Northwest, St. Francis win Missouri Quality Award

Maryville has cornered the market on quality. Two of the city’s landmark institutions, Northwest Missouri State University and St. Francis Hospital & Health Services, have both won the 2008 Missouri Quality Award from the Excellence in Missouri Foundation.

Northwest, which has received the award in each year it was eligible since 1997, is the first school to become a four-time winner (1997, 2001, 2005 and 2008). St. Francis is also a multiple MQA recipient, having earlier won in 1996 and 2004.

Foundation officials will formally present MQA trophies to Northwest President Dean L. Hubbard and St. Francis Hospital & Health Services President Gray Cox during ceremonies scheduled for the 2008 Excellence in Missouri Conference, which takes place Wednesday, Nov. 19, through Friday, Nov. 21, at the Tan-Tar-A resort near the Lake of the Ozarks. The MQA presentation banquet is scheduled for Thursday evening, Nov. 20.

“It is wonderful to win this important award,” Hubbard said, “not just for the award itself, but because of the great benefit we receive from feedback provided by the team of examiners.”

“I want to extend my most sincere thanks to the campus community -- to Northwest’s incredibly dedicated faculty and staff who work so hard to constantly improve our processes and programs and give our students every opportunity for success,” the president said. “Everyone can take pride in the help they provided in taking us to this unprecedented level of achievement.”

Cox said St. Francis was “privileged to be recognized for our accomplishments as we continue on our journey toward excellence. We always strive to be exceptional, and we appreciate this recognition.”

A third award went to SSM Integrated Health Technologies of St. Louis, which, like St. Francis, is part of SSM Health Care, a St. Louis-based health care system sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary that operates 20 acute-care hospitals and two nursing homes in four states.

“This is a wonderful honor,” said Sister Mary Jean Ryan, FSM, president and CEO of SSM Health Care. “It recognizes the commitment of each employee at IHT and St. Francis as they pursue exceptional health care for all those we serve.”

Founded as a cooperative business, academic, labor, government and health care initiative, the Missouri Quality Award is designed to promote quality awareness both statewide and nationally. It is presented annually to recognize Missouri organizations that demonstrate the ability to achieve excellence by continuously improving essential processes governing their management and operations. Institutions and businesses can only apply for the award every three years.

Both Northwest and St. Francis submitted lengthy applications to the Excellence in Missouri Foundation this spring, which resulted in a site visit early in the fall trimester. A team of examiners spent several days doing staff interviews at both institutions and poring over data verifying continuous improvement.

Other 2008 MQA winners include the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and MidwayUSA of Columbia, a privately-held retailer and wholesaler of shooting, reloading, gunsmithing and hunting products.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

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