Nation’s Oldest Nursing School at St. Luke’s Graduates 150th Class

August 8, 2018- St. Luke’s School of Nursing is holding its 150^th commencement on Thursday, August 9^th at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Allentown, PA.

“The nursing program here at St. Luke’s is unique,” said Nursing School Director Sandra Mesics, RN. “Our curriculum is diverse and comprehensive, and our students benefit from the tremendous amount of resources we have throughout our Network. We also seek to employ many of the nurses we train, so it’s a win-win.”

Thursday’s graduating cohort is comprised of 65 students, compared to three when the school was founded in 1884. (The first class graduated in 1886, and during some years since then more than one class has graduated.)

St. Luke’s University Health Network has the highest-ranked nursing program in the Lehigh Valley, according to the website RegisteredNursing.org. It is 5^th out of 76 programs in Pennsylvania, based on graduates’ performance on the National Council Licensure Examination- Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) board exam.

Currently, the Nursing School is expanding access with a new evening/weekend track that allows flex-learning and the ability to attend while still working.

“We are very excited to offer this option for our students,” said Angela Daniel, the school’s recruitment and enrollment coordinator. “We know that our student’s lives are busy and we want to provide them with multiple options to pursue their education.”

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 of 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $1.9 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.