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Health & Fitness

Kaiser Permanente's Dr. Bhandari named "Health Care Champion"

Silicon Valley Business Journal Honors KP San Jose leader, others

 

                Dr. Rajan Bhandari,  Neurologist and Physician-in-Chief at the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center has been honored as a “Health Care Champion” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

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                Dr Bhandari, a resident of Los Altos Hills, is being honored for his community work, which includes board membership at the Children’s Discovery Museum, and his efforts against childhood obesity and adult/teenage use of cigarettes in the Silicon Valley.  He has been active in “INSPIRE/Communities Putting Prevention to Work,” leadership group of the Santa Clara County Health Department.

                “We’ve led the drive to pass anti-smoking  ordinances in a majority of the cities within Santa Clara County  and made county parks smoke-free, and instituted teen decoy programs to catch stores selling cigarettes to the underage,” says Dr. Bhandari, who admits he was once an “after-dinner-cigarette” smoker over twenty five  years ago.

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                “I recognized the health dangers and I stopped,” he smiles, “But I also realized the absurdity of standing out in the rain smoking after being encouraged by my family to take my after-dinner cigarette outside.”

                Dr. Bhandari points out that national statistics show every day, 3,800 young people under 18 try their first cigarette, and  the data shows further  that about a thousand of them will continue smoking into adulthood, and will have a much more difficult time quitting smoking than those who begin smoking as adults.

                “This is just unacceptable,” he says . “Here at Kaiser Permanente we treat smoking as a vital sign, and it gets entered into your medical record. Physicians will encourage smokers to stop and offer smoking cessation programs to those who want to quit.”

                As a board member of the San Jose Childrens Discovery Museum, Dr. Bhandari                promotes healthy eating, active living  and  water-drinking.  Kaiser Permanente helped redecorate the museum cafeteria  and modify the menu to include more fruits and vegetables as healthy alternatives.

                Dr. Bhandari  is active in the Re-Think Your Drink campaign, sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, which encourages kids to drink water rather than sugary beverages.

                “Recognition from the Silicon Valley Business Journal is a great honor,” said Dr. Bhandari. However he quickly adds “the true champions and heroes are the workers at the county health department and Children’s Discovery Museum who do all of the legwork in these campaigns”.

                Kaiser Permanente’s Dr  Keith Fabisiak, Pediatrics, at the Campbell Medical Office, is cited for his work encouraging healthy nutrition through community gardens. Here’s a video of Dr. Fabisiak at work promoting gardening and health:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HbfYZ25S4o.

Physicians from Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the Veterans Administration were also honored.



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