JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – SMP Health – Ave Maria has been honored with the 2024 Bronze – Commitment to Quality Award by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). This award recognizes the facility’s dedication to enhancing the lives of residents through superior quality care, marking the first of three progressive award levels in the AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program.

“Our team is absolutely thrilled to receive this prestigious award. This has been a couple years in the making,” said Tonie Stoen, CEO/Administrator. “We truly do have an excellent team dedicated to our residents and providing the utmost quality of care. One thing I stand by is that this kind of award takes every single member of our team. It’s all departments coming together to provide excellent care. We will continue to work on more ways to improve—relentless improvement is key.”

The AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Program is a rigorous three-level process reviewed by trained experts against nationally recognized standards for organizational excellence. These standards, based on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, help organizations achieve superior performance over time to improve the quality of life and care for long-term care residents.

Providers begin the quality improvement journey at the Bronze level, developing an organizational profile that outlines their vision, mission, key customers, and core strengths and challenges. Bronze applicants must demonstrate the use of a performance improvement system. Each application is reviewed by trained examiners to determine if a center meets the criteria. With the Bronze award, SMP Health – Ave Maria can now advance to the Silver – Achievement in Quality award criteria.

“Yes, we’ve already been planning for applying for the next level, Silver,” added Stoen.

Cathy Bergland, AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board Chair, congratulated SMP Health – Ave Maria on their accomplishment. “Receiving this award marks the beginning of an exciting journey towards excellence. Congratulations to SMP Health – Ave Maria for this significant achievement. I encourage you to take some time to celebrate and continue striving for higher levels of quality and performance.”

The National Quality Awards will be presented during Delivering Solutions 24, the AHCA/NCAL Convention & Expo, which will be held from October 6-9, 2024, in Orlando, Florida.