Dr. Ian C. MacMillan will discuss the creation of the Kaiser Permanente health system and the wartime expansion of Vancouver in the final “First Thursday” program of the year.
His presentation will be at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St.
MacMillan, author and retired internist, served 14 years as chief of medicine at Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center.
He wrote “Permanente in the Northwest” to fill a gap in the history of the Kaiser Permanente health system in the Northwest.
A division of Henry J. Kaiser’s construction consortium built ships during World War II, and medical services offered to those civilian workers was the kernel of what would become one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health plans. With shipyards in Portland and Vancouver, the Northwest was a key participant.
Dr. Sidney Garfield collaborated with Kaiser on the development of its successful model of prepaid industrial medical care that became the Kaiser Permanente health system.
The 2014 lecture season opens Feb. 6.
Historical Society members and active-duty military families with ID get in free; for others, admission fees apply — $4 adults, $3 seniors/students, $2 children, $10 families.
