Carbon County’s newest hospital is on track for an early June opening in Mahoning Township.

The $80 million Lehigh Valley Hospital-Carbon, located off Route 443, will have 20 inpatient and 16 emergency room beds at the outset, as well as a variety of services aimed at reducing the number of its patients who have to leave the area to receive care.

“That’s what we’re most proud of, the fact that several thousands of patients leave Carbon County every year to get care and now they won’t have to,” Terry Purcell, president of Lehigh Valley Health Network’s northwest region, said during a tour of the 100,578-square-foot hospital Tuesday morning. “We’re taking care of folks close to home and you’re going to get top-notch care. Our emergency room physicians are the same ones you would be able to see at our Cedar Crest location, a Level 1 trauma center.”

The opening of the hospital will be timed to occur several weeks after LVHN opens a new facility in Dickson City. An exact date is also contingent on Pennsylvania Department of Health approvals.

“Early June will give our staff a chance to open the Dickson City hospital and then come down here and focus on Carbon,” Purcell said.

Some of the services planned for the hospital include inpatient and outpatient surgery, rehabilitation, diagnostic cardiology, telemedicine, an infusion center, and radiology including MRI, CT and ultrasound, among others.

Attached to the hospital is a medical office building where patients can visit their practitioner or access other LVHN services.

Everything at the hospital, Purcell said, was built with future expansion and growth in mind. The emergency department, for example, can accommodate another six rooms.

“There is room for growth everywhere,” Purcell said. “We built a room in radiology for any future technology that may come down the pike because that is always changing. Right now, we have two operating rooms, but we can go to four there in the future.”

There are 12 pre-and-post-anesthesia bays with the operating rooms right across the hall. The operating rooms, Purcell said, were built large with the idea that robotic surgery technology will be expanding.

“It’s still very active here at the site as we get closer to June,” Purcell said Tuesday. “For example, our MRI machine has been delivered and will be magnetized this week. Coincidentally, one of our delays was that, due to supply chain issues, they weren’t making the chips for the MRI unit and we had to wait for that. We’ve navigated all of those small little challenges, however, and are just about ready to go.”

A full-service kitchen provides food for a cafeteria that will be open to employees 24/7. Members of the public will also be able to order food at the hospital.

“It’s convenient, particularly for staff who can order on an app and then come down here and pick it up,” Purcell said. “Food is important for our patients as well, especially when you’re sick. It’s something we can all relate to.”

There will be two entrances for the hospital, the main one located nearest to the Walmart, with the second on the western end of the property. According to Purcell, the hospital has over 300 parking spaces, more than the 270 requested by the Department of Health.

LVHN recently named several members of its care team for the hospital.

Dr. Marianne Smalley will serve as medical director of the emergency room. Smalley worked in the LVH - Cedar Crest ER since 2015. Vickie Ripkey will be patient care manager of perioperative services and Brittany Cosgrove will be patient care manager for the emergency department and patient care units.

“Overall, we have had a relatively easy time with our recruitment efforts here at the hospital,” Purcell said. “We have over 900 employees who live in Carbon County and work at one of our other LVHN locations so a lot of them were anxious for an opportunity to come closer to home. There is, of course, a major need for health care workers right now, but this is a great place to work and we’ve been very fortunate.”