2019 in Review: 2 health networks plan new hospitals

Two of the major health care providers in the area plan to open new hospitals in Carbon County in 2021, making 2020 a year of preparation for the Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Luke’s University Health Network.

St. Luke’s has planned an $80 million campus to be located on more than 100 acres at the intersection of Fairyland and Harrity roads, while LVHN is headed to Mahoning Township with a $65 million hospital along Route 443, catty-corner to the Walmart Superstore.

LVHN

In August, LVHN announced plans to build a new, $65 million hospital along Route 443 in Mahoning Township.

The 89,000-square-foot facility, to be called Lehigh Valley Hospital−Carbon, will be constructed on 35 acres of open farmland owned by Oscar Beck on the north side of Blakeslee Boulevard, catty-corner to the Walmart Superstore. Initial plans call for an 18-room hospital that includes all private rooms for inpatient care, and a medical office building.

LVHN expects to break ground on the project next spring, and opening is anticipated in the fall of 2021. The hospital is expected to create about 150 new jobs in the network.

“It is centrally located to so many population centers here in the area,” said Terry Purcell, LVHN’s vice president for market development, who will serve as president of the new hospital. “There is a lot of competition in health care in the area, but Carbon County residents always had a strong interest in the Lehigh Valley Health Network. We had 30% of the market share, and that was without a hospital in the community. Now we can bring that care closer to home for those patients. When you’re having a heart attack, they say time is muscle. When you’re having a stroke, they say time is brain. You want to get to the closest facility as fast as you can, and now our patients here will have a much shorter trip.”

The hospital is expected to provide a multitude of services including radiology and advanced imaging, including MRI; inpatient and outpatient surgical services; a full-service emergency department including a helipad; cardiology (Lehigh Valley Heart Institute); breast health services; rehab services; expanded cancer services (Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute) as the only health system in Carbon County affiliated with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center giving patients access to the latest treatments and clinical trials; and complete telemedicine services allowing for consults among clinicians across LVHN.

St. Luke’s

At its peak, construction of the Carbon Campus will employ over 200 construction workers through dozens of contractors.

Once completed, the hospital will provide area residents local access to a range of specialty services in a full-service, three-story, 155,000-square-foot hospital.

The St. Luke’s Carbon Campus will be equipped with 80 beds, 20 emergency department exam rooms, three operating rooms and two OR procedure rooms. Specialty services will include trauma, cardiology, neurology and radiology, among others.

Supervisors last year changed the township’s zoning to allow health care facilities on properties of at least 30 acres.

“St. Luke’s has been committed to care close to home in this county for many years,” John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten Campus in Lehighton said at a groundbreaking for the new hospital. “This is kind of a culmination; this will be the hub.”

Nespoli said that within the past year or two, he has seen about a dozen new doctors come to the county to join the medical community, including orthopedic surgeons, cancer specialists, and heart care.

“The power of St. Luke’s to bring medical talent to our county is truly exceptional, and that will continue,” he said. “By the development of a brand-new hospital, that just assures we’ll have that ability for generations to come.”

Nespoli said there is major modernization happening at the Gnaden Huetten campus.

“When we open this new hospital in Franklin Township, Lehighton will become a regional center of excellence for behavioral health, for acute rehab, for long-term care, post-acute care, outpatient services,” Nespoli said. “So, there’s a really bright future for Lehighton.”

The future of the former Palmerton Hospital is a continuing question, with St. Luke’s officials having discussed independent living senior housing as a potential use.

“We have done a preliminary assessment on senior housing at the Palmerton Hospital, and the need seems to be there,” St. Luke’s spokesman Sam Kennedy said Monday.

“However a final decision has not yet been made. We will continue to assess other possible best uses for the site to serve the community.”

Express Care openings

New hospitals aren’t the only facilities creating buzz in local health care. LVHN and St. Luke’s have both opened new express or urgent care facilities in 2019, with more openings to come in 2020.

LVHN first cut the ribbon on a facility at 363 N. First St. in Lehighton in early September, followed by one in Palmerton at 528 Delaware Ave. at the end of October.

Both facilities are open 365 days a year and feature portable imaging. There are two lead-insulated rooms where staff can conduct an X-ray on a patient on site.

Dr. David Burmeister, chair of LVHN’s department of emergency and hospital medicine, said sickness or injuries don’t always happen at the most convenient times, which is where an ExpressCARE comes in.

“We don’t always know when we’re going to get sick,” Burmeister said. “Now, we have an option to help. This is a natural extension of what we do every single day. This is the completion of a vision of offering ExpressCARE in Carbon County that LVHN has had for many years.”

St. Luke’s converted the former Palmerton Hospital’s emergency room into a Care Now Center. In conjunction with that, it revamped its emergency room at the Gnaden Huetten hospital in Lehighton, going from nine to 13 beds.

St. Luke’s Care Now – Palmerton will be closing its current location at 135 Lafayette Ave. and will move to a new location at St. Luke’s Health Center – Palmerton, 614 Delaware Ave, the former Haja Lanes bowling alley. The new location will open in mid-to-late January.