Beebe Healthcare Recognized Employee Quality Initiatives at Seventh Annual Quality and Safety Awards Banquet

Beebe Healthcare recognized employees and physicians for their dedication and commitment to high quality patient care during the seventh annual Quality and Safety Awards Banquet held recently at Kings Creek Country Club.

The evening represented the culmination of a year’s work by 26 teams, made up of more than 200 Beebe team members, that designed and implemented process improvement initiatives positively impacting the quality of patient care.

Three of the 26 teams were presented with awards for their outstanding projects, which solved quality or safety problems identified in a hospital setting.

“These awards recognize the three (3) winning teams, as well as the other 26 teams that submitted applications for this year’s Quality and Safety Awards banquet,” said Jeffrey M. Fried, FACHE, President and CEO of Beebe Healthcare. “Each year, we are thrilled to see the innovative and thoughtful ideas that our team members come up with to improve our internal processes and systems for the benefit of our patients. We also are thrilled to see how the number of teams has increased.”

Mr. Fried noted that Beebe is striving to be a highly reliable organization, which is one that has systems in place to accomplish quality and safety goals and to avoid potentially catastrophic errors.

“We look for teams that identify problems on their own, and that look at quality and data to drive performance improvement. It is these efforts that are driving us toward becoming a highly reliable organization,” he said, adding that, “The three teams that received awards tonight demonstrated the ability to go above and beyond.”

Stephen Fanto, MD, Chair of the Board of Director’s Quality and Safety Committee, introduced the three teams, which then formally presented their project goals, methodologies, and solutions. He also pointed out how exciting it has been to see the growth in the number of teams participating in the awards program, and thanked those that attended the banquet.

Dr. Fanto, together with Mr. Fried, The Honorable William Swain Lee, Chairman of the Beebe Board of Directors, and David A. Herbert, Vice Chair of the Beebe Board of Directors, presented the awards. More than 110 people attended the banquet, including members of the 26 teams.

The three award-winning teams were:

• Surgical Infection Prevention Process Improvement Team.
• Team Daily Management.
• Reducing Hospital-Onset Clostridium difficile Infections.

Teams pictured below:

Members of the Surgical Infection Prevention Process Improvement Team pictured with Beebe leadership are, left to right, back row: The Honorable William Swain Lee, Beth Richardson, Moises Montano and Tim Gwaltney; middle row, Kathi Fryling, Regina Newell, Melissa Heldreth, Tracy Williams, and Jeffrey Fried; and front row, Dr. Stephen Fanto, Jennifer Hazzard, Mary Lou Warren, and David Herbert. Teresa Hitchens is holding the award.

Members of the Team Daily Management with Beebe leadership are, left to right, back row, Dr. Fanto and The Honorable William Swain Lee; middle row, Regina Newell, Tara Cooper and Jeffrey Fried; and front row, Margaret Porter, Sandra Hewett and David Herbert.

Members of the Reducing Hospital-Onset Clostridium difficile Infections team, with Beebe leadership, are, left to right, back row, Rich Matthews, The Honorable William Swain Lee, Tim Gwaltney, and Will Allen; middle row, Dr. Fanto, Kathi Fryling, Cheryl Hopple, and Jeffrey Fried; and front row are Jennifer Blakeney, Kathy Podbesek, Beth Richardson, and David Herbert.

Beebe Healthcare is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health for the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. It offers services throughout Southern Delaware for residents and visitors, including a 210-licensed-bed hospital, a cancer center, and outpatient facilities providing walk-in care, lab, imaging, and physical rehabilitation services. For more information, please visit us online at Beebe Healthcare.