April 1, 2025
Member celebrates 100th birthday with care team
Marine veteran celebrated with friends from the Kaiser Permanente Fort Collins Medical Offices.
Member Al Thompson celebrated his 100th birthday with the Fort Collins Medical Offices physicians and staff members.
Plenty of Kaiser Permanente physicians and staff members love to celebrate milestones with members and patients. Few get to celebrate patients like Al Thompson.
“When Al comes into our office, everybody in the building wants to see Al,” said Jeffry Winkler, Thompson’s usual physician assistant at the Kaiser Permanente Fort Collins Medical Offices.
The Fort Collins physicians and staff knew Thompson’s 100th birthday was coming up. They hatched a surprise.
When Thompson came into the facility in early March 2025, Thompson’s son told him the visit would be for lab work.
Thompson knew something was up when Winkler led him past the lab and out a side door.
“I haven’t been this way before,” he said.
As Winkler walked Thompson to the building’s atrium, the Kaiser Permanente team was there to sing “Happy Birthday.”
Staff members presented Thompson with a card, noting he continues to be beloved in Fort Collins for 36,525 days and counting. They also gifted him a sweater.
A caring family
“I think they have great doctors,” said Thompson. “The nurses and everybody are so friendly.”
Thompson said he is often greeted with a hug when he visits. Staff members invite him over for dinner.
“It almost seems like family,” he said.
Winkler said Thompson is one of his all-time favorite patients. In no small part because of Thompson’s active partnership in his care.
Thompson is in great shape, according to Winkler.
Thompson recently helped his son change the transmission in his truck. Winkler said he was neither surprised nor concerned.
Legacy of caring for service members
Members of the Marine Corps League also joined Thompson’s birthday celebration. They saluted Thompson, who served in World War II as a mechanic on Midway Island.
“It’s not something he talks about, it’s not something he brags about,” said Winkler. “He’s one of those guys that if you do something well, you don’t have to tell people.”
Kaiser Permanente was born in the shipyards of World War II. Continuing to care for a veteran of the Greatest Generation is a great honor, said Winkler.
“Al is a great citizen, he’s the guy you want as your neighbor,” Winkler said. “He is Northern Colorado.”
