St. Luke’s breaks ground on new $80 million campus in Franklin

Amid gloomy skies and precipitous weather, droves of guests flocked to Franklin Township as St. Luke’s University Health Network broke ground Thursday afternoon on its new St. Luke’s Carbon Campus.

The event took place under a tent at the site of the future $80 million campus to be located on more than 100 acres at the intersection of Fairyland and Harrity roads.

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 event was a momentous occasion, according to John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten Campus in Lehighton.

“St. Luke’s has been committed to care close to home in this county for many years,” Nespoli said. “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.”

Nespoli said that St. Luke’s now has five buildings on Delaware Avenue in Palmerton, adding that over the next year, they will complete the final two of those.

“St. Luke’s has over two dozen care sites throughout the county,” he said. “Virtually every town in this county has a St. Luke’s presence, and so while this is the hub, there’s just a full effort of services throughout the county providing world-class health care to people.”

Large employer

Nespoli mentioned the economic benefit, adding that there are over 800 people currently working at the numerous St. Luke’s sites in the county.

“And once we expand over the next two years, that number will expand to well in excess of 1,000 workers in the county,” he said.

Nespoli also praised the employees, physicians, the board, and St. Luke’s University Health Network, adding, “This is a team, and we’re all in this together.”

Carbon County Judge Steven R. Serfass, who serves as chairman of the board of Lehighton Hospital, thanked the audience for joining them on such a historic day.

Serfass said the services that will be offered are of the highest quality, most cost-effective way, close to home.

“Only twice before have we (gathered) together to break ground,” Serfass said, noting that groundbreaking occurred at Palmerton Hospital in 1907, and Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital in 1947. “Over 70 years later, we break ground for a new state-of-the-art hospital.”

Rick Anderson, president and CEO of St. Luke’s University Health Network, noted this is the fifth hospital St. Luke’s has built.

“We certainly know how to do this,” Anderson said.

“I know the folks in Carbon County, the citizenry, deserve a nice, new hospital that’s state-of-the-art, and with the quality of physicians, and we’re going to work every day to make sure that that happens.”

Anderson was optimistic the hospital will meet its anticipated time line.

“I think in probably a little over two years, we’ll be standing here dedicating the hospital, because we’ll get it up pretty quickly,” he said.

Anderson said it was the leadership and vision of groups and individuals who were instrumental in making this happen.

“Moving forward, we have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “Probably the easy part of it is out of the way, but I do believe that in the future the best for Carbon County in health care is still to come.”

Anderson thanked everyone for coming, and assured them they will look fondly on this several years from now.

“But we won’t be able to do it unless everybody stays together, works together,” he said.

Built with American steel, 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.

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

Work on the new campus begins as St. Luke’s enters the final stages of construction on two other new hospitals and a new hospital wing. The St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus outside Quakertown, the Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, and the Women and Babies Pavilion at the Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township, are on schedule to open this fall and winter.