It is now possible to grab some fresh, organic produce on the way out of your doctor’s office after your annual physical, or learn a tasty new cooking technique during monthly cooking classes. Both options are available at the Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park after a recent partnership with Cal Poly Pomona. Kaiser is already touting the success of their recent partnership, piloted by Dr. Preston Maring, a physician working out of Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center. A local hospital employee in Oakland has lost 50 pounds, and many employees brag about cooking new dishes. Dr. Marin has taken this model and expanded on the concept, establishing a similar program at GM-Toyota’s New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, where the market serves 5,000 employees.

In the increasingly stressed out, fast-paced world that we live in, could this type of collaboration become more common?

“Kaiser Permanente Farmers Markets Put Nutrition Within Reach” (MacVean, Los Angeles Times, 5/20).