Local Donor Gives $1 Million to St. Luke's Hospice House

A dedication of The St. Luke’s Brian D. Perin Hospice House and celebration of the Hospice Endowment Campaign will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday, November 2, at St. Luke’s Hospice House at 2455 Black River Road.

The estate of Brian D. Perin, co-owner of Grand Central Sanitation and related companies in Pen Argyl, donated over $1 million to the 14-bed freestanding inpatient facility that will be named in his honor.  Mr. Perin, with residences in Wind Gap and Walnutport, died in February 2017 at age 56.

The fund-raising campaign to build the Hospice endowment was launched in early 2016 to help ensure that everyone in need of hospice care has access, regardless of his or her ability to pay. The launch of the campaign, titled “Celebrating our Past, Shaping our Future Campaign for Hospice,” coincided with the hospice house’s 10^th year anniversary. The campaign has raised more than $2 million to date, and will officially end in December.

“Our goal was to raise $1.5 million to add to the existing endowment,” said Lisa Giovanni, MSN, RN, St. Luke’s Home Health & Hospice President. “Thanks to the gift from Mr. Perin’s estate, we have been able to surpass our goal.” Additional donations from community members, long-time supporters of hospice and employees of the St. Luke’s University Health Network also contributed to the success of our campaign.

“We appreciate all the donations and support that we have received and continue to receive to continue to provide compassionate, palliative and end-of-life care to residents of the Lehigh Valley,” she added.

Reservations required

Area leaders, St. Luke’s senior leadership, board members, donors and the media have been invited to attend the dedication and celebration. On-site parking is not permitted. Shuttles will run from SeWyCo Social Hall, 3621 Old Philadelphia Pike (Route 378) in Bethlehem. RSVP to InfoLink at 866-STLUKES (785-8537, option 4.)

St. Luke’s Hospice House is the only free-standing inpatient facility of its kind in the Lehigh Valley. When pain and symptoms become too acute for home hospice care, the Hospice House is available to provide the highest level of acute care with the goal of returning patients back to their home and loved ones. 

An interdisciplinary team works with each patient and family to meet their physical, emotional, social, spiritual and informational needs and goals of care. Complementary services such as aromatherapy, massage therapy, music, Reiki, Golden Rooms and pet therapy support the patient’s quality of life. Volunteers provide conversation and companionship and offer a compassionate presence for the patient and family members.

St. Luke’s Hospice House is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, The Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) and is nationally accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC). 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) repeatedly – six times total and four years in a row including 2018.  It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.