Latina
Community Health Services at PAH was announced as a finalist for the Jackson
Healthcare Hospital Charitable Service Award. The Hospital Charitable Service
Award honors hospital-sponsored programs that set new standards for health and
wellness in the communities in which they operate and serve through education
and providing access and delivery of services. The goal of the program is to
recognize hospitals whose commitment to their communities – local, regional,
national or global – has led to innovative, sustainable and collaborative
efforts to improve community health and increase access to health care
education and services.
“We are proud of the relationship between Pennsylvania Hospital and our outreach program directed to an under-resourced and vulnerable population,” said Jack Ludmir, MD, director of Latinas Community Health Services, professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at PAH. “Our strong relationship has resulted in significant improvement in maternal child health in our surrounding community.”
Latina Community Health Services provides care from PAH faculty, staff and student volunteers to pregnant women and their children across Philadelphia. The need for such services continues to grow. Since 1997, there have been 44 maternity unit closures in Pennsylvania with only six hospitals remaining in Philadelphia delivering babies. With all the maternity programs that have closed throughout the city, PAH and HUP now deliver nearly half of all the babies born in Philadelphia each year.
Latina Community Health Services at PAH is one of ten hospital programs around the country to be selected in late 2012 to share a $100,000 unrestricted award. The award is sponsored by Jackson Healthcare, the third-largest health care staffing company in the US, serving more than four million patients in over 1,300 health care facilities.
