St. Luke's partners with Panther Valley for health carnival
Families in the Panther Valley School District and surrounding communities will be able to learn about services available to them through an upcoming health carnival.
The Panther Valley Adopt a School team will host the health carnival from 4-7 p.m. Thursdayat the Panther Valley Intermediate School.Kerri Quick of St. Luke's Miners Campus said the event is free and open to the public. It will be held rain or shine.She said that the goal of the carnival is to "bring a lot of community resources together and have a fun time."There will be games and activities for the children, as well as demonstrations and health screenings, healthy snacks, giveaways and free massages by McCann's School of Business students.Quick said the event will provide organizations with an opportunity to help families learn what they have to offer.Organizations and businesses who will be participating in the event include: Carbon County Pathstone/Head Start, Tamaqua Salvation Army, St. Luke's Miners Campus, St. Luke's Mobile Youth Health Center, Summit Hill Heritage Center, Kellyn Foundation, Turn To Us, Lansford Fire Company, Carbon-Monroe-Pike Mental Health and Developmental Services, Valley Athletic, Bare Toes Yoga and Belly Dance, McCann's School of Business, Penn State Extension, Rite Aid, the Bo Tkach Foundation, Lehigh Carbon Community College's SHINE Afterschool program, Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission, Pyramid Sports and Fitness, Lehighton Ambulance, Panther Valley's Aevidum group, Tamaqua Community Arts, Aetna, Operation School and Career Wear, Bayada Nursing, Tamaqua YMCA and more.St. Luke's partners with the Panther Valley School District, as well as the Weller Health Education Center and the Kellyn Foundation through the Adopt a School program, funded in part by a three-year federal Rural Health Outreach grant that the hospital was awarded in May 2015.The partnership works to improve the health and educational outcomes of the students. Local community school and leadership committees assess, evaluate and guide the path the partnership takes.To date, the partnership has worked to help students by providing mobile youth health services, mental health programs, healthy living initiatives, substance abuse education, literacy programs and youth development and career mentoring programs.For more information on the carnival, contact Quick at
kerri.quick@sluhn.org.For more information on the Panther Valley Adopt a School program, visit
www.panthervalley.org and click on the Adopt A School tab.Other eventsUpcoming events of the partnership include a summer community walking program from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Panther Valley Football Stadium. Dates include Aug. 8, 15, 22 and 29 and Sept. 12.A 5K will be held on Sept. 17. Details about the run will be announced at a later time.Quick added that St. Luke's Miners Campus will also hold its annual Black Diamond Garden Party from 6-9 p.m. on June 4 at Kemmerer Park in Jim Thorpe.The event is a business casual party featuring food, drinks and live entertainment. Proceeds from this year's event will benefit the hospital's community health department.For more information on the Black Diamond Garden Party, contact Micah Gursky at 570-645-8118 or email
Micah.Gursky@sluhn.org.To purchase tickets or become a sponsor of the event, visit