A Multifaceted Fight Against COVID-19

Inside Kaiser Permanente's Pandemic Response

Presented by Kaiser Permanente What’s This? March 11, 2021

FEBRUARY 2020 - First Case Diagnosis

Katie Sharff, MD, infectious disease specialist, diagnosed Oregon’s first COVID-19 patient.

Photography by Courtesy Kaiser Permanente

FEBRUARY 2020 - Command Center Opens

Mary Giswold, MD, associate medical director, and Wendy Watson, COO, are Kaiser Permanente’s joint leaders of the command center and are part of the state and regional health system leadership to coordinate and optimize the COVID-19 response in Oregon and the quad-counties.

MARCH 2020 - Predictive Modeling

Lucy Savitz, PhD, MBA, VP, health research, and director, Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research, provides ongoing predictive data modeling and forecasting to plan for needed hospital staff, equipment, and beds, both locally and nationally.

JULY 2020 - Vaccine Trials Start

Britta Torgrimson- Ojerio, PhD, RN, senior manager, Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research,led the research team that helped Kaiser Permanente become the rst hospital system in Oregon to participate in clinical COVID-19 vaccine trials.

JANUARY 2021 - Vaccine Arrives

Jennifer Seely, PharmD, director, Pharmacy Services, coordinates the vaccine supply for Kaiser Permanente and partners with the 4 health systems to provide pharmacy support at the All4Oregon mass vaccination site.

Kaiser Permanente began Oregon’s fight against the pandemic on February 28, 2020, when the state’s first COVID-19 case was diagnosed at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center. The hospital’s unique integrated care capabilities swung into action, with in-house infectious disease specialists delivering high-quality, lifesaving care.

From the pandemic’s first days, Kaiser Permanente also worked to safeguard entire communities by coordinating with the governor’s task force to help Oregonians affected by the virus, all while continuously sharing information and resources with other health systems.

Kaiser Permanente became the first hospital system in Oregon to launch a COVID-19 vaccine trial, led by the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland. By the fall, the trial yielded data that was used to speed up approval of the first vaccine at the end of 2020.

In January 2021, Kaiser Permanente launched All4Oregon, a mass vaccination site — the largest in Oregon — at the Oregon Convention Center, to dispense lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, bringing a year of innovation, collaboration, and new treatments full circle, and bringing Oregon one step closer to defeating COVID-19.

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