CARIBOU — Maine Veterans’ Home in Caribou has been recognized as a 2012 recipient of the Bronze Commitment to Quality award for its dedication to improving quality care. The award is one of three distinctions possible through the National Quality Award program, presented by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The program honors facilities across the nation that have demonstrated their commitment to the quality improvement journey.
“Each one of the award recipients has proven its dedication to improving lives through quality care, and it is a privilege to honor them with this year’s award,” said Gov. Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “We congratulate Maine Veterans’ Home in Caribou on this achievement.”
“It is a great accomplishment for the Maine Veterans’ Home in Caribou to be the first facility in Aroostook County honored with this award,” said Melissa Graham, MVH Caribou administrator. “This demonstrates what a dedicated team we have here and how committed we are to caring for Maine’s heroes,” she added
Implemented by AHCA/NCAL in 1996, the National Quality Award Program is centered on the core values and criteria of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program. The program assists providers of long term and post-acute care services in achieving their performance excellence goals.
A team of trained examiners reviews each Bronze application to determine if the facility has met the demands of the criteria. As a recipient of the Bronze – Commitment to Quality award, MVH, Caribou may now move forward in developing approaches and achieving performance levels that meet the criteria required for the Silver award.
“The commitment these facilities have made to quality care does not stop with this benchmark award” says Chick Stepahin, chair, AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers. “The journey to quality care requires dedication, and MVH Caribou has risen to the challenge.”
Caribou is one of four facilities in Maine to receive the Bronze level award this year. The award will be presented during AHCA/NCAL’s 63rd annual Convention and Exposition, to be held in Tampain in October.
