DuBOIS — For the second consecutive year, Penn Highlands Healthcare has received Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PA PQC) Designation Awards.

The Maternal and Child Center along with Penn Highlands Life’s Journey OB/GYN and Penn Highlands Pediatrics in DuBois and Clearfield earned the Gold Designation for modeling Safe Sleep Practices for newborns prior to discharge.

The award in part recognized Patient Voice, where parents were surveyed about Safe Sleep education before delivery, modeling while in the hospital and how they practice Safe Sleep for their baby at home. The staff educates parents and models safe sleep for newborns, which is alone, on their back, in a crib with everything else stored nearby — nothing in the crib but the baby.

The team received the Silver Designation for Patient Voice in the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Infants born exposed to substances are assessed using Eat, Sleep and Console in the Nursery or the NICU for signs and symptoms of Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome or signs of withdrawal from other non-opioid substances. The staff explains to parents that they are the best medicine for their baby. With everyday parental contact, and a little more holding and rocking, most substance-exposed babies are able to eat an adequate amount, sleep uninterrupted for one hour and they are able to console within 10 minutes. By talking with the families throughout their pregnancy, at the beginning of their stay and the end of their hospital stay, staff are able to hear their experiences.

“We want to take every opportunity we can to meet the needs of our families while providing support and resources,” said Sharon Shattenberg, Maternal Child Service Line director at Penn Highlands Healthcare.

“These awards are very significant and meaningful because they recognize that our hospital has established multidisciplinary teams that have demonstrated improvements in maternal and newborn care by sharing best practices and data throughout our hospital and in the community,” added Suzanne McCullough, director of the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Penn Highlands DuBois.

Designation awards and levels are based on meeting quality improvement milestone criteria over a 12-month period, starting from April 2024 through March 2025.

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.

The PA PQC is administered by the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and WHAMglobal, and it is affiliated with the Northeast PQC (NEPaPQC).