Southeastern Regional Medical Center on the Way to National Award

LUMBERTON (March 4, 2010) – Southeastern Regional Medical Center was recognized for achieving the commitment level of the North Carolina Awards for Excellence (NCAfE) today at a small ceremony.

NCAfE is administered by the North Carolina State University Industrial Extension Service. Nora Milley, who manages the program, presented Southeastern’s leadership team with the award. “This is in recognition of your hard work and dedication to continuous improvement,” she said.

“While we’re pleased to have reached the commitment level, we aren’t going to stop there,” said Teresa Barnes, Vice President of Inpatient Services and Chief Nursing Officer. “We intend to go all the way to the highest level, to the Baldrige award.”

The NCAfE program is based on the prominent Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The organizations that receive this honor have met rigorous criteria that have been benchmarked against the best performing organizations. NCAfE has established four levels, or steps, to achieving the Baldrige award: involvement, commitment, advancement and leadership.

In its core values, SRMC states “we commit to be the best.” And they mean it. Southeastern obtained the prestigious magnet status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center a few years ago, so in 2009, the management team and board set their sights on the Baldrige award. They decided to start with NCAfE.

NCAfE specialists met with the executive team in April 2009. The team set the aggressive goal of writing the extensive application and hosting a site visit of examiners before the end of the year. And they did it, with the results arriving in December.

Whatever it takes, Southeastern will do it. “We’re very committed to quality and patient safety,” Barnes said. “We want to be the place where employees want to work, where patients want to come to, and where physicians want to practice.”

Southeastern Regional Medical Center serves southeastern North Carolina with 337 licensed beds and a 115-bed long-term care facility. More than 125 physicians serve on the medical staff.

Created in 1955 within the NC State University College of Engineering by an act of the General Assembly, IES is the oldest service of its kind in the nation. Since 2006, IES has returned more than $854.5 million in direct annual gain to the state, either in jobs saved or profits made, as reported by the clients served. IES aims to generate $1 billion in wealth for North Carolina by the end of 2010.

March 2010