St. Luke’s University Health Network’s newest full-service hospital will hold its grand opening celebration Oct. 13, but it has already begun treating patients at its Bartonsville location.

“This is the second new hospital we have opened in the last five years,” said Donald C. Seiple, president of St. Luke’s Monroe Campus. “We have been active in Monroe County for 20-plus years and we are closely aligned with over 40 practitioners in the county.”The new hospital is located on a 41-acre tract in Bartonsville, near the Route 33 and Interstate 80 interchange, and is the first new hospital to open in Monroe County in 100 years. The new facility is a four-story, 180,000-square-foot acute care hospital with a large, full-service emergency room.Seiple said the area sees an abnormally high number of emergency room visits per year.“It is due to the ski resorts and tourism,” Seiple said. “We have a large, 30-exam and treatment room emergency department, with three isolation units.”There are no immediate plans to pursue a trauma center at the Bartonville location since St. Luke’s already has an adult Level I trauma center at its Bethlehem location.The isolation units afford patients a greater degree of privacy during mental health emergencies.There is also a state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab with advanced imaging and treatment technologies to treat patients experiencing a cardiac emergency.The emergency department was designed to handle 60,000 visits per year.Seiple said that St. Luke’s has named Dr. Peter Favini as medical director and president of the medical staff at the new location.Favini has more than 25 years of experience practicing in Monroe County. Favini is also assistant chair of the medical network.The new facility also has two fully equipped operating suites and will specialize in general surgery, although the facility is able to handle all types of surgical needs. The operating rooms have all of the latest medical equipment, including a number of digital cameras that will allow surgical staff to closely monitor the procedures on television screens in the room.The hospital is prepared to expand to four operating rooms in the future.“We used standard materials in building this hospital. They did a beautiful job without spending a lot of the money on how things look,” Seiple said. “It was more important to spend the money on the best medical equipment. We have partnered for a long time with GE Healthcare, and that is where we spent the money.”The hospital cost $120 million and went from a concept to a reality in a short period of time.“We realized about three or four years ago that in order to better serve our patients in the area that an inpatient facility was a viable option for us. We made the commitment and moved quickly,” Seiple said. “From the first tree being cut to the doors being opened to the public was 18 months.”The medical network plans to add a medical arts building to the campus and complete a road project along Route 611. There is room for future hospital expansion as well.St. Luke’s is not just committed to the health of its patients but the community and its staff as well.The Bartonsville campus will have a walking trail, which will be open to local residents as well as staff and visitors.The large patient roomsare beautifully appointed and include sleeper sofas to encourage families to stay and support patients during their recovery. According to the newest hospital regulations, all patient rooms are private.The hospital has also included a bariatric room, which includes a lift and a specially designed bed and bathroom to accommodate patients with extreme weight issues.Seiple said St. Luke’s has a farm located in the Lehigh Valley that produces crops throughout a good portion of the year for use in all of its hospital kitchens.“We take health seriously, including what we feed our patients and our staff,” Seiple said. “There are no deep fryers in our kitchens.”The hospital has brought 446 new jobs to Monroe County. And while most of those jobs are for skilled medical professionals, such as doctors, nurses and technicians, 104 were for nonmedical jobs.The new campus has lab and specialized procedures capability, such as endoscopy, colonoscopy and on-site laboratory. Within the next few months the hospital plans to open these services to outpatients.