October 30, 2023

McCook on the Move members are excited to be awarded the Communities of Excellence Bronze recognition for strides made to enhance the quality of life for its residents. Baleigh Abbott, Community Hospital’s Outreach Coordinator received the award last week at the COE Fall Conference in Wisconsin.

The hospital’s role as a backbone organization for COE, newly named McCook on the Move, has been to bring together community leaders, residents, and customers to create a collaborative community that focuses on four pillars: Family, Health, Education, and Economic Vitality.

The goal of the national COE program is to assist and support communities as they implement the Community Performance Excellence Framework to enable communities and their residents to achieve better health outcomes, higher education attainment, and economic growth.

Some of the projects McCook on the Move has accomplished or continues to work on are:

Health Pillar

• Wellness McCook Initiative - Pool, sports complex, pickleball courts, McCook YMCA improvements, walking trail expansion
• Understanding our community’s barriers to getting healthy
• Developing opportunities to educate more nurse aides

Education Pillar

• McCook Community College East Campus Project – Future offerings include for-credit and non-credit courses, classes, and trainings in the trades
•  Education opportunities for students - Bison Days and Career Discovery Days

Family Pillar

• Story walk - books on the walking trail for families to read
• Supporting and promoting transportation services
• Community calendar - use McCook Area Chamber of Commerce calendar for all community events as the central location
• Plans underway for an inclusive playground

Economic Vitality

• Rural workforce housing - Innovative House at 1606 West 9th Street
• North Pointe subdivision - 20-30 market rate housing lots
• Communities for Kids child care subsidies program - Maintaining and adding childcare spots 

The McCook on the Move initiative began when Community Hospital joined the COE program in 2018 as the backbone organization for McCook. The program is the “community side” of the Baldrige Performance Excellence program, a journey Community Hospital has been on since 2009. Baldrige was originally developed for businesses in the United States.

This framework, and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, is available to apply and follow for organizations in six different categories: manufacturing, service, small business, healthcare, education and nonprofit. Two former healthcare CEOs that led their organizations to win Baldrige awards, came together in retirement to create COE.

“The framework used by COE, and now McCook, is a strategic plan to understanding the community of McCook now, where we as a community want to see ourselves in the future, and how we can get there,” Abbott said.

To get involved in McCook on the Move, contact Abbott at (308) 344-8550 or Karen Kliment Thompson at (308) 344-8580.