White Memorial Gets Another Performance Excellence Prize
It's an old saying that you're judged by the company you keep. If so, then White Memorial Medical Center is in good company indeed, considering the facility's 2001 California Eureka Award for Performance Excellence.
The award, presented in April by the California Council for Excellence, is one of several California Awards for Performance Excellence given annually to businesses that continuously improve quality and exemplify excellence. Previous recipients include VISA International, the University of Southern California, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
"Receiving this award is a tremendous honor, as it demonstrates our outstanding quality and ongoing commitment to excellence," said Beth Zachary, president and chief executive officer for White Memorial Medical Center. "We are passionate about providing the best possible healthcare services to our community."
This is the second time White Memorial Medical Center has received the award; the first was in 1999. Each time, the hospital received a bronze level award in the healthcare category.
The state award program is considered a launching pad to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, established by Congress in 1987 to promote quality among American businesses. Numerous private and public sector organizations in California, including White Memorial, are using the Baldrige award criteria to strengthen leadership, improve performance and exceed customer expectations. Former Baldrige award winners include Xerox, Fed Ex, Boeing, the Ritz-Carlton and AT&T.
In winning the California Eureka Award, White Memorial was judged in seven categories: leadership; strategic planning; patient, customer and market focus; information and analysis; staff focus; process management; and organizational performance.
"The key benefit of this award process is the detailed feedback we receive," said Nancy McDonough, manager for performance improvement. "This feedback identifies areas where we can improve our performance even more, which is extremely valuable in fulfilling our mission of quality."
White Memorial Medical Center has served the communities east of Downtown since being founded by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in 1913. With 350 beds, 1,500 employees and approximately 450 physicians, White Memorial provides outstanding emergency, rehabilitation, cancer, cardiac, diabetes, women's, pediatrics and community outreach services.
White Memorial Medical Center is a non-profit teaching hospital located east of Downtown at 1720 Cesar E. Chavez Ave. Call (323) 268-5000.
(page 15, 7/29/02)
Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.