Kaiser Fontana Medical Center is a large

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, 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 ...

medical facility and 420-bed hospital in Fontana, California. Built in 1955 to replace the smaller hospital at the Kaiser Steel Mill, the facility now serves over 400,000 members of Kaiser Permanente's health care plans in the area. The hospital is accredited by the

Joint Commission The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) organization that accredits more than 22,000 US health care organizations and programs. The international branch accredits medical services from around the world. A majori ...

. According to U.S. News & World Report, the hospital performs highly in diabetes & endocrinology, ear, nose & throat, geriatrics, pulmonology, and urology. In the most recent year with available data, Kaiser Fontana had 90,675 emergency department visits, 26,640 admissions, performed 4,956 inpatient and 21,790 outpatient surgeries.

History

In 1943,

Henry J. Kaiser Henry John Kaiser (May 9, 1882 – August 24, 1967) was an American industrialist who became known as the father of modern American shipbuilding. Prior to World War II, Kaiser was involved in the construction industry; his company was one of ...

and Dr. Sidney R. Garfield opened a 50-bed hospital, housing six physicians for the 3000 employees and their families at the new

Kaiser Steel Kaiser Steel was a steel mill near Fontana, California, founded by Henry J. Kaiser on December 1, 1941. The plant's first blast furnace, "Bess No. 1" (named after Kaiser's wife) was fired up on December 30, 1942, and the first steel plate was p ...

Mill in Fontana, California, offering a then revolutionary pre-paid health care plan for $0.60/week for adults, and $0.30/week for children. In 1945, the Kaiser Permanente health plan was opened to the public, providing the opportunity of affordable health care to the residents of Fontana. Following the end of World War II, as the steel mill and community continued to grow, the demand rapidly outgrew the small facility, and in 1955, the hospital was moved to its current location on Sierra Ave. It has undergone an almost constant pace of expansion and remodel to reach its current state, with major expansions about once a decade; it now contains over 400 beds, houses over 1,500 doctors, and employs 10,000.

New construction

In 2009, construction started on a 'replacement hospital' on the Fontana Campus. The new 7-story facility, being built to meet requirements of CA Senate Bill (SB) 1953 and slated to open in 2013, will have 314 beds and offer major technological and systematic improvements over the current, aging facility. The new hospital is pursuing

LEED certification Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

by the

US Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...

. Environmentally friendly features of the building include: energy efficient lighting, use of reclaimed water for landscaping and cooling towers, dual pane exterior window glazing, and natural day lighting.

Medical education

The hospital operates the following programs: family medicine

residency Residency may refer to: * Domicile (law), the act of establishing or maintaining a residence in a given place ** Permanent residency, indefinite residence within a country despite not having citizenship * Residency (medicine), a stage of postgra ...

(est. 1975), internal medicine residency (est. 2013), psychiatry residency (est. 2014), sports medicine fellowship, geriatrics fellowship, and child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship.

References

External links

History of Kaiser Permanente – Fontana

This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas
A project by OSHPD {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser Foundation Hospital - Fontana Hospitals in San Bernardino County, California Fontana, California Kaiser Permanente hospitals Organizations based in San Bernardino County, California Hospitals established in 1943 Hospital buildings completed in 1955 1943 establishments in California