FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elizabeth Menzer, Executive Director
MADISON – Wisconsin Forward Award, the state’s premier organization for assessing and recognizing high-performance management principles, will honor the 2012 award recipients at a ceremony and reception at the Monona Terrace Conference and Convention Center in Madison on the evening of December 5, 2012. The ceremony will also celebrate the accomplishments of hundreds of Wisconsin organizations that have benefited from the program’s services and learning opportunities, as well as the tens of thousands of hours of service that its volunteer Board of Examiners has contributed.
Seven organizations are receiving recognition for their participation in the 2012 Award program. These recipient organizations represent a combined workforce of almost 17,000 employees, and hundreds of volunteers.
Four organizations will be recognized at the Mastery level, demonstrating significant maturity in developing and refining processes that are tied to good results in such areas as building a highly-skilled workforce, financial and organizational performance, and exceptional customer satisfaction and retention. These include:
• Black River Memorial Hospital, Black River Falls is a non-profit primary healthcare facility located in the city of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. The organization provides inpatient, outpatient and home-based healthcare services including: Emergency, Medical, Surgical, Obstetric, Rehabilitative, Diagnostic, Hospice, Homecare, Respiratory, and a Pain Clinic. The organization’s Excellence Always Journey has capitalized on principles that are known to drive employee, physician and patient satisfaction as well as excellence in healthcare services. BRMH began using the Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria to drive improvement in 2009.
• Chippewa Valley Technical College, Eau Claire serves an 11-county area in west central Wisconsin, delivering superior, progressive technical education which improves the lives of students, meets the workforce needs of the region, and strengthens the larger community. With campuses in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Menomonie, Neillsville and River Falls, CVTC trains not only the new workers of tomorrow, but also current employees and business leaders as they adapt to changes in their fields. CVTC partners with employers, students and communities so that all may succeed.
• Mayo Clinic Health System-Red Cedar, Inc., Menomonie combines a 25-bed critical access hospital with multi-specialty, hospital-based clinic. It is the only provider of emergency care, urgent care and hospital-based care in including obstetrics, in Menomonie and Dunn Counties. The Center operates two satellite clinics in Glenwood City and Elmwood, and employs approximately 570 full time equivalent employees.
• Sauk Prairie Memorial Hospital, Prairie du Sac is an independent, not-for-profit, community-based healthcare organization comprised of a 36 bed acute care hospital and four small, primary care clinics. SPMH provides local and regional medical care to residents in a 700 square mile area of south central Wisconsin, and employs 475 full time equivalent employees.
Other organizations receiving recognition in 2012
• Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin-Retail Services, Milwaukee is an independent and autonomous member of Goodwill Industries International whose mission has evolved to provide training, employment and supportive services for people with disabilities or disadvantages who seek greater independence. The Retail Services Division operates through retail stores with donation collection centers which provide a convenient place for people to donate previously own goods. Retail services consist of 20 retail store/donation locations as well as 2 attended donation centers that provide employment to 308 full time employees and 704 par time employees.
• iLead Charter School, Mauston a public charter school instrumentality of the School District of Mauston, serving students in grades 7-12 using a project-based learning delivery model. The focus of the charter school is in the name, iLEAD, which stands for “Individualized, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Academic, Discovery.”
• Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee provides the education, skills training, and lifelong learning opportunities that advance careers, change lives, and help to grow the local economy. MATC is a comprehensive, four-campus, public two-year technical college that serves 46,397 students predominately from the Milwaukee area. In the business of education, MATC is driven by student success to enrich, empower, and transform the lives in the district.
Wisconsin Forward Award, Inc. was created in 1997 by the Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment to advance the competitive position and world-class status of Wisconsin organizations in the international marketplace, and to enhance learning, continuous improvement, and enterprise performance. The award promotes excellence in organizational management, recognizes the achievements and results of Wisconsin organizations implementing performance excellence systems, and publicizes successful performance excellence management strategies.
All types and sizes of Wisconsin organizations are eligible to apply, including manufacturers, service companies, small businesses, educational institutions, health care organizations, and non-profit organizations, including trade and professional associations, government entities, and charities.
WFA is a public/private partnership modeled after the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. The not-for-profit organization receives financial support from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce as well as other organizations across the state.
Wisconsin Forward Award is administered by the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence. Visit www.wisquality.org to learn more.
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