New Approach to College Student Health through Innovative St. Luke’s / Lafayette Partnership

Pioneering a new, holistic approach to college student well being, St. Luke’s University Health Network has introduced a comprehensive array of 24/7 health care services at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.

“I believe our partnership with St. Luke’s will serve as a national model for higher education health care,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, Director of Health Services at Lafayette College. “Our students have immediate access to top-notch care – both physical and mental health services.”

The St. Luke’s initiative, which launched this semester, has already had an impact on campus life. “With the extension of St. Luke’s services and the ability for students to use video visits when the Bailey Health Center is closed, students are getting better faster – and back into the classroom,” said Patricia Martino, a nurse who works at Lafayette’s Baily Health Clinic.

For three years running and five years total, St. Luke’s has won the Truven Top 100 Hospitals Award, widely regarded as the highest honor nationally in hospital care and management. A multi-hospital system, St. Luke’s is affiliated with more than 1,200 doctors and 11,000 employees serving the Greater Lehigh Valley, Poconos and Northwestern New Jersey regions. As such, it is uniquely situated to offer Lafayette students a comprehensive suite of health care options:

• Staffing for health clinic – St. Luke’s provides additional clinical staff at the Bailey Health Clinic under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein.  With the addition of St. Luke’s advanced practitioners, Bailey Health Clinic has been able to extend its evening and weekend hours making health care more accessible to Lafayette students.

• Video visits –  Lafayette students will have access to video visits at a discounted rate. By downloading the St. Luke's App,  it has never been easier for Lafayette students to access the expertise of St. Luke’s physicians.  With video visits, students can get a diagnosis or treatment from a physician 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – all in one quick session.
• Access to the emergency department at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus – St. Luke’s Anderson Campus is located on Rt. 33 between Interstate 78 and Rt. 22. Easy access and ample parking complement a family friendly emergency room designed for healing and comfort. The St. Luke’s Anderson Campus ER is known for its combination of a state-of-the-art facility, technology, equipment and a great team working together with the patient at the center of it all.  (Fast Track care is available for critical patients as determined by a physician.)
• Care Now – St. Luke’s Care Now provides quality urgent care services. St. Luke’s Care Now is a better choice than an ER visit for medical needs that are not life threatening. No appointment is ever needed and care is provided at a lower cost than an ER visit. Just walk into the location nearest you. St. Luke’s Care Now offers extended hours, making this an ideal choice for fast medical care when your personal physician can't see you immediately.  Next spring a new Care Now location will open at St. Luke’s Health Center-Forks, near the Lafayette campus, providing students and faculty with additional support.

“St. Luke’s has the expertise and resources to provide for the wellbeing of the Lafayette student body,” said Dr. Robert Dolansky, Network Medical Director of Urgent Care Services at St. Luke’s University Health Network. “We can help students feel better, which should help them do better academically and make the most of their college experience.”

For more information about the partnership between St. Luke’s and Lafayette, please visit https://healthcenter.lafayette.edu/.

Media Contact:

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network providing services at seven hospitals and more than 270 outpatient sites in the greater Lehigh Valley. The network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. Dedicated to advancing health education, St. Luke’s operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing and 23 graduate medical educational programs and is considered a major teaching hospital – the only one in its region. Repeatedly, including 2017, St. Luke’s earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital and 50 Top Cardiovascular Program designations, in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as electronic medical records, telehealth, online scheduling and pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.