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Gov. Ruth Ann Minner Presents Beebe With 2005 Delaware Quality Award of Merit

03/28/06

In January, The Delaware Alliance for Excellence named Beebe Medical Center as a 2005 Delaware Quality Award of Merit recipient.

On March 13, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner presented the award to Jeffrey M. Fried, Beebe Medical Center President and CEO, at an awards ceremony at the University of Delaware.

The Delaware Alliance for Excellence is a new partnership between the University of Delaware's Division of Professional and Continuing Studies and the Delaware Quality Award Initiative. The Delaware Division of Libraries also earned a 2005 Delaware Quality Award of Merit.

The Delaware Quality Award was established in 1992 in honor of W.L. (Bill) Gore for the direction he gave his company, W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc., in promoting excellence, innovation and a positive working environment. In 2005, in order to expand training and consulting services, the initiative was expanded to form the Delaware Alliance for Excellence as a University of Delaware program. Its mission is to educate and support continuous improvement initiatives throughout the region and to recognize the achievement of performance of excellence.

Applying the federal government's criteria for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, the award program examines the essential elements of successfully run organizations, including leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, human resources and process improvement.

In presenting the award to Jeffrey M. Fried, president and CEO of the Beebe Medical Center, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner recognized Beebe's efforts to expand its facilities to better serve the health care needs of a population that has doubled in size since 1990.

The Delaware Quality Award promotes companies that strive to give the best results to the people of Delaware, Minner said. The Beebe Medical Center cares about the community it serves.

Mr. Fried said You must value your employees if you want to value your customers. Our commitment brings doctors and hospital staff together, and we are a better organization because of the challenge.

For more information on the Delaware Quality Award initiative, please see the website www.udel.edu/DQA/. The contact for the Delaware Alliance for Excellence is Executive Director John Riabov, who can be reached at (302) 571-5233.