Kaiser Permanente leader, facility poised for January launch in Salinas
SALINAS – Dr. Sergio Gonzalez, chief of the Kaiser Permanente medical office building in Salinas, said the most important thing he wants is for the facility to be a place where everyone is treated like a family member and being taken care of to help them be more healthy, “because if we can prevent a disease, we can give someone the ability to enjoy their family member for a longer period of time.”
Gonzalez was on hand during a preview of the new 24,000-square-foot Salinas outpatient facility located at 1930 N Davis Rd., undergoing final touches before welcoming patients Jan. 2. The medical building is well-appointed, with an inviting, warm and healing interior, and reflects the investment the healthcare system has committed to the community.
This is Kaiser Permanente’s inaugural foray into the Monterey County market with the Salinas medical offices geared to provide members with a range of medical services including primary and specialty care, pediatrics, OB/GYN care, mental health care, laboratory, radiology and pharmacy services.
This is Kaiser Permanente’s inaugural foray into the Monterey County market with the Salinas medical offices geared to provide members with a range of medical services including primary and specialty care, pediatrics, OB/GYN care, mental health care, laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy services. (James Herrera/Monterey Herald)Open enrollment is still happening, said Gonzalez, so he did not have the number of new members that have selected Kaiser Permanente, but there are 5,000 existing members from places such as Watsonville, Hollister and Gilroy, who may prefer to come to Salinas for their care.
The physician leader for the Salinas medical offices and his team are poised to hit the ground running come January and ready to accommodate and adjust for those numbers which will include those recently signed-up.
“We’re here to work with the community and make partnerships with everybody,” said Gonzalez. “We’re here to provide a model that patients have an option to choose. We’re not here to take anyone over, we’re just a model to provide improvement of the health care provision to the community.”
Kaiser Permanente says it is recognized as a health care industry leader in the nation and in California for providing high-quality, affordable and equitable health care to members and patients. In response to demand from members and prospective members, Kaiser Permanente is increasing community health care access in northern Monterey County by offering its high-quality, integrated coverage and exceptional medical care to residents.
The Salinas medical office will provide residents with a range of primary and specialty care services, but hospital-based care and services will be offered through Watsonville Community Hospital which Kaiser Permanente has partnered with since 2017.
“Its a great working relationship, so that’s who we’ll be using in the long term, and then we have some relationship with Natividad for emergency services for our patients to go there for emergency services should they be needed,” said Gonzalez.
“There are negotiations that are ongoing, so in the not-too-distant future we should see what we can establish,” he said.
Kaiser Permanente has hospitals such as Salinas Valley Health and Natividad medical center, that would be great to partner with, he said.
“We should be able to make working relationships that will favor everybody,” said Gonzalez.
As for being selected physician leader for the Kaiser Permanente Salinas medical offices, Gonzalez said the decision was desirable because he gets to design, cater, and set the mood or the flavor of the facility.
“If you’re familiar with Kaiser, we have centers, and every center is unique in its own way,” said Gonzalez. “We provide the same brand and integrated care, but every one has its own flavor, and that collegiality, that’s unique to each one. I want to create that so that we have that family feel so that when patients come in they know that.
Gonzalez said he wants for patients to be able to think, “hey I’m going with that family member who will take care of me and advise me about how to stay healthy.”
The new Kaiser Permanente medical offices in Salinas will probably be seeing about 150 to 200 patients a day to start with.
“We’re filling 70 positions but some of those are part-time coverage so that’s why we have 92” employees counting doctors, nurses and other staff, said Gonzalez. “It takes a village.”
The new facility will have 10 doctors in the beginning, but if the medical office builds up to capacity, that number could increase to about 18, each doctor seeing 20 patients per day and swelling the number served to about 360.
