April was a good month for Ponca City Medical Center. The hospital's parent company Community Health Systems recognized the facility for outstanding performance in a number of areas.

Dennis Barts, CEO, accepted two major awards on behalf of the hospital during the national CEO meeting in Nashville earlier in April.

Ponca City Medical Center received the Outstanding Acquisition Award for 2006 - 2007 and the Community Cares Award for Division 4, which consists of 24 hospitals in the western half of the United States.

"I knew that Ponca City Medical Center had the potential to win the Outstanding Acquisition award," Barts said. "There is no doubt that all of our employees and physicians worked really hard to make this hospital a place the community is pleased with and a place where we are proud to work. The Outstanding Acquisition Award is recognition of hard work and dedication."

Barts said this was teamwork all the way.

"We won this award for things like admissions and surgeries growth, reduction in employee turnover, improvement in quality and financial performance, but, in the end the hospital earned the award because our employees are committed to doing what is necessary to continue to make Ponca City Medical Center a great hospital. It is not easy, and there is a lot of work to do, but we are well on our way."

Community Cares is an initiative that takes a guest relations approach to customer service. The program instills a culture-building philosophy based on specific and proven principles of customer service designed to enhance the service delivery experience for customers, patients, physicians and employees.

"Efforts as a Community Cares Champion has made our hospital a better place to work, a better place for physicians to practice and a better place for patients to get well," Barts said. "The hospital's efforts to improve customer services are paying off with not only this award, but with improved patient satisfaction."