The new St. Luke’s Carbon Campus hospital opened on Saturday morning, November 20.
The Lehighton Campus Emergency Room closed simultaneously; however, other Lehighton Campus services such as The Summit Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the Acute Rehab Center and Behavioral Health services will be unaffected and maintain normal operations.
The first patient transfer from Lehighton (and all others) will be supported by Lehighton Ambulance.
The new three-story, 80-patient-room, 160,000 square-feet facility is the largest of its kind in the history of Carbon County and the first new hospital built in the county in 65 years. It is the centerpiece of the network’s new 108-acre technologically advanced, multipurpose, rural medical and wellness complex in Lehighton, Pa. It will redefine healthcare access, convenience and quality for the local population and surrounding areas.
“This complex underscores St. Luke’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of this community,” says John Nespoli, President of St. Luke’s Lehighton and Carbon campuses. “At St. Luke’s, we believe in providing quality services locally that keep people physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and help take care of them close to home when they are ill or injured, to ultimately enhance the health status of our neighbors.”
All patient rooms are private, and each is outfitted with a wall-mounted, 55-inch smart TV to facilitate two-way audio/visual communication between patients and their providers anywhere, as well as patients and their family members worldwide.
Real-time computer system-linked digital whiteboards in patient rooms will display the names of the patient’s caregivers, day of the week, scheduled activities and other useful safety information.
First of its kind Life-Aire air purification systems installed in the air ducts throughout the hospital’s treatment areas will kill all air pathogens, including COVID-19 and anthrax, making it one of the few hospitals in the nation with this novel technology.
A technically astute attendant in the St. Luke’s-created TechConnect help center in the lobby will give free-of-charge assistance to patients, visitors and community members struggling to learn or use personal digital or medical symptom-monitoring devices or apps.
Next up, ground will be broken next spring for a three-story, 50,000-square-foot medical office building connected to the hospital. Cancer, cardiac, orthopedics care, pain management and physical therapy services and physicians’ offices will occupy this facility, along with a full fitness center and more. This facility will be opened in early 2023.
Wellness resources on the new campus will offer safe, tranquil and convenient opportunities for improving one’s health through fitness, health education and nutrition. A fitness-walking trail that encircles the complex will offer staff, patients and visitors the opportunity to exercise in a bucolic setting bordered by picturesque mountains and an organic farm, or to seek solace in a lavender and sunflower meditation and healing garden.
St. Luke’s formally dedicated its Carbon Campus hospital on Oct. 30 with a ribbon-cutting event that took place outside of the building’s main entrance.
“Our neighbors here in Carbon County and surrounding areas are grateful to the entire St. Luke’s team for demonstrating its long-term commitment to the health and well-being of the community,” Peter Kern, past CEO at Palmerton Hospital, said at the ribbon-cutting event.
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