St. Luke’s Earns 2016 HAP Achievement Awards

Entries showcases hospital’s commitment to community and continuous improvement

Bethlehem, PA (9/21/2016) — St. Luke’s University Health Network earned two Achievement Awards from The Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) for its Community Health Initiative. St. Luke’s has won 15 HAP awards since 2010 making it a state leader of notable excellence.

St. Luke’s Miners Hospital’s entry, Vision for the Future – Connecting Students to Vision Shuttle Care through Community Partnerships in a Rural Setting was chosen as a Community Champions Award winner. The entry was submitted by Rosemarie Lister, community health liaison at the Network’s Miners Campus.

“Through St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Adopt-a-School program, St. Luke’s Miners Hospital connected students to vision care that included transportation, eye exams and glasses for the 60 percent of school students who failed their vision screenings. With the help of a local optometrist and St. Luke’s Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, however, the program actually helped 81 percent of the eligible students who can now see properly and are ready to learn," Lister said. 

“Our success will help us continue to collaborate, partner and implement evidence-based programs to improve health outcomes in our local communities,” she said.

A second entry, Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Device (IPCD) Wear-Time: Decreasing VTE Rates in Major Orthopaedic Surgical Cases was chosen as an In Safe Hands Awardwinner. The entry was submitted by Rachel Lukow, a patient care manager in St. Luke’s intensive care unit.

“Patients who have joint replacement surgery are at higher-than-average risk of developing blood clots that can cause pain, stroke or even death. Our nursing staff educated and empowered patients to wear the pumps for at least the recommended minimum of 18 hours a day,” Lukow said.

“As a result, St. Luke’s was able to reduce the number of total joint patients who developed the dangerous clots by 72 percent over a 3-year period.

“The effects of this project have resulted in better care for all patients: At of the end of the study, patients admitted to St. Luke’s developed these clots at a rate 21 percent lower than patients at other hospitals,” she said.

The HAP Achievement Awards program’s focus reflects the goals of the Triple Aim—improving population health and the patient experience, while reducing health care costs.

Entries were evaluated by a 15-judge panel representing the public and private sectors, health care and business organizations, and for-profit and nonprofit entities. The program began in 1978.

About St. Luke’s:

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a non-profit, regional, fully integrated and nationally recognized network providing services at soon-to-be seven, hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites. The network’s service area includes Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, and Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and in Warren County in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 22 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital, the only one in the region. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first Medical School. Repeatedly, including 2016, St. Luke’s has earned Truven’s Top 100 Major Teaching Hospital designation as well as Top 50 Cardiovascular program in addition to other honors for clinical excellence.  St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers in comparison to major teaching hospitals and other health systems.

About HAP:

HAP is a statewide membership services organization that advocates for nearly 240 Pennsylvania acute and specialty care, primary care, subacute care, long-term care, home health, and hospice providers, as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online at www.haponline.org.

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Media Contact:

Mariella B. Miller
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
St. Luke's University Health Network
484-526-4134
Mariella.Miller@sluhn.org

For more information about St. Luke’s services or to find a physician, call St. Luke’s InfoLink toll-free at
1-866-STLUKES (785-8537) Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm or email us anytime at Info.Link@sluhn.org.