On Tuesday, July 8^th, Stoughton Hospital was presented with the 2008 Wisconsin Forward Award - Proficiency Recognition at an awards ceremony held at the Monona Terrace in Madison. Fourteen other state businesses and organizations were also honored with varying levels of award achievement.

Wisconsin Forward Award, Inc. (WFA) was created in 1997 by the Governor's Council on Workforce Investment to advance the competitive position and world-class status of Wisconsin organizations in the international marketplace, and to enhance learning, continuous improvement, and enterprise performance. The award promotes excellence in organizational management, recognizes the achievements and results of Wisconsin organizations implementing performance excellence systems, and publicizes successful performance excellence management strategies.

WFA is a public/private partnership modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program.  The not-for-profit organization receives financial support from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Department of Commerce as well as other organizations across the state.

Terry Brenny, Stoughton Hospital President and CEO calls the award, "proof of an organization-wide commitment to provide high quality care on an ongoing basis. Through a genuine team effort, we’ve achieved employee and physician buy-in to serving our patients and customers as our number one priority.”  He further stated, “As gratifying as this recognition may be, we still have work to do. Providing the best possible health care is a continual pursuit or, put another way, continuous performance improvement. If you are good, you want to be better. Once you are better, you want to be the best. And if you want to remain the best, you can’t stop trying.”