RUMFORD — The nurses at Rumford Hospital joined an elite group of 90 hospitals nationwide to be honored with the Pathway to Excellence Award from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

The community hospital also became the first critical access hospital in New England to receive the award.

Receiving the recognition for its caring, skilled nurses took three years of gathering information for the 800-page application to the Maryland organization.

“We did it because we believe we have a great nursing staff that works together to give the best nursing care,” Jane Aube, a 27-year veteran as director of nursing at Rumford Hospital, said.

“This is quite an accomplishment and says a lot about all the staff at Rumford Hospital. It’s an asset to the community to have that level of nursing,” Robin Gilbert, primary author of the application and manager of the emergency department and cardiac rehabilitation, said.

The certificate from Pathway to Excellence summed up what Aube and Gilbert believe about the 86 nurses who work in the hospital, the skilled care unit and in the outpatient clinics: “(The hospital) is a positive work environment for nurses by valuing nurses’ contributions as patient care partners in health care to the public.”

Aube said the hospital, which became a critical access hospital more than a decade ago, has made many major improvements that benefit patients.

A critical access hospital is required to maintain an emergency room. It must have no more than 25 beds and limit a patient’s stay to an average of three days. Rumford Hospital and Bridgton Hospital are owned by Central Maine Medical Center.

“We have an interdisciplinary relationship and collaborate with therapists, radiology, physicians and others,” she said.

The hospital met the standards set down by the American Nurses Credentialing Center through a myriad of health factors, such as low or no surgical site infections, a decline in the fall rate for patients, new equipment and training, electronic medical records, working with local and state health-related organizations, and requiring annual competencies for nurses in each unit and specialty area.

Once the document was submitted to the ANCC, nurses were surveyed to determine how they felt about working at the hospital.

The overwhelming majority said the atmosphere was very positive, a fact that Aube and Gilbert believe leads to more satisfied staff and excellent care of patients.

Aube, Gilbert and two other nurses will travel to Maryland in May to be honored, and locally, the entire staff at Rumford Hospital will celebrate the achievement at 49 Franklin later this month.

“This is a place where nurses like to work, where they are valued and respected,” Aube said. “A hospital that receives this designation will find it easier to recruit and retain nurses.