Come aboard the Kaiser Permanente Rose Parade Float, and Let's Propel Our Way to a Healthier New Year!

Float features 14 inspiring young riders who are heroically fighting their way through life-threatening diseases

Physicians available for interviews on keeping new year resolutions and for demos on preparing healthy meals; public invited to sign-up for weight management courses

PASADENA, Calif. -- Come experience Kaiser Permanente's uplifting Rose Parade float and embrace its healthy lifestyle message throughout the new year! For the 120th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade, Kaiser Permanente's fourth consecutive year of participation, the organization has entered a playful and entertaining float entitled, "Propel Your Dreams," which is a colorful and imaginative flying vehicle powered by inspiring children who cycle, row, and jog above floral clouds of solid roses. The images and the riders represent the importance of exercise and lifestyle in achieving and maintaining total health, a central theme of Kaiser Permanente's ongoing "Thrive" message. Leading up to the parade -- which is set to begin in Pasadena on Thursday, January 1, 2009, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) -- will be several visual and fun events.

As the flying vehicle is propelled into the future, wheels, gears, gauges, and gadgets spin, twist, wobble, and turn, while whistles blow, lights flash, and steam spurts. An oversized hand "waves," banners and fans sway, strobe lights flash, and propellers turn, keeping the exercise machine afloat as carbon dioxide (C02) gas blasts out. Billowing clouds of 20,000 creamy white Vendelia roses are framed with crisp white cattleya orchids. Crisp yellow chrysanthemums flank the walls of the float with accents and rich hues of red Charlotte roses and hot pink Neon roses. Florets of vivid purple Madame Pompadour orchids, deep red Black Magic roses, florescent orange Mercedes roses, and brilliant yellow Golden Gate roses create a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns on the gadgets and doodads. (A float rendering and a float details sheet are available.)

The float also includes 14 young Kaiser Permanente patients, ages 12-18, who are heroically fighting through significant illnesses such as lupus, stroke, various cancers, sickle cell, and mucopolysaccharidosis I (MPS I).

For example, Jessica Ocampo suffered a major stroke several years ago and was hospitalized in an intensive care unit. She went through a long and complicated rehabilitation process that included radiation therapy and acupuncture. She was out of school for nearly two years. But she lived up to her life slogan, "nothing can bring me down or destroy me." Jessica has, remarkably, fully recovered, and her neurosurgeon calls her "a miracle." Now back in school, Jessica, 16, is a top honors student and wants to become a doctor. This multi-talented young lady enjoys reading, writing poetry, drawing, playing an electric guitar in a jazz band, cycling and walking for exercise, going to church, and volunteering to help the less fortunate in her community.

Each of the young float riders has their own inspiring story. In recommending this diverse group of incredible kids, their physicians praised their "great spirit and energy" and referred to them as "survivors" and "heroes." (A sheet is available that provides brief profiles on these young float riders, all from Southern California, who live in communities that include Baldwin Park, Compton, Diamond Bar, Inglewood, Irvine, La Verne, Los Angeles, Ontario, Pomona, Riverside, Studio City, Westminster, and Whittier.)

If these young riders have the strength and commitment to fight for good health, so can you!

Start 2009 right. Make a new year resolution to improve your health. If you are like most people, you will probably choose "losing weight," which ranks #1 in most surveys. Eating better, exercising more, and stop smoking are other resolutions typically in the top 10.

Kaiser Permanente physicians are available to be interviewed on how individuals can develop realistic plans to keep their resolutions. They can also provide live on-camera healthy cooking demonstrations through the use of our portable cooking cart. Individuals who want to lose weight can contact a Kaiser Permanente facility near them for information on its weight management programs - open to Kaiser Permanente members and non-members -- which have classes starting in early 2009.

Yes, Kaiser Permanente is here to make lives better. The organization is aiming to communicate this through its Rose Parade float. Come and see employees decorate it. Over 400 Kaiser Permanente employees are scheduled to decorate the float from Saturday, December 27th, through Monday, December 29th, during the daily hours of 8 a.m. through 11 p.m., at Fiesta Parade Floats, located at 16016 Avenida Padilla, in Irwindale. On these decorating days, employees will volunteer their time to add the finishing touches, such as gluing thousands of fresh roses to the float. Volunteers -- including physicians and young float riders -- will be available for interviews.

Benjamin K. Chu, MD, president of Kaiser Permanente Southern California, says, "We all dream of a more robust and prosperous life, but it takes effort to thrive. Hopefully, Kaiser Permanente's entertaining Rose Parade float will help inspire people to exercise more and make other lifestyle changes. Let us all take those proactive steps and propel our way to a healthier new year!"

The Kaiser Permanente float was designed by Raul R. Rodriguez, who has won more awards than any other designer in the history of the Rose Parade, and by builder Fiesta Parade Floats. This is the fourth straight year that Kaiser Permanente has used this team. Kaiser Permanente's floats have won notable Rose Parade trophies in each of the last three years: In 2008 and 2006, Kaiser Permanente earned the Director's Trophy for artistic merit in design and floral presentation; in 2007, it won the President's Trophy for most effective floral use and presentation.

The Rose Parade will feature floral floats, equestrian units, and marching bands from throughout the nation. Each year, approximately 40 million Americans across the nation watch the parade on television, as well as millions of additional international viewers in 150 territories around the world. The parade is broadcast live on ABC, NBC, Univision, HGTV, Travel Channel, and Discovery HD, as well as on KWHY and KTLA in the Los Angeles area. In addition, an estimated one million people line the parade route in Pasadena each New Year's Day to watch the event in-person.

Kaiser Permanente is one of America's leading integrated health plans. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with Southern California headquarters in Pasadena, California. Kaiser Permanente (www.KaiserPermanente.org) serves the health care needs of 3.3 million members in Southern California. Today it encompasses the nonprofit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Kaiser Permanente's Southern California Region includes more than 55,800 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 6,400 physicians representing all specialties.