Grace Living Centers across Oklahoma announced Aug. 10 that 10 of its state locations have earned top national honors in long-term care. All 10 have been selected to receive National Quality Award-Step 1 honors, which recognize their strong ongoing commitment to quality improvement in long-term care.

The AHCA/NCAL's Quality Award program is a criteria-based program that modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's award recognizing distinguished achievements. It is designed to support continuous quality improvement efforts in long-term care by promoting quality awareness and education and by recognizing quality achievements.

The "STEP" awards are presented annually by the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living.

OKC-area Grace Living Center locations honored include:

"These awards are a testimony to the outstanding commitment that the administrators and staff at these homes display each and every day as they strive to provide the highest quality of care," Don Greiner, president of Grace Living Centers, said. "Earning professional recognition on a national level for these efforts is very exciting for us, and I congratulate all of our award-winning homes on this well-deserved honor."

Each of the 10 Grace homes received the STEP I level award. These awards are given in recognition of the home's organization-wide commitment to a customer-focused facility mission, to defining the expectations of their customers, and to continually striving to meet their needs. Administrators from the homes will be on hand to accept the awards during the AHCA/NCAL's 60th annual convention Oct. 7th in Chicago.

"The number of awards won by Grace Living Centers clearly shows that their dedicated frontline caregivers, administrators, nurses and physicians are fully committed to quality of care and meeting the needs for our nation's most vulnerable population," added Bernie Dana, Chair, AHCA/NCAL National Quality Award Board of Overseers.