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Paula Sagan-Hahn has been selected as the recipient of the 2007 Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Athena Award, sponsored by Berger Family Dealerships, Pontiac Division.

The Award, presented each year to a Hazleton Area businesswoman gfor outstanding professional achievement,h will be presented at the 115th Annual Meeting of the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce. The dinner meeting will take place on Thursday, May 10 at the Genetti Best Western Inn & Suite Hall of Presidents. 

Mrs. Sagan-Hahn is the executive director of Fritzingertown Senior Living Community and Founder/Director of ElderWish. She is a graduate of Hazleton High School and the Ashland State General Hospital Nursing Program. She has been a practicing Registered Nurse for 26 years, and worked for the Visiting Nurses Association and Hazleton General Hospital. When Ms Sagan-Hahn began her career at Fritzingertown in 1987, the personal care industry was unknown to the area.  The facility grew from its first 14 residents to the largest personal care home in Northeastern Pennsylvania, with 120 employees.  As executive director, Mrs. Sagan-Hahn oversees a staff which is ninety-five percent female, and has been helped many who began as nursefs aides or personal care aids to pursue more challenging health care careers.  

Mrs. Sagan-Hahn has long served as an advocate for the elderly, and after learning of many of their simple desires and dreams for their future, she founded ElderWish; a wish-granting foundation whose mission statement is to gimprove the quality of lives of the senior citizens of Greater Hazleton.h She also serves as a spokesperson for the Alzheimerfs Association and has participated in and chaired local fundraising events for that organization, as well as the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Muscular Dystrophy Association and March of Dimes.  Other organization for which Mrs. Sagan-Hahn has given her time include the YMCA (Board of Directors), Elder Issues Coalition for Luzerne/Wyoming Counties, Gr. Hazleton Health Alliance Gunderson Unit Advisory Council, and the Area Agency on Aging Committee to Prevent Elder Abuse.   In addition to being an R.N., she is a licensed personal care home administration, and a certified geriatric care manager. Mrs. Sagan-Hahn was a member of the 1995 class of Leadership Hazleton.

Ms. Sagan-Hahn joins a long list of distinguished women who have won the Athena Award in its twenty year history. Past winners include: 1986, Lillian Paternoster; 1987, Lorraine Shema; 1988, Donna Jean Yannuzzi; 1989, Mary Bollman; 1990, Patricia Werner-Savage; 1991, Theresa Raffety; 1992, Martha Herron; 1994, Jo-Ann Yannuzzi; 1996, 1997, Molly Blasko; 1998, Bettie Sitoski; 1999, 2000, Cathy Gallagher; 2001, Mary Jane Saras; 2002, Atty. Sharon Evans; 2003, Dr. Geraldine Shepperson; 2004, Mary Malone; 2005, Atty. Elizabeth Maguschak; and 2006, Jennifer Sloot. There were no winners in 1993 and 1995.

The handsome bronze and crystal sculpture will be presented on May 10th at the Chamberfs Annual Dinner.  In addition to the sculpture, Ms. Sagan-Hahn will have the use of a 2006 General Motors vehicle for a one-month period, courtesy of  Berger Family Dealerships.

For additional information on attending the Chamberfs Annual Dinner, contact the Chamber office at 455-1509.

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