A new hospital has broken ground in Lower Macungie Township to improve access to resources for area residents. WDIY’s Sarit Laschinsky has more.
Lehigh Valley Health Network broke ground Monday for the new facility, which will be located along Route 100, on the border with Macungie borough.
According to a release, the new Lehigh Valley Hospital-Macungie is planned for a new health care campus and is a so-called “neighborhood hospital.”
At around 20,000 square feet, the new hospital is smaller than other LVHN hospitals in the area, like Cedar Crest or Muhlenberg, but it will include a full-service emergency room and a limited number of inpatient beds, according to the health network.
It will offer in-house hospital services such as pharmacy or lab work, as well as imaging services like x-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans and MRIs. LVH-Macungie will be a licensed accredited acute care hospital, and be open 24/7.
David Burmeister, Chair of the Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine at LVHN, said in a statement that the neighborhood hospital model will deliver short ER wait times and favorable door-to-discharge times.
LVH-Macungie is expected to open by the end of 2023, and LVHN says it is planning several other similar hospitals in the region.
In addition to the new facility, a medical office building will also be part of the planned health care campus.
Called the Health Center at Macungie, the 30,000 square foot building will house several medical services including family medicine, orthopedics, cardiology and pediatric practices. It will also offer outpatient adult rehabilitation, and cardiac and vascular diagnostic testing.
(Original air-date: 12/7/22)