MUNSTER | For its effort to decrease a common ailment many patients deal with, the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services won the first Society for Innovation Chanute Award on Wednesday.

Ivy Tech Community College - Northwest sponsors the society and its Chanute Award. The award is presented to organizations that use the Lean Six Sigma business improvement methodology to make an innovation in their field.

Lean Six Sigma emphasizes better quality faster.

Sisters of St. Francis Health Services used Lean Six Sigma to reduce incidences of ventilator associated pneumonia, or VAP. Jamie El Harit, Sisters of St. Francis Health Services business transformation specialist, said 15 percent of patients nationwide who use a ventilator contract VAP. El Harit says their process has virtually eradicated VAP in its hospital system.

Sisters of St. Francis Health Services operates five hospitals in Northwest Indiana.

The hospital system put together a team of frontline responders who deal with patients and VAP on a regular basis. The Zap VAP team was responsible for the processes used to lower the incidences of VAP in the St. Francis intensive care units.

"In the past, it was thought of as something of a side effect," El Harit said. "It was something that we could not prevent but we looked at it and saw that it was something that could be prevented."

Regional hospital CEO Gene Diamond accepted the award in a ceremony held Wednesday evening at Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster.

"The Lean Sigma Six program is transforming our culture," said Diamond, when receiving the award. "It is spreading across the country and with this award you will see that it will spread across the region and transform Northwest Indiana."

The Sisters of St. Francis Health Services operates St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Hammond and Dyer, St. Anthony Medical Center in Crown Point, St. Anthony Memorial Health Centers in Michigan City and Franciscan Physicians Hospital in Munster.

Sisters of St. Francis Health Services was announced as a recipient of the Chanute Award in October but had to wait six months before receiving it because they are sharing the prize with a co-recipient, the Hammond Robotics Team. The team had been in possession of the award since October.