“St. Luke’s is the first established hospital in the Lehigh Valley and has been caring for children for the 150 years since its founding in 1872,” St. Luke’s President & CEO Richard A. Anderson said at the time. “This new children’s hospital designation recognizes the incredible depth of pediatric expertise developed across our Network over its long and storied history, including an array of specialty services added in recent years.”
The announcement was the culmination of a coordinated, years-long effort to reorganize pediatric care under the concept of a children’s hospital.
In 2020, St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus added a $5 million, 8-bed Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), which provides advanced care to critically ill children. In 2022, St. Luke’s 17-bed pediatric inpatient unit was renovated and relocated to include 24/7 hospitalist coverage, support from pediatric trained respiratory therapists and specialty trained pediatric nurses, pharmacists and pediatric surgeons.
Also new in 2022:
St. Luke’s Pediatric Specialty Center, conveniently located at 5425 Lanark Road off Route 309 near I-78. The center is the region’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to children, allowing families to coordinate multiple specialty appointments in the same day at one convenient location.
At St. Luke’s the focus is on children. This focus is reflected in the award-winning designs that provide an environment that is both safe and resonates with many children’s interests. These designs feature colorful undersea, land and outer space themes that allow caregivers the opportunity to interact with both the child’s caregiver and the child in a very relaxed and non-sterile environment.