Mount Nittany Health administered its first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccinations to Mount Nittany Medical Center direct care staff last Friday, December 18.

The health system received approximately 1,000 vaccines that were administered to hospital employees over the course of several days.

Mount Nittany Health's Chief Medical Officer Nirmal Joshi, MD, FACP, lead the effort and said that while receiving the vaccination is voluntary for Mount Nittany Health providers ...

After the tragic death of Osaze Osagie last year during a law enforcement response to a mental health 302 warrant, the Task Force on Mental Health Crisis was formed. Tiffany Cabibbo, DSc, MSN, RN, CENP, executive vice president, patient care services and chief nursing officer, Mount Nittany Health and Brian Newcomb, MD, department chair, Mount Nittany Medical Center Emergency Department were appointed to the Task Force to help lead the efforts to evaluate Centre County's mental health system ...

The Truist Foundation recently awarded the Children's Advocacy Center of Centre County with a $20,000 grant. “We’re pleased to support the Mount Nittany Health Foundation,” said Alex Brame, Central Pennsylvania regional president at Truist, speaking on behalf of the Truist Foundation. “We’re committed to ensuring children in our communities grow up healthy and in safe environments. With our support, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Centre County can continue their incredible work to comfort ...

In this particularly challenging year, let’s take time this holiday season to reflect on all the things we have to be grateful for – our families, friends and colleagues, the compassion and devotion we see all around us every day.

Mount Nittany Health is a very special place, with a team whose service to our community should make us all very proud. Our team has stayed strong this year, working tirelessly and with great skill. We know our community counts on us at times like these...

COVID-19 is surging across the country and the increased numbers we are seeing in our own community are certainly a cause for concern. Even with the prospects for a vaccine looking good, the virus will be part of our lives for at least several months and perhaps longer.

Like many hospitals across the country, we are experiencing record high numbers of COVID hospitalizations at Mount Nittany Medical Center. It is very important that we continue to take steps as a community to dim...

Mount Nittany Health Foundation is pleased to award $62,000 to Carrie Hanley, PhD, MPH, CIC, manager, infection prevention & control, Mount Nittany Health, to support the SARS-CoV-2 Centre County Clinical Cohort serological risk Assessment Trial (4CAST). The purpose of this study, conducted in partnership with The Pennsylvania State University, is to determine immune responses and risk factors associated with infection in healthcare workers exposed to the COVID-19 virus.

Worldwid...

The Mount Nittany Health team has shown the epitome of courage, compassion, and commitment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those qualities are only rivaled by their skills and excellence in their work to care for our community. In this season of gratitude, you can share your support for our doctors, nurses, and hospital staff during this unprecedented time via our virtual gratitude website, CourageousAtHeart.org. The virtual gratitude board allows community members to post their notes, ...

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 1 in 12 children, ages 3 to 17, in the United States has had a disorder related to speech, voice, language or swallowing. Speech and language disorders are communication impairments that can adversely affect one’s ability to speak, understand, read and write. Such disorders include stuttering, difficulty forming words or sounds and difficulty understanding or using words in context. The challenges that come with speech and language disorde...

The 26,000 square foot pavilion, funded in part by $5 million in philanthropic support, first opened its doors to patients on September 4, 2019. Constructed directly above the Medical Center's emergency department, the pavilion is equipped with precise, industry-leading technologies within a space designed for physical and emotional healing. With the patient experience in mind, the pavilion features updated cardiac Cardiovascular Pavilion catheterization lab and electrophysiology lab spaces, ...

Mount Nittany Health is committed to making people healthier by offering a breadth and depth of services to our community, including Mount Nittany Physician Group Gastroenterology. Mount Nittany Health is pleased to have Qasim Salimi, MD, Mount Nittany Physician Group Gastroenterology, as one of our providers dedicated to providing outstanding care to our patients.

Dr. Salimi earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, with a minor in sociology, from Bosto...

Mount Nittany Health Foundation was recently awarded a $5,000 grant on behalf of the health system’s Children's Advocacy Center of Centre County. The grant was presented by Centre Foundation from its COVID-19 Action Fund.

“The Centre Foundation is committed to supporting organizations like the Children's Advocacy Center of Centre County that are dedicated to advancing the welfare of children. This is even more important during the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud to award the C...

Like many born and raised in Centre County, Sarah Wakefield chose to attend Penn State. She planned to study communication sciences and disorders to become a speech and language pathologist, but it was during her studies that she took a course in audiology and found her calling. "Audiology allows me to be steeped in science and technology while also working directly with patients," shares Wakefield.

The intersection of technology and care is one of the reasons Dr. Wakefield loves...

Our two cardiac catheterization labs offer interventional and minimally invasive cardiovascular procedures in expansive and modern cath labs that combine state-of-the-art technology with leading-edge cardiovascular care. Cardiac catheterization is the general name for the group of procedures that can be used in an emergency to intervene during a heart attack or to identify and correct structural problems to prevent such events. Watch Christopher Jones, MD, Mount Nittany Physician Group
...

Inspired to find new ways to care for our community, Mount Nittany Health Fit for Play is now offering virtual exercise classes to local assisted living facilities in the area to support the health and wellness of our community.

Zoe Carr, personal trainer, Mount Nittany Heath Fit for Play, is leading this initiative, working alongside directors of the local assisted living facilities to coordinate resources and prepare for the virtual exercise classes. For the assisted living fac...

When Betty Knouse couldn’t shake what she and her doctor first believed to be a nagging sinus infection, she never imagined that she would eventually test positive for COVID-19. Now, more than 30 days after being hospitalized with the virus, the 89-year-old Port Matilda woman packed her bags and headed home. Knouse was discharged this week from Mount Nittany Medical Center.

“I knew I could fight this and win,” says Knouse. “You just have to have faith. God will heal you.”
...

At Mount Nittany Health, getting the care you need, when you need it, matters. We know from our Community Health Needs Assessment that priorities for our rural communities include better access to chronic disease prevention and management services, including screenings and education for heart disease. One of the ways we are addressing this need is through echocardiogram, or echo, expansion to our outreach locations, led by outpatient echocardiogram director and cardiologist Alex Szymanski, MD...

Robot-assisted surgery allows doctors to perform complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than traditional techniques. Watch J. Frederick Doucette, MD, FACOG, Mount Nittany Physician Group OB/GYN, and Christopher Yingling, MD, Mount Nittany Physician Group Urology, discuss the da Vinci® Surgical System and the benefits to the patients.

The hospital setting can be a place of uncertainty, fear, and sometimes sadness. While we rejoice in the birth of a newborn baby, and celebrate the success of a loved one’s surgery, at times, we must make life-altering decisions and even say goodbye to those dearest to us. These moments filled with emotions of joy, sorrow, stress, and relief, create a need for spaces that offer relaxation and reflection. Mount Nittany Medical Center’s chapel and the H. Karl and F. Joan Spackman Barnett Healin...

Mount Nittany Health remains firmly committed to the health and wellbeing of our patients, our staff, and the community, while simultaneously preparing and responding to COVID-19. The community has generously supported Mount Nittany Health through these extraordinary days with an outpouring of donations to the COVID-19 Response Fund, as well as, gifts of food and personal protective equipment.

Most recently, the health system was the beneficiary of a gift of 6,000 face masks dona...

Join Christopher Kocher, MD, Mount Nittany Physician Group Cardiology, for a virtual tour of the electrophysiology lab, located in the cardiovascular pavilion at Mount Nittany Medical Center.