Punxsutawney Area Hospital Receives Perinatal Quality Improvement Designation at Awards Ceremony

PAH is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative’s (PA PQC) Designations Awards which were presented at its annual conference in Altoona on May 19-20, 2026.
This designation signifies that the hospital has established multidisciplinary teams dedicated to continuous quality improvement in maternal and newborn care through the sharing of best practices and data within the hospital and community in specific issue areas impacting maternal mortality, including maternal sepsis.
The awards were announced and presented during a ceremony at the Blair County Convention Center. Those earning the silver or gold designation level have undertaken additional projects focused on health equity and/or patient voice within maternal and neonatal health care.
Punxsutawney Area Hospital earned a silver designation to recognize its work in the issue area of standardized and education to all postpartum patients on the topic of sepsis. A silver designation signifies a hospital’s dedicated commitment to incorporating data driven population-specific health goals or patient voice in their work.  
“ Punxsutawney Area Hospital is proud to offer Maternity and Newborn care to our community!  Our “Expecting You” unit, under the management of Dawn Fulton, RN BSN, continuously advances the care to our Moms and Babies through hard work and partnership with the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative.  We are delighted with the unit’s efforts to achieve this Silver Designation Award!”, stated Paula Spack, Vice President of Patient Care Services at PAH.
Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period, starting from April 2025 to March 2026.
In Pennsylvania, perinatal health issues persist, including racial and ethnic disparities in maternal and neonatal outcomes, higher than average maternal sepsis rates, and drug overdose deaths during pregnancy and postpartum. The PA PQC addresses these challenges through various initiatives, including Maternal Opioid Use Disorder, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Maternal Sepsis, and Safe Sleep. Through collaborative efforts, the PA PQC aims to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes across the state.
“We are proud to recognize the hospitals across Pennsylvania that are leading the way in improving maternal and newborn outcomes in childbirth,” said Karen Wolk Feinstein, PhD, President and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF). “Their commitment to quality improvement and patient-centered care is helping to address some of the most pressing challenges in maternal health. These designations reflect meaningful progress toward safer care for all families in the Commonwealth”
The PA PQC is administered by the JHF and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC).