St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Celebrates 1st Anniversary, Shares Vision for Future

The historic Vault 634—an embodiment of the spirit and progression of the city of Allentown—was the perfect venue to commemorate the first anniversary of the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart partnership. The State of the Heart event on Thursday evening, March 21, drew in a crowd of more than 150 supporters—including health care leaders, elected officials and members of the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart community.

Since joining the network a year ago, St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus has benefitted from an initial investment of $30 million, enabling facility improvements such as the installation of an electronic medical record system, creation of new behavioral health units, an emergency waiting room makeover, and numerous other renovations.

The event also celebrated the launch of the Heart of the City capital campaign for St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus. The campaign aims to raise a minimum of $3 million, which will supplement additional funding sources to transform the care provided to the Allentown community through specialized services, behavioral health, neighborhood improvements and a community medical home for hundreds of underserved families in downtown Allentown.

During the event, individual community members were recognized and awarded a custom etched-glass memento for their leadership, generosity and support of the hospital over the past decade. St. Luke’s Sacred Heart President Frank Ford shared his vision for the future of the hospital and surrounding neighborhood.

“St. Luke’s Sacred Heart is more than a hospital. We don’t just care for patients when they are sick,” Ford said. “We care about the whole person—where our patients go when they leave the facility, where they’re finding their next meal, how to help them with other struggles they might be facing. It is our priority to preserve the Catholic identity of the hospital, and it is at the core of all we do.”

The campaign is already well on its way to success, thanks to the generous commitment of a matching grant to support the Older Adult Behavioral Health Unit from The Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation, as well as supporting gifts from the BB&T Economic Growth Fund of the Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, William Straccia, Paul and Patty Huck, and Tom and Amy Scalici—propelling the current total raised to more than $500,000. St. Luke’s Sacred Heart would not be where it is today without their unwavering support. They—along with other individuals recognized at the event—exemplify the caring, committed spirit that is Sacred Heart.

Tom Scalici, former Chair of the Sacred Heart Foundation, speaking at the State of the Heart event on Thursday evening, March 21. 

Tom Scalici, former Chair of the Sacred Heart Foundation, spoke candidly about how the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart partnership was formed. “We knew we needed to find another partner,” Scalici said. “Ideally, one that would invest in our facilities, modernize our technology, expand the hospital’s services to allow for better patient care, and maintain the Catholic values and mission on which we were founded. This search ultimately led us to St. Luke’s.”

St. Luke’s Sacred Heart would like to thank Boyle Construction, the event’s Gift Recognition Sponsor, as well as all those who attended in support of the hospital and the Allentown community.

To learn more about St. Luke’s Sacred Heart and how to support the Heart of the City Campaign, please visit sluhn.org/heartofthecity.

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 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 320 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 Lehigh Valley’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 Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s 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.