Over the past 10 years, a Nesquehoning-based firm has been investing in neighborhood health care with its workers and their families in mind.

On Friday, administrators from Ametek Inc. took a tour of St. Luke's Hospital Miners Campus, 360 W. Ruddle St., Coaldale, to check out progress."Our employees' families rely on St. Luke's for care, so we choose to donate to St. Luke's Miners Campus to help insure that quality care is available in our area," said James Visnic, Ametek vice president and general manager.Visnic was joined by Chad Hammerly, plant manager, and Sherry Sinclair, human resources manager.The group was welcomed by Bill Moyer, Miners Campus president; Micah Gursky, development director; Matt Radzom, administrator, Jim Thorpe Urgent Care Branch, Occupational Medicine and others from the Coaldale medical staff.The Ametek representatives brought along a check for $1,500. The firm has donated $13,500 since 2004, and that kind of financial support always benefits local communities in tangible ways, Moyer said."St. Luke's has been able to provide expanded services to our community with the assistance of our many local partners like Ametek. Planned gifts donated consistently over time really make a difference for our hospital," Moyer said.Gursky said the hospital, which boasts the nation's first nursing school, is robust.The emergency room sees about 15,000 visits a year," he said. While there, the visitors chatted with Dr. Lawton Delisser and nurse Paula Hager.Moyer said staffing needs fluctuate."There are times when we need two cardiologists here."Similarly, some areas of the hospital have been redefined as needs changed in the community.Today's PFT Room, or pulmonary function testing, "is the old black lung clinic," Gursky said.These days, however, its primary patients largely are those suffering effects of smoking, not underground mining.Moyer said expansion is ongoing. For example, later this year the hospital expects to add a pulmonologist, two gastrointestinal physicians and one infectious disease physician.Since 2000, Schuylkill County hospital has been part of St. Luke's University Health Network, Bethlehem.The Coaldale facility is a fully accredited, not-for-profit, 45-bed acute care hospital. Founded in 1910, it also provides health a home health agency and 48-bed skilled nursing facility.