Mercy Health System receives national honor

 

By MIKE NEUMANN
The Independent

 

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About three dozen Mercy Health System employees at the Mercy Medical Center in Woodstock gathered around a screen April 23, to watch Javon Bea, Mercy Health System’s president and chief executive officer, accept a national award given by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Throughout Mercy’s 64 southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois locations, live video of the acceptance in Washington, D.C., was being broadcast. Mercy was named one of five recipients of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, chosen by President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
“The shortest one will be Javon,” joked one employee as she searched for Bea among those being honored. There was obvious excitement among employees in Woodstock, knowing that their hard work made this day possible.
Malcolm Baldrige was secretary of commerce from 1981 until his death in 1987. He was a proponent of quality management as a key to the country’s prosperity and long-term strength. After his death, Congress established the award program to recognize U.S. organizations for achievements in quality and performance and to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge. The award is not given for specific products or services, but rather for leadership, strategic planning, customer and market focus, workforce focus, process management and results.
“It’s a tremendous honor and privilege to be able to accept this award,” said Bea during the ceremony, noting that the Baldrige principles are something Mercy has worked on since the company began as a one-building facility in 1989. “It’s really a culmination of 20 years of hard work.”
The gathering crowd at the Woodstock facility cheered when Bea claimed that the staff and physician partners at Mercy give no less than their best on the job.
“Mercy Health System represents vision, passion, determination and results,” he said, later stating, “Every day, every year, we can and will be getting better.”
Bea said his meeting with President Bush was an honor, saying, “He really is a great guy.” He called Bush “genuine” and said sometimes the president gets a bad reputation from the media. Gutierrez said he and the president were honored to award Mercy and the other organizations the award, adding that meeting the presidents and CEOs of the companies made Bush’s day.
Bill Supernaw, director of Mercy clinics, was in Woodstock to watch the acceptance of the award.
Supernaw added that he, like many other employees at Mercy, often finds himself going back to the Baldrige principles in his day-to-day work.
“I’m such a Baldrige nerd,” he said, laughing. “But you have to be like that to make it work.”

 

This article was published in the May 7, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.