Lehigh Valley Health Network is expanding services at two locations in Carbon County.

The health network is announcing that it will open two new ExpressCARE locations in Lehighton and Palmerton. Both are expected to open in late summer.

ExpressCARE at Lehighton will be located at 363 North First Street. ExpressCARE in Palmerton will be located in the Pencor Services Inc. building at 528 Delaware Ave. These will be LVHN’s 19th and 20th ExpressCARE facilities providing residents with access to treatment for common illnesses and minor injuries without an appointment including sprains and strains, cuts and lacerations, poison ivy, rashes, seasonal allergies, flu symptoms, bronchitis, ear infections, sore throat and fever.

ExpressCARE will be open 365 days a year. Hours of operation will be announced closer to the openings.

Lehigh Valley Physician Group physician practices, which care for over 400,000 patients across 300 practices with over 1,500 providers, also provide ExpressPASS services for even quicker access to ExpressCARE for patients. If a patient contacts their primary care physician, but cannot get in for a visit because the schedule is full, the physician’s office can directly schedule into ExpressCARE. This gives the patient a set time to arrive. The physician’s staff sees the visit populate and anticipates the patient’s arrival. A room is reserved and the patient is brought back and seen as soon as they register eliminating any wait.

ExpressCARE is the latest addition to make care more convenient to residents of Carbon County.

To provide space for ExpressCARE at 363 North First St. in Lehighton, other services that were located in that building already have relocated or will soon move to space at 1001 Mahoning St. These services include LVPG Cardiology, LVPG Neurology, LVPG Pulmonology and LVPG Vascular Surgery, which join services already being provided by Health Network Labs at that location.

LVPG Hematology Oncology will continue to provide cancer care and infusion services at the North First St. location. LVPG Family Medicine − Lehighton, the practice of Kenneth Sharp, DO, will remain at the North First St. address.

LVHN’s commitment to caring for families in the community also includes LVPG Pediatrics-Lehighton led by L. Narayana Gajula, MD, located at 281 N. 12th St., Lehighton; LVPG Family Medicine-Albrightsville, located at 2588 State Route 903; and outpatient Rehabilitation Services offered in Lehighton and Tamaqua.

“LVHN has been a partner in the care of Carbon County residents for many years,” said Terrence Purcell, Vice President, Market Development. “Continuing to bring a range of primary, specialty and ancillary services to Lehighton and nearby locations underlines our commitment to raising the bar for healthcare in Carbon County. These steps make accessing world-class LVHN care even more convenient.”

Lehigh Valley Health Network includes eight hospital campuses — three in Allentown including the region’s only facility dedicated to orthopedic surgery, one in Bethlehem, one in East Stroudsburg, one in Hazleton and two in Pottsville; 26 health centers caring for communities in seven counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices and 18 ExpressCARE locations throughout the region including the area’s only Children’s ExpressCARE at the Health Center at Palmer Township; pharmacy, imaging, home health services and lab services; extensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services; and preferred provider services through Valley Preferred. Specialty care includes: trauma care at the region’s busiest, most-experienced trauma center treating adults and children, burn care at the regional Burn Center, kidney and pancreas transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, orthopedics, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Comprehensive Stroke Center.