<P> In July , the Permanente Foundation formed to operate Northern California hospitals that would be linked to the outpatient health plans , followed shortly thereafter by the creation of Northern Permanente Foundation for Oregon and Washington and Southern Permanente Foundation for California . The name Permanente came from Permanente Creek , which flowed past Henry Kaiser 's first cement plant on Black Mountain in Cupertino , California . Kaiser 's first wife , Bess Fosburgh , liked the name . An abandoned Oakland facility was modernized as the 170 - bed Permanente Hospital opened on August 1 , 1942 . Three weeks later , the 71 - bed Richmond Field Hospital opened . Six first aid stations were set up in the shipyards to treat industrial accidents and minor illness . Each first aid station had an ambulance ready to rush patients to the surgical field hospital if required . Stabilized patients could be moved to the larger hospital for recuperative care . The Northern Permanente Hospital opened two weeks later to serve workers at the Kaiser shipyard in Vancouver , Washington . Shipyard workers paid seven cents per day for comprehensive health care coverage ; and within a year the shipyard health plan employed sixty physicians with salaries between $450 and $1,000 per month . These physicians established California Physicians Service to offer similar health coverage to the families of shipyard workers . In 1944 , Kaiser decided to continue the program after the war and to open it up to the general public . </P>
where did the name kaiser permanente come from
Permanente Creek , which flowed past Henry Kaiser 's first cement plant on Black Mountain in Cupertino , California