Stop in at Maison Giraud on Swarthmore on any given day, and chances are you may spot an unassuming elderly couple sitting at a quiet table. At first glance, it may seem as if these longtime Palisadians, Dr. Rene Cailliet and his wife Lois Cailliet, are just a couple of typical retirees.
Looks can be deceiving.
Dr. Cailliet was one of the visionaries responsible for bringing affordable healthcare to Southern California under the name of Kaiser Permanente.
The year was 1953 when he banded together with 12 other physicians to create a healthcare facility that would provide medical care to any patient who was in need.
The partnership provided medical care under the name of Kaiser Permanente. Convinced that affordable, excellent care was possible, the organization operated based on a unique concept at the time: that business affairs would be handled by business people so doctors could concentrate on medical care.
The $3 million facility, which operated as a not-for-profit foundation, was open to the public in addition to private patients and those referred by social welfare agencies.
Kaiser has since expanded to become one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit healthcare communities comprising 38 hospitals, 17,000 physicians, nearly 50,000 nurses, 175,000 employees and more than 9 million members.
Under the cloud of the McCarthy Era, the public aspect of the Kaiser Permanente model was not well received by the Southern California medical establishment, whose members resisted the arrival of prepaid, group-practice medicine.
Cailliet was brought before the Senate where he testified that he was not a Communist.
In September, the 96-year-old doctor was brought before a different crowd – and a friendlier one – when he was honored at the Anaheim Convention Center as the last surviving founder of Kaiser Permanente. With his wife Lois by his side, Dr. Cailliet experienced the satisfaction of a dream realized in front of 3,500 Kaiser physicians.
“I was so grateful that he was able to experience the joy of realizing the fruition of what was once just an idea,” Lois Cailliet said. “There were disappointments along the way, but to see the success later in life brings us so much joy.”
In the 60 years since that idea was born, Dr. Cailliet traveled the world teaching physical medicine and rehabilitation, a specialty that developed after the young doctor returned from World War II. Injuries sustained at war left many in need of rehabilitation.
Having served as a flight surgeon in the Burma-China-India Theatre, Cailliet had seen first hand the wounds of war.
At 26, he sailed from Long Beach, Calif., around Tasmania to Australia, avoiding the Japanese submarines. From there he was flown to Calcutta and took the train to Mumbai. A final flight on a silent glider plane landed the young surgeon behind enemy lines as one of the first Air Commandos.
A product of his world travels, Cailliet began a friendship with a young Japanese doctor who had fled China before WWII broke out. He was the first to ask if the doctor’s work could be translated into Japanese. The doctor has since written and illustrated 18 books that have been published in 11 languages, including braille.
Cailliet graduated from Villa Nova and moved to Southern California to attend UCLA in 1938.
A former trombone player, music has always been an important part of Cailliet’s life. He met his wife Lois while sitting next to her at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
“My mother was sitting on my other side, and she asked me who was the man I kept talking to,” recalled Lois Cailliet, a music teacher from West Virginia. “I told her I didn’t know, but that I would ask his name.”
A year later, the two were married. Today, they happily continue to attend as many concerts as possible, including their weekly visit to Disney Concert Hall.
“We just have too much fun,” they said. “The trick is to enjoy each other every day. That’s all there is to it.”
For the last 40 years, they’ve been enjoying life as residents of the Palisades. One of their favorite spots is Maison Giraud.
“We go there for the best croissant in the city,” they said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had anything there that wasn’t utterly delicious. To have such a fine chef in our little village is just marvelous.”
Aside from the pastries, a cone of glace lavande – lavender ice cream with strawberries – is Dr. Cailliett’s favorite.
“We just try to stay on two feet, that’s the most important thing,” Lois Cailliet said. “You’ve got to keep on exercising your body and your mind. It’s important to stay interested in life until the very end.”
Spending time in their pool and exercising daily, life remains exciting for the pair, who sit side-by-side, listing off their favorite composers as if they were old friends.
“We just take things day by day and hope to keep living our lives as long as possible. We sure had fun seeing the world, didn’t we?” she asked her smiling husband. “We’ve been very blessed.”
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