Lehigh Valley Health Network Holds Ceremonial Beam Raising Ceremony at New Hellertown Neighborhood Hospital Site

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), part of Jefferson Health, raised one of the final steel beams today on a new neighborhood hospital and medical office building in Hellertown, Northampton County.

The project is a three-story, 90,000-square-foot building, with the hospital occupying the first floor and medical offices on the two upper floors. LVHN is partnering with Peron Development and J.G. Petrucci Company to build the facility.

Neighborhood hospitals are licensed and accredited acute care facilities, with a full-service emergency room. They are open 24 hours a day, year-round. This hospital, like its counterparts in Macungie, Gilbertsville and Tannersville (under construction), will feature 11 ER beds and 10 inpatient beds for those requiring overnight stays or additional monitoring and testing. Anyone requiring more acute care can be stabilized and taken to a nearby larger LVHN hospital with increased capability.

Nearly 90 percent of hospital ER patients are treated and released the same day, making neighborhood hospitals a great fit and a way to reduce ER pressure on larger LVHN hospitals.

The first floor of the Hellertown facility will feature the hospital, imaging, durable medical equipment and HNL Lab Medicine. The upper floors will include family medicine, adult and pediatric rehabilitation, cardiac rehabilitation, and a first-of-its-kind comprehensive sleep center.

“Raising this beam today brings us closer to opening our doors and providing leading edge care to the Hellertown community,” says Holly Badali, Chief Operating Officer, Neighborhood Hospitals, LVHN. “We’re looking forward to serving the people of this community and growing their access to the health care they deserve.”

LVHN’s last hospital opening in Northampton County was LVH–Hecktown Oaks in Lower Nazareth Township in July 2021. Located near Route 33, LVH–Hecktown Oaks is a larger hospital and was the first new hospital built by LVHN in 50 years. It was built in response to demand for LVHN care in the county.

“Our neighborhood hospitals in Macungie and Gilbertsville are filling a need in their respective communities, and this new facility in Hellertown will do the same,” says Jim Miller, Regional President, Jefferson Health–Lehigh East Region. “We’re looking forward to furthering our commitment to making health care more convenient to the communities we serve with this new neighborhood hospital.”

“As someone with family in this area, I’m thrilled for this community to have a neighborhood hospital in Hellertown to provide quick, accessible health care,” says Eric Bean, DO, LVHN. “You shouldn’t have to go far to get caring, compassionate care and great expertise; we’re bringing that close to home for this community."