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Beebe is First Hospital in Delaware to Receive W.L.Gore Award for Excellence

04/04/07

The Delaware Alliance for Excellence honored Beebe Medical Center as the recipient of the W.L. (Bill) Gore Award of Excellence at the Delaware Quality Award banquet held Wednesday, March 21, in Clayton Hall on the University of Delaware's Newark campus.

Governor Ruth Ann Minner, while presenting the award to Beebe Medical Center President and CEO Jeffrey M. Fried, said that the medical center is a "most esteemed leader" in the state's medical and business community, and was the first hospital in Delaware to win the award.

"Beebe Medical Center is the premier hospital for most of the people of Sussex County and visitors to our recreational areas," Gov. Minner said. "The award honors Beebe's efforts to recognize the needs of the people it serves and the care-providers who serve them."

Mr. Fried said, "It is truly an honor for Beebe Medical Center to be selected as the 2006 W. L. Gore Award winner. The Delaware Quality Award process is excellent because it forces organizations like ours to look inward and challenges us to be honest with ourselves about what we do well, and where we have opportunities for improvement. Performance improvement is fundamental to Beebe's culture as it reminds us every day to think about how we can improve our processes, and subsequently the care we provide our patients."

The Delaware Alliance for Excellence is a partnership between the University of Delaware's Division of Professional and Continuing Studies and the Delaware Quality Award Initiative. It provides educational programs and support for continuous improvement efforts in the Delaware region and recognizes organizational success and performance through the Delaware Quality Award program.

The Delaware Quality Award, initiated in 1992, was named in honor of W.L. (Bill) Gore, who dedicated his professional life to excellence. He advocated freedom, fairness, commitment and sound decision-making in an open and creative environment. He believed that each person within an organization is responsible for the level of quality in products and services offered to its customers and stakeholders.

Beebe Medical Center has been involved with the Delaware Quality Awards program for several years. It received a Delaware Quality Award of Merit in 2005. The Medical Center's Department of Medical Affairs received a Delaware Quality Commitment Award in 2003, and a Delaware Quality Award of Merit in 2004.

The Delaware Quality Awards Program is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria. It honors companies and organizations that excel in leadership, strategic planning and deployment, customer focus, knowledge management, valuing people, operational processes and results. The Delaware Alliance for Excellence is one of 39 state programs that use the Baldrige National Quality Program criteria to "help good organizations become great," said John Riabov, executive director of the Delaware Alliance for Excellence.

Harry S. Hertz, Director of the Baldrige National Quality Program, was the keynote speaker at the Delaware Quality Award banquet.

Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community medical center with a mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health with the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org