White Oak Manor-Tryon is one of eight facilities in North Carolina were recently awarded the Bronze Award for Excellence. Beth Cecil, Leadership and Enrichment Director of White Oak Management, Inc., received the plaque on behalf of the facility in ceremonies in Chicago.

She presented it to the facility at a celebration for the entire staff, held at White Oak Manor-Tryon on November 5. This award is the first step in a three step program which provides a learning experience that supports Member organizations of the American Health Care Association in their commitment to the Quality First Initiative and their ability to excel in the Advancing Excellence in Nursing Homes Campaign. Only those organizations who achieve the Bronze level are eligible to proceed to the next level.

Applicants for the AHCA National Quality Award are evaluated based on criteria adapted from the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Award Health Care Criteria which provides a standard of quality for organizations seeking the highest levels of performance and competitiveness.&bsp; The criteria addresses all of the key requirements that long term care organizations must address to achieve excellence.

At the Bronze level, organizations describe their mission, characteristics, and key challenges that are embodied in the organizational profile section of the Baldrige criteria.&bsp; The object of this award level is to provide a context for understanding the organization and its approach to performance improvement. &bsp;

The criteria requires that applicants provide a basic description of the organization, their mission/vision and how it is communicated across the organization, their stakeholder and key customer requirement, their supplier and partnering relationships, competitive factors, key performance measures, and their key challenges.&bsp; Reviewed by independent, trained examiners, applicants who receive the Bronze award are able to describe their mission, characteristics, and key challenges and to recognize the relationship of these factors to their ability to achieve performance improvement.

Administrator Mary Lance attributes the success of the facility to the hard work and commitment to quality of the staff at White Oak Manor-Tryon.&bsp; White Oak Manor-Tryon is the third White Oak Manor facility to received this prestigious award.