SALISBURY TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Focusing on items such as a new education center and construction and expansions of hospitals, Lehigh Valley Health Network's annual community meeting Wednesday had leaders spotlighting the last year's initiatives and what is to come next.
LVHN President Brian Nester spoke to the crowd at the network's Cedar Crest hospital, emphasizing anecdotes of successful or life-changing health outcomes involving the hospital.
- Lehigh Valley Health Network's first in-person annual community meeting since the pandemic highlighted hospital expansions
- The new education center and new stem cell treatments were among items to be introduced in the upcoming year
- Despite record recruitment, those at the hospital still say they feel the strain of worker shortages
This is the first time the annual gathering has been held in person since the pandemic.
John Malloy, chairman of the LVHN board of trustees, said the past few years have been the most challenging that he has been on the board.
He explained that with people delaying care because of COVID-19, worker shortages and higher prices due to inflation and supply chain disruption, many forces continue to put a strain on the health care industry.
The hospital said it hired a record number of new employees at 5,000 this year, but even then, LVHN Vice President of Education Cynthia Cappel said it does not yet close the gap.
"Retirements are up because of the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age. We knew this," Cappel said. "COVID just exacerbated that. So it's not yet enough to meet all the needs, but certainly we are better off than a lot of healthcare organizations because we're able to recruit."
The two institutes introduced this year, the Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute and Lehigh Valley Fleming Neuroscience Institute, which served to enhance the depth of offerings for the two types of care, were highlighted.
Nester said expansions such as at the hospitals at Hecktown Oaks and the opening of new hospitals in Dickson City and Lehighton will allow greater accessibility for care for those in the communities of those hospitals.
He said that will also be true with the neighborhood hospital that broke ground in Lower Macungie this week. The hospital network says it will be the first of future smaller hospital facilities made in a similar vein.
Also noted was a recognition of the 10th anniversary of the Reilly Children's Hospital, which LVHN said cared for a record 3,200 children in October.
The new 70,000-square-foot education center was mentioned, which Robert Barraco, chief associate dean for educational affairs at LVHN, said is set to open February.
The technology-filled center will serve graduate students, residents, fellows, medical students and other students they instruct, in addition to providing learning opportunities for their workforce and new ways to work with K-12 students in introducing them to the medical field.
The upcoming year also will see the start to the Topper Cancer Institute's stem cell transplant and cellular therapy program with the onboarding of hematologist-oncologist Dr. Amir Toor from VCU Health. That will allow patients to take on the difficult therapies that have been found to give long remissions or even cure some blood cancers like multiple myeloma.
"It's been a five-year plan, but it's finally coming to fruition. We built a beautiful stem cell transplant unit."Dr. Suresh Nair, physician-in-chief of the cancer unit
Nair said the hospital also plans to introduce CAR T-cell therapy, which he said will go hand-in-hand to treat cancers with the stem cell therapy.
The annual report for the health network is available on its website. The hospital network says it has seen increases in outpatient registrations (37%), ExpressCARE visits (nearly 50%) and ER visits (22%) from the prior fiscal year.
