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 | Community Connections | Fall 2020

Good Shepherd Health Care System | 

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On January 29, 2020, the 20th Annual 
Night of Excellence Summit Awards 
Celebration was the culmination of this 
year’s Health Care Service Excellence 
Conference (HCSEC) held in New 
Orleans, LA.

In 2019, the Summit Awards committee 
received 214 nominations from 19 
different healthcare organizations 
spanning 11 states. 57 of the nominees 
were chosen as Pinnacle Achievers 
(the best of the best), and 16 of those 
were presented with a Summit Award. 

The Summit Award is the highest 
award of excellence presented 
at the HCSEC. It is awarded to 
qualified, innovative, and progressive 
individuals, teams, and healthcare 
facilities who made outstanding 
progress towards improving 
the patient experience and staff 
engagement. Individuals, teams, and 
organizations must be nominated to 
be eligible for a Summit Award.

Good Shepherd 

Recognized for Excellence 

in Patient Care and 

Employee Engagement

Summit Awards are presented 
by Custom Learning Systems 
(CLS) during the annual HCSEC, a 
conference dedicated to delivering 
evidence-based solutions to help 
healthcare organizations improve the 
overall patient experience. As a result 
of their commitment to enhancing the 
patient experience, Good Shepherd 
Health Care System (GSHCS) 
received 5 Pinnacle Awards, 1 Summit 
Award and 7 Breakthrough Awards. 
Recipients of these awards were 
nominated by their peers at GSHCS. 

The 2019 Breakthrough Awards 
were open to all Service Excellence 
Initiative™ participants and alumni 
and highlights improvements and 
achievements of Patient Satisfaction 
and Patient Experience Scores within 
an organization. 

GSHCS was also recognized as having 
the top Service Excellence Council 
for 2019 of all hospitals part of the 
Service Excellence program. 

Oregon’s Top Workplace  

Three Years Running

 

The Oregonian Names Good 
Shepherd a Winner of the Oregon/
Southwest Washington 2019 Top 
Workplaces Award.

Good Shepherd Health Care System 
(GSHCS) was awarded a 2019 Top 
Workplaces honor by The Oregonian/
OregonLive for the third year in 
a row. The list is based solely on 
employee feedback gathered through 
a third-party survey administered by 
research partner Energage, LLC. The 
anonymous survey measures several 
aspects  
of workplace culture, including 
alignment (where the company is 
headed), connection (employees  
feel appreciated), and the basics  
(pay, benefits, flexibility, training), 
just to name a few.

Being named a Top Workplace is a 
huge recognition – only 99 companies 
made last year’s list, and GSHCS 
was one of 15 large companies 
(organizations with more than 500 
employees) to receive this honor. 
“Becoming a Top Workplace isn’t 
something organizations can buy,” 
Claffey added, “It’s an achievement 
organizations have worked for and 

2019 Pinnacle Award Recipients:

2019 BREAKTHROUGH  

AWARDS HIGHLIGHT:

Good Shepherd Women’s Center

Medical Clinic of Choice

Jerene, RN

Service Excellence Ambassador

Ashly, RN

Exceptional Nurse

Monica, RN & Jennifer, RN  

Emergency Department

DO IT Improvement of the Year

2019 Summit Award Recipient:

Good Shepherd Health Care System

Service Excellence Council

a distinction that gives them a 
competitive advantage.”

This is the fourth time GSHCS has 
earned the Top Workplace honor 
since the program’s inception eight 
years ago. In response to the news, 
President & CEO Dennis Burke said, 
“It is an honor to be selected as a Top 
Workplace in Oregon. I believe it is a 
testament to our employees’ level of 
satisfaction and engagement with the 
organization and our community.” 

The strength of the GSHCS 
workplace culture is partially thanks 
to involvement in the surrounding 
communities. “We look for people 
who are passionate about taking 
care of others and about serving,” 
shared Burke, while crediting the 
organization’s mission and vision for 
setting a positive workplace tone. 

Additionally, a goal of GSHCS is 
to support the next generation of 

professionals aligned with that culture. 
Serving a geographically large area, 
GSHCS works tirelessly to bring 
healthcare career training to a more 
rural community. Burke highlighted 
the Good Shepherd Community 
Health Foundation, as well as several 
grant programs, for providing access 
to necessary training throughout  
the region. 

In the workplace, GSHCS strives to 
make employees’ day-to-day work life 
enjoyable through modern amenities, 
open spaces, an on-site daycare, 
and even a four-star-rated cafeteria. 
Mr. Burke brings the Top Workplace 
recognition back to the heart of 
GSHCS stating, “To have a great 
place to live and work, you need to 
have a good health care system, and 
Good Shepherd is that. Our mission 
statement talks about compassion 
and quality, and those are two things 
we focus on first and foremost here.”

“Top Workplaces is more  

than just recognition,” 

said Doug Claffey, CEO of 

Energage. “Our research shows 

organizations that earn the 
award attract better talent, 

experience lower turnover, and 

are better equipped to deliver 

bottom-line results. Their 

leaders prioritize and carefully 

craft a healthy workplace 

culture that supports  

employee engagement.” 

Hospital Consumer Assessment  

of Healthcare Providers 

and Systems (HCAHPS) 

Responsiveness of Hospital Staff

78.2

%

IN Q2 2019

GSHCS employees accepting the 2019 Top Workplace award in Portland, Oregon.