The Morning Call

Latest LVHN hospital opening this week

- By Leif Greiss

Lehigh Valley Health Network cut the ribbon at another new hospital Monday.

After less than two years of constructi­on, the 100,587-square-foot Lehigh Valley Hospital-Carbon campus is complete. LVHN anticipate­s the hospital will open this week, once it receives final approval from the state, spokespers­on Jamie Stover said.

The full-service community hospital on Blakeslee Drive in Lehighton has a 16-bed emergency room, helipad and a health center for specialty services, an LVHN news release states. Many of the attending doctors in its ER will be from LVH—Cedar Crest’s Trauma Center.

The hospital also has 20 inpatient rooms equipped with telehealth technology so specialist­s can provide virtual care if needed.

Numerous specialtie­s will be covered at the new hospital, including:

Diagnostic heart and vascular services. Surgical services for orthopedic­s, general surgery, ENT, urology, gastrointe­stinal and spine.

Advanced imaging including MRI, CT, ultrasound and X-ray.

Rehabilita­tion services, including physical therapy, occupation­al therapy and other specialtie­s for adult patients. Multidisci­plinary cancer services. Infusion services.

Tenetic counseling.

LVH-Carbon’s health center will house Lehigh Valley Physician Group, which offers obstetrics and gynecology, ENT, gastrointe­stinal, urology, orthopedic­s, spine, neurology, pulmonolog­y and general surgery.

“We listened to the community,”

Terrence J. Purcell, president of LVHN northwest region, said during the ribbon-cutting event. “Our response is what you see here, today — a beautiful new hospital and health center, and the opportunit­y for even more programs and services to come.”

Mostly rural Carbon County had been trapped in a health care desert for some time but LVH-Carbon is the second hospital to be finished in less than a year in modestly populated Lehighton, which has 5,278 residents in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. St. Luke’s University Health Network opened its Carbon campus hospital in Lehighton in November.

The celebratio­n of LVH-Carbon’s completion comes just a few weeks after LVHN opened LVH-Dickson City in Lackawanna County. LVHN has plans for more

hospitals, including a small hospital in Lower Macungie Township.

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