The brand-new St. Luke’s Health Network Carbon Campus remains on track to open by late fall.

St. Luke’s officials conducted a press tour recently at the $80 million campus located at the intersection of Fairyland and Harrity roads in Franklin Township.

Bret Buchman, project manager, planning and construction, led the tour and was joined by Joe Pinto, chief operating officer for the St. Luke’s Lehighton/Carbon hospitals, and Erica Line, director of marketing and public relations for St. Luke’s University Health Network.

Pinto said there is a constant “buzz” from the community for the hospital to open.

“We’re just so happy to bring this to the area,” Pinto said. “Nobody believes how fast it’s progressed.”

Pinto said the 108-acre hospital and wellness complex has placed an emphasis on innovation, safety, comfort and convenience.

He added it was a credit to all the expertise, along with the local contractors and subcontractors “to see how they’ve all come together to build this wonderful health facility for the community.”

Once the new three-story, 160-square-foot hospital opens, it will be the largest of its kind in the history of the county.

Pinto said it will feature Level IV trauma emergency care, acute, critical and chronic medical care provided by medical experts, along with wellness resources on the new campus that will offer convenient opportunities for improving one’s health through fitness, health education and nutrition.

All patient rooms will be private, and each outfitted with a wall-mounted, 55-inch smart TV to facilitate two-way audio/visual communication between patients and their providers anywhere, as well as patients and their family members worldwide. This beta-site installation - one of the first in the nation by AmHealth - will expand telemedicine capabilities and virtual visitation convenience.

Another high-tech partnership with the company, MediSigns, will replace the typical write-and-wipe white boards in patient rooms with real-time computer system-linked digital whiteboards that will display the names of caregivers, day of the week, scheduled activities and other useful safety information.

Pinto noted that during COVID-19, St. Luke’s forged a partnership with local LifeAire air purification system company. LifeAire’s first-of-its-kind technology kills all air pathogens in a clinical environment, including COVID-19 and anthrax. Six LifeAire air purifiers will be installed in the air ducts throughout the new Carbon hospital, making it one of the few hospitals in the nation with this novel technology.

A homegrown concept for St. Luke’s, the TechConnect help center in the lobby will be staffed by a technically astute attendant who will give free assistance to patients, visitors and community members struggling to learn or use personal digital or medical symptom-monitoring devices or apps.

Within a year of opening the main campus, a three-story, 50,000-square-foot medical office building will also be built connected to the hospital. Cancer, cardiac, orthopedics care, pain management and physical therapy services and physicians’ offices will occupy this facility, along with a full fitness center and more.

A fitness-walking trail that encircles the complex will offer staff, patients and visitors the opportunity to exercise in a setting bordered by picturesque mountains and an organic farm, or to seek solace in a lavender and sunflower meditation and healing garden.

“This complex underscores St. Luke’s commitment to the health and well-being of this community,” said John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Lehighton and Carbon campuses,” in a statement. “At St. Luke’s we believe in providing quality services that keep people physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and help take care of them when they are ill or injured, to ultimately enhance the health status of our neighbors.”

In October 2019, St. Luke’s University Health Network broke ground for the St. Luke’s Carbon Campus.

Built with American steel, the St. Luke’s Carbon Campus will be equipped with 80 beds, 20 emergency department exam rooms, three operating rooms and two OR procedure rooms. Specialty services will include trauma, cardiology, neurology and radiology, among others.