Lehigh Valley Health Network, Pocono Medical Center Want To Merge

Lehigh Valley Health Network and Pocono Health System are seeking to merge in a move that will expand LVHN’s scope further north.

The board of directors of both organizations authorized a letter of intent to merge in separate meetings, LVHN announced Thursday afternoon in a news release.

Additional due diligence, negotiations and regulatory approvals will be necessary before any deal becomes official, the release states.

PHS’s flagship property is the Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg. It’s a mid-sized, acute care facility that employs more than 200 physicians and 1,850 staff members, according to the PHS website.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2015/05/lehigh_valley_health_network_p.html

Lehigh Valley Health Network Looking To Almost Double Muhlenberg Hospital

Lehigh Valley Health Network is looking to almost double its Muhlenberg hospital in Bethlehem, according to new plans submitted to the city.

LVHN has proposed a six-story, 155-bed addition to its current 188-bed Schoenersville Road hospital. The plans have been submitted to Bethlehem but haven’t yet been scheduled for consideration, Bethlehem Assistant Director of Planning and Zoning Tracy Samuelson said.

LVHN spokesman Brian Downs declined Monday to discuss the plans, calling them preliminary.

“We’re considering things all the time,” he said.

Read more:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2015/05/lehigh_valley_health_network_l.html

LV ARTS & ACCESS EXPO: Expanding Audiences

The Lehigh Valley Arts Council and theLehigh Valley Partnership for a Disability Friendly Community invite you to join our cultural organizations, social agencies, artists with disabilities, and people of all abilities to engage each other with skills, compassion, humor and commitment:

 

 

The Lehigh Valley ARTS & ACCESS EXPO | November 10, 2014 Lehigh Valley Health Network, 2100 Mack Boulevard in Allentown   PANEL presentations revealing successful collaborations between our cultural and disability communities. KEYNOTE speaker/author Shane Burcaw with highlights from his upcoming memoir, Laughing at My Nightmare. EXHIBITS by social service agencies and cultural organizations showcasing resources, services, and training opportunities. TIME to network, share, question and learn! This event heralds the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act which occurs on July 26, 2015. The Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Partnership for a Disability Friendly Community are planning a yearlong celebration to unite the community around creating a more inclusive region and expanding access to the arts for all people.   “Let’s remove barriers and open our doors to persons with disabilities,” says Randall Forte, Lehigh Valley Arts Council Executive Director. “It’s easier than you might think, and this event will give arts groups the help they need.” Sponsors: Lehigh Valley Health Network | Just Born

EXPO: Schedule and Details

Arts & Access: Celebrating Cultural Accessibility

On November 10, 2014, the Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Lehigh Valley Partnership for a Disability-Friendly Community will co-host an exposition, Arts & Access: Celebrating Cultural Accessibility, at the Lehigh Valley Health Network, 2100 Mack Boulevard, Allentown, from 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.

The November 10th expo heralds the twenty-fifth anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act which occurs on July 26, 2015. The Lehigh Valley Arts Council and the Partnership for a Disability Friendly Community are planning a yearlong celebration next year to unite the entire community around creating a more inclusive region and expanding access to the arts for all people.

“Let’s remove barriers and open our doors to persons with disabilities,” says Randall Forte, Lehigh Valley Arts Council Executive Director. “It’s easier than you might think, and this event will give arts groups the help they need.”

Additionally, the 2012 U.S. Census data estimates indicate the number of non-institutionalized people with disabilities living in the Lehigh Valley is 81,000, or 12.7%, a figure that represents a significant number of potential new audience members for the cultural community.

Partnership member Jan Schwoyer sums it up best: “From my vantage point, the disability community is made up of people who have to do things differently. The arts community is a group of people who love to do things differently. These two groups were made for each other!”

Sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Health Network and Just Born, Inc., the November expo is free and open to the public. Featured guest, writer Shane Burcaw, will speak about his upcoming memoir, Laughing at My Nightmare, due out this October, and the importance of accessibility in the community. He writes an occasional column about life and disability in the Lehigh Valley in the Morning Call.

Exhibitors from local social service agencies and cultural organizations will be on hand to promote the consumer services and the specialized training they provide, including:

Empathy not Sympathy: Interacting Respectfully with People with Disabilities;

About Hidden Disabilities: Legal, Practical, and Human Considerations;

Audio-Described and Open-Captioned Performances.

Panel presentations will showcase recent collaborations between the cultural and disability communities that have extended access to the vision-impaired and to children with autism. Among the presenters are representatives from:

Center for Vision Loss

Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre

Arch of the Lehigh Valley

Act One, DeSales University Theatre

Lehigh University Art Galleries and Museum

If you are interested in getting involved, the Arts & Access planning committee meets on the first Monday of the month from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. Please R.S.V.P. to info@lvartscouncil.org.

What: Arts & Access Expo
When: November 10, 2014 / 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Lehigh Valley Health Network, 2100 Mack Boulevard, Allentown

Randall Forte, Executive Director
Lehigh Valley Arts Council
Phone: 610-437-5915.
Email: info@LVArtsCouncil.org
Web: www.lvartscouncil.org/access

A Tale Of Two Improvement Zones

ALLENTOWN, PA — In the center of this city’s downtown is a Civil War monument complete with a sailor, artilleryman, infantryman and a cavalry soldier.

It is very similar to the one in Lancaster’s Penn Square, but larger.

That’s fitting for a city with twice the population and twice the land area as Lancaster.

And for a city that has experienced proportionally larger swings of fortune.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/a-tale-of-two-improvement-zones/article_f8de6fa0-f277-11e3-8f19-0017a43b2370.html

Plans For $100 Million Allentown Building Move Forward

English: City of Allentown from east side (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the newest major office buildings planned by developer J.B. Reilly moved forward another step tonight.

The $100 million Five City Center received conditional approval, one of several steps in the early stages of the City Center Lehigh Valley project. Plans for the building were announced in March.

No tenant has yet been identified for the 250,000-square-foot building, but construction could begin as early as mid-2015, City Center spokesman Jeff Vaughansaid. The building could be as many as seven floors tall.

Planned for Walnut Street between Seventh and Eighth streets, the building could serve up to 1,000 workers and will include a 1,078-space parking deck, which will include some underground parking.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/allentown/index.ssf/2014/05/plans_for_100_million_allentow.html

Reading Hospital Joins Alliance With Six Others

The Reading Health System announced Wednesday that it has joined an alliance with six other health systems in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, a move officials say could lead to better and more affordable care for patients, improve hospital operations and reduce costs.

The alliance, AllSpire Health Partners, is not a merger, officials stressed.  Reading Hospital will remain locally governed and managed.

The seven health systems include a total of 25 hospitals with a service area of more than 6 million people.  The systems have a combined revenue of $10.5 billion, and AllSpire touts the partnership as the largest health care consortium in the country.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=512676

Hazleton General To Merge With Lehigh Valley Health

English: Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, PA, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Greater Hazleton Health Alliance plans to merge with Lehigh Valley Health Network, pending approval by state and federal regulatory agencies, the health groups announced Wednesday.

Greater Hazleton Health Alliance has a staff of more than 1,000 people and includes the 150-bed Hazleton General Hospital and the Hazleton Health & Wellness Center, which provides diagnostic testing and rehabilitation.

It also operates a network of physicians and surgeons in 15 offices. LVHN employs more than 12,000 workers and 1,000 beds at three hospitals.   In addition, it operates nine health centers and numerous physician practices throughout the Lehigh Valley region.

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-lvh-hazleton-merger-20130424,0,1475217.story

DA: Man Shot Wife, Himself In Murder-Suicide At Lehigh Valley Hospital Hospice

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lehigh County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said a man shot and killed his wife then turned the gun on himself Tuesday afternoon in the hospice ward of Lehigh Valley Hospital at 17th and Chew streets.

The woman, 83, was found dead in her bed, Martin said.  The man was also found dead in the room.  The woman was in hospice care, according to Martin.  No one else was in the room.

Martin said at 1:03 p.m. three hospital staff on the fourth floor heard a gunshot coming from one of the hospice rooms. He said the incident was contained to the one patient room.

“I don’t have any more detail I am prepared to release,” Martin said about 2 p.m. at the hospital complex. “There were no eyewitnesses to this event.”

Read more:  http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-allentown-lehigh-valley-hospital-murder-suicide-20130319,0,2694606.story

Pennsylania Health Department: Flu ‘Widespread’ In State

STATE COLLEGE — Flu cases are mounting in Pennsylvania, and 22 deaths have been attributed to the illness, state health officials said.

The number of cases could continue to spike because the flu season typically doesn’t peak for at least another couple weeks.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health designated flu as now “widespread” throughout the commonwealth. There have been more than 11,000 laboratory-confirmed flu cases in the state since the flu season began in mid-December, with nearly 4,300 of those reported last week alone.

The Health Department’s flu-tracking website (www.flufreepa.com) said “widespread” is the highest category for tracking the virus.  That means there have been outbreaks or increases in flu-like or “laboratory-confirmed influenza in at least half the regions of the state with recent laboratory evidence of influenza in the state.”

Read more:  http://republicanherald.com/pa-health-department-flu-widespread-in-state-1.1427916