Lehigh Valley Health Network opens third ‘neighborhood hospital’

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN)’s first “neighborhood hospital” in the Poconos, and third overall, has opened in Bartonsville, Pa.

Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH) – Pocono Creek, like all things LVHN now part of Jefferson Health, offers many things you’d expect in a hospital -- except for a perioperative suite. But this neighborhood hospital is positioned to feed patients who require surgeries to “higher-level care” at LVHN’s nearby hospitals, such as Lehigh Valley Hospital–Pocono.

LVH–Pocono Creek is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The 22,000-square-foot facility is described as a “streamlined hospital” that features a full-service ER designed to “support rapid patient assessment.” Also on site are a “comprehensive” radiology suite and lab, as well as outpatient imaging services and 10 inpatient beds for observation and extended care.

“Establishing neighborhood hospitals is part of our mission to give our communities more healthcare options than ever before and to make those options easier to use and reach,” said Jefferson Health President Baligh Yehia, MD. “Our goal is to make it as convenient as possible for people to get the compassionate, expert care they need, when they need it. This is especially important for the Pocono region, which has seen tremendous growth in recent decades.”

Next door is Health Center at Pocono Creek, a multi-story facility that houses a variety of medical services, including family medicine, cardiology, outpatient adult rehabilitation, vascular surgery and cardiac and vascular diagnostic testing.

The two other LVHN neighborhood hospitals are located in Macungie, Pa., and Gilbertsville, Pa., with a fourth slated to open in Hellertown, Pa., by early 2027.