Emanuel Medical Center received an award for providing innovative patient service at a recent national healthcare conference - and local patients have also noticed the positive changes at Turlock's community hospital.
Emanuel received the Summit Award for "Hospital Provider of Choice" at the HealthCare Service Excellence Conference in Dallas. The three-day forum was a gathering of healthcare professionals from hospitals, long term care, and community health organizations from across the continent. The purpose was to discuss and showcase innovative methods to increase patient and resident satisfaction.
The Summit Award is the top award presented by the HealthCare Service Excellence Association. The association singled out Emanuel for its "exceptional commitment to making a difference to those they serve."
"The Summit Award is our highest award of excellence," said Brian Lee, founder of the Healthcare Service Excellence Conference. "It is awarded only to highly qualified, innovative, and progressive individuals, and healthcare facilities that have made outstanding progress in areas associated with the improvement of the patient and resident experience."
Turlock resident Heather Contreras has also noticed a change at Emanuel Medical Center. As the mother of four active children, and her oldest having asthma, she has visited the emergency room at Turlock's community hospital quite a few times over the years.
"It's an entirely new way of triaging. By the time the patient gets back to the room, all the tests have been done," Contreras said. "It's a much more efficient process. I can see the difference from 15 years ago to now... with the change in communication with patients."
Also honored at the 12th Annual HealthCare Service Excellence Conference in late January was Michael Iltis, Emanuel's vice president of professional services, who received a Pinnacle Award as an Inspiring Administrator and Jennifer Ribeiro, who also received a Pinnacle Award as a Super Coach.
Emanuel President and CEO John Sigsbury said he was extremely pleased by the awards because they recognized the efforts and excellence of Emanuel's employees.
"For the past three years, every one of our employees has been deeply involved in a service excellence initiative to make Emanuel Medical Center the best healthcare facility for our patients," he said. "It's an employee-led process and this award is a testament to the hard work of Emanuel's dedicated staff and to the commitment of everyone here to making Emanuel Medical Center a premier hospital in terms of patient satisfaction and health outcomes."
Iltis, a member of Emanuel's Service Excellence Council, was chosen as one of the nation's most inspiring administrators for his energy, professionalism and commitment to improvement.
Super Coach Ribeiro was honored for her ability to mentor employees and employee trainers from different departments throughout Emanuel with grace and determination
The HealthCare Service Excellence Association awards honor exceptional customer service achievements in health care, which include initiatives for improving quality of service to patients and customers, the quality of work life for healthcare employees, and overall performance as a healthcare organization.
To contact Kristina Hacker, e-mail khacker@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2004.