Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center Wins Prestigious Beacon Award

Marriottsville, Maryland, December 11, 2008 – The critical care unit at Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, part of Bon Secours Richmond Health System, has received the Beacon Award, recognizing it as one of the nation’s top critical care units. This designation is awarded by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). Only six facilities in the state of Virginia have met the Beacon Award’s high standards. To date, only two percent of critical care units nationwide have received this award.

Over the past year, Memorial’s critical care unit has driven clinical excellence in the areas of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, Central Line Infections, Wound Care, Medication Errors, and Urinary Tract Infections. In all metrics, the unit is substantially better than the AACN standard and has had zero documented ventilator-associated pneumonia cases for the last ten months. In addition, to continue to advance the healing environment for patients and families, the unit implemented open visitation, which helped it achieve an 87% PRC patient satisfaction score for the year.

The Beacon Journey was supported by the entire critical care unit, with 100 percent of the staff signing the “Bold Voices” commitment and joining the AACN. Memorial’s critical care unit is an excellent example of BSHSI’s call to be “World Class.”

Bon Secours Health System, Inc. based in Marriottsville, Maryland, is a $2.6 billion dollar not-for-profit Catholic health system that owns, manages or joint ventures 18 acute care, 5 long term care, 5 assisted living and independent living and other facilities, primarily on the East Coast. Bon Secours Health System consists of more than 20,000 caregivers helping people in communities in eight states. Its vision is to be recognized for its leadership in justice, transforming the communities in which it serves and works into places of health and hope, and being a prophetic voice for systemic U.S. health reform and a more humane world.