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     Irvine, Calif.(Aug. 21, 2008) -- Fifteen skilled nursing centers operated by SunBridge Healthcare Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sun Healthcare Group, have earned the prestigious American Health Care Association and the National Center For Assisted Living’s (AHCA/NCAL) Quality Award for demonstrating a strong commitment to continuous quality improvement.
     The SunBridge care centers are among 312 long-term care centers across the nation to earn this type of award. The nursing centers include: Harborside Healthcare-Arden  House (Conn.), St. Joseph’s Manor (Conn.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation of Marion (Ohio), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation - Wood Mill (Mass.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for Hadley (Mass.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for Rochester (N.H.), Harborside Healthcare-Northwood Rehabilitation and Nursing (N.H.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for Cartersville (Ga.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for Griffin (Ga.), SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation for Ardmore (Tenn.), Marshall C. Voss Health and Rehabilitation Center (Tenn.), Harborside Healthcare-Kensington Manor (Ky.), Harborside Healthcare - Edmonson (Ky.), Sable Care Center (Colo.),  and Harborside Healthcare -New Lebanon Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Ohio).The staff at each of these centers will be honored for their achievement and presented with an award during AHCA/NCAL’s 59th Annual Convention and Exposition, October 5-8, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee.
     According to AHCA/NCAL, Step I recipients receive this recognition for their commitment to a customer-focused mission by defining their principal customers and their expectations and indicating ways of continually striving to meet those needs. "I am extremely proud of our nursing centers earning this award," said Bill Mathies, president SunBridge Healthcare Corporation. "Their commitment is demonstrated daily through their interactions with residents, families and fellow employees, and clearly, quality of care is a way of life at their centers."
     AHCA/NCAL President and CEO Bruce Yarwood agreed. "SunBridge’s Step I award recipients show that their dedicated frontline caregivers, administrators, nurses and physicians are demonstrating their commitment to quality of care and meeting the needs of our nation’s most vulnerable population," he said.
     The AHCA/NCAL Quality Awards are considered to be a valuable framework and tool within the long-term care profession in developing a systems-based perspective to achieve performance excellence. AHCA/NCAL’s Quality Award is modeled after the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s premier award recognizing distinguished achievements.