St. Luke’s University Health Network held a ceremonial groundbreaking Thursday for a new behavioral health facility at 600 Pine St. in Tamaqua.

When the site opens in late fall, the St. Luke’s Psychiatric Associates will offer mental and behavioral health services to the community - something it has been doing for years, said Diana Laquinta, president of St. Luke’s Miners campus in Coaldale.

“It is greatly needed here and across the country,” she said.

Micah Gursky, St. Luke’s Miners director of business development, agreed.

“It is really nice to have a hospital network and health facility who takes the community very seriously,” Gursky said.

Dr. James James, chairman of psychiatry for St. Luke’s, said St. Luke’s recognizes the importance of mental health.

Since he arrived at St. Luke’s less than a decade ago, James said he’s witnessed “incredible growth” of mental and behavioral health care. The Tamaqua site is the latest example.

James said that when St. Luke’s merged with the Penn Foundation in 2021, it became one of the largest and fully-integrated behavioral health services provider in eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Medical professionals, he said, are able to provide personalized services to people at the right levels of intervention and care.

“One of our goals is to expand our services to meet the needs in each community that we service with high quality, compassionate care that is accessible and readily available to each individual, like here, in the Tamaqua region,” James said.

St. Luke’s Psychiatric Associates has offices in Lehighton, Allentown and Bethlehem, as well as Phillipsburg, New Jersey.

The event brought many special guests, including Peggy Zimmerman. Zimmerman grew up in the house that was leveled to make way for the site.

Her grandfather, she said, operated a lumberyard where the parking lot will be located.

She said she was pleased to know that the property will be used for good.

Also on hand were officials from St. Luke’s Health Network; representatives from the offices of U.S. Senators John Fetterman and Dan Meuser; state Sen. David G. Argall; state Rep. Jamie Barton; Schuylkill County Commissioners; Tamaqua Borough Council; Tamaqua Police; and the Tamaqua City Revitalization Improvement Zone Authority.