A family tradition of healing: Lehighton cardiologist follows father in medicine

Whether it’s baking cookies or building a snowman, we all have holiday traditions passed from generation to generation.

Jeffery Snyder, MD, with LVPG Cardiology–Lehighton, is carrying on a tradition of care started with his parents and it’s something that Dr. Snyder practices every single day.

Growing up Snyder

When you imagine a small-town doctor from the 1960s, you might think of or remember someone who regularly made home visits with a black bag in tow. Maybe it’s a person who operated his practice out of his very own home, caring for the community as though they were family. That image perfectly describes Marvin Snyder, MD. In fact, patients could hear the scurrying footsteps of his seven children playing upstairs while he cared for the people of Lehighton on the first floor of his family home.

“I grew up in that environment — where my father took care of half the town,” Snyder said about his father, Marvin. “My dad was a pillar of the community.”

Not only was Snyder’s father a family physician, his mother was a psychiatric nurse. Snyder looked up to his parents and the way they gave back to the community. He also always enjoyed the sciences, particularly physiology. That interest, combined with the influence of his parents, led Snyder to the medical field.

In his father’s footsteps

Like his father, Snyder attended Thomas Jefferson University. He began his medical career with Lehigh Valley Health Network at 1250 S. Cedar Crest Blvd., Allentown. When Snyder was offered the chance to practice cardiology in Lehighton as well, he quickly accepted the opportunity to care for his hometown. Now in addition to LVPG Cardiology at 1250 Cedar Crest, Snyder also provides exceptional heart care at LVPG–Lehighton at 1001 Mahoning St., Lehighton.

“I want to give back to the community that gave to me,” Snyder said. “To this day I see patients who remember my father. People tell me that he took care of them for 30 years, and that they don’t make anyone like him anymore.”

Snyder agrees — his dad is incomparable. Often people tell Snyder that he reminds them of his father, but Snyder always tells them the same thing, “There is nobody like my dad. I could not possibly do all that he did for people.”

Like father like son

One thing is remarkably similar between father and son — they both treat each member of the community as family.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to take care of patients who are entrusting you with their health and keeping them alive. That’s a big responsibility,” says Snyder. “You actually get to know patients; their medical conditions, their family, their profession. They are more than just patients, they are friends. Really getting to know them is as important as caring for their heart.”

To schedule an appointment or learn more about Jeffery Snyder, MD, with LVPG Cardiology, visit LVHN.org/jcsnyder or call 888-402-LVHN (5846).