By By Adam Prestridge
If the staff at Atmore Community Hospital continue to perform above and beyond the call of duty, administrator Bob Gowing may have to consider adding on a trophy room.
Once again, the hospital has proven that it is worthy of its name fulfilling its obligation to the "community" of Atmore by offering stellar patient care. For its employees' efforts, Atmore Community Hospital was recently recognized as a Summit Award winner at a ceremony in Kissimmee, Fla. for patient satisfaction for the second consecutive year.
"We are proud to provide the Atmore community the level of service excellence that is nationally recognized," Gowing said. "Because the Summit Award reflects the opinions of our patients, they are the ones who evaluate how we treat them, it symbolizes our team's success in and dedication to delivering skilled, compassionate care."
Atmore Community Hospital, along with four other Baptist Health Care facilities, were honored during a conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort held by the nation's leading patient satisfaction measurement firm, Press Ganey Associates, which surveys more than 7,000 client facilities across the United States. Of those facilities, Summit Awards were given to only eight ambulatory surgery centers, 12 emergency departments, nine hospitals and eight outpatient facilities.
"We are delighted with the affiliation that we have with Baptist Health Care and what they have brought to our hospital," Escambia County Alabama Community Hospital Board member William Grissett said. "We are absolutely blessed to have the medical facility that we have in a town our size."
Grissett said not only is the award a testament of the type of employees at Atmore Community Hospital, but of the people who live in Atmore.
"It reflects on the quality of the people that we've got here," Grissett said. "You can not succeed without good people."
Jay Hospital, Baptist Hospital, Gulf Breeze Hospital and Baptist Medical Park also received 2007 Summit Awards from Press Ganey for consistently placing in the Top 5 percent of the firm's customer satisfaction database. The award is given only to facilities that sustain the highest levels of patient satisfaction for at least three consecutive years.
According to Baptist Health Care's public relations manager Candy McGuyre, Atmore Community Hospital and Jay Hospital, which have remained at the 99th percentile since 1999, received the award for inpatient care. Baptist Hospital, Gulf Breeze Hospital and Baptist Medical Park also received Summit Awards for sustaining top patient satisfaction scores.
The Summit award is Press Ganey's newest award as well as the most challenging to attain.