Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital, situated in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, has been lauded by the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) for their notable contributions to health care quality and patient safety. The accolade is part of the 2026 WHA Quality and Patient Safety Awards, a prestigious recognition program applauding hospitals that display notable, measurable enhancements in patient care, safety, and health outcomes in the state of Wisconsin. As the recipient of the award, the hospital has been renowned for embodying excellence and commitment to innovative healthcare delivery.
Amber Garner, the Infection Prevention Coordinator at Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital, said, ‘Our team’s proactive method to screening and early intervention mirrors the depth of our commitment to safeguarding our patients. It’s this commitment to safety and superior quality that has made this work both fruitful and enduring.’ Garner’s team received this year’s award in the General Medical Surgical Hospital division, for medium-sized facilities incorporating 26-99 beds, due to a project named “Early Identification of C. difficile: Improving Safety Through Screening.” The project aimed at amplifying initial detection processes for Clostridioides difficile, a bacterium known to instigate severe gastrointestinal infections.
The hospital’s significant reduction of transmission risks—made possible by enhanced screening protocols and decisive boosting of staff awareness—has also elicited improved patient safety outcomes. ‘Our team’s dedication, collaboration, and unwavering focus on the welfare of our patients have ensured that our project is reflective of our commitment to circumvent avoidable harm and secure the highest degree of care’, expressed Volodymyr Manko, the Regional Medical Director for the Southeast Region.
WHA Quality and Patient Safety awardees are chosen by a panel of health care quality pundits assessing innovation, measurable impact, and consistent performance of each organization in their respective categories. The result of this collective dedication has been an escalated number of inpatients being screened for Clostridioides difficile. This has, in turn, quickened the identification of illness, thereby diminishing possibilities of transmission of the infection to additional patients and staff.
For an in-depth insight into Aspirus Health’s Patient Safety and Quality, aspirus.org/quality serves as a resource. Aspirus Health, a community-directed, nonprofit health system rooted in Wausau, Wisconsin extends its services across northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The health system operates 18 hospitals and about 130 outpatient locations, employing nearly 14,000 team members, which includes approximately 1,300 physicians and advanced practice clinicians.
Source: https://www.aspirus.org/press-room/aspirus-stevens-point-hospital-receives-2026-wha-q-5018