November 14, 2019, Los Angeles, Calif. — The U.S. Department of Commerce announced today that Adventist Health White Memorial and five other organizations have won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Baldrige is the nation’s only presidential award for performance excellence, recognizing U.S. organizations and businesses that have shown an unceasing drive for innovative solutions to complex challenges, visionary leadership and operational excellence.

Adventist Health White Memorial is a 353-bed, nonprofit, faith-based teaching hospital, providing a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and diagnostic services to communities in and near downtown Los Angeles. Over nearly two decades, Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM) has worked closely with its partners in the Hispanic-majority community to train more than 224 local residents in nursing. Of these, 100% received registered nurse licensing, 70% pursued advanced degrees, and 90% stayed at AHWM after three years. The result is a nursing staff that reflects the demographics of Adventist Health White Memorial’s community, providing culturally competent care in the primary language of its patients.

“With an emphasis on efficiency and best practices, the Baldrige public-private partnership generates $1 billion per year in economic impact for the U.S. economy,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The Baldrige Award embodies the competitive spirit and commitment to excellence that fuels our economic resurgence and drives our country forward.”

“This prestigious award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that any U.S. organization can receive. It takes years of dedication in the pursuit of comprehensive performance improvement with exceptional outcomes to be eligible for this award. What makes our hospital so special is all of our associates, physicians, volunteers and board members who, together, live God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope. This honor belongs to everyone,” said John Raffoul, president of Adventist Health White Memorial.

“The staff of White Memorial are extraordinary, and the examiners saw their passion to serve and produce exceptional outcomes,” said Mara C. Bryant, operations executive at Adventist Health White Memorial.

The Baldrige Program raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economies; provides organizational assessments, training, tools and criteria; educates leaders in businesses, schools, health care organizations and government and nonprofit organizations; shares the best practices of national role models; and recognizes those role models with the Baldrige Award. The Baldrige Program is a public-private partnership managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and funded in part through user fees and support from the Baldrige Foundation. The Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987 and is not given for specific products or services. Since the first group was recognized in 1988, 129 awards have been presented to 121 organizations (including eight repeat winners).

The other 2019 award winners include: Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (nonprofit); City of Germantown, Germantown, Tennessee (nonprofit); Howard Community College, Columbia, Maryland (education); Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, Oak Brook, Illinois (nonprofit); and Mary Greeley Medical Center, Ames, Iowa (health care).

The NIST manages the Baldrige Award in cooperation with the private sector. An independent panel of judges reviewed the evaluations performed by the Baldrige Board of Examiners and recommended this year’s award recipients from a field of 26 applicants.

The 2019 Baldrige Awards will be presented at a ceremony on March 24, 2020, during the Baldrige Program’s 32nd annual Quest for Excellence® conference, which will be held in National Harbor, Maryland. The expert Baldrige judges evaluate organizations in seven areas defined by the Baldrige Excellence Framework: leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results. An organization may compete for the award in one of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education or nonprofit (including government agencies).

As a product of Adventist Health’s mission, “Living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope,” the hospital is known within the community and the industry for the culturally sensitive, bilingual care provided to underserved individuals, particularly the Hispanic community.

“It’s our mission to improve the physical, mental and spiritual health of our community. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is tangible evidence of our exemplary level of excellence,” Raffoul said.

AHWM’s patients are 90% Hispanic. As a safety-net hospital, it is the only private, nonprofit hospital providing comprehensive care for the federally designated medically underserved area of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles. Adventist Health White Memorial is also a teaching hospital that is widely recognized for producing a culturally competent, diverse workforce in the primary care disciplines of family medicine, internal medicine and obstetrics/gynecology, as well as nursing, pharmacy and podiatry.

For more information, please visit https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2019/11/six-health-care- nonprofit-and-education-organizations-win-baldrige-awards

White Memorial is a part of Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. Our workforce of 32,900 includes more than 23,600 employees; nearly 5,000 medical staff physicians; and 4,350 volunteers. https://www.adventisthealth.org

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