Volunteers Revamp Tri-City Health Center For MLK Day

From Kaiser Permanente

FREMONT – About 40 volunteers from Kaiser Permanente in Fremont transformed the drab main lobby of Tri-City Health Center in Fremont Monday into an artistic collage of bright blues, peach and yellow, as part of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service.

The non-profit community health clinic serves low-income and uninsured residents in Newark, Fremont, Union City and Hayward.

“I enjoy volunteering and it’s great to see so many people come out and do the same,” said Dr. Scott Tafuri, Assistant Physician In Chief for Compliance at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center.

“We all took vacation days and this is a great way to spend it,” said Tafuri, one of about 40 doctors, nurses, administration officials and staff who volunteered at the Fremont Clinic Monday.

Tafuri noted that some families this year brought their children to help with the work at Tri-City Health Center. The kids were on their hands and knees scrubbing the floor, removing paint tape, and painting.

More Kaiser Permanente volunteers were also at Harder Elementary School in Hayward.

They re-organized the school library, supply rooms and painted parts of the school’s exterior.

The volunteers from Kaiser Permanente Hayward Medical Center also assembled a gazebo in honor of a teacher who recently passed away.

Eight years ago, Kaiser Permanente established an annual day of service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy in civil and human rights.

For the past six years in Southern Alameda County, more than 500 Kaiser Permanente physicians, nurses and staff have participated in the day of service.

Across the country, more than 6,400 Kaiser Permanente volunteers worked on scores of community projects in 2011.

Last year, volunteers painted at the Spectrum/Salvation Army Center in Hayward. They also sorted out donated items and spruced up the gardens.

At MedShare in San Leandro, volunteers last year sorted and organized surplus medical supplies sent to hospitals in developing countries.