by the brain, and how we all could benefit from spending a little more time awakening our senses. I'm delighted to have Kim Grant, veteran travel writer and founder of SlowDownSeeMore.com, celebrating day-long itineraries in the West. Kim frequently explores the connection between travel and workplace well-being. We are also joined by Dr. Kathryn Wetzler, regional director of the mental health training programs, counseling centers and staff development in Northern California to help us understand how travel and special occasions activate different parts of the brain and help our overall well being.

Welcome to Live Well & Thrive a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I'm your host Carrie Owen Plietz. Today, we're here to talk about Pride Month, its history and how it has become a joyful celebration of all the beautiful identities within the LGBTQ+ community. We'll also discuss how societal winds are rapidly shifting, bringing with it challenges threatening the basic human rights of this wonderful collection of people. joining me for today's conversation are the two co leads of the KP pride business resource group. I'm delighted to have Theophilus Little Director of Facility Engineering back to Live Well & Thrive. We are also joined by Dr. Marcos Siqueiros, Adult and Family Medicine Physician and Leader Transgender Healthcare Services at Santa Clara Medical Center.

Welcome to “Live Well and Thrive,” a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication, and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I’m your host Carrie Owen Plietz. In today's episode, we’ll dive into the world of Soul Snacks, a grassroots program fostering emotional vulnerability, spiritual well-being, and a sense of community for our local team in the Marin/Sonoma service area. We have with us Raymond Dougherty, Spiritual Care Director, Marin/Sonoma; Karen Hulsey, MSN, RN, Service Director Marin/Sonoma; and Abraham Daniels, Senior Process Improvement Consultant; to tell us how Soul Snacks got started and is helping to build a stronger community among the local team.  Soul Snacks recordings: https://marin-sonoma.kp.org/msa/soul-snacks/soul-snacks-liveGinger App: https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/mental-health/tools-resources/digital

Welcome to “Live Well & Thrive,” a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication, and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I’m your host, Carrie Owen Plietz. Today we’ll explore the vital role nutrition plays in patient care with Patricia Kaba. Our conversation will focus on understanding the role nutrition plays not only in our patients’ roads to recovery, but to everyone’s daily well-being. Patricia Kaba is our Director, Food & Clinical Nutrition Services at the San Jose Medical Center and a distinguished honoree in the 2023 Friends of Nursing, which recognizes direct care partners and inter-professional colleagues who work alongside our nurses, as part of the annual Extraordinary Nurse Awards program we’re celebrating this May.Kaiser Permanente Northern California farmers markets Nutritional resources: Kaiser Permanente Eat RightCenter for Disease Control and PreventionWebMD: Better information. Better health.

Welcome to “Live Well and Thrive,” a podcast recognizing the hard work, dedication, and diversity of our team at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. I’m your host Carrie Owen Plietz. Caring for patients every day is no ordinary task. Providing extraordinary care – as the three nurses we are speaking with today are being recognized for as part of the annual 2023 Extraordinary Nurses program – requires a special level of mental and physical preparation – or self-care -- every single day. Today we’ll have the pleasure of hearing from them about the underpinnings of their success from a sound family life to mediation. We’ll also talk about how they are there for their teams – extending lessons in their own self-care to create a safe and healthy work environment.  First a little about KP’s Northern California’s Extraordinary Nurse Award Program. It is an annual award designed to recognize and honor nurses who exemplify professionalism, compassion, teamwork, excellence, integrity, and patient- and family-centric care in their practice. This year 32 awards were given out in 16 categories – and there were over 900 nominations. My warmest congratulations to all of the 2023 honorees.  I’m delighted to have these three wonderful human beings here today to tell us about their secret sauce when it comes to how they practice self-care to ensure they can truly be extraordinary supporting their patients and their teams.