Pennsylvania Hospital Recognized for Charitable Care of Underserved Women and Children

PHILADELPHIA — Latina Community Health Services at Pennsylvania Hospital 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, Pennsylvania Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania of Penn Medicine now deliver nearly half of all the babies born in Philadelphia each year.

Latina Community Health Services at Pennsylvania hospital 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. The company also provides technology solutions for hospital efficiency.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 16 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $398 million awarded in the 2012 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2012, Penn Medicine provided $827 million to benefit our community.