Uniontown Hospital receives funding to reopen obstetrical unit
Archive photo
The stork will return to WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital early next year when the facility’s obstetrical unit reopens.
A $750,000 Area Development Grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission will provide for the purchase of medical equipment needed to bring the unit back, according to a Tuesday press release from WVU Medicine.
The birthing center, where around 800 babies were born each year, closed in 2019.
Uniontown Hospital CEO and Executive Vice President Carrie Willetts said the announcement is exciting for both the hospital and the community it serves.
“The intent has always been to resume labor and delivery services at (the hospital), and the ARC grant will help us make that a reality,” Willetts said.
The return of the unit will also result in the creation of over 40 jobs at the hospital. Those positions include clinical, nursing and ancillary staff positions.
Willetts said a number of community leaders and county and state elected officials wrote letters of support to accompany the ARC grant application.
“We’re fully supportive of WVU Medicine’s efforts to reopen the labor and delivery facility,” said Commissioner Scott Dunn. “We know this provides a needed service in our community and puts prenatal and natal care back into local hands.”
Commissioner Vince Vicites noted that not having a local birthing center has been a difficulty for mothers who were forced to travel out of the county to have their babies.
“When I heard about it, I said, ‘Yes, we needed this desperately here’,” said Commissioner Dave Lohr.
In her letter of support to ARC, state Rep. Charity Grimm-Krupa, R-Smithfield, said it’s at least a 20-minute drive to deliver a baby.
“At such a vulnerable time, the obstacle of additional travel time threatens the life and health of both mother and infant,” Krupa wrote.
The reopening of the birthing center is expected to happen in January 2025, and it will again be the only labor and delivery facility in the county.
The center has remained relatively untouched since those services ended in June 2019 as part of the unwinding with the hospital’s relationship with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
“We are thrilled about this opportunity to restore obstetric services to expectant mothers in Uniontown and the surrounding communities,” Dr. Brian Casey, chair of the WVU Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, said. “We at WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital remain fully committed to these families and of Uniontown Hospital’s Labor and Delivery Unit, when it reopens.”