Innovative campus will be easy to navigate and provide convenient access off Route 33
Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) will build the first phase of a new health campus just off Route 33 along Hecktown Road in Lower Nazareth Township. Plans include a 156,000-square-foot hospital and medical office building designed for patient convenience. The campus will serve people of all ages by providing easy access to advanced surgical, emergency, and orthopedic care, advanced imaging, diagnostic testing and more. The name of the campus will be announced when ground is broken in the spring of 2019. Grand opening is slated for fall 2020.
The construction of the campus is a direct response to demand for LVHN care in Northampton County, where nearly one-third of residents already receive health care services from an LVHN provider. Over the last seven years, the number of visits from Northampton County residents to Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) providers increased 91 percent. In fiscal year 2018, LVPG had more than 430,000 visits from Northampton County residents.
“The people of Northampton County asked for convenient access to LVHN services, and we listened,” said LVHN President and Chief Executive Officer Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP. “By providing the advanced services and technology for which LVHN is known, close to where families live, work and play, we can help more people live their healthiest life.”
The campus’ one-story hospital will look and feel different than a typical high-rise institution. It will be smaller, easy to navigate and feature a healing garden. The goal is to create a calming, comforting environment that will help people feel at ease and heal better. The campus will contain leading-edge equipment needed for today’s innovative treatments and telemedicine technology to make care more convenient. With these features, patients and their families can expect extraordinary care and a top-notch health care experience.
The hospital will include an emergency room (ER) that cares for adults and children, including space designed just for children, private patient rooms with views of the healing garden, state-of-the-art operating suites, Lehigh Valley Special Surgery Institute and Lehigh Valley Heart Institute services, a Musculoskeletal Center and more. The medical office building will provide convenient access to outpatient primary and specialty care, including breast health services, leading-edge diagnostic testing and comprehensive rehabilitation services. The campus will make it easy for area residents to get the health care services they need throughout life and throughout the continuum of care. The design of the campus also includes ample space for future growth.
The campus is the latest addition to a group of health care resources LVHN established in Northampton County to make care more accessible and convenient for area families. Over the last 20 years, LVHN opened health centers in Bangor, Bath, Bethlehem Township, and most recently in Easton and Palmer Township; established six ExpressCARE locations, including the region’s first Children’s ExpressCARE at the Health Center at Palmer Township; and opened numerous practices providing primary, specialty and rehabilitation services for the whole family, including a facility in Madison Farms that provides specialty services for women and children.
The new health campus extends the services LVHN and Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital already provide for children, adults and seniors in the county. “We’re acting now to ensure the health care services families need most are in place today and in the future,” Nester said.
“We have been at the forefront of LVHN’s expansion in Northampton County and eagerly anticipate the new hospital in proximity to our practice,” said Harvey Hakim, MD, practice lead of LVPG Internal Medicine–Nazareth Road. “The new health campus will benefit our patients who are accustomed to the personalized, accessible and high-quality care we provide.”
An LVHN hospital in Northampton County also will enhance care coordination. By providing patients with a single electronic medical record (through Epic) that can be accessed at locations across the health network, LVHN will help provide seamless care for patients between its physician practices and new hospital.
Lehigh Valley Health Network includes eight hospital campuses – three in Allentown including the region’s only facility dedicated to orthopedic surgery, one in Bethlehem, one in East Stroudsburg, one in Hazleton and two in Pottsville, Pa.; 26 health centers caring for communities in seven counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices and 18 ExpressCARE locations throughout the region including the area’s only Children’s ExpressCARE at the Health Center at Palmer Township; pharmacy, imaging, home health services and lab services; extensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services; and preferred provider services through Valley Preferred. Specialty care includes: trauma care at the region’s busiest, most-experienced trauma center treating adults and children, burn care at the regional Burn Center, kidney and pancreas transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, orthopedics, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center. The Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute, the Lehigh Valley Heart Institute and the Lehigh Valley Institute for Special Surgery give clinicians of the highest caliber the necessary infrastructure, programs and partnerships to help community members stay healthy and provide the most advanced treatment when needed. The Lehigh Valley Cancer Institute is a formal member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance, a transformative initiative to improve the quality of care and outcomes for people with cancer in community health care settings, including access to key MSK clinical trials. Robotic surgery is offered in ten specialties across the health network with more than 10,000 procedures performed since 2007. Lehigh Valley Children’s Hospital, the only children’s hospital and Level 4 NICU in the region, provides care in more than 30 specialties and general pediatrics. Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest has been recognized among the top five hospitals in Pennsylvania by U.S. News & World Report for for five consecutive years. Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest, Lehigh Valley Hospital–17th Street and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg are national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing. Additional information is available by visiting LVHN.org, or following us on Facebook and Twitter.
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