Gifford Medical named among nation’s 100 best

Gifford Medical Center in Randolph has received two national honors.
The Randolph medical center has been honored for excellence in marketing with a 2010 Aster Award and named among the nation s 100 Best Places to Work in Health Care by Becker s ASC Review/Becker s Hospital Review.
Aster Award
The Aster Award came for Gifford s 2009 Annual Report. The report, reflecting on the Randolph hospital s decade of financial growth, was a bronze winner in the category for hospitals with fewer than 75 beds.
The Aster Awards, one of the largest national competitions of its kind, is hosted by Marketing Healthcare Today Magazine and Creative Images, Inc. This elite program recognizes outstanding health care professionals for excellence in their marketing efforts for the calendar year 2009.
The 2010 Aster Awards received approximately 3,000 entries from across the United States as well as Canada and South America, including 45 in Gifford s category. Entries must score at least in the top 85 percent to receive an award. Judging criteria includes creativity, layout and design, functionality, message effectiveness, production quality and overall appeal.
It was an honor to have Gifford Medical Center participate in the 2010 Aster Awards Competition. It placed in the top 16 percent of the nation. The quality of this year s entries went well beyond the judges expectations, said Melinda R. Lucas, Aster Awards program coordinator.
Gifford is a 25-bed critical access hospital. Its annual report was written and designed in-house on a conservative budget.
It s such a privilege to be recognized, said Gifford marketing specialist, Tammy Hooker, who designed the report. Gifford s Annual Reports have historically been of high-quality. Competing in the Aster Awards was something we decided to try for the first time this year. It was exciting to compete against hospitals up to three times our size and certainly thrilling to be among the winners.
All winners are posted on the Aster Awards Web site, www.AsterAwards.com, as well as published in Marketing Healthcare Today, a national health care marketing magazine. Gifford s report is also available online at www.giffordmed.org or by calling (802) 728-2284.
100 best places to work
Gifford has additionally been named among the nation s 100 Best Places to Work in Health Care by Becker s, bimonthly publications reaching the nation s hospital CEOs, medical directors, surgeons and others.
Recognized among such major institutions as Brigham and Women s Hospital and Duke University Hospital, Gifford was honored for its wide range of employee benefits, including its Gifford Gift Certificates. Each year prior to the Christmas holiday, Gifford employees are given Gifford Gift Certificates good at local businesses a program that both supports employees and encourages local spending. In 2009, the program invested approximately $40,000 in the community.
Employees are also awarded holiday turkeys or fruit they can keep or donate to food shelves. The hospital also has a policy that allows employees to donate earned vacation hours to disabled employees so they can continue to receive pay as though they were still full-time rather than waiting for disability pay, Becker s noted.
Unbeknownst to the hospital, a physician s spouse, Gary DeMara, nominated Gifford for the award following his wife s battle with breast cancer. My wife, Dr. Ellamarie Russo-DeMara, ¦ was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Because of this policy, she was able to receive her regular salary for the entire six-month waiting period before her (long-term) disability policy took over, a grateful DeMara told Becker s.
Hospital Chief Executive Officer and President Joseph Woodin thanked DeMara for nominating Gifford and called the surprise recognition an honor.
I m surprised and very touched that someone would take it upon themselves to do this for Gifford, Woodin said.
Part of the culture at Gifford is providing quality care by encouraging and supporting a quality workforce. Creatively rewarding employees, while also supporting the economic vitality of the area, is part of that unique, family culture, Woodin said. I thank Becker s for recognizing Gifford as a quality workplace.
Source: Gifford Medical Center. 5.13.2010