Deb Bartel, a quality core measures nurse at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, was among 43 hospital employees statewide to receive an Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA) Spirit of Transformation Award during the 2011 OHA Annual Convention on November 30th. Bartel received the award in recognition of her ingenuity, imagination and vision to transform a process, procedure or service.

Award recipients were chosen by their hospitals for exemplifying the Spirit of Transformation by providing a visionary approach to redesigning and transforming systems and care; being a catalyst for change; pioneering new practices and ideas; or fostering transformational thinking among their team members.

"We are pleased to honor these special hospital employees who have dedicated time, talent or expertise to improve their organizations and their communities," said Craig W. Jones, FACHE, president, Oklahoma Hospital Association. "These are the type of team members who, when they see problems, consistently work to solve them."

On April 12, Judy Roggow received the 2011 St. Mary's Volunteer of the Year Award. The Volunteer General membership elected her to this title. Judy started volunteering at St. Mary's in June of 2005 and currently serves as Treasurer of the Volunteers, Information, and Chairperson of Care Corp volunteers. She also helps when needed with the coffee bar and gift shop. She meticulously balances the Volunteers' finances and provides thorough reports to the membership. Her good sense of humor, dedication to teamwork and willingness to help in any way she can make her a vital member of the department. She completed 2010 with a total cumulative of 2,766 volunteer hours.

The Rehabilitation Institute at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center has been accredited for three years by CARF International for the following programs:

• Inpatient Rehabilitation Programs — Hospital (Adults)
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Programs — Hospital: Brain Injury Program (Adults)
• Inpatient Rehabilitation Programs — Hospital: Stroke Specialty Program (Adults)

The latest accreditation is the seventh consecutive three-year accreditation that the international accrediting body has awarded to the Rehabilitation Institute.

This accreditation decision represents the highest level of accreditation that can be awarded to a facility, and recognizes the facility's substantial conformance to the CARF standards. A facility that receives a three-year accreditation has successfully completed a rigorous peer review process and has demonstrated to a team of surveyors during an on-site visit that its programs and services are of high quality, measurable and accountable.

St. Mary's Regional Medical Center is located at 305 South 5th St, in Enid, Okla., and has been providing inpatient rehabilitation services to Northwest Oklahoma since 1989.

CARF is an independent, nonprofit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value, and optimal outcomes of services through a consultative accreditation process that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. Founded in 1966 as the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and now known as CARF, the accrediting body establishes consumer-focused standards to help organizations measure and improve the quality of their programs and services.

Enid, Oklahoma—Kaye McMullin, manager of educational services, St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, was among only 38 hospital employees statewide to receive an Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA) Spirit of Innovation Award during the 2010 OHA Annual Convention on November 10. The 38 front-line, behind-the-scenes and administrative employees received the OHA Spirit of Innovation Award in recognition of their extraordinary creativity and uniqueness in addressing healthcare’s most challenging issues over the past year.

Award recipients were chosen by their hospitals for exemplifying the Spirit of Innovation by demonstrating extraordinary innovation in delivery of care through improvement of service and delivery. These are individuals who have innovatively used resources, instituted original programs, pioneered new practices and ideas, or fostered innovative thinking.

 “We are pleased to honor these special hospital employees who have dedicated time, talent or expertise to improve their organizations and their communities,” said Craig W. Jones, FACHE, president, Oklahoma Hospital Association. “These are the type of team members who, when they see problems, consistently work to solve them.”

St. Mary’s Diabetes Care Center helps patients who have diabetes interact with a multifaceted education instructional team, which includes at least one registered nurse and one registered dietitian. In addition, St. Mary’s uses a continuous quality improvement process to evaluate the effectiveness of education so that it can identify opportunities for improvement.

“We have held recognition since 1997 and will continue this measurement process to ensure we meet the standards of the diabetes self-management education program,” says Patti Ruiz, Program Manager, who has overseen the program for the past seven years.