While many health systems across Pennsylvania have been experiencing a decrease in newborn deliveries in recent years, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is trending in the opposite direction as more mothers choose St. Luke’s for their prenatal care and deliveries than ever before.
For the first time in the Network’s history, a total of more than 6,000 babies were born at St. Luke’s three birthing hospitals during a fiscal year, which ends June 30. The figure surpasses Fiscal Year 2024’s total of 5,000 births, which at that time was a new record.
“This major milestone reflects our patients’ trust in, and desire for, the special care and expertise they experience in our labor and delivery suites at St. Luke’s Allentown, Anderson and Upper Bucks campuses,” said Elizabeth Dierking, MD, chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Number 6,000 was tiny baby Levi, arriving at 2:09 a.m. on Wednesday, June 10, at St. Luke’s Allentown Campus. The 5-pound, 15-ounce and 20 ½-inch-long infant is the son Kevin Kelenski and Eliza Oliveri of Orefield.
“I’ve met a lot of great employees over multiple shifts, due to the length of my time in labor,” said Oliveri, a patient of St. Luke’s Complete Women’s Care in Fogelsville.
Most hospitals in Northeast Pennsylvania are seeing a decline or flattening of their birth rates, consistent with the rest of Pennsylvania and the nation (https://www.health.pa.gov/topics/HealthStatistics/VitalStatistics/BirthStatistics/Pages/birth-statistics.aspx).
US birth rates are predicted to decline throughout the remainder of the 21st century, from 10.8 births per 1,000 people in 2023 to 8.5 per 1,000 in 2100, according to usafacts.org.
“This trend is happening throughout Pennsylvania and in most of the country – but not at St. Luke’s,” noted Dr. Dierking.
Why?
St. Luke’s is synonymous with all-around excellence. This past fall, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ranked St. Luke’s #1 – ahead of Houston Methodist and Mayo Clinic, two of the nation’s most prestigious institutions – as the nation’s top health system for quality, safety, and patient experience. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirmed St. Luke’s preeminent position among the leading health systems in the country.
Expectant mothers and couples know they can count on St. Luke’s superior prenatal and postnatal care as well as the delivery of their babies by the small and intimate practices and care teams that provide patients personalized care.
Additionally:
- All St. Luke’s labor and delivery units feature 24/7/365 neonatology services ensuring the highest level of advanced care available for complex pregnancies and births and critically ill babies.
- The Obstetrics & Gynecology Department also includes a robust Maternal Fetal Medicine program with physicians providing care for all obstetrics patients including outpatient care, hospital consults, preconception counseling, genetics counseling and diabetes management.
- The Network’s Baby & Me comprehensive program offers lactation support, behavioral health care, pre- and post-natal classes, support groups and other educational resources to help parents through every stage of pregnancy
- The Labor and Delivery Unit and Obstetric Anesthesia Service at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus has been designated as Pennsylvania’s third (and the Valley’s first) Center of Excellence (COE) by the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology, putting the service in elite company with national organizations that provide the highest level of safe and effective anesthesia care for women and their babies.
In response to popular demand, the Network in 2024 opened a new and expanded Labor and Delivery unit in its Women & Babies Pavilion at its St. Luke’s Allentown Campus, doubling the size of its original unit. St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus began delivering babies in 2021, following the St. Luke’s Anderson Campus, which launched its birthing program during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
To support the growing number of families in the region, St. Luke’s also continues to invest in pediatric care. In 2023, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital opened at the Bethlehem Campus, providing inpatient care, critical care, pediatric emergency care, pediatric surgical care and more.
Families no longer need to leave the region to receive advanced pediatric care for their children. The Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatric departments continue to collaborate to offer the services families need close to home.
