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Lowell King, Regional Operations Officer for Goodwill Southern California and Carl Maier, Executive Vice President of LaSalle Medical Associates agreeing to partnership that provides local jobs. Photo by Michael Downer

(San Bernardino, Calif.) Transforming lives through the power of work. For many throughout the Inland Empire, the Goodwill of Southern California plays a vital role as an employment resource. In addition, local businesses see them as a partner ensuring highly sensitive documents are disposed of properly and within regulated guidelines.

Joining that growing list of businesses partners is LaSalle Medical Associates, Inc. Operating a total of four clinics in Fontana, Hesperia and San Bernardino, LaSalle has partnered with Goodwill Industries to meet with HIPPA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations, requiring the proper disposal of unneeded documents.

“This is the kind of alignment opportunity we look for,” said Carl Maier, Executive Vice President of Operations for LaSalle Medical Associates. “By partnering with Goodwill we are ensuring we maintain compliance, while partnering with a local organization. We are doing something good for the environment and providing local job opportunities for those with disabilities. It really doesn’t get any better than that.”

The income Goodwill generates from its shredding service assists in funding education, job training and placement services, providing people who have disabilities and other vocational disadvantages the opportunity to become productive and self-sufficient in the community.

LaSalle is dedicated to their belief of doing more together than you can apart, this partnership with Goodwill Industries assists in maintaining local employment opportunities for 25 individuals with disabilities.

Goodwill’s journey to provide shredding services began in 2005, with the desire to become self-sufficient and create opportunities for its participants, which would generate a positive cash flow.

“We realized that government funding support changed and is no longer what it once was,” said Lowell King, Regional Operations Officer for Goodwill Southern California. “As a nonprofit, we wanted to become more self-sufficient. When we began to look at our options, shredding aligned well with our organization.”

Certified by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), the shredding program, which is available nationally, was launched in Southern California in 2005 and expanded to the Inland Empire in 2007. Each Goodwill Secure Bin is bar coded and tracked. The facility is under 24-hour video surveillance, guarded by security personnel 24 hours per day. In addition, all Goodwill Secure Shredding trucks have GPS tracking.

“NAID certified is the premier certification in the shredding industry,” said King. “We are proud of our chain of custody and process in the handling of documents and that we actually exceed every regulation required for shredding.”

In fact the chain of custody concept implemented by Goodwill ensures that document containers are not only locked, but that they are never left unattended.  Even clients can’t retrieve items once they are placed in the container.

“In life, there are three things that are very transformational; your faith, your health and a job,” said King. “Our contracts help organizations to be environmentally conscience as well as help provide jobs to those with disabilities. By partnering with organizations like LaSalle, we are changing lives by getting folks working that never had that opportunity before. At the end of the day, that is a good feeling.”

On the heels of this successful partnership, LaSalle is currently working to extend this same service to members of its Independent Practice Association (IPA).  Located throughout California, their network of 1,900 contracted doctors, hospitals and clinics deliver high quality patient care with more than 190,000 patient visits per year.

About LaSalle Medical Associates

LaSalle Medical Associates, Inc., operates four clinics employing more than 120 dedicated healthcare professionals, treating children, adults, and seniors in San Bernardino County. LaSalle’s patients are primarily served by Medi-Cal and they also accept Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Molina, Care 1st, Health Net and Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP). LaSalle’s clinics are at 17577 Arrow Blvd. in Fontana, 16455 Main St. in Hesperia and 1505 West 17th St. and 565 N. Mt. Vernon Ave. in San Bernardino.

LaSalle Medical Associates, Inc., is also an Independent Practice Association (IPA) of independently contracted doctors, hospitals and clinics, delivering high quality care to more than 245,000 patients in Fresno, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Tulare Counties.

LaSalle’s IPA members in the Inland Empire include: LaSalle Medical Associates, Arrowhead Orthopedics, Arther Medical Group, Rancho Medical Group, Rancho Paseo Medical Group, Alessandro Medical Group Banning Medical Group, and San Bernardino Urological Associates. Hospital affiliations include: Rancho Springs Medical Center, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Community Hospital of San Bernardino, St. Bernadine Medical Center, Mountains Community Hospital, Redland Community Hospital, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Corona Regional Medical Center, Riverside County Medical Center, Parkview Community Hospital.

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