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UPMC Altoona

hospital in Pennsylvania, United States

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 13, 2026
Entity authorityQ14956829 ↗
Source-derived summary

UPMC Altoona, located in downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania, is a 380-bed, non-profit, private community hospital system that contains more than 20 affiliated health care companies and functions as the regional referral center and tertiary hub of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Founded in 1883 as to serve the needs of the area and the Pennsylvania Railroad, the hospital was known for most of its history simply as Altoona Hospital (a name still used by locals in informal discussion). It became part of the Altoona Regional Health System which was created in 2004 by the merger of Altoona Hospital with Bon Secours-Holy Family Hospital, previously Mercy Hospital of Altoona. As part of UPMC since 2013 and a level II trauma center until 2024, it is a level III trauma center and is served by 300 physicians and 4,000 care givers that help it to provide a variety of medical services and specialties.

UPMC Altoona is the tallest building in Altoona.

History

Prior to becoming part of the UPMC system, UPMC Altoona was known as the Altoona Regional Health System, of which Altoona Regional Hospital was the flagship facility and campus. That health system was the product of a 2004 merger between the city's two historic hospitals, Altoona Hospital and Mercy Hospital, the later of which became known as Bon Secours Holy Family Hospital in 1996.

Altoona Hospital

Altoona Hospital was founded as Altoona General Hospital in 1883 due to the needs for a medical facility for the growing population of Blair County and the Pennsylvania Rail Road (PRR), which had its primary repair shops located in the area. Altoona Hospital's earliest permanent home was a $16,645 ($596,446 in 2025 dollars) wooden, two-story, 30-bed hospital that opened on January 1, 1886. The first medical staff, led by Dr.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “UPMC Altoona” as hospital in Pennsylvania, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1883, 2004, 2013, 2024—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1883-01-01. The account is most persuasive where UPMC, Altoona and hospital can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as hospital in Pennsylvania, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14956829. Authority coordinates are 40.522, -78.399. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883, 2004, 2013 and 2024.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “UPMC Altoona”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow UPMC Altoona primary sources, UPMC Altoona archive and UPMC research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “UPMC Altoona” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.