News
June 12, 2018 - St. Luke’s University Health Network broke ground on a major expansion of its Anderson Campus hospital during a special ceremony and reception on Tuesday.
The new Women and Babies Pavilion, built with American steel, will double the size of the existing hospital on the 500-acre Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township.
During construction, the project will employ hundreds of construction workers and craftsmen through dozens of contractors, injecting a powerful economic stimulus into the local economy. Upon its completion, the new facility will sustain hundreds of permanent, family-supporting jobs.
“The new Women and Babies Pavilion will extend St. Luke’s high quality, lower cost health care to more people, particularly those in Northampton and Monroe counties and Warren County, N.J.,” Anderson Campus President Ed Nawrocki said. “The project represents a major investment in the health and wellbeing of our community.”
As part of St. Luke’s Anderson Campus, the Women and Babies Pavilion will be easily accessible – located near three major highways (Route 33, Interstate 78 and Route 22) and surrounded by ample parking.
“From start to finish, this facility was designed with the patient’s entire experience in mind,” said Israel Zighelboim, MD, Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. Luke’s University Health Network. It is an extension of the personalized care that our patients have come to expect from our team of OB/GYNs at St. Luke’s, added Zighelboim.
Patient rooms will offer spectacular views and farm-fresh produce from the St. Luke's Rodale Institute Organic Farm. Interior environments will be decorated with imagery of nearby landscapes. Special lighting and sound features will add to the healing atmosphere.
The pavilion will also be home to an expanded graduate medical education program, almost doubling the number of residents and fellows trained within St Luke’s to over 400 – the largest program in the Lehigh Valley.
St Luke’s plans to add 160 residents over a five-year period. Among the residencies planned are neurology, psychiatry, dermatology, ENT, emergency medicine, internal medicine and family medicine.
“This project underscores St. Luke’s commitment to training the next generation of health care providers,” said J.P. Orlando, Ed.D, St. Luke’s Associate Chief Academic Officer. “We have a rich history of medical education – with more than 28 active residency and fellowship programs. We look forward to expanding our offerings to the Anderson Campus, which will allow us to train even more future physicians, particularly in high-demand specialties.”
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is a major teaching hospital – the only one in the Greater Lehigh Valley to be designated as a 100 Top Hospital by IBM Watson Health. In partnership with the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus, which trains over 120 medical school students annually. St. Luke’s is also home to the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884.
“Collectively, St. Luke’s various education programs serve as a critical source of medical talent for the Lehigh Valley, helping the region’s hospitals to be staffed despite a nationwide physician shortage,” stated Joel C. Rosenfeld, MD, MEd, FACS, Chief Academic Officer, St. Luke’s University Health Network and Senior Associate Dean, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.
The Anderson Campus expansion is one of numerous, major initiatives underway at St. Luke’s. Already this year, the Network has merged with Blue Mountain Health System and Sacred Heart HealthCare System. In May, St. Luke’s broke ground on a new hospital in Quakertown. This summer, in a joint venture with Geisinger, it will break ground on a new hospital in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County. Amid these major developments, St. Luke’s has been designated an IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven) 100 Top Hospital in the major teaching hospital category for a sixth time and the fourth year in a row.
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Media Contact:
Brenda Hageter, Media Relations, (484)-526-3051, Brenda.hageter@sluhn.org
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $1.9 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) repeatedly – six times total and four years in a row including 2018. It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program. Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.
