SR0681 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0681 LRB096 21418 GRL 37749 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence was founded in 1994 as a publicly and privately-supported not-for-profit organization; the foundation was created to significantly raise Illinois' worldwide competitiveness by improving the performance of the State's institutions and businesses; and

WHEREAS, The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence Award process is a 3-level process, consisting of the Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence, the Silver Award for Progress Towards Excellence, and the Gold Award for Achievement of Excellence; the award process allows organizations to measure themselves against the Lincoln Foundation's Seven Criteria for Performance Excellence, patterned after the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award: Leadership, Strategic Planning, Customer Focus, Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management, Workforce Focus, Process Management, and Results; and

WHEREAS, The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence has awarded the 2009 Lincoln Silver Award for Progress Towards Excellence to the Memorial Health System in Springfield; and

WHEREAS, Memorial Health System's 6 affiliates provide a full range of inpatient, outpatient, home health, hospice, behavioral health, and primary care physician services; with 3 hospitals and other clinics in central Illinois, Memorial deliver high-quality, patient-centered care in support of their mission to improve the health of the people and communities they serve; and

WHEREAS, The Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence has awarded the 2009 Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence to Black Hawk College in Moline, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund in Oak Brook, and St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur; and

WHEREAS, Black Hawk College is a comprehensive community college serving residents of Illinois Community College District #503 through 2 campuses in Moline and Kewanee, along with numerous satellite locations throughout the district; as a recognized leader in education, Black Hawk College focuses on providing the resources and environment for life-long learning; in 1998, the college's Board of Trustees began the journey toward excellence when the college responded to its first Lincoln Performance Excellence cycle; over the past 10 years, the benefits of adopting a continuous quality improvement model have continued to emerge; the use of quality tools and the Baldridge continuous improvement model has improving the use of data, rather than anecdotal information, in decision-making; additionally, these tools provide assurance of institutional quality to those it serves; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) has partnered with local units of government throughout Illinois to provide death, disability, and retirement benefits for working and retired public employees since 1941; today, IMRF has more than 89,000 retired members and 182,000 active members working for nearly 3,000 different units of government, including schools districts, counties, cities, villages, parks, and libraries; and

WHEREAS, St. Mary's Hospital is one of 13 hospitals in the Hospital Sisters Health System and is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1878; St. Mary's Hospital is an all private room healthcare facility that combines modern technology with the caring spirit of the original founding Sisters; St. Mary's is situated on an attractive 21-acre campus overlooking Lake Decatur and offers a broad spectrum of comprehensive health services, including a Tomo Therapy radiation treatment for cancer patients, a newly-revitalized radiology department, and a wide range of neuromuscular services; St. Mary's has added a number of off-site physician offices to better help serve their patients; St. Mary's also offers a wide range of community education and screening programs to diverse groups throughout the region; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence and its efforts to assist Illinois organizations to strive for performance excellence and thank each of the organizations the foundation has recognized for the devotion to excellence they have demonstrated; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence and to each 2009 Performance Excellence recipient as an expression of our respect and esteem.