Leigh Valley Health Network Company Profile
Mission: We heal, comfort and care for the people of our community by providing advanced and compassionate health care of superior quality and value supported by education and clinical research. At Lehigh Valley Health Network, we continually go the extra mile to fulfill our mission to heal, comfort and care for the people of our community. Each one of our 11,700 colleagues contributes to this mission and helps make the Lehigh Valley a healthier – and better – place in which to live. Our tagline – A Passion for Better Medicine – reflects a legacy of patient-centered care that began with 13 compassionate, civic-minded women more than a century ago. Caring deeply about the health and well-being of their community, they raised $5,300 for a plot of land at 17th and Chew streets in Allentown, Pa., and in 1899, opened The Allentown Hospital. Their generous example was the first step in our health network’s journey. In the late 1950s, with the area’s population booming, a group of Lutheran clergy purchased a 102-acre alfalfa field in Bethlehem and set out to build another hospital for the community. Muhlenberg Hospital Center opened its doors in 1961 as a 192-bed facility for the chronically ill. The inspiration for our modern-day health network came from Leonard Parker Pool, the founder of Air Products. In addition to having a brilliant mind for business, Pool also had a passion for health care and serving his fellow man. In the late 1960s, that passion became personal. When his wife, Dorothy, had to travel back and forth from the Lehigh Valley to New York City to receive leading-edge cancer treatment, Leonard Pool realized many in his community did not have the means to travel outside the region for such care. He had a vision to create a “superior, regional hospital” so people could receive the best possible care without leaving the Lehigh Valley. He donated $5 million to help bring that vision to life, which led in 1974 to the construction of what is now Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, Pa. Guided by Pool’s vision, we have since transformed into one of the nation's most respected health networks, offering comprehensive care in 95 clinical specialties. This care is complemented by clinical research and education, including a medical school partnership with the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine that’s preparing the doctors of tomorrow. We continue to add new facilities, services and programs to a regional campus that now includes: Two full-service hospitals: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Salisbury Township, which includes an additional clinical campus, Lehigh Valley Hospital-17th Street in Allentown; and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem Community health centers offering doctors' offices and lab and imaging services at convenient locations in Bath, Bethlehem Township, Emmaus, Hamburg, Kutztown, Macungie, Moselem Springs, Trexlertown and Upper Bucks (in partnership with Grand View Hospital) More than 1,100 primary care and specialty physicians – including more than 550 employed by the health network Pharmacy services at all three of our hospital campuses Imaging services to obtain accurate diagnoses with the latest high-tech diagnostic equipment Home health and hospice services CareWorks retail health clinics in Allentown and Schnecksville Community clinics, including 40 primary and specialty clinics to care for people who are uninsured or underinsured Health Network Laboratories, providing laboratory tests from the most critical medical applications to simple pre-employment drug screenings Valley Preferred, linking employers and individuals with quality health coverage The care and services we provide annually receive national recognition through awards and accreditation from organizations such as U.S. News & World Report, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) and many others. Wherever our health network’s journey takes us in the years to come, you can be sure we will carry forth the passion our founders, as well as their enduring vision: to provide the people of the Lehigh Valley with the best possible health care – right in their own backyard.
