Hospital singles out not one doctor, but diversity for Docs’ Day

March 31, 2011

To help celebrate Doctors’ Day, (from left) Frank Roberts, chairman of the board; Dr. Lynn Norris, president of the PAH medical staff; Dr. Ralph Lewis, secretary/treasurer of the PAH medical staff; and Dan Blough, hospital CEO, showcased a poster on diversity. (Photo by Jennifer Barr/The Punxsutawney Spirit)

PUNXSUTAWNEY — Rather than choosing a single physician for Doctors’ Day this year, Punxsutawney Area Hospital chose to celebrate the diversity of all doctors employed in Punxsy.

Many would expect the doctors employed at Punxsutawney Area Hospital to be from western Pennsylvania.

However, as Dan Blough, hospital CEO, noted, using a map arrayed with push pins, the doctors are from various parts of the world, showing much diversity at the local hospital.

Red push-pins on the map depicted where each doctor was born, while blue pins displayed the medical schools they attended.

The first National Doctors’ Day was celebrated in 1991, and has been held annually March 30 in the United States.

National Doctors’ Day was created to show appreciation to the doctors in every community and is a day to celebrate the contributions of physicians who serve the county by caring for its citizens.

Today, the red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors’ Day.