Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital
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Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital
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| Location | 1330 Cutting Boulevard, Richmond, California |
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| Coordinates | 37°55′28″N 122°21′31″W / 37.9245594°N 122.3586434°WCoordinates: 37°55′28″N 122°21′31″W / 37.9245594°N 122.3586434°W |
| Area | Iron Triangle/Cutting Boulevard Corridor |
| Built | 1942 |
| Architect | Unknown |
| Architectural style | subdued conmmertial Moderne, white stucco |
| Part of | Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park (#01000287) |
| Designated CP | January 31, 2001 |
The Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital was the first Kaiser Permanente Hospital and is a historic site resource of the city of Richmond, California, and a contributing property to Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hospital provided health services for surrounding communities until 1995 when it was replaced by the then state-of-the-art Richmond Medical Center in downtown Richmond. The field hospital is now closed and remains in its original location in South Richmond along Cutting Boulevard.
More American workers died in Home Front accidents then US soldiers killed on World War II battlefields. This was true up to the Battle of Normandy in June 1944. In the summer of 2007 preliminary bus tours were begun with a new guideless model, which instead filled half of the bus with residents who spoke of their experiences from the time to put what are otherwise everyday streets for residents into a greater historical perspective.Henry J. Kaiser, owner of the Richmond Shipyards, realized that only a healthy work force could meet the deadlines and construction needs of wartime America. He institutionalized a revolutionary idea, pre-paid medical care for workers, which soon expanded beyond workers. For many workers, this was the first time they had seen a doctor.
The Kaiser Richmond Field Hospital for the Richmond Shipyards was financed by the U.S. Maritime Commission, and opened on August 10, 1942. Sponsored by Kaiser's Permanente Foundation, it was run by Medical Director Sidney R. Garfield, M.D. The Field Hospital served as the mid-level component of a three-tier medical care system that also included six well-equipped First Aid Stations at the individual shipyards, and the main Permanente Hospital in Oakland, where the most critical cases were treated. Together, these facilities served the employees of the Kaiser shipyards who had signed up for the Permanente Health Plan (commonly referred to as the "Kaiser Plan"), one of the country's first voluntary pre-paid medical plans, and a direct precursor to the health maintenance organizations (HMOs) defined by the federal HMO Act of 1973.
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