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[Editor's Note-- Press release below was provided by LVHN]
Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) officially cut the ribbon at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Gilbertsville on Friday, June 7, and the facility, LVHN’s second neighborhood hospital and the first for LVHN in the tri-county region, will begin seeing patients today, June 11, starting at 7 a.m.
“This neighborhood hospital is an example of our continued efforts to find more effective ways to meet our communities’ health care needs,” Michael Rossi, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for LVHN, told ribbon-cutting ceremony attendees.
The centerpiece of LVH–Gilbertsville is its 11-bay, full-service emergency room, which will be open 24/7, every day of the year.
LVH–Gilbertsville also will feature 10 inpatient beds for overnight hospital stays or additional care, observation and testing. In-hospital services include lab and imaging. Imaging services, including X-ray, ultrasound, CT scan and MRI, also will be offered on an outpatient basis.
“LVH–Gilbertsville is part of our continuing effort to bring world-class health care to you, making it more convenient than ever to get the expert help you need, when you and your families need it,” Dr. Rossi says. “Overall, LVHN is growing to meet community needs for care and convenience across the areas we serve.”
David Burmeister, DO, Chief Medical Executive for Acute Care at LVHN, says LVH–Gilbertsville was a “labor of love” for him and so many others connected to the project. Burmeister says neighborhood hospitals are just one way for LVHN to establish a closer connection to the communities it serves.
“This hospital is a testament to the LVHN core values of compassion for our community, integrity in the way we conduct ourselves, collaboration among teams and excellence in the care we will provide at this facility,” Dr. Burmeister says. “We are sure it will be a well-used resource in the community.”
Local officials enthusiastically welcomed the project.
Douglass Township Supervisors Chairman Joshua Stouch says the hospital and adjacent health center represent “a beacon of hope and a symbol of unwavering commitment to the well-being of our community.”
LVH–Gilbertsville, he says, will heal more lives, comfort more families and strengthen the fabric of local communities. “This hospital will be the cornerstone of our commitment to the health and well-being of all of our residents and visitors,” Stouch says.
Montgomery County Commissioner Tom DiBello told attendees the hospital’s smaller size (neighborhood hospitals are sometimes called micro hospitals) was the opposite of its expected big impact. “This neighborhood hospital will help save many lives,” he said. “We always hope our neighbors will never need to use this state-of-the-art facility, but if they ever do, this neighborhood hospital is ready to offer the highest standards of care right at their doorstep. And that’s not micro, that’s huge.”
Holly Badali, President, Neighborhood Hospitals, LVHN, says opening neighborhood hospitals is an opportunity to touch the lives of countless people in their local community.
“It [LVH–Gilbertsville] will provide the care you expect and deserve, just as you do with any other LVHN location,” Badali says. “That’s a standard of compassionate, leading-edge health care unmatched in this region and you’ll see it in everyone who helps and treats you at LVH–Gilbertsville.”
Health Center at Gilbertsville, on the same campus as the hospital, will open later this summer and provide an array of services including HNL Lab Medicine, Lehigh Valley Physician Group (LVPG) Primary Care, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedics, and Cardiology. In addition, the building will house Breast Health Services, Cardiac Rehabilitation, Cardiac and Nuclear Testing, and Adult and Pediatric Rehabilitation.
The LVHN health care complex is located near the intersection of Grosser Road and Route 100 in Douglass Township, Montgomery County.
For more information about the Gilbertsville campus, visit LVHN.org/Gilbertsville.
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