NUMBER 1 FOR SAFETY? I recently heard they are cutting security at the Mercy Health Mall in the late afternoon and evening hours. The security guards used to walk staff out to their cars at night. Cut security? Sounds safe to me! NOT!

If Mercy is so committed to saftey, why do they (and the police) let their employees park in the "No Parking" slots on Terrace. They are marked that way so that you have a clear view of the traffic--not for that extra big parking space!!!!

After reading again I stand corrected. It initailly looked that you meant they would be larger than the #2 employer in Rock County, which is Mercy. Overall yes, but not in Rock County.

Curlrock: Did I say they were going to be no. 1? No, I did not. I just said they were going to be larger. Please learn to read accurately.

sorry second comment meant for beachsexton

I don't consider one of the major health providers in Janesville a "minor player" by any stretch of the imagination. Further, the articles on the new Dean Hospital featured more quotes from Javon Bea than any Dean rep, including Dr. Sammitt. But, if you don't think they are biased, fine. I know where I'm heading when my health is in jeopardy. And it doesn't have anything to do with Malcolm Baldridge or the Wisconsin Safety Council.

JSM. Where I they going to fit those 3000 employees in the new hospital to become #1? Comments on these blogs are taken much more seriously when based on facts.
Northern- The alternative is to have a health system that doesn't win awards. Then you would complain about that as well.

Congratulations, Mercy, on a job well done. It is because of processes, such as using Baldrige criteria, that Mercy has examined its needs and created many programs--like the safety programs mentioned--that benefit its employees. Kudos.

Looking county-wide, Mercy is the #1 employer with 3,688 jobs, according to http://www.rockcounty.org/demo/demograph... . Dean comes in at #18 with 440 jobs. (GM is #2 at 2,800). The new hospital is slated to create 350 new jobs, per the 10 Apr article in the Gazette. So, it will still be a relatively minor player in comparison. I don’t think there was bias in the reporting of the planned hospital; if you look at all the articles over a period of days it seemed pretty balanced. I think we should be cheering at any local economic success stories, whether it’s Dean, Mercy, or otherwise, unless it concerns something that will damage our environment (e.g. large-scale pig/chicken farms) or become a bad neighbor (possibly wind farms, though the jury is still out on that).

Northman, people might seem irritated because of the bias. Mercy might be the no. 2, but Dean is a large employer and will be even larger with the construction of the new hospital. So why aren't more Dean accolades posted? Instead, when construction of the new hospital was announced, the Gazette had headlines like "New Hospital to Cause More Pain?" et al. So, how's that for celebrating good economic news for Janesville?

On topic, I'm glad Mercy employees are safe. Unfortunately can't say the same for all of their patients, particularly if you are heading into their ER with stroke symptoms. Might be better off with WebMD.

After lots of bad economic news for Janesville, here’s a spot of bright light. And people can’t wait to bad-mouth the accomplishment.
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Mercy is the #2 employer in Janesville, after GM. Winning awards like this, and particularly the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, are very good things for our community. Why? Because it makes the hospital more prestigious, which makes it more attractive to top medical talent, which in turn makes it a better hospital, and solidifies its position as an employer in town.
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Sadly, GM is now on the ropes, and may be gone entirely in a year or so. If you would like to see Janesville shrivel up and die, then go ahead and jeer at awards like this.

Here we go again! Will Bea milk this one too? Will he start his own channel on Charter to show all of the award ceremonies? I was thinking Charter Cable could place the brag-o-mercial taping of the entire we-paid-$150,000-to-be-considered-for the Baldridge award presentation on On-Demand. Instead, it will be on the Charter Main Street channel. How exciting! (sarc.) No, no, really, tell us more about this new award, Gazette!