Theresa Pettaway, PCD DONA
Theresa Pettaway is the Founder and Executive Director of Pettaway Pursuit Foundation, Inc. (PPF). Established in July of 2001, PPF is a non-profit organization operating under section 501(c)(3) serving members in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Having recognized early on the crisis maternal health was in, she pioneered and developed a collaboration between Doulas and managed care agencies via the Doula By My Side Program (DBMS). DBMS allows at-risk and high-risk mothers in need to have direct perinatal and labor support at the expense of their healthcare provider. Beyond being the leader of her organization, she serves on the following committees: Delaware County Baby's 1st Project Breastfeeding Work Group, Community Action Network and National Association of Professional Women. Previously, Theresa has also been involved with the Maternity Care Coalition’s Breastfeeding Advisory Board and the Worcester Baby Collaborative.
Since PPF’s inception, Theresa has built an alliance with healthcare providers and schools. Her goal is expanding her outreach to as many families as possible by providing in-home support and hosting free workshops and seminars for the community.
Theresa has 40 years of life experience as a nurturing mother of 3 premature children, all of whom fully recovered during their NICU experience. Theresa also offers 22 years of professional patient support for families and Social Workers, of which she began by offering birth support and mentoring moms in the NICU at Hahnemann, St. Christopher, Hospital of University of Pennsylvania and Bryn Mawr Hospital.
Having facilitated over 22 years of educational support towards high-risk pregnancies in conjunction with her 18 years of experience as a Certified Postpartum Doula, sustaining public forums, community relations, as well as sponsor and vendor correspondence is her expertise.
She has acquired support factors and gained not only substantial knowledge but has provided irrefutable awareness on exactly what is needed in our ever-changing society, notably towards maternal health. Appropriately, Theresa has been serving the members of and facilitating Doula collaboration agreements with Keystone First, Health Partners and Tufts Health Plan Insurance Companies for the Managed Care sector for 18 years.
Most recently in 2018, Theresa has completely revamped a Victorian-style home in the Lansdowne business district to be the new PPF headquarters. Upon completion of its renovations, the home-converted office boasts 3 stories in which the organization operates daily and hosts free community education classes. Temporary housing for new and expectant mothers is another resource of which Theresa hopes to utilize the space.
Theresa is known as “The Mom to Many.” She continues to open her doors to help others in both her work and personal life. In addition to the wealth of knowledge she has sustained and offered freely to her community for 2 decades, the heartfelt love she gives is priceless.
While her boundless love and support for the maternal health community is shown through her past and present actions, humbly she would say in her own words… “I’m just Theresa.”